Esoteric X-01 Limited or Esoteric P-05/D-05 combo?

The consensus that I've seen is that the P5/D5 sounds better than the X-01 Limited in RBCD although obviously given the price difference (including dual AES/EBU, BNC/BNC and extra PC and these matter so if you can't afford excellent cables stick with the X-01 Limited) nobody can tell you if you would find the improvement to be worth the cost.

what is the best connection for P5/D5 ?

I heard that balanced digital cable x 2 sets is the best way ?

nonetheless want to hear options.

Both the AES/EBU Dual and the iLink cable options sound good. Either one can be "tuned" to sound better depending on your setup, so I wouldn't say that one is definitely superior to the other.

Let me correct my previous post. When I posted the previous post, I had a lingering feeling that the iLink had the edge in resolution, although the AES/EBU had more body, so I did some further listening. I think if you get the right iLink cable, ie one capable of supporting the transmission rates, it would definitely outperform the AES/EBU dual cable connection. In both cases, I had an additional BNC cable connected to lock the clock signal between the P5/D5.

What are the AES/EBU cables that you've compared to the IEEE 1394 connection?

I have D5 being connected to my CEC 51XR (acting as a transport) via Audioquest Raven AES/EBU. The sound quality is just outstanding. Will P5 outperform CEC, I wonder? If so, I would consider P5, but there's a question of connection options.

It's hard to imagine that stock iLink cable can outperform an expensive Dual-AES solution.