Esoteric XD Series

The K-03XD is fully broken in now and is a wrap around massive soundstage product. It has incredible transparency and detail. It too plays MQA CD’s and plays the MQA later. It offers filtering options as well. The new remote is dual sided.

I have posted videos on my YouTube channel comparing the Esoteric K-03XD to the Luxman D-10x. Both are similar in price. For the videos we used the exact same cables and CD and volume matching. It’s very interesting and they are totally different (but both in a good way).


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Thanks for posting videos Mike! I watched both, but could not tell which one is best. They both sounded crap from my iPad speakers 😂😂

What did YOU think? Any preference one way or another?

Also I believe price wise, the Luxman D-10x ($16,500) is smacked down the middle the K-03xd ($14,000) and K-01xd ($23,000)
 
Thanks for posting videos Mike! I watched both, but could not tell which one is best. They both sounded crap from my iPad speakers [emoji23][emoji23]

What did YOU think? Any preference one way or another?

Also I believe price wise, the Luxman D-10x ($16,500) is smacked down the middle the K-03xd ($14,000) and K-01xd ($23,000)

This new Master Sound Discrete DAC is the real deal. THE REAL DEAL!!!! The sound wraps around your head. I mean, I’m looking left and looking right. The level of detail and transparency is perfection for those craving details, details and more details. The king of transparency. BUT, on top, it never gets brittle or edgy or hashy. It in fact, is sweet, while staying detailed and the XD series has more meat on the bones than the previous series. This new path for Esoteric is really really awesome. Bye bye AKM for them.

BUT, when I play the Luxman, it’s so musically engaging and I can take my crappiest recorded CD and it sounds very very listenable and enjoyable.

I would have a hard time choosing. If your CD collection is mostly of stellar recordings, the Esoteric would work. If you’re listening to some less than stellar jazz, rock, etc recordings, the Luxman will never let you down and provide a very musical evening, one that goes into the wee hours of the morning.


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Well, I watched the Luxman D-10X videos in Croatian and Japanese, so I guess I can watch Mike's Lux/Esoteric video in Floridian. One of these days, I'll have to buy something.
 
My brother ordered the Esoteric K-01xd. He’s letting me break it in for him. I hopefully will hear it in a few weeks. It’ll give me another frame of reference compared to the MSB Discrete.

I was originally thinking about the D-10x or MSB Discrete. I was never a big fan or early Esoteric players but Mike says the new XD series is awesome. Being able to live with the K-01xd will be fun. I loved the Discrete. I hope the Esoteric is wonderful. I would love a great player/dac but it’s not critical.
 
What happened to your Discrete?

Nothing really. It was a demo from Mike. Before I actually commit and buy it, I wanted to experience other high end dacs/players.

I'm eager to hear the Esoteric and will see if it can unseat the Discrete. That's number 1 right now. I don't want to second guess my choice if I have the chance to try other new gear.
 
Nothing really. It was a demo from Mike. Before I actually commit and buy it, I wanted to experience other high end dacs/players.

I'm eager to hear the Esoteric and will see if it can unseat the Discrete. That's number 1 right now. I don't want to second guess my choice if I have the chance to try other new gear.

As for the K-01XD, for more than double the price, it should (on paper) outperform the Discrete. IMO a fairer comparison is with the MSB Premier
 
My Esoteric Rep sent me this slide show on the new Master Sound DAC. I thought you guys might find this interesting.

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As for the K-01XD, for more than double the price, it should (on paper) outperform the Discrete. IMO a fairer comparison is with the MSB Premier

I agree that the Discrete vs K-01XD comparison is not totally equal. With a little more savings, the K-01XD is probably reachable but the Premier, for me, is out of the question. At least hearing the current generation Esoteric players will let me know pretty quickly what tickles my fancy and what I want in a digital source.

Thank you Mike for the above post. Very cool!
 
As for the K-01XD, for more than double the price, it should (on paper) outperform the Discrete. IMO a fairer comparison is with the MSB Premier
Actually I think this comparison is fairly equal from a DAC standpoint. Surely at least half the
cost of the K-01XD is in its world class transport mechanism and associated electronics, with equivalent function not present in the MSB Discrete.
 
Actually I think this comparison is fairly equal from a DAC standpoint. Surely at least half the
cost of the K-01XD is in its world class transport mechanism and associated electronics, with equivalent function not present in the MSB Discrete.

Fair! I get the transport part. But, how about the N-01XD? No transport, and it retails for $20,000. Just DAC with network Bridge built in. Equivalent to the MSB Discrete DAC + Renderer module ($11,500 MSRP), or Premier + Renderer volume ($21,500). You see where I am getting at?
 
Fair! I get the transport part. But, how about the N-01XD? No transport, and it retails for $20,000. Just DAC with network Bridge built in. Equivalent to the MSB Discrete DAC + Renderer module ($11,500 MSRP), or Premier + Renderer volume ($21,500). You see where I am getting at?

I have one on order. Really looking forward to it. It will have the exact same specs (Master Discrete DAC’s, power supplies, etc.) as the K-01XD.

My take as a dealer is that the MSB and Esoteric are COMPLETELY different sounds. I know this is hard for some people to accept, but it’s never an all out winner for everyone. Every person and every system is different. I think I can speak with a fair amount of real world experience when I tell you the MSB buyer is very different from the Esoteric buyer. If I have someone walk in the store (real example) and tell me: “I have a $$$$$$$ turntable setup at home and I just had hip surgery and I will be having two knee surgeries later this year, so I want to put together a world class digital rig which will make listening to music easier” - I will be putting them into an MSB ALL DAY LONG. If I have a customer who was born and raised on R2R and Analog, I will be putting them in an MSB ALL DAY LONG. But, for that customer that has been into digital since the 90’s, has gone through a bunch of CD players and loves to talk about converting their Ethernet to fiber and such, I will likely be putting them in an Esoteric or EMM.

I know this is hard to believe, but ears are trained and we like the sounds we like and are accustomed to. If someone has been an all digital guy for 30 years, yeah, chances are, they will love the detail, transparency, resolution, etc. of the Esoteric or EMM. If someone is an analog guy, and has that sound in their brain as a reference, they will go for an MSB.

Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but this is what I have found to be almost universally true (90%) of the time after doing hundreds of demos in the store.

And one last thing, the overall resolution of the system also plays a huge role IMO. My MBL’s are so smooth, so incredibly smooth, I prefer the Esoteric and will personally be buying a K1X + PS1. But when I had the Avantgarde’s at home, I would lean more towards the MSB. Smooth, but still resolute with meat on them bones. Never fatiguing and oh so analog like. And this is the one variable that can throw a wrinkle in the whole mix!!

In the store, I am loving the MSB/Pass system on the Magico’s. Just HEAVEN! In the other room, the super smooth diamond tweeter of the Estelon’s benefits from the additional resolution from the Esoteric.

Have fun!
 
well written mike.
i grew up with tape decks 90% and tt 10% and a lot of radio. as a teeny cd got mixed in.
what type am i now? i belive we are not stucked from what we are used and our ears and brain will learn and enjoy new things. they are all faulty concepts after all in some ways compared to the natural happening.
to me it comes down to as what mike described as the "one last thing", the synergy from your source with the amp/speaker.
 
actually. looking forward for a n-01 xd myself.
everything in there what i would like to see.....multiple ps/supercaps....streamer and dac in the same house.
 
Mike, any hunch if Esoteric are going to do an XD or Grandioso version of N-03T? They usually announce new stuff towards the end of the year during the Tokyo show.
 
Mike, any hunch if Esoteric are going to do an XD or Grandioso version of N-03T? They usually announce new stuff towards the end of the year during the Tokyo show.

No word yet.


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