Marantz SA-10 Vs Esoteric K-05Xs

I did see one post of a person from 2018 that had bought a Esoteric K-07X and the switching power supply developed a hum from the unit itself. They send it in for repair, but still has the issue, so had to pay the pri difference for the K-05K that has the Toroidal power supply and no hum. But this is the only post I can find on line about somone with this issue. I was looking for the newer K-07XS model, but it also uses a switching power supply. For the price, I would think Esoteric would have a Toroidal power supply in all their players.

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/38554-noisy-esoteric-k07x-dac/

So this is interesting.

Currently there is a Marantz SA-10 in black (that would match my other black components) on here listed at $3500. Says that it is a store display demo unit.

(Over on Music Direct they now have the SA-10 New discounted to $5200, which is out of my budget).

And over on eBay there is a Esoteric K-07XS (in silver) listed for $3300.

So between a Marantz SA-10 demo unit and used Esoteric K-07XS, both at the same price, I'm not sure which would be the better sounding unit in my system (B&W 804 speakers, MIT Cables) since I can't find any dealers in my area that still have the SA-10 or Esoteric XS series units on display.

@fauguy If your system is perhaps slightly on the more resolving or bright side I would go with the Marantz.  The earlier Esoterics could be tipped up in the upper frequencies until they issued the XD series.  I owned the the Modwright Marantz SA8005 and now the Esoteric K-03XD.  This is an apples to oranges comparison but I heard enough good things from the Marantz line to figure out the SA-10 would be a good choice.  Just my two cents.

Goose is right. I bought my marantz SA 10 open box paid maybe close to 6k.After 3 yrs and 2 months laser gave up.Marants won’t repair it after warranty.if you don’t need balance Marantz Ruby is a good choice get it brand new. If you decide Marantz used buy extra laser in Georgia $50 they are original to be safe.

I have fully enjoyed my Marantz SA-10 SACD player, it is very refined. It can sound as good as the disc played, for instance, a disc recorded with tube sounds that were real, full sounding, and body to the music, then today's over-compressed, over-produced crap sounds that way. This replaced my Esoteric K01 and I never looked back or missed the K-o1 and that was a really fine player.  Key to any great SACD player is the power cord used, and you're playing the acoustics of your room. SA10 is a fine player and an overall champ that is also affordable and well-built. I use Dithere 1 setting, filter 3-1. The headphone amp is off, and gain is set to medium and that is important it kicks the sound up a notch and I found this by trying it one day, phase normal (based on my XLR gear pin configuration). Compared to many much more expensive players the Marantz can stand up to them all in sound quality.