Thread: Esoteric announce three new products

Grandioso C1X solo.

A single chassis version C1X. My reading of it is this is the first of a new "solo" series. A wild guess that P1X solo will be next.

Grandioso S1X.

Grandioso S1 updated to X-series

K05-XD.

Gets the VRDS-ATLAS and Mastersound Discrete DAC upgrade.


"Grandioso C1X solo", "Grandioso S1X", and "K-05XD" will be unveiled at the "Tokyo International Audio Show 2022" | News Details | ESOTERIC:Japan high-end audio manufacturer | エソテリック

And I was fully expecting Esoteric to announce Grandioso D1Xs, but didn't. Thankfully.

Originally Posted by brodricj

Grandioso C1X solo.

A single chassis version C1X. My reading of it is this is the first of a new "solo" series. A wild guess that P1X solo will be next.

Grandioso S1X.

Grandioso S1 updated to X-series

K05-XD.

Gets the VRDS-ATLAS and Mastersound Discrete DAC upgrade.


"Grandioso C1X solo", "Grandioso S1X", and "K-05XD" will be unveiled at the "Tokyo International Audio Show 2022" | News Details | ESOTERIC:Japan high-end audio manufacturer | エソテリック

And I was fully expecting Esoteric to announce Grandioso D1Xs, but didn't. Thankfully.

The Grandioso D1X DACs are already on the market for some years now.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by SCAudiophile

The Grandioso D1X DACs are already on the market for some years now.

I know. I own one. Which, as I said, is why I was expecting D1Xs to be announced. But thankfully wasn't.

For the past 2 or 3 days my system has sounded rubbish. I couldn't work out why as no changes had been made. We are now in Spring with bright sunshine and cool weather. This is the season where my solar installation really cranks out the kilowatts. Summer heat kills the efficiency of the solar panels, but with bright sun on a cool day those panels on my roof start exporting energy to the grid. If I'm exporting, that means my whole house is powered by solar generated DC fed through a dual-inverter. But this is not new, it's been on the roof for years. But it is all I could think of, maybe the power was messing with my HiFi stuff? Previous years I've been immune, but previous years I didn't have the D1X.

But today everything changed. My system is flying in an audiophile orbit way outside anything previously comprehensible. It is insanely good. But why, all of a sudden, with no obvious reason? I should be out mowing the lawns. But no. I can't escape from the sound. It is stunning. All of a sudden, from three days of rubbish, to audiophile heaven.

I'm beginning to think this is a beak-in phenomenon. A few weeks into a new D1X, a new Audio Replas, a few new Shunyata NR power cords. I only buy new stuff so I have plenty of experience with break-in: electronics, speakers, cables, whatever. I enjoy the sonic journey as a new component breaks in over time. I don't advocate leaving it all playing continuously 24/7 to hurry the process. I like to take note of changes over time. It's part of the hobby. But I have never experienced anything as drastic and sudden as this. If it is a final lurch of break-in as a reward from the audio Gods bringing the Sun and Moon and all the planets into perfect alignment for audiophile nirvana. I'm not game to touch anything now, or even breath on it.

The sound of this D1X and everything attached to it is absolutely stunning. Magico, Halcro, Esoteric, Shunyata, Crystal Cable all singing in perfect harmony, the whole being far greater than the sum of the individual parts. I just can't believe what I'm hearing now. It is utterly terrifying. Perhaps the secret sauce has been perfected. I have a Shunyata Sigma v2 NR and Everest 8000 arriving soon. I'm not game to risk polluting what I'm hearing now with something new.

Powersupply can make or break my audio enjoyment, when it's really good I measure low values of distortion with my cheap chinese device, when I am not drawn into the music the values on this device are much higher. I have no idea what this device is measuring but there is a definite relation to my sound quality.

I do think the solar panels can have their influence, depending on the inverters quality, DC can come into your audiosystem.20220928_114205.jpg

Is DC on the mains really a problem? If the transformers are resilient and don't hum then I can't see what harm might come of it.
I'm considering buying one of those Alphalab EM100 line EMI monitors to measure AC line noise, check how those measurements compare to the THD measurement logged by my PowerPlant. The PowerPlant reduces THD to 0.1% whatever the incoming THD.

I think the Alphalab EM100 is not as wideband as the chinese device I have (ebay).

You are probably right that if your transformers are quiet it should not be a problem, my dealer one time had the problem with a client, that he sold two large monoblocks, were very noisy in his room. The client sent the monoblocks back for a diagnose, but they were dead quiet in my dealers shop. When the client received them again, the made a lot of noise in his room. He lived in an area with many solar panels that distorted his powersupply and made the amps hum.

I have an old PS Audio PPP (only for TV and TV tuner), the incoming %THD varies throughout the day between 1 and 2,8% in my room but there is no fixed relation with what I measure with the Chinese EMI device. At 2,8% THD the value on the chinese device can still be low.

I bought your version on eBay, it was slightly cheaper than the Alphalabs. The specifications and operation seem to be similar.

Yes the specifications look simular now, at the time I bought the EMI meter there was a difference in bandwidth, anyway it will be interesting to see if you have the same experience with SQ that I have.

My systems sounds very musical with values below 35mV (lowest I measure is early morning around 13mV), when it's not grabbing my attention values are changing between 45 and 150mv (when washing machine and/or dryer are running)

At my dealer the values are around 20/30mV when his reference system sounds fantastic (He has Magico M3's/ TAD reference 1 mkII's), when he is charging his electric car the values are between 1000 and 1500mV !!

I do think to really analyse your power supply you need a Fluke power analyse Type 436-438, 1770 or similar device, but the EMI meter will give an indication if something is off.

FYI. This reminds me of a previous discussion here:
Measuring AC Power Line Noise

Caelin talked about Shunyata building a consumer level device that is more a modern and elaborate version of the Enteq that will detect a broader range of frequencies, and calibrated so that absolute readings can be taken. That was 5+ years ago. Maybe they had a change of mind about that.

Thanks for the link to the older thread, if I see the readings many people get, I should not be that concerned :-)

I wonder what sacrifices were made to the C1X SOLO design to squeeze a 2 box pre-amp into a single box chassis. It does seem to be a diversion away from what Esoteric did with K1/K1X/PS1. They might have just built a single box pre-amp as standard and offered a PS1 like power supply upgrade option. Instead we have two discrete models. C1X and C1X SOLO. Fair chance P1X SOLO will be next.

Screen Shot 2022-11-11 at 13.00.12.png

My line EMI meter arrived today.
During the day: 1750mV noise at the wall power point. 1650mV on the outlet of the PS Audio powerplant.
At night: 650mV.
Maybe solar is messing with my power after-all. Or maybe the Muja power station is burning noisy coal.
I'm surprised the PS Audio powerplant isn't knocking out much noise on the regenerated side. It's THD meter shows 3.1% on the input, 0.1% on the output. The voltage measurement of the EMI meter matches very closely the voltage meter on the powerplant.

wow, big numbers, looks like you can gain some performance by improving the powersupply, will be interesting to see what your incoming Everest will do.

By the way, my PS audio PPP generates a "new" sinus from the incoming power, but when I measure a non filtered outlet, it is the same as I measure at one of the PPP's outlets, no difference.

I do think that it also depends on how your gear handles the incoming power supply.

Can you switch off the Solar system from your power supply ? might be interesting to see if the solar system is the culprit of the high readings

Those who believe the PS Audio marketing are the true believers....just have a look in the PS Audio forums today, Paul McGowan says all their components hum. The true believers will take that as gospel and salivate as they enjoy the sound of the perfectly normal humming of their PS Audio components. I've always wondered why none of my Esoteric components hum. They must all be faulty.

Originally Posted by imprezap2

Can you switch off the Solar system from your power supply ?

Yes I can. But the solar panels on every roof in the street I can't turn off. They all export electricity to the grid. Any noise they might generate will be broadcast to one and all.