Delivery day has arrived!

I bought Grandioso C1X which should arrive in first week of February. I'm looking forward to hearing how it compares to the Halcro dm8 pre-amp.
I did speak to another owner who changed from Halcro dm88/dm8 to Esoteric C1X/M1X. He says the Esoteric combo is better. His C1X/M1X combo will leverage synergy that I will be losing by splitting up the Halcro combo.
 
Here we go again. This is getting a bit ridiculous. People leaving stuff at my front door for me to trip over.

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C1X packaging arrived in perfect shape, unlike the shipping misadventure for my D1X. Unboxed to find it in perfect condition, as you would expect from Esoteric. It is glorious to behold. I can't wrap my head around how heavy the C1X power supply unit is, it's a beast! The C1X power supply alone weighs more than the C1X solo (which is the single box version of C1X). I had to add a few more isolators to the YG rack shelf before installing the C1X (requires 14 isolators for the weight, the Halcro dm8 only required eight). I had to change the Critical Mass Systems CS2 footers from 1.5 to 0.8 height otherwise I'd have to do some YG rack shelf adjustments and I'm not going through that drama again (the dm8 required 1.5 footers). So now the 1.5 footers are underneath the Grandioso SACD transport and the 0.8 footers are under the C1X. Hooked it up, the DC umbilicals ooze Shunyata Alpha v2 power cable quality. Connected the sources (D1X) and powered it on, and whoila! It works! There is a learning curve with the configuration. The remote control is used to configure C1X as there is no MENU button on the unit. I've been able to configure ESLA mode between the D1X and C1X. The gain structure needs to be adjusted but for now I'll leave things the way they are. First observation. I don't really like the feel of the C1X INPUT select rotary dial or the volume control, I far prefer the tactile feel and associated relay clicking sound of the dm8. As for the sound, 5 minutes into it and the Halcro wins. Easily. But let me put a few more hours on the C1X and get the gain structure sorted out and I will reassess.
Somewhat odd that the remote control of a $45K MSRP pre-amp doesn't have back-lighting. Otherwise the design of the remote is very nice with pre-amp functions on one side and transport functions on the other. The remote control of my Grandioso transport is back-lit. A task I'll embark on is to configure the volume hard buttons on my Philips Pronto Pro remote to control the C1X via RS-232.
 
Congratulations on the new preamp,...it looks beautiful!

Definitelty needs break-in and sorting out gain, volume curve pref, before any meaningful assessment.

The Halcro I am sure is in its own rarefied airspace as well!

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
 
Thanks! I'm terrified when it comes to bringing a new pre-amp into the system, until I'm certain the connections are as they should be and I learn to drive it properly. Any finger trouble or brain fade can easily lead to tweeter carnage. I only had one power amp on when I first powered up the C1X to limit any possible installation misadventure carnage to one tweeter. Changing a tweeter in a Magico M3 in this part of the world is likely to be logistically challenging and expensive. Slowly slowly, so far so good. The remote cable to trigger the power amps needs modifying, the dm8 uses a 5 pin XLR connector for trigger control and the C1X uses a simple mono jack.
 
Thanks. It's certainly weighty. The weight of the YG 1.4 rack and everything sitting on it is over 200 kg. Not even close to the load limit, but definitely pushing the available space limit.
 
Congrats! It's always a huge deal to bring a new preamp into the system. From the connections to the sonic adventure and getting comfortable interacting with it. Keep us posted.
 
A new morning has arrived. I think I've wrapped my head around the operation of the RC-1334 remote control to configure the C1X. I need to make settings for the gain structure, RS232 control, trigger output enable, dimmer and sleep settings etc etc. Inputs can be named but I'm not going to bother with that, the D1X does all the source switching except for HT bypass. I mentioned above I didn't like the feel of the rotary knobs. A check of the firmware status showed v1.00 was loaded on the C1X which was the initial production software. The latest firmware is v1.11d and the release notes mention this update improves the feel of the knobs. Whoila!
Now, here's the thing with firmware updates. You can brick the unit if the power goes off during the update, or for any number of other reasons. So running a software update is nerve wracking! It was easier to bring the computer to the C1X. The firmware update package is downloaded from the Esoteric website and includes the update instructions, the USB driver for the computer, and the firmware file. Once the driver is installed and the C1X software port connected via micro-USB the volume LED starts flashing indicating it's ready to receive the update. Press any key to continue on the computer and the update runs automatically and takes about 2 minutes. Once complete the C1X shuts down. Disconnect the computer, start the C1X and a check of the firmware status shows v1.11d. Cool. It worked perfectly, as advertised. Unlike another brand I have a lot of experience with where software update success was entirely random.
The Pronto serial extender is connected to the RS232 port so now I have to test my distant memory how to configure the Pronto Pro remote to control the C1X via serial.

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I've solidified my appreciation of the C1X over the past four days. It sang rather nicely out of the box, and it got to the point of music after only 5 hours or so. That's all it took for the musicality of its sonic character to solidify. I'm still hearing some slight sideways drift in the center image, which is slightly distracting, but that is settling down over time. It's a brand new C1X so you'd expect to navigate a break-in period. That's OK, I enjoy the experience of break-in. I'm not one for letting a new component run continuously hours on end to speed up the break-in process. Doing that just diminishes the experience of owning new gear.

The pre-amp is the heart of the system, and I think the most critical component. Esoteric saw fit to give it two AC power inlets. It weighs in at just under 50kg making it only slightly lighter than the Grandioso transport. Which is mind boggling in itself considering how much steel is in the construction of the VRDS transport mechanism. I remember, when my Halcro dm8 pre-amp arrived 10 years ago brought the biggest single improvement in my system I had yet experienced. And it's been my reference pre-amp since then. The Halcro has performed flawlessly, and it's still a world class pedigree pre-amp despite its age. The C1X wasn't a similar blindingly obvious leap in performance. Which is probably testament to how good the Halcro is compared to a modern SOTA pre-amp.

The biggest difference I've found between the Halcro and the Esoteric is not so much in the sound but in the operation of the volume control. The Halcro has 28 relays doing the resistor ladder switching magic buried within its insides. Volume control is in 0.5dB steps. You can hear and feel the relays doing their thing. There is a reassuring tactile feedback as you adjust the volume. The rate of change of volume is governed in a programmed way depending how fast you rotate the volume knob. The Esoteric volume control is fundamentally different, with gain being in 0.1db steps essentially making it continuous. The Halcro has a physical mute button, the Esoteric does not. I think there should be a mute button on the face of the unit, not just on the remote control. So for the physical user process of changing volume I like the Halcro better.

Aesthetically they are both drool worthy. The Halcro oozes a classy industrial uniqueness of anodized folded metal and extrusion. The Esoteric is the most luxurious looking HiFi component in the known universe with its 5-axis CNC machined sculptured face plate, blue luminescent display and lighting rings around the volume and input select knobs. When standing in the full Grandioso stack the drool worthiness factor is completely off the Richter scale.

As for the sound. They are both different flavors of delicious. They both make the Magico M3 speakers disappear. The Halcro is tremendously revealing, renders an enveloping soundscape and does not exhibit any obvious flaws. The Esoteric has a deeper bass extension which makes me wonder if there is an in-built faux-tone control for a "house sound" bass emphasis. Or it might just be better at rendering the bass notes in the recording. I don't know. The Magico S-sub is EQ'd with the Halcro. I'll need to run that EQ again. The Halcro and Esoteric have a similar "blackness". Stop playback, turn up the volume, put your ear next to the tweeter and you don't hear anything. Absolutely nothing.

I suspect what is diminishing the C1X is not having it driving the Grandioso M1X. Pre-amps and power amps from the same manufacturer leverage a synergy when paired together. I broke the Halcro synergy by putting in the Esoteric pre-amp. Never-the-less, the C1X makes my 12 year old Halcro dm88 sound more like a new model Halcro Eclipse (I had a home demo Eclipse for a few weeks and I liked it a lot). Overall the C1X is a slight upgrade in the system. It's just begging me now to pair it with a M1X. I could have just lived with the Halcro dm8/88 combination, but the C1X turning my 88 into an Eclipse was a pleasant surprise. I salivate at the thought of what it could do with an M1X.
 
Being on my third Esoteric pre-amp and having owned alot of their single, 2-box and now 4-box setups I am certain it's done maturing
on a break-in curve and you are certain to hear it open up and come out musically even more. It will be interesting to have a full comparison
against the Halcro when the C1X has 350-500+ hours on it.
 
brodricj said:
I've learned that D1X should only be clocked when the input source is also clocked (this is stated in the D1X owners manual). I found if the D1X is set to CLK>SYNC you get random popping noises when listening to un-clocked sources. Set CLK>OFF and the random popping noises stop. This is why CLK mode is a per input setting and not a global setting. Whilst the N-03T has a clock input, when connected to the USB input of D1X communication is asynchronous and the external clock is not used.

What this boils down to is an external clock is only used when the source is an Esoteric CD/SACD transport.
Click to expand...

Not sure I fully understand what you tried, but I do want to try something similar with my k03xd. Namely, link the digital xlr output to my Grimm mu1, renowned for a super clock, and then spdif that back to the k03xd digital input.
According to an article at 6moons on the Grimm mu1, something like this is worth trying.
I'm just not sure the k03xd can be connected as such, basically using it as a transport to an external upsampler+clock and then back to the DAC in the k03xd.

Could trying it damage anything?

Fantastic setup and adventure you're sharing with us! Thanks!
 
You can try using the MU1 as a digital source and connect this to the K-03XD. I can't see how K-03XD>MU1>K-03XD would work. The source select in the K-03XD is either the disc player, or the digital input. You can't have both running together.
 
I guess that was exactly my question... play a cd while using a different, external input.
Thanks for the clarification.
 
Another animal has been born at the HiFi zoo....

Operating in eye candy mode until I can cook up a set of ground cables.

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