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Esoteric Grandioso P1/D1

Hello, wanted to start a thread on the new flagship Esoteric Grandioso P1 D1 digital system. Haven't seen any out there and also there is not much information on the web either. Just a couple of reviews and that is about it.

Idea is to share experiences and knowledge on this digital playback system from owners, people that has listened to it, with first hand experience for whatever reason, or just for those who may be interested to ask questions as potential future owners...

If you are reading this, you probably know the system is composed of 4 pieces: A transport, the power unit of transport, and 2 mono DACs for each channel.

Additionally, you can use (and I do recommend it to a great extend) the clock G01, so overall a 5 pieces system.

This digital replaces the old 01 which has been in the market for a long time and brings new interesting features it will be nice to discuss in depth.

Some are quite new or at least not seen before in high end audio like the use of a proprietary transfer protocol (ES-LINK 4) using HDMI cables.

it allows direct DSD and 352.8kHz/48bit PCM ultrawideband digital transmission using an HDMI cable for each DAC.

http://www.esoteric.jp/products/esoteric/p1d1/indexe.html

But most importantly, to discuss it's music reproduction qualities and different configurations and experinces.

Despite being out there for a while already, I can't understand why there hasn't been much said about them. I guess Esoteric should expend a bit in adds to get the atention of the pro audio publications... :-)

Anyway, I have these for less then a month, and despite having very little hours on them, they are quite something. However they are still evolving so will wait on my side a while still to talk in detail about the sound.

Hope this thread is of use and helps owners, potential ones, and others gather and share lots of information.

Thanks
Eli
eelii08

Showing 7 responses by guidocorona

guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi Eli... I wish I could say that I am in the market for one of these multibox marvels... Realistically, I am not... Else I would have to join the "Prefered Divorse Program" that a teller of my bank told me about this morning... Yep, both my wife and I heard the same exact thing from the young lady.... Asked to elucidate, she corrected... It was the prefered "Rewards" program instead.... Ah, I was hoping for bank-sponsored financial assistance for suffering audiophiles under spousal threat of divorce for financial ineptitude.!

Anyhow... Here I am, affordability, or... Not!

G.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hey Eli, from her grim disposition, I venture to guess that the young lady in question might be unhappily hitched to a financially profligate audiofool.... Uhrn, I meant, a dedicated audiophile!

G.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hey Eli, do you mean... Is G. still a suffering audiophile.... And is his better half getting inspired by the young teller in question? The answer is... Definitely yes, and, not sure.... SWMBO has not reached for the yellow pages for a family loyer yet.

Meantime, I am working on a review / break-in blog for the amazing High Fidelity PCs designed by Rick Schults in Dallas... Even the entry level is really amazing stuff.... I will create a thread before long on Audiogon.

For the rest... All's good, except for working almost 11 hours a day... At age 61, I'm starting to notice it *grins!*

G.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi ColeKat, have you tried to drive your amps directly with the Grandioso DACs, without linestage in the signal path? Results? G.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi Colekat, I find it interesting that Esoteric has given up on volume control / attenuators. From a technological point of view, it is possible to design/implement DACs that have extremely graceful volume control and that by themselves do not require the additional processing provided by a linestage.

Many dedicated DAC seem to go that way, and there seems to be growing adoption of higher end system configurations sens-linestage. Adoption trend may be both based on economics and performance... Granted, my own front end is not at the level of Grandioso (old X-01 and Rowland Aeris DAC), but I am absolutely happy by the resolution and musicality that I obtain driving my M925 monos directly with the Aeris DAC.

I am wondering if Esoteric choice to phase out volume controls on DAC is somewhat marketing driven.... Existing customers traditionally were not driving their DACs directly into amps... And Esoteric wants to promote sales of their excellent line stages.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi Colekat, I am confident that Esoteric engineering/marketing had a very carefully reasoned process that led them to omit volume control in their latest DAC designs. Whether their decision optimizes the long term success of the product line, or causes an eventual flexing of highest end market-share instead, only future will tell.

Guido
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Harve, in fairness, Teac was never born as a consumer audio high end company either.... Its bread and butter consumer audio products were lower to barely mid-fi at best, before they gradually opened up with Esoteric offerings.

Thus, I am not too concerned with Integra's past... Though its future in the high end is still unclear and requires some corroboration.

G.
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