Esoteric K-05 or K-07?

Yashu, read Ryan Colemans review of the P-02/D-02 in Ultra Audio( Soundstage). It's not the K-05 , however it is a great dicription of the strenghts of the latest Esoteric series players. The whole line shares the basic design philosophy and you can hear the heart of the sound in all the K's. I owned an X-01/D2 and was very happy with it. Great player to separate the sounds in the music and terrific detail and dynamics. Last year I purchased the K-01 and was blown away by the change in sound from theX-01. All the strengths are still there but the difference is in the way the presentation feels. There's a smoother presentation, much more natural. All the K's have this feel. The big difference in one model to another is clarity of each separate sound in the presentation. Go for K-05, and if you can get to the K-03, you may never upgrade again, I think there that good!

Hi Guido,

Very interesting comments on the use of various Sort Kones under the X-01.

I have something of a love/hate relationship with my Esoteric K-03 and have also been playing around recently with the use of various Sort Kones in my system

One thing is immediately clear. After trying various footers including Ansuz Diamond, Cold Rays (Ti), Pulsar points (Ti)and Sort BC (Bronze) & TC - all are far better than resting the K-series on its own footers - which is pretty interesting considering the work Esoteric is said to have put into the footer design!

Under the K-03 and indeed under most components, I've generally found TC to produce higher fidelity than BC. BC does sound a bit more 'earthy' with a little more mid-bass heft but it is at the cost of treble air and overall resolution most noticeable with a discernable loss of subtle reverberant and ambient detail.

Audiolabyrinth,

I was in a similar situation that you were in a little over
a year ago. I had the K-03 and the Rega Isis in my system at the same time and the Rega simply was more enjoyable to my ear. I really wanted to buy the K-03 but in my system the Rega did everything wonderful and had that analog smoothness to it. I do have a great analog setup amd for the first time my digital is just as entertaining as my vinyl. The pricing of the Rega Isis & K-3 are quite similar. There is a review in Tone Magazine and a few others about the Rega. You owe it to yourself to at least hear the Rega. Have fun!

Hi Kiwi_1282001... You are right on about pure BC, including BC on X-01. Yes, earthy with a little more bass than what I would been happy, and a little less treble than what I would prefer, is exactly how I would define it... Overall, not a setup that I could live with.

The magic appeared only once I "doped" the BC trio with one single TC in the middle front of the X-01 unit.

Guido

@ Bobheinatz, Hi, Thankyou for yor post, My question is, Does the rega Isis have a volume control?,, I know that may seem crazy to want one, My cables cost so much money, God forbid buying multiple cables!, I am tring to go source to amp, then latter, I may go the over exspensive route of a pre-amp and more cables, can you imagine $15,000.00 for each 1-meter interconnect?, I really do not want to go there!, thats why I have one i/c at that retail price!,, all my less exspensive cables are for a second system, when I rebuild it., Happy Listening.