Esoteric n-01 xd vs DCS Bartok

@romney- I listened to both DCS Bartok and Rossini. They were very good, providing enough details and balance over the entire frequency range to capture your attention. I listened to them at a local dealer’s showroom with a different set of electronics and speakers than what I have in my music room. If I didn’t listened to Bricasti I would have  had no hesitation selecting the Bartok. Rossini is more expensive but I didn’t think that the difference was huge.

I listened to the Bricasti unit in my music room with their power amplifier M25 and the combination did sound really special. It was much detailed without being harsh, cleaner and the music evolved effortlessly in my two channel system.
At this level both of these products are really good and it would come down to your personal preference when making that final decision. Good luck for the upcoming audition and let me have your feedback on both of these units.
Thanks.

Hi Romney. I just purchased the Bartok w the class A headphone amp, after some negotiations with the dealer I was able to get his demo for around $12,500.00. Not chump change for a small part of your setup. I'm still scratching my head or maybe examining it on why I picked such an expensive pastime. Hopefully, with the gate arrays that DCS uses, I won't need to buy another unit because they are continually upgrading the software. I haven't heard the Esoteric N-01. However I traded the PS Audio DSD w network bridge. I was excited to set this unit up having heard it at several dealers and also having read rave reviews in TAS and other respected publications. It takes some tweaking to set up properly with your system so be patient. After several interconnect and ethernet attachments I got it to play and immediately noticed how much more musical it was compared to the PS Audio. A much wider sound stage and timber. Let me say that after listening for a few minutes, I had to shut it down, it was really killing my ears with brightness. After some research, I adjusted the output to 2 volts instead of 6 volts to match my BAT 53-Se tube preamp. I also noticed by letting the unit achieve it's proper operating temp, which takes about an hour from the stand by mode, this unit really opens up an sings. Make sure you leave this unit ON. I heard nuances in my test tracks that I'd never heard before and was highly impressed. I called DCS America and they were very helpful with helping me fine tune the unit and getting the app to work with all of my networked music.
   The DCS app is really much better than the PS Audio M-Connect, which was the big reason I switched to Bartok in the first place. Making playlists are a snap with all of my networked music, not just what's on Tidal. 

IMO, a fairer comparison to Esoteric N-01XD would be the Rossini, given their price, not Bartok

Thanks. I am strongly considering going for esoteric N-01 (not XD). I am trying to limit my budget and N-01 is available for good discount. DCS guys do not budge for deals. Looks like there is lot of demand for Bartok and the price of Bartok is going to go up from sep 1st. As I have already fallen in love with N-01, I will go with N-01 for now. If I need, I will consider adding a G-01/G-03 clock. 

If I were you, I would bite the bullet and get the XD. Once and done, and no regrets later on