Majority of posters here are own Marantz and nobody talks about esoteric.
I owned most previous top (reference) models from Marantz (7, 14 and 11) and auditioned sa-10. I tried to find alternative to esoteric cdp that cost less. I was not able to succeed. The esoteric k-05x properly burned sounded more 3d with more details than any marantz (including sa-10).
The sound (one needs to burn esoteric for at least 300-400 hours) to fully appreciate its sound. Simply saying - the esoteric k-05x sounded close to live than marantz. And I disagree with previous poster saying that may be newer models from esoteric do not sound better. I demoed K-05xs side by side with k-05x and k-05xs was warmer and another step closer to analog than k-05x without loosing any details. I also advise to check luxman d-06u player. This one can compete with esoteric and even so it's not as resolving as esoteric but it's more analog sounding with bigger 3d stage and better imaging. Esoteric is more dynamic with better bass. So between luxman end esoteric its a matter of personal choice. Marantz (to my ears) is not in the same league.
