Oppo Vs Esoteric


Folks,
I would like to acknowledge the fact that I have heard the Esoteric players at AXPONA and coupe of other places. But my question is how much better is a Esoteric K-07X or K-05X compared to the Oppo UDP-205? I know that the Oppo UDP-205 is a killer machine for $1300. But it is a Jack Of All Trades, while the Esoteric is (soft of) Master Of One. So in that sense, can anyone let me know if it is really worth spending $$$$$ on the Esoteric (or a Marantz SA-10 or Luxman) compared to the Oppo?
Please share your experiences if you have compared the Oppo UDP-205 to any high end CD/SACD player.
Thanks!
128x128milpai

Showing 3 responses by oem-wheels

I haven't heard the Esoteric but I got the OPPO 205. The 205 is very detailed but found it digital sounding. Note my system is pretty revealing with beryllium tweeters. So I just sent it out to get it modded by Modwright. You can check his website out as to what he does to it. Pretty much takes the digital sound out which was my target. Everyone raves about it. Anyway what's cool about it is you can swap tubes in it to target the sound you like most. You'll only have to spend few hundred dollars to do it instead of buying new players. From what I've read it's a great sounding "do it all" component. Bluray, CD, sacd,  downloads, does DSD512...Modwright has a sale on them right now but normal price is about $3500 for everything. What's the Esoteric cost ? 

lancelock , will do... i almost did the same thing you did ... went straight to the modded... but decided to spend a couple months with the stock 205 and then decide if the difference between them was worth the price...
lancelock . and of course anyone that wants to read ...  got the Modwright Oppo205 back... only had it for a few days / 8-9 albums of listening...  still breaking this thing in... not good at giving out a review but the first thing is the digital sound is much less if at all.... not sure if it has more detail but one time I was up doing something while listening and there was this one time this part of this song i know well where it made me turn my head in amazement or curiosity (lack for a better word).... this light guitar playing in the background seemed more pronounced...  I didn't remember it this way.. I wish I can listen to that song again with out the mod and compare... bass seems better than I remember too... anyway glad I did it... I don't know how you feed your Oppo music... i did some cd but mostly downloads sent via DLNA... sound is way more hi-rez with DLNA... ha ... you should try it... no software stepping on it (like USB does)...   anyway i'd like to compare 24/192 music thru my Oppo to what the Luxman/Esoteric 16/44.1 offers ...  by the way, i'm ordering some new tubes tomorrow from Upscale that supposed to be better sounding than what came with the mod for $40 each...  he says its awesome : ).....   hope this helps