Well the SA10 is twice the price of the SA-11S2 and designed nearly a decade later, so I would certainly expect it to sound better, especially following the critical feedback Marantz got from their relatively murky sonics back in the day. The front panel ergos are improved, there are digital inputs, their in-house transport is two generations newer, and PCM is immediately transcoded to DSD. I'd venture to say these players could well be sonic apples and oranges.
You found the SACD format as a whole to be a "strange interpretation of the music" or Esoteric's playback of it?
CD playback should now be as good as the format allows on any player over $2K. Low-rez PCM ought to have been figured out by now. Different flavors and approaches, sure, but pulling everything off the CD should be understood -- I may be wrong.
I spent a day listening to the dCS Puccini SACD player nine years ago (vs other units, including my own DAC FWIW): that was the best SACD playback I've yet heard, and I'm sure a decade later newer designs sound as good for less money.
You found the SACD format as a whole to be a "strange interpretation of the music" or Esoteric's playback of it?
CD playback should now be as good as the format allows on any player over $2K. Low-rez PCM ought to have been figured out by now. Different flavors and approaches, sure, but pulling everything off the CD should be understood -- I may be wrong.
I spent a day listening to the dCS Puccini SACD player nine years ago (vs other units, including my own DAC FWIW): that was the best SACD playback I've yet heard, and I'm sure a decade later newer designs sound as good for less money.