Having ripped all my cd's to flac, I recently traded in my old K-01 for the Esoteric N-05 dac/network player as I would like to control all my music in redbook/hires pcm/dsd formats via tablet/phone and so no longer need a spinner. With the N-05, Esoteric has improved its usb design and implementation by leaps and bounds. The N-05 via usb from the PC handily beats the K-01 spinning CD/SACD’s in its venerable VRDS Neo transport and of course, its usb input too.
This indicates the importance of the new dac chip(AKM 4490 compared to the K-01’s discontinued 4399), usb design and implementation, enhanced power supply and analog output stages which all allow the N-05 to surpass the K--01 in every sonic parameter.
Usb implementation isn't just about the usb interface but more the sum of all the parts that make a usb-dac sound excellent.
I marvel at how good redbook can get today. The new gen dac's via usb narrow the gap so much that well-recorded redbook sounds just as good as hires pcm/dsd. An expensive spinning transport with its moving parts and their potential to deteriorate over time can now be dispensed with.
