AlDavis,
Thanks for your response. I wish I could say for sure that the X01 was "fuller sounding" than the UX1. I know both are voiced on the brighter side and not as warm as the DV 50.
I auditioned the X01 on a really warm system (see my previous review) and that may have hidden some of the issues I heard with the UX1. In talking to Marc Michelson at Soundstage (he reviewed the DV 50, UX1 and X01 side by side) he told me he felt the X01 was about 20% better than the UX1 which is a lot of improvement when talking audio.
What I do remember is when I brought my DV 50 to the dealer for a direct comparision to the X01 it tore it a new "you know what" and I was flabbergasted at the differences. Not even close. The UX1 was also signifcantly better but I didn
't leave that demo with the same "overwhelming feeling of superiority" that I did when I demoed the X01.
Yes, you are correct that I am particularly enamored with tubes right now. The best non-tube digital just seems (imho) to get better at doing the things audiophiles love to talk about: soundstaging, imaging, increased detail, etc but still fail to sound more musical.
When I say musical I'm not talking "analog" sounding. That's easy to achive even in a digital cdp. All you have to do is voice the player more towards the mid-range, eliminate some of the detail and soften up the high's by rolling them off. Some of the high end Marantz players, Lector, etc know how to perform this trick very well.
I don't want to just "hear" the music sound better or more analog. I want to "feel" it...the emotion, palpability, etc. I want images to feel as though they're right in front of you. Peforming for you in person. Tubes can do that.
I want very much for the Esoteric to take me where I want to go because I love their products, technology, build quality, etc. But at $13,000 a cd player should do more than what I heard from the UX1. Right now, I haven't heard anything close to the modded players other than the DV 50/Audio Aero Capitole Dac combination I alluded to at the end of my last post.
That sounded unbelievable but I didn't get to hear it on a variety of music..only jazz. But if it sounds good on all types of music that may be the route I go. It would give me the superior redbook sound I'm looking for while keeping the ability to play the high rez formats. The DV 50 sounds very good in SACD and DVD-A (not as good as the UX1 or X01) but I could live with it.
My only problems/concerns with the modded players has to do with the re-sell value and some of the quirky operational features (built-in digital volume controls, disabling of some features/functions and most of them sound best direct to the amp. I like having a pre/pro and don't want to see it rendered useless in 2 channel).
AVGURU
Thanks for your response. I wish I could say for sure that the X01 was "fuller sounding" than the UX1. I know both are voiced on the brighter side and not as warm as the DV 50.
I auditioned the X01 on a really warm system (see my previous review) and that may have hidden some of the issues I heard with the UX1. In talking to Marc Michelson at Soundstage (he reviewed the DV 50, UX1 and X01 side by side) he told me he felt the X01 was about 20% better than the UX1 which is a lot of improvement when talking audio.
What I do remember is when I brought my DV 50 to the dealer for a direct comparision to the X01 it tore it a new "you know what" and I was flabbergasted at the differences. Not even close. The UX1 was also signifcantly better but I didn
't leave that demo with the same "overwhelming feeling of superiority" that I did when I demoed the X01.
Yes, you are correct that I am particularly enamored with tubes right now. The best non-tube digital just seems (imho) to get better at doing the things audiophiles love to talk about: soundstaging, imaging, increased detail, etc but still fail to sound more musical.
When I say musical I'm not talking "analog" sounding. That's easy to achive even in a digital cdp. All you have to do is voice the player more towards the mid-range, eliminate some of the detail and soften up the high's by rolling them off. Some of the high end Marantz players, Lector, etc know how to perform this trick very well.
I don't want to just "hear" the music sound better or more analog. I want to "feel" it...the emotion, palpability, etc. I want images to feel as though they're right in front of you. Peforming for you in person. Tubes can do that.
I want very much for the Esoteric to take me where I want to go because I love their products, technology, build quality, etc. But at $13,000 a cd player should do more than what I heard from the UX1. Right now, I haven't heard anything close to the modded players other than the DV 50/Audio Aero Capitole Dac combination I alluded to at the end of my last post.
That sounded unbelievable but I didn't get to hear it on a variety of music..only jazz. But if it sounds good on all types of music that may be the route I go. It would give me the superior redbook sound I'm looking for while keeping the ability to play the high rez formats. The DV 50 sounds very good in SACD and DVD-A (not as good as the UX1 or X01) but I could live with it.
My only problems/concerns with the modded players has to do with the re-sell value and some of the quirky operational features (built-in digital volume controls, disabling of some features/functions and most of them sound best direct to the amp. I like having a pre/pro and don't want to see it rendered useless in 2 channel).
AVGURU
