I had the opportunity to hear in the dealer's setup in Singapore a NAIM CD555 and Esoteric K-01XS, and the CD555 easily bested the Esoteric. I then had another different chance to hear a long time owner of the CD555 who replaced his CD555 with one SA10, and then actually dumped the 555 altogether and went in for another SA10 for his second home. At another friend's house, I heard the Esoteric X-05 for many years, and when he replaced it with the SA10, the X-05 was quite fresh in my mind and I could see it was sensational, in detail, richness, tonality and exciting pace. Good as the X-05 had been, the SA10 lifted the friend to a greater level of ecstasy. All this was enough for me. I snagged a SA10, and it has proved to be a wonder, every bit. Very versatile, in terms of type of music, and no weaknesses. A 128GB usb stick houses a bunch of hi res files, so no need for PC audio, and when I play redbook, they sound quite magnificent. So though a series of steps, chained together, i had reached a conclusion which has proved correct.
