Esoteric x series as transports

Agree.

When you already have a high end player with quality dacs why would you want to alter the designer's intended sound?

i believe its called the never ending pursuit of perfection...;)! to be fair, i think the x5 is an excellent piece of equipment, and while there probably are DACs icorem might prefer...they will be expensive and require an expensive digicable as well.

I am coming at this question from the opposite side of the equation. I have an Audio Note Dac3.1x being fed by a Mac Mini. I have a 100 or so SACD's gathering dust (but seemingly gaining in value)

I have been oscillating between staying with the "organic flow" presentation of a CEC/Forsell type transport which seems to be the natural partner with the non-upsampeling Audio Note philosophy and the Esoteric X series transports where I get an SACD player thrown in.

Sure would like to spend a few nights experimenting but I live in an audiophile desert. Anybody in North Georgia with an x-05?

Lokie: The CEC / Forsell (as well as Teac/ Esoteric transports) + AN dac combo create superb sound. I strongly recommend you follow that route -- it sounds very good. As a reference I usually listen to a Vitus Signature cd player.

To accommodate those sacd's, look for a reasonably priced integrated (used Lindemann, Magnat, Sony, etc).

I mean, you're not going to spend an incremental $6k for the Esoterics just to accommodate 10 sacd's are you:)