Oppo Vs Esoteric


Folks,
I would like to acknowledge the fact that I have heard the Esoteric players at AXPONA and coupe of other places. But my question is how much better is a Esoteric K-07X or K-05X compared to the Oppo UDP-205? I know that the Oppo UDP-205 is a killer machine for $1300. But it is a Jack Of All Trades, while the Esoteric is (soft of) Master Of One. So in that sense, can anyone let me know if it is really worth spending $$$$$ on the Esoteric (or a Marantz SA-10 or Luxman) compared to the Oppo?
Please share your experiences if you have compared the Oppo UDP-205 to any high end CD/SACD player.
Thanks!
128x128milpai
My MW Sony 5400ES has a similar HDMI audio output and I run it to one of my Onkyo HT processor’s HDMI inputs to play multichannel music from SACD. Works nice and the only way to pass a SACD’s DSD raw signal in digital form to another device for D to A conversion as the HDMI handshake provides copy protection to eliminate risk of copying the DSD files from SACD. Won’t do it via Coax S/SPDIF (only a converted PCM file from here).

HDMI DSD output is not I2S compatible so will not work with the Holo nor the Denafrips I2S input but should with BDA-3 and other HDMI compatible DACs as I previously stated.

Dave
Oppo makes a state of the art blu ray player. It makes an above average CD player that doubles as a blu ray player.  All for a little over a grand.  That's great value. However, I put it up against an older Bryston player and it lost, up against the parsasound cd 1 not even close. Luxman d06 not close. Ayon cd2 not close. Solutions 540. Not in the same building! 
lancelock . and of course anyone that wants to read ...  got the Modwright Oppo205 back... only had it for a few days / 8-9 albums of listening...  still breaking this thing in... not good at giving out a review but the first thing is the digital sound is much less if at all.... not sure if it has more detail but one time I was up doing something while listening and there was this one time this part of this song i know well where it made me turn my head in amazement or curiosity (lack for a better word).... this light guitar playing in the background seemed more pronounced...  I didn't remember it this way.. I wish I can listen to that song again with out the mod and compare... bass seems better than I remember too... anyway glad I did it... I don't know how you feed your Oppo music... i did some cd but mostly downloads sent via DLNA... sound is way more hi-rez with DLNA... ha ... you should try it... no software stepping on it (like USB does)...   anyway i'd like to compare 24/192 music thru my Oppo to what the Luxman/Esoteric 16/44.1 offers ...  by the way, i'm ordering some new tubes tomorrow from Upscale that supposed to be better sounding than what came with the mod for $40 each...  he says its awesome : ).....   hope this helps
Agreed.  I have both and the Esoteric is so much better.  OPPO is very good as a universal player (awesome on video) but it is a "digital" player with that distinct character.  The Esoteric is designed to deliver Cd's and SACD's with a wonderful "analog" character, which it does in spades.
I think the Esoteric should sound much better than the stock Oppo. The real test would be between the Modwright Oppo and the Esoteric. This would be a closer competition in sound and price.