New Esoteric K-03XD

@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).

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!

I’m loving it. It was my first “Great” SACD/CD Player. Previously I had a Simaudio NEO 260D which only plays CD. 
It was $3000 including the built in DAC. It was great sounding compared to my old unit, but getting the K-03XD was transformational in delivering a 3D Soundstage and the ability to make instruments and vocals sound like individual instrument sound completely locked in position and hear the room or hall it was recorded in. 
It transports you to venue and puts you there. Be it a Church, Concert Hall, or a dry Studio where it usually sounds lifeless if everything was closely miked. 
I’m just starting to buy well mastered SACD’s from recommendations I’ve got on Audiogon. I had a few Rock/Pop SACD’s from the 70’s that I returned most of. 
The Worst was Hotel California by the Eagles. I thought it sounded good on Vinyl years ago, but the SACD was horrible. No life, no air, no bass, no highs. Flat as a Pancake. Even using the 8 band EQ on my McIntosh MA9500 couldn’t make it listenable with my Focal Sopra 2 speakers. 
But, the thing i like most is how it sounds with standard CD’s. I pulled out old CD’s, some I bought for $3 at Walmart that literally made my jaw drop hearing them. I listened to a few old Mark Knopfler CD’s and was blown away with the sound. 
I’ve just started experimenting with the filter and upsampling settings and that is very interesting to hear. Late last night I changed the up sample rate too high and things closed up and i went to bed. Later today, I’ll change them back to the one I liked the best previously. They interact with each other so it’s a time consuming process, but fun to play with. 
This beautiful machine was the biggest improvement I’ve ever made to my system. 
People who’ve heard it can’t believe the sound comes from just 2 speakers. 
I do have decent Hone Theater equipment, but I never listen to music with it turned on. The 3Dimentional Soundstage just fills the room and the speakers disappear like magic. 
Best component I’ve ever purchased !!!

I’m using the MA9500, Sopra 2 speakers, Cardis Clear Reflection signal cables, Shunyatta Theta NR power cable to the K-03 and Cardis CR Power Cord to the MA9500 amp and a Shunyatta PS 10 power strip. 
When I save up some cash, I plan to try the new Shunyatta Power Conditioner. 
It’s around $5K so the trial period with Music Direct will determine if I keep it. 

How are you enjoying the K-03, otherwise?

It's a really impressive on the transport side, mechanically.  Nicely done.  Other than something super-specialized I can't think of a better one.

Apologies for a PS, for completeness, when I referred to bandwidth limited, I should also have referred to dynamic range limitations.

A really good SACD player should also enhance plain vanilla red book CDs

@OP. The recordings you bought on SACD are bandwidth limited, so they are not going to benefit much from being transferred to SACD.

Esoteric's players decode DSD natively. However, for CDs the default Org non conversion setting, IMHO, does not sound as good as 2FS.

Unless you are using the K-03 as a USB DAC, the other upconversion settings are irrelevant.

I prefer the standard M1 filter setting but your mileage may vary - accessed under the PCMM heading in the menu.

Hi stevizzy, Are you referring to the upsampling and filter settings?

I have read on forums that it takes a couple hundred hours to burn in each setting.  So, if you like it now, it should get better.

One thing I’d like to mention is the SACD’s I bought were not Classical or Jazz. 
They were music I usually listen to. 
Supertramp, COTC, Allman Bros, Live at the Filmore, Dire Straits, Bob Dylan, and other old records I hade on Vinyl Years ago. 
All the Classical and Jazz I have are mostly on CD, HDCD, F2 and DMM.  They aren’t SACD and they all sound excellent.