Esoteric P5/D5 Opinions please

Hi Tboooe,
Your last comment interest me. Could you elaborate on why you think the X03se/X01ltd (not the X01D2) is the sweet spot in their line up?

I'm particularly interested in the X03se (to save some money), but could stretch to the P5D5 if really necessary. The local agent here doesn't carry the X03se, so I've no way to compare. However I do have the P5D5 combo at home now for demo/purchase...

One comment about the X03se is that it does not convert DSD in its native format, rather down converts it to PCM then analog. IMO this is does not do justice to SACD playback.

The P5D5 OTOH, up converts PCM to DSD or upsamples to 176/192, as does the cheaper SA60. Now this is really confusing to customers, since you have a player that is cheaper, and supposedly lower spec than the X03se, yet it offers upconversion and even plays DVDA. The plethora of models and different features is sometimes confusing. The only way to make sense of this is to explain it through their transports. Am I making sense?

"The D5 does upsample and has the latest 32bit AKM dac chips." What AKM dac is this dac? Can you post a link to it? Thanks in advance! Duke

Here you go Yada:
http://www.teac.com/esoteric/D-05.html

Yada, here is the link:
http://www.asahi-kasei.co.jp/akm/en/product/ak4397/ak4397.html

Cmk, the reason why I think the x03se and xo1ltd is the sweet spot comes down to price vs performance. You will be paying a lot to get only a bit more performance (to my ears anyway). Dont get me wrong, the d2 is a great player and if you can afford it, go for it. But if you want to consider value and are willing to give up 5%, then I would get the X03se or X01ltd. Just my two cents.