New Esoteric P02 D02

To Guido:

I didnt compare directly p05 transport with x-01 as a transport, but I rather compared p05/d05 with x-01. So, x-01 being ranked as 4th may not be accurate, but it is definitely ranked below p01,p02 and p03.

Thank you Pharma, fascinating and useful info indeed!

I noticed that you have ranked K-01 only as DAC.... Can you rate its transport performance against X-01 and P-03?

How would you rate overall K-01 single box performance against P-03/D-03?

Thanks, Guido

You're welcome.
I liked the DAC stage of K01. I compared it when it first came out back in 2011 with p03/d03. The DAC stage was better than d03 with pcm or cds. I first didnt like the sound of K01 compared to p03/d03. I found it too dry for my taste. When I connected p03 to K01, and used it as a DAC, I got better results, more refinement, more body, etc. Even tough they share the same mechanism (vmk 3.20) with the new p02 and p1 transports, k01 didnt perform like them as a transport. This could be due to better power supply or circuitry in dedicated transports or the clock. When used as a DAC It is close to D02. When I was doing this comparison I didnt use G0rb clock (I purchased it later). All comparisons are made with cds, since there was no way of outputting or inputting dsd to or from k01. That is why I didnt mention K01 as a transport. It would be ranked below p03 as a transport in my personal opinion. I would go for a dedicated transport if you need one. You can get a p03 or p01 nowadays for less than K01 if you need a transport.

Thank you Pharma.... Excellent food for thought.... And even better food for fostering a fresh flare-up of my ever-simmering audiophrenic angsts. G.

Hey Pharma, I see you have ranked the Esoteric DACs and Transports. After reading your prior posts, I would not have expected you to rank the D-02 & P-02 so highly in all your catagories. As a matter of fact, I did not think you were that fond of the D-02 . My impression is that you like other manufacturers DACs and Transports as well if not better, so how do you rank them all?