Esoteric N-01

If anybody in 230V land wants to buy an N01 + G02X please PM me directly as I'm offering mine for sale.

I'm just clearing the decks in advance of Esoteric releasing the replacement for D1, which I'll buy with N-03T.

Everything included as per new. Condition is 100% unblemished from new.
 
brodricj said:
In hindsight, for the cost of N01 + G02X + 7N-DA6100III I probably could/should have bought Grandioso K1. 75% of my music listening is played via Kaleidescape and 20% is Spotify via MacBook. The other 5% is disc spinning or HiRez music on USB stick.
I’m guessing K1 without clock would sound better that N01 with clock.
Click to expand...

I see your point but... from what I understand the Grandioso K1 do not have any ethernet input, so, it will not allow you to stream music from a NAS or from a service like Tidal or Qobuz ? Am I correct ? in this case, N01+G02 is not a real competitor to the Grandioso K1, they are more for different usages ?

Am I correct to say that there is not a TOL "one box" Streamer/Disk spinner in the Esoteric line ? (like dcs has now with the vivaldi ONE)
 
moby1977 said:
Hello

I am Alex from Hong Kong. I am more and more interested by the N01 but can't find that many opinions on this unit so I am asking for your help.
My main priority is dac ability with very good usb input and versatility ( native streaming, roon ready...) Ethernet input is definitely a plus but not a must.
Listening to the unit in Hong Kong is very difficult and anyway home demo is not an option here.

To make a long story short I am hesitating between the N01,combo chord dave/blumkii ( I have already the Dave),and grandioso K1.
Sacd/cd spinning is a nice plus but not a must as well.

N01 is ticking all the boxes but what about the sound quality compared to the two other options ?
A Melco will ( usb and Ethernet ) "feed" my dac.

Sound wise I like clarity, transparency and dynamics.

Thanks
Alex


Sent from my SM-N9500 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Melco is a very good audiophile NAS, but... how will you use ROON with the MELCO since it can't run ROON CORE ? Will you use an additional PC ti run the ROON Server ?
 
brodricj said:
Spotify have been trying to up-sell me to discounted annual membership. Makes me wonder how viable they are. I will stay on month by month.

I don't hear any difference between Spotify streaming and playing the same CD to the RCA input of N01. In other words, no point spinning CD any more when Spotify provides the same quality sound, but with endless variety of content available, and far more convenient than spinning CD.
Click to expand...

I am surprised that Spotify offer CD-like" sound quiality ! Indeed (until Spotify HiFi is available...one day) Spotify offer compressed quality ! is it not losless like Tiday HiFi or Qobuz HiFi !
 
justubes said:
That's fantastic!

I am also getting comparable streams via Tidal to my K-01x and have all along considering a n-01 to simplify when MQA became ready, which is right now:)
Click to expand...

?? How do you stream TIDAL to your K-01X since the K-01x do not have Ethernet input (and therefore no Internet access) ? I am very interested to understand.

thanks in advance for your lights.
 
bmichels said:
1. from what I understand the Grandioso K1 do not have any ethernet input, so, it will not allow you to stream music from a NAS or from a service like Tidal or Qobuz ?

2. N01+G02 is not a real competitor to the Grandioso K1, they are more for different usages ?

3. I correct to say that there is not a TOL "one box" Streamer/Disk spinner in the Esoteric line ?
Click to expand...

1. Correct. No network support on K1. As I mentioned, I was using MacBook computer for Spotify via USB, however N-01 network module Spotify playback sounds better than USB.

2. Correct. K1 provides disc spinning capability (but not network playback capability). Since I made that post, Esoteric has released N-03T. I would use N-03T for network playback instead of computer.

3. Correct. In Esoteric line you need 2 boxes minimum, a player/DAC + N-03T.
 
bmichels said:
I am surprised that Spotify offer CD-like" sound quiality ! Indeed (until Spotify HiFi is available...one day) Spotify offer compressed quality ! is it not losless like Tiday HiFi or Qobuz HiFi !
Click to expand...

Correct. Spotify Premium is 320 kbps. I can assure you, played on N-01 it sounds as good as CD. That is difficult to believe, but trust me on that, Spotify Premium sounds fantastic on N-01. It is so good I have decided to sell my PS Audio DirectStream Memory Player. I have come to the conclusion it is difficult to justify owning a disc spinner when the N-01 (and I assume N-03T also) sounds so good with network playback.

This might sound counter-intuitive, but sometimes I think the Spotify stream sounds better than the same CD. The only reason I can think of to explain that is the communication interface. I'm using a long (cheap) Audioquest VSD-1 video-digital cable to connect the player to the N-01 coax input. The ethernet interface must be overcoming any inadequacies in the SPDIF interface, even to the extent the ethernet streaming is a lossy source whereas SPDIF source is not. I do have a very high-end home network infrastructure so that might be part of the equation as well.
 
My listening habits used to be (as mentioned earlier)....

75% of my music listening is played via Kaleidescape and 20% is Spotify via MacBook. The other 5% is disc spinning or HiRez music on USB stick.

but since the N-01 network module update to Spotify support my whole music listening experience has changed.

My current utilization: I don't spin physical discs any more. I don't listen to HiRez music on USB stick any more. I don't listen to Spotify on computer any more. 95% of my listening time is Spotify Premium on the N-01. The other 5% only happens when my daughter steals my Spotify stream on her iPad, in which case I listen to my own CD library stored on my Kaleidescape server and played via N-01 coax input.

Don't underestimate how good N-01 sounds with a music streaming service. It has completely transformed my end-user experience of music consumption. My upgrade path from here would be, whatever is the replacement for Esoteric D1 (D1X?), and N-03T. I couldn't go back to listening to Spotify via computer after hearing how much better it is via the Esoteric embedded Spotify platform. Esoteric K1 is not on my wish-list any more.
 
I just stumbled on a new way to connect to my N-01.

I have been having connectivity issues with Spotify playing on N-01. The N-01 either shows up in the "devices available" list but won't connect, or it just doesn't appear in the list. Spotify Support are of no assistance because N-01 isn't a certified Spotify Connect device. I suspect a recent Spotify App update may have caused issues connecting with the Spotify SDK binary loaded on the N-01.

The N-01 plays via SoundStream App so my network side is OK.

I have just signed up for a free Tidal subscription, to test whether that works on N-01 better than Spotify. Unlike Spotify, Esoteric is a Tidal Supported device. Well, it works! I'm not seeing MQA in the N-01 display when playing MQA content (unlike my PS Audio DirectStream DAC, for example). What I am seeing is 48kHz and 96 kHz lossless PCM. I haven't worked out how to play an album from beginning to end in Tidal, I can only play each song individually, with playback stopping at the end of each song.

Through the process of getting Tidal to work, when I opened SystemPreferences>Sound on my MacBook Air, the Esoteric N-01 was listed as an "Airplay" sound output device. WTF? is Airplay! What's happening is the Tidal desktop App is connecting to N-01 via WiFi, indirectly via the access point that the MacBook Air is connected to. I don't know if content is getting sucked up by the N-01 directly from the Tidal server (which is how Spotify works, or used to work), or whether the content is being sucked up by the computer, and then streamed from there to the N-01.
 
For the Spotify issue, try this: power down your N-01, iPad and all network switches and access points, and the whole network infrastructure. Power cycle the router. Wait for 5 minutes, then power up the network switches. Wait for 2 minutes, then power up the N-01 and iPad.

To play Tidal MQA you have to use the Esoteric Sound Stream app or Lumin app. The N-01 needs to be running the latest firmware - 10.1i for the network board and 1.02 for the system firmware. This way the N-01 network board directly streams from Tidal via the internet.

If you use AirPlay from iPad to play YouTube, the audio is sent from iPad (via WiFi) to N-01.

If you use AirPlay from MacBook Air to play anything, the audio is sent from MacBook Air to N-01. AirPlay is restricted to 16/44.1 so it is not ideal for MQA. This way the Tidal software on MacBook Air gets the music data from Tidal via internet, then formats it as AirPlay and delivers it to N-01.

Note that after testing AirPlay the Spotify app will use it to stream to N-01 instead of Spotify Connect. To recover from it, in Spotify app switch the device to iPad, then back to N-01.
 
Tidal MQA works fine, it sounds OK (on par with Spotify Premium), but the UI is clunky compared with Spotify.

Spotify Connect doesn't work at all, I suspect something got broken in a recent App update that stops it communicating with the SDK binary loaded in the N-01. Reset of my local infrastructure didn't restore normal operation.

SoundStream works fine, including Spotify Airplay. But as I've discovered, if you close the Airplay control device playback stops. Whereas for Spotify Connect it keeps playing if you close the control point (because N-01 is grabbing content directly from Spotify and not the control point).
 
brodricj said:
Spotify Connect doesn't work at all, I suspect something got broken in a recent App update that stops it communicating with the SDK binary loaded in the N-01. Reset of my local infrastructure didn't restore normal operation.
Click to expand...

Try this:
- Power down the N-01
- Use a pin to insert into the very small hole near the Ethernet port and the USB drive port.
- While holding the pin, power on the N-01 and keep holding it
- The pin needs to be held for at least 20 seconds
 
wklie said:
Try this:
- Power down the N-01
- Use a pin to insert into the very small hole near the Ethernet port and the USB drive port.
- While holding the pin, power on the N-01 and keep holding it
- The pin needs to be held for at least 20 seconds
Click to expand...

This is why I love love my K-01x -- when my server acts up, just pop in a CD, press play and relax.
 
wklie said:
Try this:
- Power down the N-01
- Use a pin to insert into the very small hole near the Ethernet port and the USB drive port.
- While holding the pin, power on the N-01 and keep holding it
- The pin needs to be held for at least 20 seconds
Click to expand...

@brodricj if you have not done the above yet, upgrade the N-01 to firmware 10.3j using the Esoteric Sound Stream app. After the upgrade is completed, in app settings, turn off Spotify Connect then turn it back on again.

See if these two procedures solve your Spotify Connect issue.
 
Cool, that fixed it! Spotify Connect back up and running!

This must be a new firmware as I checked recently and I was up-to-date. Checked today and 10.3j was there. Installed it, and now normal operation has been restored.
 
brodricj said:
If anybody in 230V land wants to buy an N01 + G02X please PM me directly as I'm offering mine for sale.

I'm just clearing the decks in advance of Esoteric releasing the replacement for D1, which I'll buy with N-03T.

Everything included as per new. Condition is 100% unblemished from new.
Click to expand...

I am interested in the N-01, not the G02X though. Please PM me if you can just sell the N-01 alone. I am too new to this forum to be able to PM :/
 
essrand said:
I am interested in the N-01, not the G02X though. Please PM me if you can just sell the N-01 alone. I am too new to this forum to be able to PM :/
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum, thank you for joining.

If you guys need help communicating, please let me know.
 
essrand said:
Thanks for the warm welcome!

If you could enable PM for my account that would be great.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry I can't, but maybe Mike could do it for you. If you make 8 more posts, you'll be good to go.



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