I have the Esoteric P3 and D5 combo and I used to own the X03se. I thought about getting the P5 but decided against it after finding out it uses an inferior transport to what is currently in the P3. It is my opinion that the transport plays a significant role in the sound of a cdp, especially its ability to resolve low levels of detail. I have said this before, to me, low level details is what makes a song sound real and organic. All that being said, to my ears the P3D5 combo is better than my previous X03se. I heard more detail and better separation of the instruments. It should be noted that I decided on the D5 not for financial reasons. I have a digital music server that I wanted to send through the dac. Strangely, the D3 does not upsample. Instead upsampling is done in the P3. The D5 does upsample and has the latest 32bit AKM dac chips. Both of these factors played an important part in my decision making process. And yes, saving some money was nice too.
Without any emprical data, I would guess that the D2 should at least as good as the P3D5 combo I have. But because of the inferior transport, I imagine the D2 should sound better than the P5D5. All that being said, if you do not need digital inputs, I think the sweet spot in the Esoteric cdp lineup is the X03se or X01ltd. |
henryhk, you are correct. I do not convert to DSD as it did not sound good 176to my ears, though I do upsample. Even at a modest encoding setting of VBR 256 (mp3), it sounds remarkably similar to the cd playing through Esoteric P3/D5 combo. I guess I am lucky dont have golden ears! |
Yada, here is the link:
http://www.asahi-kasei.co.jp/akm/en/product/ak4397/ak4397.html
Cmk, the reason why I think the x03se and xo1ltd is the sweet spot comes down to price vs performance. You will be paying a lot to get only a bit more performance (to my ears anyway). Dont get me wrong, the d2 is a great player and if you can afford it, go for it. But if you want to consider value and are willing to give up 5%, then I would get the X03se or X01ltd. Just my two cents. |
cmk, going up the one box players I heard better separation of instruments, more detail, and tighter bass. Of course the improvements are subtle. I am not sure if separates has that much advantage over a well designed one box player. Remember, now you have another set of cables to worry about. If I did not need digital inputs, I would have stuck with a one box player and get a great clock. |
It would interesting if you could compare the P5 with the P3 using the same D5 dac.
I agree that cables make a difference. I am in the process of changing out power cords. I have found some that helps to improve the sounstage, dynamics, and detail.
Good luck. I look forward to reading more of your thoughts. |
cmk, congrats on the P5D5. I agree with a lot of your sentiments regarding its dynamics, separation, and air. Question about using PLL2. Arent you slaving your P5 to the D5's clock? If so I would suggest you try this.
arbuckle, you can have multiple digital sources hooked up to the D5, just as long as they have different cable types. There is only 1 set of each type on the D5.
bar81, I personally think the P3D5 is the best combination since you get the better transport of the P3 with the new 32 bit dac of the D5. But as you said, if the P5D5 is close to the P3D3, then perhaps it is a great deal. |
Bar, I chose the D5 for two reasons, the 32 bit dac and the fact that it can upsample which I wanted for my digital music. I did get a chance to compare the P3D5 and P3D3. As you said, they are so close. To be frank, at these performance levels, the differences are so small its hard for me to tell the difference. I ultimately chose the D5 because for some reason (imaginary or not) I thought it sounded more analog. The fact that the D5 could upsample made it an easy decision. Oh and of course the price always helps! |
CMK, I have not tried all the different options but based my decision to use the RCA instead of the toslink on things I read. There are also more choices in terms of cables to use with the RCA. |
CMK, for my connection between the P3 and D5 I do use the dual XLR. I was referring to my connection between my digital music source and the D5. What cables are you using? |
cmk, you can switch between inputs from the remote???? I did not know you can do this. Can you explain how you do this? |
cmk, my remote does not have the input buttons. I wonder why? Do you know the model # of the remote you have?
henryhk, I am very happy using my D5 with my Sonos digital music server. Let me know if you have any questions. |
Good point cmk. I think my remote is the one for the P3. I am still not sure why it would not have an input select option though. One thing that bothers me is that when I do switch from cd to my digital music source, I have to turn off the P3 or else the word clock missing error will blink. Minor annoyance.
Henryhk, the Sooloos looks great! The interface is nice and big. For the price, I really like my Sonos but it does require some hardware while the the Sooloos is a complete package. Very nice! |
nolitan, i use the D5 with both the Esoteric P3 and a Sonos digital music source. My personal feeling is that the transport makes more of difference than the dac (assuming you are comparing decent quality dacs). That being said, I would get the x-03se rather than a cheap transport and the d5. |
its hard to believe a cdp that costs as much as the X-03se can be considered "value conscious". In my opinion it is a very good player and can easily be the pinnacle of digital playback for most people. In fact, a cheap $50 cdp from Best Buy can be SOTA and completely adequate for most people! |
