Esoteric K01: What are the best settings for CD?

I think when using the Esoteric el natural org and DF setting much like the SACD when played you are hearing the quality of the DAC's in this unit without manipulating the information off the disc. These units have superb DAC's. I listened to Sinatra this morning, went through all the filter setting that I like and have used, enjoyed a few of them, but every time I went back to el natural setting, Sinatra sounded like a real person singing in front of me, tone of his voice was spot on, his phasing was better, more depth and tone color that makes the reproduction was as real as a system can sound besides live of course. High Hope you could hear the hall Frank was in and the tone of the kids were perfect, use the setting, some areas came more forward, Sinatra's voice got bigger, Bass got fatter, so more hi-fi'ish, back to el natural and everything feel into place how a recording should sound, a balance to it all and much more firmer and detailed bass by far. I must say though I do you a BNC, Digital terminators and Cardas RCA caps for the unused RCA outs on my player, by doing so the noise level drops to such a extent, that your jaw will drop, these small tweaks are well know for any digital sourse, don't use them terminate them. Cost $25.00. I am enjoying my system more and more now. When you start grabbing recordings to replay you know you and found something special.

Hi PhillyB.... I much prefered Sdly_2 with 4X oversampling.... But there is no right nor wrong... Just personal preferences... And this is exactly why these devices offer us user-selectable settings. G.

PhillyB,

Your experience very much mirrors my own. I tried the various permutations and combinations initially and found that DSD uosampling with filter OFF was preferred for my system. But one day I just happened to try out ORG with filter OFF and Wow! Yes, as a Sinatra fan myself, the Chairman never sounded better spinning in the K-01. So, I settled on this combination.

Lately, I have moved on and am now using the K-01 only as a cd transport driving a new hi-res dac. Time marches on and so does digital tech in audio.
Still, I am glad you are enjoying the ORG/OFF settings, which I did very much for some time.

Cheers! J.

I do like the unfiltered PCM setting on the K-01X-- a vivid and open sound. However with some CDs or after extended listening this setting becomes fatiguing. The unfiltered noise products get under the skin.

The recording should make or break the sound quality. Always been that way, nice thing is you can use FIR or sdly 1 setting to smooth things out. I never leave Org. though.

No different than a phono cartridge, some are vivid and in your face, others laid back and warm. Anyone who thinks your hearing what was in the studio is only fooling themselves and taken the fun out of this hobby. Like a good cook, a steak can taste a certain way, or many, many other ways. In the end it is our own preferences. Enjoy the music and not the gear. Marketing will always have something new.