Are you sure the part you need is exclusive to Esoteric? If it’s not, a repair might cost you only a coupla bucks for a generic part and an hour of a technician’s time. I hope I expire before my DV-50S does.
My Esoteric DV-50S died. Where do I go next?
I just received word from the importer in the country where I reside that my Esoteric DV-50S will no longer work, and the company no longer has replacement parts for it. I bought this player in January 2006 new, and it has given me a lot of joy over the 18 years that I was using it. I replaced it for CD and SACD with the Esoteric K-01 more than a decade ago, but I still liked and needed the DV-50S for DVD and DVD-Audio, where it really shined. However, given how well it's built externally, I feel rather appalled that the company no longer has parts for it. A premium product like this with a format like DVD should still be able to work. (I've also had several issues with the drawer mechanism on my K-01, and I don't think that components this expensive should be having such issues. After all, my older Musical Fidelity 3D CD player still works after 24 years while only needing a laser replaced once and without having a premium transport like the VRDS.) While my DVD-A collection isn't enormous, it is substantial--running from old rock and blues all the way to more recent classical, like Xenakis, Subotnik, and Morton Feldman. I would really like to be able to keep playing these discs. Do you have any ideas about what I might do? What are your thoughts about companies like Esoteric not having parts to keep these machines running a lot longer for older players that work with discontinued formats?