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APL 3910, Exemplar 3910, MF KW, Esoteric X-01?

I currently have Krell KPS-28c cd player ($8500). I am thinking about upgrading in the near future. Please help me decide which player – most important for me is “red book” format. The rest of my gears are Krell KCT pre-amp ($9000), Krell 400cx amp ($10500) and Wilson Audio Sophia ($11500). Following are possible players in random order:
Musical Fidelity KW SACD - $7,000.00
Krell CD/SACD – to be released soon (because of CAST) - $?
ESOTERIC X-01 SACD/CD - $13,00.00
APL 3910 - $5000.00
Exemplar 3910- $4000.00

Will I be down grading instead of upgrading with any of the above player?

Thanks in advance for your input
sd2005gt
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glai's avatar
glai
446 posts
 
IMHO, The review update is accurate. Mine is current except for the clock. I am not sure if it is the best digital in the world because everything has trade off. (Master of the obvious)
However, it is well balanced. To me, the strength is liquidity (?neologism) and smoothness. The bloom and warmth enhances many recordings and there lies the trade off for some image specifity.

For the price, it is truly a winner. I have had much more expensive source in my system and can't keep up with this.
711smilin
513 posts
 
Goose, It really depends on your budget, personally, I have owned all them, and feel the APL is the best, but, with that said, I am still having Dan make me a player. Not the 999, but a copy of Jayctoys DVP9000ES, with volume control, and 6 volt goose. Just different presentation. I highly reccomend these players. FYI, the Exemplar rocks too. I have found that I get so much more bang for the buck with the modded units.
Good luck in the journey, keep it fun
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Has anyone A/Bed the current leading moded units based on Denon 3910 and follow ons with the Teac Esoteric X-01?
I have A/Bed the older APL 1000 and X-01, but that is not a fair comparison, being the APL 1000 based on older Philips hardware.
orjazzm
45 posts
 
I too am very curious about modded players. Are they really that good? I recently checked out the new Ayre universal and was clearly blown away. Can anyone comment on how the modded players compare to the Ayre?
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