Esoteric X-01 versus Oppo 105 Darbee for CD audio?

There are distinctly superior playback with the Esoteric, in a well setup system. The hairs on my dog ears stood up when lazing on my lap, he would not lie and sleep! This is not a pun intended and happened only minutes ago before i stumbled on this thread.

For value, in a value system and don't even need to compare the Oppo, a sub thousand player does sound very good indeed.

FWIW, i had a Marantz SA11s2 modified to the max and effectively ended up costing double the price. It has a nice vocal from the start and ended up doing every thing very, Very well throughout the frequency range. But like what Cerrot said, never once made me startled that as if there was sound from a real instrument or sound popping out of nowhere which i have experienced on the esoteric, not all music, but a good many recording will reveal such experiences.

I am sure my dog was left rather puzzled as well. She never pricked ears at the radio or TV, ever before! It was really funny.

Dogs tend to do that once, then adjust and go back to sleep.

Yes I would of loved to gotten the esoteric myself...me being a audio cheapskate wouldn't let myself buy another thousands of dollar player...

Saying that the oppo I just got done running in is really quite impressive sounding...even if it is what it is...Is it perfection from a purist standalone....there are trade off's with everything.

There are things coming out of that thing I never heard with my sim I 5.3...technology improvements?

I am becoming a believer in this unit...even if I don't need all the bell's and whistle's.

Colekat....your right and I’m wrong. Lets all buy Bose! In my opinion its the best “value” and I could have saved $150,000 on my system!

No your right, and I could have saved $200,000.00, but I did pick up a couple good deals along the way, shame on me for looking around. Does paying below retail count, or are we adding up what we could have paid... That would put me near $300.000.00! Wow, and that's $75,000.00 just in cables!!
Although I met my dealer at his house, and he clearly could use the money more than me!
Come-on, don't be hurtin' on Bose, we have a Bose in the SUV, and it sounds pretty damn good.
As for the Oppo and Esoteric X-01. I have the Oppo and had the X-01, and
when you put them side by side for listening, they both have strengths. But the Esoteric is clearly a better sounding CD player for my taste. But, the Oppo has far more flexibility, espiecally if you want connectivity to stored music and Hi Rez. There is no USB available for the X-01, they both play multi channel, but only SACD on the Esoteric, plus, Opps! , nevermind!