esoteric products

Jon2020: How do you like the N-05? What are you using in terms of NAS or local/remote cloud storage?

I've had several opportunities in the last few months to talk in detail about various products with the Sales lead and Support personnel that took over the Esoteric product line and came from the Integra/Onkyo side of the house. Back when this thread started as one can imagine they had their work cut out for them viz. having no knowledge of the products, no listening experience and being at the very beginning of a lot of work required to take on the Esoteric current and near-future product line.  Honestly, it was not readily apparent which way things would go back then given the magnitude of the task and quite frankly, the huge difference in capabilities and build-level of the Esoteric family versus their other offerings.  In more recent discussions though, it is 100% clear they have taken on the task and really gotten to know the products all the way up to and including the 02 and Grandioso "1" products including the "X" revisions of the 03 and 02 components, listen to them for long periods of time and have mastered the features/capabilities and proper application of the products and out there talking in detail and dispensing proper advice.  If you look at the latest price lists, there seem to be some sensible changes to make the price list easier to understand and not so far reaching (IMHO).  

To state the obvious; I'm NOT a dealer or 'industry insider' that would benefit in ANY way from saying these things financially or otherwise.  Quite the opposite actually as they have definitely tightened up how they watch their pricing/dealer network and some of the things that used to happen 'in the old days'.  

Like a lot of people, when Esoteric was bought, i had a very healthy level of audio-loyalist (to a brand/product line) skepticism and downright fear that things were about to go to straight to hell to be quite blunt.  It seems obvious, at least to me after a number of these conversations with ScottS/others there, that these folks have firmly picked up the line and are representing it extremely well and that Esoteric will not be taking a nosedive anytime in the foreseeable future.  I have to come to feel secure (post buy-out) in my decisions to keep going up the line and sticking with them for about 10 years now.  

As for repair of older gear, there were always situations where things had to go back to Montebello CA and in some cases, from there back to Japan (P-0s if memory serves) or wait for parts from Japan and certain expertise to come available.  I'm not sure there have been alot of changes in that regard (but could be wrong for sure....)

All the above are "my 2 cents, opinions and observations" and wanted to share them with other Eso fans/owners'...

Please. lets not compare oppie to Esoteric.  (I guess I mean oppo...)

Jon2020: How do you like the N-05? What are you using in terms of NAS or local/remote cloud storage? cloud storage?

Zephyr24069,

The N-05 has turned out to be an amazing surprise. Its usb implementation has improved by leaps and bounds over that of the K-01’s. The 2nd Gen 4490 chip which AKM calls "Velvet Sound", the enhanced power supply and improved analog output stages have all come together to make it truly way, way better than the K-01.

The N-05 configured as described in my system, beats the K-01 spinning discs in its transport in every sonic regard. I am getting such great sound now from my thumbdrive/pc that I do not yet intend to move on to NAS via ethernet or a standalone music server. To me, the N-05 playing ripped flac files via usb is a massive upgrade from the K-01. Considering its price, it is very great value indeed for the money.

J. :)

"Please. lets not compare oppie to Esoteric.  (I guess I mean oppo...)"

+1 and then some :-)

Jon2020: Thank you very much for the details on your experience with the N-05; it is very much appreciated!