New Esoteric K-03XD

I used to own an Esoteric K-03 player. The tray and lens gave out years later.

I then upgraded to a music server plus the N-05 dac/network streamer. New AKM chip sounds very much better than the old player’s dac section.

Best sound I get is with non-oversampling setting.

Hope this helps. Cheers!

@stevizzy 

Good to hear!  The transport is pretty much the same as in a DCS Vivaldi Apex one (the one that combines all the components of the DCS component system into one box). That says something.  Heck it’s the same transport that’s in the k01XD.

The k-03xd has an excellent DAC, but it has several digital outputs, so if you ever get antsy to try something new, you can easily bypass the internal DAC and attach to something like a Mola Mola Tambaqui or the DCS Vivaldi (or whatever is the shiniest DAC at the time you decide to tweak).

I’ve just been generally impressed with Esoteric products for a long time.  I vacillated for six months between the Grandioso monoblocks and the Classe Delta monoblocks, finally going with Classe only because I have Bowers 800s and the Classe were literally designed to pair with the Bowers (same company at the time).

Great to hear!

Hopefully you won't have any issues as my players DAC module bit the dust just on the warranty expiration date, 

Been waiting 3 months to get repair done and still waiting,

Regards, Bob

I’ve been listening to my K-03 for nearly a year now and honestly I’m more impressed with how it plays my CD’s than the dozen or so SACD’s I’ve purchased. 
The good ones I’ve bought aren’t rehashed old Rock or Pop reissues I wasted my money trying.  Yes, I’ve tried several Jazz recordings including Patricia Barber that were outstanding. 
Any Suggestions are appreciated 👍

fratbob

Keep us posted on the repair process for your Player.

Happy Listening!