Esoteric D-05 dac and Oracle transport

Hi V&V,

I would say you might find a lot of positive improvements in the digital cable (cannot speak to the Orchid not having heard it or read about it)...but there are some out there which really made a dramatic improvement over my original Cardas Neutral REference (Nordost Valhalla...BNC termination). Also, isolation products have definitely improved over time that help with reducing transport vibration. Some find power cable can help as well.

As you can see, i am (personally) a proponent of seeing how far you can stretch your transport before you splash out 5 figures on a transport where CD availability is still good but generally dwindling. good luck.

Hi Valvesandvinyl,

the Oracle is for sure eye candy, I owned one for a few years.

Some of the info. in your posting is a bit confusing in relation to the model.

2500 MK2 is all in one player that offers XLR out for conection to a pre-amp and also offers digital connections for an option of use of a external dac but does not offer AES "XLR" digital.

2000 is only a transport and you must connect a external dac using a digital cable for it to work.

This is the unit I owned and when I demoed I preferred over the 2500, if you take a peak at my past threads section you will be able read some of my comments in general.

So to answer your question if it is the 2000 transport that you own, my favourite digital cable and digital type was a Stealth Audio Sextet AES "XLR" cable after trying numerous manufactures and types of digital. I also ened up using a Stealth digital power cord and swapped out the cheap glass fuse for a HiFi fuse.

My favourite all time DAC was and still is the Acustic Arts Ref Tube Dac, swapping out the two tubes for different ones and again using HiFi fuse and Stealth PC.

A tip in relation to the puck; make sure you keep the black sorathane tacky because this is apart of the design and has an effect. This was one thing that did annoy me a bit because you would have to peel it off the cd every time and some times I found it took part of the art work off so then you would have to scrap that off the sorathane and again ensure it was tacky.

Enjoy!

We seem to be getting off topic though. I was hoping to get feedback on how good the dac is with my transport, the reason I ask is that the reviews I can find match it up with the PO5 transport, which I do not want to get.

V&V,

i think your transport & D-05 are going to be great. Save your money and spend (a bit) on digital cable upgrade if you wish.

Hi Dev;

Thanks for your reply. I own the dedicated transport, which I believe is a mark II because they have symbols to explain the buttons, the earlier version did not. (I may have even bought it from you locally in Ontario, a year or two back).

The puck is still performing perfectly.

That Stealth (Vardig I assume) Sextet is expensive, especially in balanced. I will keep it in mind.