Esoteric K-01/K-03 Owners


Spoke today with the local Esoteric rep to get information on plans to upgrade existing K-01/K-03 users to the "X" model which is only sold overseas at this time. Here is the scoop. (Dates/$$ are only close estimates)

- Upgrades will be available in October 2014
- The upgrade will include the USB input mechanism to support 2.8 MHz DSD (Native Playback) and 384 MHz (PCM).
- There are several other upgrades to the K-01x/K-03x that are not included. (i.e. Upgrades to the DAC, Transport, etc that are direct descendants of the
Grandioso Model).
- Approx. cost is $1,000 (Not including 2-way shipping)
- The Upgrades will be provided in California

Info. on K-03x: http://www.esoteric.jp/products/esoteric/k03x/indexe.html

Beats having to buy a new DSD Dac in the meantime if patient.

Ciao
gocubs999
there is a review of k-01x k-03x in the latest issue of the japanese Stereo Sound magazine http://store.stereosound.co.jp/products/detail.php?product_id=2003

any japanenese speaking subscriber care to translate?
Mcduman,
If you use Google Chrome, it will translate any language into English on the fly. I have read the short intro to the x models, their improvements over non-x, and the modifications avaialable for non-x, but no full review yet.
Jon.
Has anyone done a full in-home or other compare of the K-01 or K-01x against the P-03/D-03 and P-02/D-02? I'm looking to potentially simplify things at a reasonable (medium-high versus extremely high) price point and the K-01x may be a good answer for me all things considered versus the P-02/D-02 given price point. I listen to alot of RBCD as well as XRCD (various formats), K2HD and SACD. Thanks in advance!
Interesting stuff. I am a K-03 owner using strictly physical discs, but have been investigating PC sourced audio for a long time. Unfortunately for me, I have been paralyzed by analysis and confusion, as the world of dsd, double dsd, PCM, etc has rendered me brain dead lol. Even the new world of FPGA dacs, which of course I have no idea what the acronym means but it supposedly renders the transport immaterial, adds more confusion. In any event, I digress. Jon2020, what kind of PC do you use, and how do you download music? Do you burn discs into your PC? Does your new method of copying music to USB flash drive render the quality of the original PC used to copy/store music immaterial to SQ?
I finally bit the bullet and dove into the computer digital world with a new Mac Mini music server. For those who are considering this I can highly recommend it as a new front end system. My experience is this; I bought the new mac mini (Yosemite ) with 1 TB fusion drive and 16GB RAM. I then choose Pure Music 2 for its compatibility with mac and apple remote. I am using my esoteric k-01 as the DAC with their highRes driver installed. The mini is directly connected to the K-01 with a USB 2 Wireworld cable. I have began to rip my extensive CD collection using Apple's super drive encoding as Apple Lossless (ALAC) with error correction box checked. This process is extremely time consuming....good thing I am retired. I am able to rip about 40 CD’s per day (I own over 800). Playback worked with ease and I up sample to 24bit 192 hz. The result is wonderful and operation is extremely simple. The apple remote on my iPad is simple to use and I am amazed at how quick songs load (about 1 sec). I cannot tell the difference from playing a CD directly! Highly recommended for those who are considering going in this direction.