Marantz SA-10 Vs Esoteric K-05Xs

@milpai nice and well thought out system you have there. If you want to try the SA-10 like I said if you find a killer deal on it you can flip it if you don’t like it. Use your oppo until you can try luxman or esoteric is what I’d recommend. I didn’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade here but I did want to offer my thoughts on the SA-10 based on the experience I had with it. 

@audphile1 ,

I am completely with you when you say that you don't mean to rain down on anyone's parade. All I was trying to say that sometimes certain products do not work in our own systems when most users are reporting gains in their system. In my case it was a power accessory filter. 90% of the folks here were reporting amazing gains when they added multiple such accessory in their system. If only 1 piece was added to my system, it made a big noticeable positive difference. But unfortunately, when I added more than one of that accessory, it ruined the sound. I did report as such here and then another gentleman reported that he experienced the same.

So you did report that the SA-10 did not work in your system and everyone should respect that because you genuinely reported what you experienced. At least folks have a reference of cases where some component might or might not work. I have mentioned it before and will say it again - I rely more on forums and user experiences rather than paid reviewers to make my buying choice. Many times we do not have options to go out and hear a component and in such cases I have found that user recommendations are super helpful. I do take recommendations only from folks who have been on any site for a while and not just a day or month.

For anyone who owns (or has listened to) the newer Esoteric XD models (K-05XD/K-03XD) how does their sound compare to the previous generation XS models, since they are now using their own in-house DAC Chip and design.

@milpai yes synergy is key! One other important factor to consider is one’s reference point.