emmlabs cdsa-se vs esoteric 05

If you like the emm labs sound, you might want to consider their XDS1 as well as the other two you mention, which are both excellent. It has a superior transport in it compared to the CDSA, and it sounds a lot better overall to me than the CDSAs that I have heard. I've been using mine for a few years and am very happy with it.

I am not using the Esoteric K05 but I do use an Esoteric UX3 player which also plays dvd audio. The VRDS NEO transport is one of the best in the business. My player uses the Burr Brown 1704 dacs and I believe the K05 uses the AK dacs which are supposed to be one of the best dacs. I have always found the EMM players very ruthlessly revealing (a kind word for bright).

"I have always found the EMM players very ruthlessly revealing (a kind word for bright)."

I have always found people with subpar systems like yours who make criticisms like this to be dull.

No brightness in my system with the XDS1, though I have a tubed preamp and amplifier.