New Esoteric K-03 SACD/CD Player

Actually, it's about 9 months old, but it's new to me and was just about half-price on Audiogon! Anyway, I can hear why it gets such fantastic reviews. The utter realism and musicality are just amazing. I'm hearing details that I've never heard before, and the total lack of "digititis" is something to behold. I have set for 4X upsampling for RBCDs (It has numerous upscaling and filtering options), which makes them sound nearly as good as SACDs. I really don't miss the surround sound, and for the few pipe organ SACDS I own, I'll use my Oppo 105. These Esoteric players are pricey but worth it. (Heavy, too: this one weighs 61 pounds!)

 

Very nice player, congrats!

 

A fantastic transport mechanism - a very nice SACD/CD machine and it sounds like you did well on the deal. May it give you years of pleasure.

 

Awesome!

 

Beautiful machine

Is one of their universals worth considering used, DV-50?

 

Congratulations, fantastic machine. Nothing better than uncovering previously hidden details in familiar recordings, enjoy!

 

Can you hear the drive spinning?

D.D.

 

No.

 

Dang... (where's the jaw-dropping smiley when you need one)

 

Hi: When playing a Redbook CD on the first K-03 I purchased, the drive noise was quite noticeable when the disc began to spin. Clearly audible from the listening position about 9 feet away. The pitch of the noise would change as the playback continued and then fade as you got further into the disc. The same thing but worse ( louder & higher-pitched ) when playing SACD. A whine, for lack of a better term, which varied in pitch as the RPM of the drive changed during playback. Unit went back to the dealer, then back to Esoteric USA where it was serviced and returned. The issue was unresolved. The unit was again packed up and returned to Estoteric USA and they replaced it. The replacement, which I still own, makes exactly the same noise in exactly the same way. I was again in contact with Esoteric USA and was basically told that that's the way they are. That's why I asked the question of you that I did. I can PM you the email I received from them if you're curious. Beyond that, they are a great-sounding unit.

D.D.

 

I'll listen for it again later today. When I stood next to it while it was loading I could hear a faint sound, but not once the music started playing.

 

I have a DV-50 and an very pleased with it. Used, it didn't cost much more than my Oppo 105, and it cleans the Oppo's (none-too-shabby) clock sonically. (Only reason I have the Oppo is for BluRay.)

 

I own an Esoteric X-05. It's the best digital piece to have ever graced my system. The disk drive is very quiet. No complaints here.

Also, none of the K-03 units I've heard at audio shows have exhibited disk drive noise.

Diamond Dog, are you saying that you can hear the noise above the music?

 

Thanks - I look forward to that. Don't mean to threadjack or rain on your parade - I just don't run into that many fellow K-03 owners so I'm really interested in their experiences. As I said, outside of this irritant, they are phenomenal.

Depends on the music. If the first part of one of the first tracks of a disc is quiet, say a particular Mahler symphony, you will absolutely hear the drive spinning. On less dynamic recordings, the drive noise becomes part of the noise floor unless there is a quiet passage or a silence between tracks early in the disc. Most of my listening is done at pretty sedate levels by many people's standards - around or below 80 dB and in a quiet and treated room. Again. when the rotation RPM reaches a certain point, it runs quietly - usually two or three tracks in on a Redbook CD, more on an SACD.

I've had an x-05 in my system - they were my introduction to Esoteric. Very nice unit- and quiet. Made my Bryston BCD-1 sound like I built it myself.

D.D.

 

Cd done well is amazing.

 

DD--pretty much as I stated before: I can hear a faint whirring while I'm right next to it, but once I get to my listening chair (about 8 feet away), then I can't hear it at all. Believe me, that faint whirring is a lot less irritating than the fan noise that the Oppo 95 makes! (Fortunately, the 105 doesn't use a fan.) On the subject of heat, I'm surprised that there is no noticeable warmth at all with the K-03, which is great since my cats won't be attracted to it!

I continue to love it--it's like listening to my CDs/SACDs for the first time.

 

They do sound wonderful. Listening to the SHM-SACD of Tom Waits' Rain Dogs right now and even on this deliberately, studiously smokey-sounding recording, the music transports you to another place. The danger of getting a really first-class front end like yours is that it starts making you look sideways at other components in your system. The K-03 will probably be around longer than a lot of what it's working with... and a good chunk of your disposable income...

Enjoy!

D.D.

 

Not much more than the Oppo?
The one my dealer has is about double the price.
I need to haggle vigourously I guess, which unfortunately isn't my style

 

I had to promise my wife that I wouldn't! Since I have to combine an audio/video system, and we do enjoy surround sound for movies, I'd have to spend a fortune to get comparable quality components. I think the Marantz and Parasound sound pretty good. Sure, a Burmester or D'Agostino 2-channel system would be nice, but that isn't in the works for the foreseeable future!

 

A dealer said the same thing to me about buying a much better higher resolving amp, it could expose the source.
Got the new amp, and he was right, hence my questions about the used DV50s

 

I've heard players with the same symptoms you are describing. After lubricating the spindle motor the noise was gone and they stayed quiet there after. Certainly worth trying on yours.

 

But all amps sound the same...

I changed my amps recently - went from Bryston 7B SST2 mono's to a pair of PBN Mini-Olympias - MASSIVE difference. That forced me to try the on-board digital attenuator on the K-03 so I could use the PBN's as monoblocks ( can't use single-ended pre with them in that configuration and my pre, a Manley Neo-Classic 300B, is single-ended only ) and that shone a spotlight on how much the Manley was letting get by. Now I'm trying a Sphinx Project 8 pre and the whole combination sounds really impressive with my recently-upgraded speakers. Through all of this, the improvements just reveal more and more of what the K-03 has been doing all along as the rest of the system has caught up to it.

K-01 anyone? God forbid...

D.D.

 

Thanks for this - any thoughts as to the best lubricant for the job? Esoteric says the whine is from the size of the motor their proprietary drives use compared to the plastic-fantastic Phillips and Sony off-the-shelf ones.

D.D.

 

The tech that originally taught me this trick used WD-40. You'll need a syringe to delivery the lube, just a few drops at a time applied to the spindle shaft and any holes in the motor casing. Do not over do it.

I've heard a few Esoteric players and there is a slight noise at start up , but I've never heard the noise you're talking about, so I have to question the reason they gave you. Mind you, I've never been inside one, so I don't know what motor they use.

 

My X-05 exhibited a strange high-pitched whine when spinning discs, and the representative of Esoteric who was finally able to fix the unit for me had traced the extraneous sound to one particular wire or connector in the spindle motor that was of the wrong type - it needed to be magnetic, but it wasn't, or something to that effect (unfortunately the original explanation was far too technical for my understanding, so I may have inadvertently oversimplified it a bit).