your impression on esoteric sa-50

......really, owning Esoteric myself I would wage the bet that in ohhh 5 years let's say, that Esoteric will still be around. Service after the sale was a big factor in my purchase....some are just are flavors of the month.

I'm sure Teac/Esoteric will probably be around in one form or another for a while but Oppo has been around for ten years or more and offers great players at reasonable prices.

Oppo over Esoteric? Kidding, right? The Esoteric relays the very fabric of an instrument; the timber of the violin; differences between nylon and steel strings; the breath of a vocalist; pinpoint imaging and lifelike sounstadging. An oppo??? One demensional, flat, no ambiance or involvement (unless I am drunk). Yes, oppo sounds GREAT, compared to my Bose Wave Radio. Please, guys...

guys thanks for sharing, i like the versatility of SA-50, but so many suggest x-05 is better sounding cdp despite a newer filter in SA-50.
never auditioned oppo, my current cdp is CEC, it does everything well, very musical, but shows shortcomings in the treble area, soundstage is not so dimensional, on the contrary with high end stuff there will be no problem with measurement(which demonstrates the diminishing return rule in hi-fi), there won't be night and day differences in sound, but with that much more money, you paying for the presentation, and realism. Like you guys said, it's not just about hearing the instrument, the ambience, the timbre is something the lower end can not acheive.

Look at the PS Audio Perfect Wave if you don't care about SACD or multichannel.