New Esoteric P02 D02

Apologies for coming in late and changing the topic...but there's a lot of knowledge about Esoteric products in this thread, so I figure this is a good place to ask—

Does any one have experience of two different configurations of the D-03?

After buying a P-03 in 2013 (new, but manufactured in 2010), and finding my DAC wasn't fully compatible with it, I read some reviews, ascertained the specs and had my dealer order in a D-03.

Thing is, the D-03 manual from the Esoteric website, the one I used to make the purchase decision specifies analogue output level as:

2.2 V @ 1kHz into 10 kOhms—RCAs
4.4 V @ 1 kHz into 10 kOhms—XLRs

A dealer (Sora Sound) was kind enough to actually measure the D-03 he had on hand and confirmed these specs. HIs unit actually measured higher: 2.42 V and 4.84 V.

But the printed manual that came with my unit has very different specs:

2.1 V @ 1kHz into 10 kOhms—RCAs
2.1 V @ 1 kHz into 10 kOhms—XLRs

And this may explain my problem.

I greatly enjoy the quality of the C-03x-P-03-D-03 combo, but, with the D-03 in the chain, my system never has enough gain. Beautiful, but anemic. it's

Yet there's no problem with any of the other four DACs I have on hand.

So I'm beginning to think I've got the version of the D-03 in which the balanced outputs have no more voltage output than the single-ended ones.

I've also noticed, when checking the specs of current models on the Esoteric website, that in some models of DACs and players, the XLR analogue outputs double the voltage of the RCA outputs, while in others the two are the same.

So...if anyone knows anything about low and high output versions of the D-03, please let me know.

TIA, Joel.

Might analog output voltage be a user selectable seting? Have you tried to poke around the settings menu? G.

Guido is probably right as usual.
I would like to share my experience with my Esoteric K-01 and I believe it applies to the D-03 too. If you go to settings, and toggle through to "Analog Output" you have a choice of 0dB or +6dB. Try the +6dB and see if this improves things. If not, you are better off with a high quality analog preamp. I have found the +6 dB setting changes the sound. Although you get more gain, but strangely enough, as the volume increases, the sound gets congested or constricted, and the soundstage collapses. So, I got a good analog preamp and everything just falls into place very nicely after that.
Cheers! J.

Hey Dr joe, What are you using for cables? Are you using the balanced outputs? Something doesn't sound right, the C-03x should be a perfect match for that combo!

On page 16 of the C-03X manual, there is a section on adjusting the output level from -18 to +18dB in 0.5dB increments.