DCS Bartok v Meitner MA3 v Esoteric N05XD

Thank you for the excellent response.  

@acurus I agree 100% with @rossb . I had a Bartok in my system a while back and I found it almost unlistenable, especially in the context of your query. I owned multiple Meitners in multiple systems and loved it. The sound, the functionality, it was just terrific. Then I heard the Bartok Apex in my system.

Its almost like the Bartok Apex was made by a different company and with different sonic goals. I’ve owned alot of dacs (including Nagra as well) and up until the Bartok Apex, I had settled in with a Totaldac D1-Tube-Mk3. The Apex anchors my system today. With that said, yes, everything is system dependent. The Meitner is an amazing dac at its pricepoint but it is not in the same leage as the Bartok Apex. The original Bartok wasnt either.

Regarding Esoteric digital, if that is something you lean toward then go that way…it isnt for me and Ive never been able to listen to Esoteric for longer than a few minutes at my dealer, let alone tempted to bring one home. It can, however, effectively cure a dark system instantly. The Matrix Rob has is very good…very natural in an R2R kind of way….the Merason sound also leans that way for very little $$.

I don’t have the Esoteric N05xd, but I do have the N01XD. Very analog sounding. The XD version is a big improvement from the previous series.