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Esoteric K-01/K-03 Owners

Spoke today with the local Esoteric rep to get information on plans to upgrade existing K-01/K-03 users to the "X" model which is only sold overseas at this time. Here is the scoop. (Dates/$$ are only close estimates)

- Upgrades will be available in October 2014
- The upgrade will include the USB input mechanism to support 2.8 MHz DSD (Native Playback) and 384 MHz (PCM).
- There are several other upgrades to the K-01x/K-03x that are not included. (i.e. Upgrades to the DAC, Transport, etc that are direct descendants of the
Grandioso Model).
- Approx. cost is $1,000 (Not including 2-way shipping)
- The Upgrades will be provided in California

Info. on K-03x: http://www.esoteric.jp/products/esoteric/k03x/indexe.html

Beats having to buy a new DSD Dac in the meantime if patient.

Ciao
gocubs999
jon2020's avatar
jon2020
985 posts
 
Hi Tboooe,

Thanks for your kind comments.
For my minimalst set-up, no computer or software interface is needed. The player just reads off the data from the flash drive and the artist, album, track, file type and sampling rate info are all shown on the display.
I do not intend to use the network function either as this would entail the use of a computer with usb and ethernet cabling to the home broadband router. Any of this along the signal path introduces jitter to some degree.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi John, what size / model of flash drive do you use?

Guido
jon2020's avatar
jon2020
985 posts
 
Guido,

I am using the Sandisk Cruzer with 128 GB on board. It is a high speed 2.0 usb thumb drive. I think these are easily available nowadays.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Does the Marantz player support large SSDs formatted as NTFS inside USB enclosures? E.g. The Samsung 850 Pro 1TB?
jon2020's avatar
jon2020
985 posts
 
Only usb drives formatted as FAT16 or FAT32 is supported. Unfortunately, NTFS formatted SSD drives cannot be played by the 8005.
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