Esoteric K-05 or K-07?

Thanks Jeff,

My concern with the K-03 is that the manual says you need a full 8" above the top of the player. I don't have that much room in my rack. Top shelf has my amp, so I can only have 1 or 2" of clearance on the next shelf.

K-07 is lower height, and that manual says nothing about all that clearance.

I'm replacing a defective Cary 303t with skipping problems. Loved the sonics, but could not deal with the quality issues. That's why I'm now considering Esoteric. I hate "glare" or fatiguing sound, and have been told Esoteric should fit the bill.

Does yours run hot, and how much clearance above the unit do you think I need?

Thanks so much for your comments.

Yashu, if you have a rack with the shelves vented on 4 sides, there should not be a problem with ventilation of K-03 or even K-01. My X-01, which runs a little warmer than K-01, has about 2" of top clearance... The player's top is warm, but never hot, even during summer months. If you like a highly textured and lush sound that never locks you into the syrupy arena, Esoteric is a fabulous way to go... K-01 is more textured/refined than K-03, which is more textured than K-05, which is more textured than K-07... You get the idea. Either way, as I mentioned in your other thread, break the player in with a lot of patience, and you will be rewarded by its sound. G.

I run my K-1 in a 10" open Zoethecus rack above a very warm Cary v12 amp.

It has 4 " clearance and never heats up.

Agree with others posting on the sound. Esoteric is more neutral than my previous Wadia which I loved, but I like the k-1 even better.

There are pretty good deals out there so I would go for a lightly used K-3 vs a new K-05 or 07.

K-01 is really world class, and the K-03 is supposedly 80- 90% of the K-01

I owned an X-05 for about 6 months and it was anything but warm or lush. Perhaps their more expensive players have a different tonal balance.

My Esoteric experiences echo Chayro's post above. I have listened to a couple of Esoteric CDP's, but I was never tempted to buy any of them. Yes, they do provide dynamics and detail, but none of the models I listened to were even remotely close to being warm or lush sounding.