Marantz SA-10 Vs Esoteric K-05Xs

@audphile1 ,

I am completely with you when you say that you don't mean to rain down on anyone's parade. All I was trying to say that sometimes certain products do not work in our own systems when most users are reporting gains in their system. In my case it was a power accessory filter. 90% of the folks here were reporting amazing gains when they added multiple such accessory in their system. If only 1 piece was added to my system, it made a big noticeable positive difference. But unfortunately, when I added more than one of that accessory, it ruined the sound. I did report as such here and then another gentleman reported that he experienced the same.

So you did report that the SA-10 did not work in your system and everyone should respect that because you genuinely reported what you experienced. At least folks have a reference of cases where some component might or might not work. I have mentioned it before and will say it again - I rely more on forums and user experiences rather than paid reviewers to make my buying choice. Many times we do not have options to go out and hear a component and in such cases I have found that user recommendations are super helpful. I do take recommendations only from folks who have been on any site for a while and not just a day or month.

For anyone who owns (or has listened to) the newer Esoteric XD models (K-05XD/K-03XD) how does their sound compare to the previous generation XS models, since they are now using their own in-house DAC Chip and design.

@milpai yes synergy is key! One other important factor to consider is one’s reference point. 

Started this thread almost 5.5 years ago. Wanted to at least mention that my search has ended after I replaced the Oppo UDP-205 player/DAC with the T+A DAC 200. I am very pleased and satisfied with the change.