Esoteric Players: No Digital Input. WTF?


Am I the only one who wonders WTF Esoteric is thinking with not putting a digital input on their high-end players? (ie. the X03 SE)

I would love to have the option to try out an Esoteric player, but no digital input means no deal for me, as I sometimes play CDs, and sometimes send in computer audio. (Itunes can now be seamlessly controlled with an Iphone BTW)

Where is the digital input Esoteric? Why is it missing?
goatwuss
Great question, one that gets me all the time. I have an X03SE and it totally rocks, but I am annoyed that there is no dig input. I would even consider a moderate upgrade to have it done, as long as it wouldnt be thousands. I am annoyed beyond belief.
Very, very few players have digital in. It's digital out that makes the most sense. Connect your ipod directly, wtf?
Tarsando -

I could not disagree more (about digital out making the most sense). Why would I buy an expensive player like the Esoteric, and choose to bypass the excellent dac that is built in? Alternatively, wouldn't it be great to be able to use that nice dac that I paid for with my 500 gigabyte library of lossless music? All I would need to do is plug in a $300 Squeezebox to the digital in, and I could control playback with my Iphone.

Off the top of my head I can think of many players that have a Digital in. Just to name a few:

Resolution Audio Opus 21
Wadia (all recent models)
Cary 306/200, 306 SACD
Cambridge Audio 840C
Mark Levinson 390
DCS P8i
Simaudio Supernova
plenty of others...

What do you even mean about the Ipod? I never even mentioned if I had an Ipod. Are you recommending to use an Ipod's dac, connect the analog out to a high-end system, and expect high-end sound?

Going with the Ipod example, wouldn't it be a lot better to plug it into the Wadia dock to get a real digital out, and plug it into my CD player's digital input?