Between going with an Esoteric player and a PS Audio I would lean toward the Esoteric for a couple of reasons not relating to sound quality (I haven't compared them).
I have an original PerfectWave Transport - the earlier version that only plays CDs, not the new one that plays SACDs. PSA's nomenclature is very confusing. Anyway, this was a $4k transport and it is on its third drive mechanism. I play an average of a 5 or 6 CDs a week. The drive in this expensive transport is just a cheapo off-the-shelf computer drive that can be purchased for about $17 retail. To PSA's credit they have been good to deal with on the two replacements (the second one was after the warranty) but they have told me that it will cost $500 to replace the next one. It turns out that I can replace it myself and I have already laid in a drive for the next time it breaks. I have found out that drive reliability has been an issue for this model.
I've had several pieces of PSA gear over the years and always been happy until this. It is really disappointing that they would equip a $4000 transport with the cheapest computer drive they could find. Based on this experience I probably won't buy another PSA component.
To contrast, I have a Marantz SA8005 for SACDs and it has spun way more discs than the PSA and the transport has never had a glitch (I had it for a few years before the PSA).
I believe that Marantz and Esoteric make their own drive mechanisms and they are much higher quality than something that goes into a PC for 20 bucks. For this reason I think an Esoteric will be better built than a PSA transport.
FWIW, I am leaning toward getting a Marantz KI Ruby SACD player which would be the last SACD player I ever buy. I can't complain at all about the sound of my SA8005 but who knows, the Ruby might be just a little bit better. I'm in no hurry to upgrade.
I have an original PerfectWave Transport - the earlier version that only plays CDs, not the new one that plays SACDs. PSA's nomenclature is very confusing. Anyway, this was a $4k transport and it is on its third drive mechanism. I play an average of a 5 or 6 CDs a week. The drive in this expensive transport is just a cheapo off-the-shelf computer drive that can be purchased for about $17 retail. To PSA's credit they have been good to deal with on the two replacements (the second one was after the warranty) but they have told me that it will cost $500 to replace the next one. It turns out that I can replace it myself and I have already laid in a drive for the next time it breaks. I have found out that drive reliability has been an issue for this model.
I've had several pieces of PSA gear over the years and always been happy until this. It is really disappointing that they would equip a $4000 transport with the cheapest computer drive they could find. Based on this experience I probably won't buy another PSA component.
To contrast, I have a Marantz SA8005 for SACDs and it has spun way more discs than the PSA and the transport has never had a glitch (I had it for a few years before the PSA).
I believe that Marantz and Esoteric make their own drive mechanisms and they are much higher quality than something that goes into a PC for 20 bucks. For this reason I think an Esoteric will be better built than a PSA transport.
FWIW, I am leaning toward getting a Marantz KI Ruby SACD player which would be the last SACD player I ever buy. I can't complain at all about the sound of my SA8005 but who knows, the Ruby might be just a little bit better. I'm in no hurry to upgrade.