Esoteric DV-50: Any cdp's Significantly better?

MGottlieb,

Jactoy's last point is quite interesting and one I never thought to ask you myself. As the one person on this thread who has the best digital equipment on the market today...X01 as a transport and for SACD's, Meitner's top of the line DAC, DV 50 for DVD-A only and a serious turntable rig, obviously you have invested a lot of money and time choosing your equipment.

What are your thoughts on our findings that the modded players are not only competitive but in some cases can even exceed the performance of your gear? Have you listened to any of these modded players (or others) that we've demoed? Are you of the belief that they can in fact outperform your gear? Or is buying one of these units as a replacement for your digital separates not a viable option? If not, please explain why?

What aspects of your digital set-up (what sonic characteristics) are you so enamored with that you couldn't possibly think of replacng it with the modded units?

Sorry, MGottlieb but you know I have to ask you the tough questions. You basically have a set-up that offers the best of the digital world. You are the resident digital guru!

AVGURU

Aldavis, just when I thought the duststorm was starting to settle, you bring news of upcoming new Esoteric products. What else is known about UX-3 and X-03? Will redbook/SACD performance be less, comparable, or better than UX-1 and X-01? Perhaps these should be the machines for our brave modifiers to consider reworking. Guido

Jayctoy, I will give you my impressions of your Modwright Sony DVD9000ES. The sounstage was huge, wide, deep, almost holgraphic. The background had a white noise, not blackness. The midrange was accentuated, bloomy, almost as if there was an eq being used. The seperation of the instrumentation was exagerated, and the bass was a bit boomy, not as tight, as real. The voices were almost hauntingly echoed, and very beautiful. This to me is some of the finest DIGITAL I have ever experienced. Accurate?
No way in hell. Great sounding, Absolutely. When I was sitting in my listening position I was amazed at the musical presentation being presented. IMHO I could not live with this type of machine for exclisive 2 channel listening. I was getting fatigued, and confused. This was more romantic, lush, bloomy, exagerated reality. Fun, yes. Sometimes for 2-channel, definately. For me, I am really now trying to make up my mind between the Exemplar, and the Modwright. This would be for HT. The more I think about the experience of your Modwright in my home, with my speakers, the more I think about the potential of using my 5 cornwalls, and my B4-plus/Crown K2 with a soundstage this big, this romantic.

Wow, this may be just the Perfect unit for HT, I can just Imagine the VOICE in the Matrx thru this type of player. OMFG, It would almost be a religios experience. I agree with you, when you said, at my house that the system sounded so good, you could just lay down and go to heaven here. But, to me, this is not accurate. This is romantic. I feel to be accurate, I need a black Background, Voices that sound like live voices, instruments that are not exagerated, but played as it is recorded.

I really believe you that in a church setting, with the acoustics you get in church, like a choir singing. Yes, this is what I heard too. On my upstairs sony receiver, I have a eq function called hall that is similar, certainly not as seductive as the modwright, but I think you get my meaning. I believe the newer Modwrights have a bit blacker backgrounds than yours, and are MUSICAL as all get out. I am really wanting to talk to Dan about the 3910 he is working on right now. He posted, it should be done in a couple of weeks.

I have more decisions to make now. Which unit to buy for my SS/HT rack...the fun continues.

Jayctoy, this is my EXPERIENCE and MHO of your unit in my home, with my ears. I love it, I love the sound, but, it is too much for my 2 channel pleasure. The newer mods I look forward to buying, trying, and who knows.

I had intended to pull the trigger today on the Exemplar for my HT, But, IMHO it is so close to the APL, I do not know if I would enjoy it as much for HT/5 channel.

The saga continues

The Quest for the Best Continues!

You all will be happy to know that my local Esoteric dealer has informed me he SHOULD HAVE the UX1 in house by tomorrow evening. This is a demo unit that has already made the review rounds to several well known av mag's. As such, the unit will be well broken in. My dealer has decided to buy it as his floor demo.

Of course, yours truly will be there Saturday morning for a listen. Unlike 711, I like hearing a player in a multitiude of systems (or at least another one besides my own) so I can make sure the sonic characteristics I'm hearing are not biased or system dependent. However, I definitely agree with 711 that when it comes time to making a purchase I would never buy before auditioning in my own system.

I have spoken to Jactoy (he being the lucky owner of the glorious Wright modded Sony) and he has agreed to join me if time permits. Don't know if we will be able to directly AB his unit against the UX1 on Saturday, but if not we will do it on Wednesday when he and I both have plenty of free time to do so.

There are couple of other people in the Chicago area who are following this thread but are not really actively participating. (Mr. Northbrook, Mr. Elgin where are you)? Don't be shy...please do join us for a spot of Earl Grey tea, scones and a fantastic listening sesssion!

Be on the look-out for my shoot-out sometime next week!

AVGURU

Avguru and Jayctoy: If you go back and look at everything I've said, I have never claimed that anything I have or have heard is the best there is or can be. Usually what draws a comment from me is someone else's suggestion that something is "the best" or really gets what's on the source. And this skepticism extends to reviewers as well: a friend of mine who distributes a couple of well known and pricey products assures me that if you saw the listening rooms in which many reviewers listen to new products you wouldn't believe a word they say. As to specific questions:

1. I have heard very few modded products, but I have no reason to believe that a talented modifier can't work wonders with a stock product, most of which are built to a price point. If a manufacturer wants to sell something for $2000, but would need to charge $2200 to sell it with a better internal component and therefore chooses not to use it, why shouldn't a modifier be able to put one in, charge you $500 for the mod, and achieve better sound? [Of course, the problem is, is it better or just different? There are tradeoffs, remember.]

2. In fact my Classe Omega SACD player was in actuality a $12000 reworking of the $5000 SONY SCD-1, and was noticeably superior in every respect. Was that a modification, even though done by a major manufacturer? Depends how you define modification. I heard some mods of the SCD-1 and they were pretty good, but did they come close to the Classe? Not hardly. But the starting point of all of them was an absolutely superb transport mechanism.

3. Would I buy a real modded unit? Maybe, but it would have to be a modification of a stock unit I would have considered buying anyway, and for me that means the build quality would have to be very good. I have heard people rave about the sound of components which were lightweight and flimsy and supposedly sounded good despite their construction, but I've just never heard one I liked--something was always compromised about the sound as far as I was concerned.

4. Hello, where on earth did you ever get the idea that I own anything I wouldn't consider replacing? Certainly not from me. When this thread started back in the 19th century I had just replaced my Classe with an X-01, mainly because I had just received DSD-capable versions of the dCS units, and had listened to the Meitner gear on someone else's system, and wanted something that could do in SACD what dCS and EMM had accomplished without having to put up with what I didn't like about their respective transports. So three of my four digital components are new this year, and the fourth is eighteen months old. Of course, there are limits. Some time next year the three-box Esoteric digital system is going to role in, for about $40,000, and of course I'll want it. But no, I'll have to do without; for now I'm through. Life is full of hardships, I'm afraid.

5. What do I like best about what I've got? That it sounds more like what I hear in the hall, at least in kind, than anything I've heard (which I can afford, if I suck it in hard enough) so far.

6. Me a guru? No one is a guru who doesn't understand how things work, and for all I know there is concrete and spaghetti in them thar boxes. I know what I like, and I don't confuse that with anything else.

All from me, I think. This thread has been fun, but it's getting old.