Esoteric New Product Launch

I'm surprised the recent announcement of Grandioso K1X hasn't cracked a mention here yet.
 
brodricj said:
What should I do....buy D1X and forgo disc spinning capability, or buy P1X and spin it to my N-01?

Buying both is unlikely at this point because I just bought Magico M3.
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Tough question for me to answer, on one hand it makes sense to rip all CDs and SACDs (still stifling on that) on the other having media makes it cool


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Has anybody noticed the new K1X has both IEC mains power socket and dual DC power input socket? What gives, there is an optional power supply for it?
 
brodricj said:
Has anybody noticed the new K1X has both IEC mains power socket and dual DC power input socket? What gives, there is an optional power supply for it?
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Yes....and Esoteric has just announced the companion product (use Chrome translate):

https://online.stereosound.co.jp/_ct/17333073

This will offload the PSU duties on the K1X for the analog section to an external and shutdown the transformers
from internally from the K1X's analog signal path; the result should be excellent!!!


There is other very interesting info in the article and when translated....

"[FONT=&quot]At the same time, we will start accepting the upgrade service "VUK-K1PS1" from March 1 to enable the Grandioso PS1 compatible SACD / CD player "Grandioso K1". [/FONT][FONT=&quot]The price here is $ 150,000 (excluding tax)."[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"[/FONT][FONT=&quot]* Details of the upgrade service "VUK-K1PS1"
[FONT=&quot]　VUK-K1PS1 is a service that adds a DC power input terminal that enables the Grandioso K1 to be compatible with the Grandioso PS1. The upgrade process itself will be carried out once the user's favorite machine is left to the Esoteric side. The service will start in late April."[/FONT][/FONT]

The other interesting thing is the K1X (and guessing K1 upgraded) only requires 2 DC umbilical inputs.

There are 4 outputs on the new power supply....

Wondering what other upgrades/new products they have in mind :-) wondering is P-02Xs and D-02X, each
having ability to leverage this supply or something else is coming?????

[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]This is great news for anyone invested in a K1 or those that will buy the K1X...[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][/FONT]
 
brodricj said:
They've slipped this new product under the radar....

https://www.esoteric.jp/en/product/n-01xd/top
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I have just gone ahead and purchased an N-01 as well. Took some time to decide if I wanted to wait for the "XD" variant or not but decided it wasn't worth it. First, I have a little more faith in the implementation and design of the AKM DAC chips than I do of Esoteric's first FPGA DAC. Let them iron out this new direction/technology before you go jumping on it. Im also sure that the already very expensive N01 will seem a bargain once the N01XD price is released.
 
What makes the N01XD especially tempting over N01 is ES-LINK support, for those who own a compatible SACD transport.
 
ES-link is that tempting? Is it worth gambling on a first generation FPGA? And rest assured the N-01XD will cost thousands more than the outgoing N-01.
 
The FPGA chips are well established technology. The only gamble is how long it might take Esoteric to optimize the software programmed into those chips. And there is the beauty of the new direction, they can reprogram an FPGA as they build upon their experience gained over time. ES-Link smooths out the price difference; instead of an expensive AES/EBU to connect your SACD transport you could use a much cheaper HDMI cable (or even the one included with the transport) without suffering any consequences.
 
My understanding is that the physical design of the FPGA matters more so than the programming of it. The FPGA of tomorrow will be better than the one of today, regardless of the programming, so this direction still has a shelf life. Someone correct me if Im wrong but Im quite certain that even this design has limitations.

Im also pretty sure that the retail price of the N-01 will jump by $4-5K for the new N-01XD... atleast in the US. Thats an expensive cable.
 
Dual AES/EBU connection with a Shunyata Sigma will set you back $4K. An ES-Link connection will cost zero. There is your price difference for starters.

And you are not correct with your understanding...the programming of the FPGA and allocation of embedded memory on the chip has a big influence on jitter and hence resultant sound.
 
I have no doubt that potential improvements may exist, will they be anything more than a spec on a sheet? I dont know. Everything has an influence on the resultant sound, its the extent to which it does that matters. Can I hear a little more or a little less jitter? I doubt it. What I can tell you is that I can definitely hear a SNR difference between 120DB and 113DB, assuming both were measured the same way.

Also, If ES Link uses Ethernet cabling for transmission would you not want to use the best quality cable there as well?

Knowing Esoteric, I also doubt that they will be releasing new FPGA programming. Its more likely that you buy the unit with the programming that was developed for that device and new programming wont be introduced until the next generation of that device. Probably not backwards compatible/install-able either.
 
ES-Link does not use ethernet cabling. There is black magic marketing out there about HDMI cables for audio use (which is the cable ES-Link uses), but I can't readily hear any difference between the expensive ones and cheap ones. Esoteric have released a number of software updates for N01 so I would expect them to do the same for N01XD. The software updates are end-user installable.
 
I would consider an FPGA program change to be something completely different from the usual software/firmware updates. I voted with my money so lets see how it plays out.
 
You have owned the K1 and K1X? or are you referring to you listening to those YouTube videos?
 
Hopefully you do realize that you cant draw any conclusion from that, certainly not that one is better... you literally don't even know what you are listening to.
 
Of course. I just remarked what sounded better to me via YouTube on my modest laptop rig. Have you listened to these? Can you tell any difference?
 
The new Esoteric sound is much less digital and hashy sounding. I heard the new Esoteric stuff at Axpona and Munich and was very impressed. It’s right up there with Chord, Emm, DCS, etc. The sound to me of Esoteric still isn’t as meaty and fleshy and organic as MSB, but it was very pleasing none the less and a big step in the direction of sounding much more organic. And no one can not love the build quality and looks!


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