SACD/CD Drive Mechanism Replacement

@yoyoyaya  I appreciate your post!  I very well could be wrong about which transport it uses.  I was solely going off of what I had read in the various reviews of the EMM Labs XDS1 SACD/CD player where I had read it uses Esoteric’s VOSP vertically-aligned optical stability platform.  As it is mentioned in 6moons Audio  https://6moons.com/audioreviews/emm/1.html ; in the Enjoy the Music review https://www.enjoythemusic.com/superioraudio/equipment/0410/emm_labs_xds1.htm; on the Audio Aficionado forum https://www.audioaficionado.org/showthread.php?t=42683 ; as well as on other forums.  Someone could have gotten it all wrong and all the others may just be parroting that mis-information for all I know.  I'll also freely admit that I am very ignorant when it comes to all things digital.

I have read amazing things about the Esoteric K03-XD SE!  If I remember correctly, there are people who actually prefer the sound of that player over that of Esoteric's more costly models... which is very high praise indeed .

As I had mentioned earlier, I am in the very beginning stages of trying to decide which route to go down and I am keeping a very open mind with all of this... so I truly appreciate yours and everyone's advice and willingness to share your thoughts,  experiences and guidance with me.

I would love to be able to hear the EMM XDS1 v2 or the Esoteric K03-XD SE in my system!  However, seeing as I would be buying used, I don't know how I could manage to do that without buying both and then selling off one or the other.  Sadly, I don't know that I would be able to do that.

Have you been able to compare the K03-XD SE with other players side by side in your system?  If yes, I'd love to hear your thoughts about the comparisons that you have been able to experience.

Best wishes,

Don

@ghdprentice

Ha ha, yes I know... it’s almost unfathomable that my wife and I do not have an iPad I’m so technology challenged that I am actually quite embarressed. I thought I was doing pretty good by at least having an iPhone and a MacBook Pro, lol. Could I use the MacBook Pro to control the Aurender once I get around to getting the streamer?

I don’t think I want to make things too complicated, so I don’t think I would want to use the MacBook Pro to stream to the dac. I think I would put the streaming on hold until I can afford to also purchase the Aurender.

So this would leave me with too options....

1. Use my old Rotel 955AX cd player as a transport into a very nice dac (TBD yet) while saving for a very nice Aurender to eventually stream music. However, my concern is that using my old and cheap Rotel as a transport, I won’t reap the sonic benefits of having the very nice dac... at least not until I am finally able to purchase the Aurender streamer.

2. Buy a very nice all in one SACD/CD player of the likes of EMM, Playback Designs, Esoteric, etc. Then at some point into the future when I can afford to purchase a very nice Aurender... run that into the dac section of the SACD/CD player. I’m thinking that way I would have really great sound right off the bat for playing my existing CD’s and maybe pick up the occasional SACD’s as well as have great sound in the future when I can get the streamer?

I guess I don’t really know how much importance the transport would play in the sound reproduction. My hunch is that it has an important role. Much like that of the which the turntable does in a vinyl rig.

Would anyone have any thoughts to share?

Yes, I also agree that I want a very musical sounding dac section/player. Before I had my strokes, I played my cello in classical venues and my tenor and bass trombones in jazz venues.  If I wasn't performing, I was still attending live acoustical music events a few nights a week, so I am very much interested in musical sound vs the overly hyper detailed/etched type of sound.

I have a dealer about 1.5 hours away from me that has all of the top Audio Research gear and  when paired with the right source and speakers, it certainly does sound very nice 

Best wishes,

Don

Hello, Don. I was referring to the Esoteric K series in saying that they use the VRDS mechanism. The VSOP was an older Teac/Esoteric OEM mechanism.

If you are buying secondhand, it will be a non SE version of the K series as the SE has only just been launched.

But any K series Esoteric machine will sound a lot more refined and "analogue" than an older Naim player.

Unfortunately, I haven't heard the Emm labs machine so I can't compare.

If you are going to explore streaming, and are new to it, you might not want to spend a lot initially on an expensive streamer such as Aurender, because some people just don’t get into it.  Streamers are networking computers , gussied up to look like audio components.  They are subject to the the same foibles that networking computers have.  So for example if you have ever had a printer go offline on you, when you didn’t do a darn thing to cause it, and been driven mad until you resolved it, there may be some of that in streaming.  Frequently software updates by either the streaming service (Spotify, Qobuz, etc) or by the streamer manufacturer, or even your internet provider, may cause incompatibility issues, and the various companies will point fingers at each other and leave you in the lurch.  
  I mention these issues, OP, because you have stated you don’t feel comfortable with IT issues.  I’m not particularly IT fluent, but I’ve been streaming for years.  I generally have been able to navigate the frequent problems, but in one case I ultimately sold off an expensive streamer, a Bryston, because it was so buggy and because it’s software program was basically unusable.  If you love CDs, it’s really hard to beat plug and play.  And while there are endless debates here about which sounds better, equivalent price level CDPs and streamers sound about the same in quality.

  If you are using an external DAC, I would stream initially with your MacBook.  You can load the service on the computer and see how you like streaming.  If you love streaming I would still upgrade the CDP and then do it all.