Esoteric K-03 or Luxman D-03x


I'm looking for a new/used player and I have an opportunity to buy a used Esoteric K-03 at a reasonable price and close to what a new Luxman D-03x would cost. My system is set up primarily to play vinyl and cd's. I recently owed an older Esoteric X-03se, which I really enjoyed, until it developed a transport issue so I ended up literally giving it away because of the difficulty getting it repaired at a reasonable cost. Whatever player I ultimately buy will be run through my Aesthetix Janus preamp even though I understand that the X-03 has some type of volume attenuator while the Luxman does not. New technology vs old, excellent build quality vs very good, manufacturer's warranty vs "if it breaks I pay to repair it". I don't own any sacd's but might consider buying a few of the better titles. Don't own any. MQA cd's but might buy a few to hear what they're all about. Help a brother out! No right or wrong answer but I'm just looking for other members honest opinions if you have owned and used either of these two players or which one you night chose and why. Thanks, Skip      
ucmgr

Showing 3 responses by erik_squires

I'm not at all an Esoteric fanboy or statistician.  I'm only going by what I see on Audiogon, so I defer to others for a definitive opinion.

I suggest the OP do his own searches and judge them with better guidance than me.

Best,
E
Look for Esoteric transport threads, lots of complaints about how hard they are to get serviced in the US.
About 10 years ago the clocking mechanisms got REALLY good and even Redbook CD’s / 44.1/16 bit started sounding truly excellent.

In this one area I usually recommend, hard, buyers stay away from older gear.


I don't know the pieces you are mentioning, but if the Esoteric is more than a few years old, I'd strongly suggest you look for newer.