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Unsatisfied with Esoteric K-01: Alternatives?

I lived many blissful years with my Reimyo CDP-777, but finally decided it was time to start the transition to PC audio. I opted for the Esoteric K01 in order to have the maximum playback flexibility with CD, SACD, and asynchronous USB DAC. Fast-forward about 6 months and I find myself really missing the warmth, tonal richness, and musicality of the Reimyo when listening to to the rather cold, dry, and neutral K01. It is not a bad player by any means, but I've just come to realize that I'm a musicality guy as opposed to an analytical guy.

Now I'm in a bit of a quandary in regards to how to maintain that flexibility with something more to my taste. Are there any CD/SACD/asynch USB players (or combos) that lean more to the Reimyo's sense of musicality? Harmonix's current line still doesn't do USB input, or decode any thing but PCM up to 44.1. I'm starting to to think my only option is to buy the Harmonix for CD playback and then have a completely separate system for SACD/PC audio playback, but I would love to avoid that if at all possible. Any suggestions are welcome.
no1willfan
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi No1willfan, I found that K-01 sounds very different, depending on filters and upsampling, ranging from slightly "matter of fact" to sweetly tube-like. I also discovered that each filter appears to be implemented on its own piece of silicon logic, and so needs its own tediously long break in time of about 500 hours of music/noise.... Same for the upsampling settings. In the end, I found that the most tube-like setting was generated by the Slow Delay 1 filter in combination with 4X upsampling. However, my highly preferred setting for an ideal balance of resolution and emotionality was the apodising Slow Delay 2 filter with 4X upsampling.

Guido
gammajo's avatar
gammajo
846 posts
 
Ayon CD5s has an excellent Async USB plus Coax etc for PC audio. It does not do SACD but has inputs digital and analogue that I think can work for separate SACD. Its preamp section and DAC are also excellent. A very natural, musical sound that I would say is a touch warm versus cold.
doggiehowser
672 posts
 
I use an XDS1 and MPS5 thru a tube preamp (ARC 5SE and Ayon CD5S).
vicdamone
850 posts
 
A CD player, really?

Empirical Audio Overdrive
no1willfan OP
31 posts
 
@Guidocorona: One reason I've waited 6 months is because I've been diligent about burning in and trying the different filters and combinations on the K-01. While there is a marked difference between them, I still haven't found one that can match the Reimyo for warmth, richness, and musicality. It may be because the Reimyo did 8x oversampling while the K-01 is capped at 4x, and it does seem generally true that oversampling adds a sense of richness to the music. I think I found the FIR filter slightly richer, tonally, than the SDLY, but the SDLY was more natural sounding.

@Others: Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look into them.
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