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I heard a costly system from Esoteric.

2 days ago I was able to audition an Esoteric audio system. It consisted of the following:

Esoteric F-05 (Class A/B) integrated amplifier

Esoteric K-03 - CD/SACD Player

Over the years, I’ve been a vintage audio guy and I’m also into headphones. Someone told me that listening to an integrated amp with headphones (6.3mm) will give you an idea about how sound quality from the amp translates over speakers. I’ve found this to be very true in practice.

I gave it a go - with the NAD HP50, KEF M500, and some other (more) high-end headphones the store had. Currently, I only have the NAD’s and KEF’s, but I’ve owned dozens of high-end headphones in the past. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. Please allow me to explain without calling me a liar. It’s nothing personal, just my impressions!

There was considerably less drive/power behind the headphones. For instance, you would literally feel the bouncing air on the cups on closed-back headphones. Literally the same as a headphone dongle with a small amount (in mW of output power). In each song I listened to, I heard familiar details, but it was glossed over by a very sharp and peaky midrange and treble. There was clearly a boost in these frequencies. Bass was anemic. Normally, with high-power headphone amps and even some vintage integrated amps (high-end back in the 90s with 0.09 or less THD etc.), I got the detail with the sonic finesse. In other words, everything the Esoteric amp and CD player did together, I’ve already heard before. It simply pushed mid-treble frequencies to the forefront.

And the cost for this system? 13 Grand for the CD Player. And at least 10 Grand or slightly more for the amp. So 23 grand or slightly more with taxes factored in.

For this kind of money, if they are including a 6.3mm port for headphone listening, shouldn’t it be optimized? Afterall, if you’re going to include that in an amp, make sure it sounds good! I’ve heard headphone systems costing much, much, much, less that sounded better.

My last disappointment was the CD skip - track seeking function. It was very slow. Even some vintage CD players had a skip function where you hold  down the track change/skip button and the numbers move like a stopwatch. On the K-03, it was by the second, or a few seconds at a time. And I had to press the play button again, rather than simply seeking the part of the song I want to listen to.

Source: high-quality CD’s that I burned with .wav files (familiar songs, and original CD’s from my CD collection)

Don’t get upset, Esoteric owners. Feel free to share your impressions without getting mad at me. I know this is a touchy subject; since the object of one’s desire (especially after spending this much money) should be justified!

jackhifiguy
jackhifiguy OP
151 posts
 

@ghdprentice 

I personally would never assume the headphone output would be at the same level as the speaker output… but if I tried it and it was not up to par, I would be disappointed.

Finally, someone understands what I was saying. I have nothing personal against them. Stereo pan issue on the F-05 was just plain weird. Vocals that I've always only heard on the right channel suddenly appeared on the left channel when using headphones.

mickeyb
585 posts
 

Always lusted over accuphase equipment. I believe they’re more in line with Luxman than esoteric. I don’t listen to headphones so I can’t comment on the quality of that function regarding esoteric. It does seem odd they would put the Jack with not much thought into implementation.

audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
2,018 posts
 

I think budget components that sound extraordinary fascinate me more than ridiculously over priced hifi.

yoyoyaya's avatar
yoyoyaya
812 posts
 

@jackhifiguy. I really don't see the point of this exercise. The amplifier is designed to drive loudspeakers and primarily to be listened to in that configuration.

No one in their right mind would buy an expensive integrated amplifier to listen primarily on headphones, so why audition it that way?

The sound that you describe is not reflective of the way Esoteric amplifiers and CD players sound. In fact, if they draw criticism, it's usually in the direction that they are too smooth sounding.

As regards your subsequent post, clocking in digital audio has nothing to do with the track seek/select function.

As regards the comment's about weight, you might as well generalise that to most high end audio that uses linear power supplies and casework that aims to be as non resonant as possible. Actually, Esoteric could improve the products by making the top panels of thicker material and making the product even heavier!

fatdaddy2
402 posts
 

If headphone listening is that important, I'm surprised you're not using a dedicated HP amp in the first place.  I'm using my Woo from the tape output of my Luxman; the Luxman's HP jack is for convenience only.

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