Hello,
This weekend I had a chance to audition Esoteric D-01/P-01/G-0s combo and DCS P8i player. Both in two different systems. First system was friends Avalon Eidolon Vision-ARC VT200MkII/REF2MkII/CD3MkII and we also had Weiss Medea/Jason combo acting as RBCD reference. It that system it was immediately clear that Esoteric and Weiss have a edge over DCS. Esoteric combo is #1 flavor but, probably the best #1 flavor sounding digital playback that I heard recently. Weiss is very close second( we are talking about very small differences here ). Esoteric has enormous amount of detail without edge or grain in sound picture. It also has 'powerfull' presentation with extended bass and treble.
Weiss is almost as extended in bass, has more midrange presence and is sweeter on top. DCS was not in the same class, it was thinner than Esoteric and Weiss in bass and midrange. Highs were extended( but, not as Esoteric ) and it didn't better even ARC CD3MkII a lot in RBCD playback.
In my 'office' system( Dynaudio Special 25-ARC VT50/REF1 ) results were almost the same... But, we used balanced outputs on all of them. Esoteric and Weiss sounded way better on XLRs and to our suprise DCS prefered single-ended RCA connection. All of them were used with preamp in system. We all will also have Esoteric D-03/P-03 soon as well as new Krell Evolution Three universal music player. ARC Reference CD7 is interesting as well.
I own more than 1000 CDs and only 20 SACDs so, I am not very interested in SACD. My feeling is that both SACD and DVD-A will become a failure( or allready are-specially DVD-A ). Of course, many of you will not share my opinion but, I would like to meet an audiophile who owns few hundreds SACDs or DVD-As...
This weekend I had a chance to audition Esoteric D-01/P-01/G-0s combo and DCS P8i player. Both in two different systems. First system was friends Avalon Eidolon Vision-ARC VT200MkII/REF2MkII/CD3MkII and we also had Weiss Medea/Jason combo acting as RBCD reference. It that system it was immediately clear that Esoteric and Weiss have a edge over DCS. Esoteric combo is #1 flavor but, probably the best #1 flavor sounding digital playback that I heard recently. Weiss is very close second( we are talking about very small differences here ). Esoteric has enormous amount of detail without edge or grain in sound picture. It also has 'powerfull' presentation with extended bass and treble.
Weiss is almost as extended in bass, has more midrange presence and is sweeter on top. DCS was not in the same class, it was thinner than Esoteric and Weiss in bass and midrange. Highs were extended( but, not as Esoteric ) and it didn't better even ARC CD3MkII a lot in RBCD playback.
In my 'office' system( Dynaudio Special 25-ARC VT50/REF1 ) results were almost the same... But, we used balanced outputs on all of them. Esoteric and Weiss sounded way better on XLRs and to our suprise DCS prefered single-ended RCA connection. All of them were used with preamp in system. We all will also have Esoteric D-03/P-03 soon as well as new Krell Evolution Three universal music player. ARC Reference CD7 is interesting as well.
I own more than 1000 CDs and only 20 SACDs so, I am not very interested in SACD. My feeling is that both SACD and DVD-A will become a failure( or allready are-specially DVD-A ). Of course, many of you will not share my opinion but, I would like to meet an audiophile who owns few hundreds SACDs or DVD-As...