Marantz SA-10 Vs Esoteric K-05Xs

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. 

I don’t get the love for SA-10. I owned it for about a month. Yeah it’s built extremely well, feels hefty and has a buttery smooth operation. But to me it just doesn’t sound right. Engaging those filters outside of a default setting makes it even worse. On top of it all it has audibly high noise floor. I pretty much hated it. PS Audio DSD MkI DAC that replaced it at half the price of a used SA-10 was a huge improvement. 
Unless you find a killer deal used and need to check this off your bucket list, I would just skip it