CD players - Luxman vs. Esoteric?

I have an Esoteric UX-1 that I had Esoteric upgrade to a UX-1pi, while retaining the original transport. It has their best transport. Esoteric is a pleasure to deal with and seems to me to be path of least resistance in your case. Build quality of Esoteric products is also excellent.

Additionally, I believe Luxman products need to go to Japan for repairs, whereas Esoteric does it in California.

I'm confused. If you've already heard the X-05, WHY DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERS THINK ABOUT IT? You furnish information on awards and reviews and Luxman models - to what end? Do you work for Luxman? Are you trying to talk yourself into or out of either?

Again, as has already been suggested, just try them in your system and see which you like better. Its that simple. If you don't even HAVE a system, then this thread is a bit premature until you do. Just keep in mind that your system will only be as good as its weakest link.

I have an Esoteric UX-1 containing arguably their best transport, now only found in the P-01. My sound is ANYTHING BUT clinical. It is actually just the opposite and although my system is tubes, Esoteric demos their systems at shows without tubes and the music still sounds great. The key, as others have mentioned, is proper setup and system-matching. Most audio folks I have talked to are very tuned in to doing this. My transport spins at 4x the speed of most CD players, allowing for a buffered "error correction" on the fly. It results in very accurate reproduction of what is on the disc, but instead of sounding clinical, it just sounds "right". My goal 8 years ago was to have the musicians "playing in my living room", and I have achieved that with the help of Esoteric and a few other friends.