Esoteric Digital Separates

Dodgealum, haven't owned any Esoterics but I came very close. Anyway, if you're not aware of this site, the page linked below should provide some useful feedback on your question:

http://www.high-endaudio.com/RC-Digital.html

I own the P-03U/D-03 combo and can tell you that I've never heard anything like it in terms of the level of accuracy, musicality and enjoyment that it produces. I moved up to this combo from the UX-1 Limited (which I enjoyed very much) and experienced the same type of large leap in every major category that is referred to in the article that Foster_9 mentions above. It is worth nothing that the P-05/D-05 are a worthy combination to be sure; I've know 2 people who have owned that stack. The 03 level is just 'more' and 'right' in every category. The 01 series represents 'nirvana' of course but one must win the lottery to think about that investment. Interestingly enough, Esoteric has introduced a SOTA 1-box unit combining the same fanatical dual-mono DAC design and over-built nature as is in the P-01/D01 and P-03/D-03 offerings; they call it the K-01. I would truly love to hear that unit some day just to compare my current results with their latest and greatest...

Thanks, Foster 9. Very interesting comparison represented in that piece. Zephyr, since you have the clock, what do you think would be the wiser upgrade path--adding a G-03X clock to my X-03SE or going with a P-05/D-05 or P-03/D-03 combination without the external clock? Also, can the new tandem machines be used a la "set it and forget it"? I'm not much for fiddling around with various decoding schemes and would rather have the machine simply decide on the conversion and playback settings that will yield the best sound.

Sidenote: How do you like those Legacy Focus SE's? Some have compared them to my Daedalus DA-1.1's.