Differences Between Esoteric SACD Players

These are excellent responses. Everyone to a person,and I have gotten some emails as well, seems to love their Esoterics and it seems I cannot go wrong. Since the X series is considered to be the better series due to its more sophisticated transport, I just have to decide if I want to spend the extra for the X-03se over the x-05. Again, if you are out there and have directly compared them, please chime in.

I would be patient and see if an X03 comes up in your budget range. The X03 has the improved mechanism, which is really what distinguishes upper end Esoteric players from any other marque, including those which buy the lower-end transport mechanism to put in their SACD players (I once owned the Playback Designs MPS5, which is an excellent product but not relevant here). Having owned a variety of Esoteric gear, I currently own the UX1 among others and love it for the reasons mentioned here. You don't feel like you were at all shorted on what you spent - the engineering, build quality, feature set are all top drawer. If you were to get an X05 you might start ruminating on an upgrade whereas with an X03(SE), you'd probably be set for a while.

I have the X03se and it's the way to go. You see a few here for +\- 4,000.