Oppo Vs Esoteric

rnrmf1971, I also have a Oppo 105D and an Esoteric K-01x. I find no comparison between the two players for stereo music. I much prefer the K-01x, but as you said, it is quite a bit more expensive. For surround sound in concerts and movies the Oppo is great since the K-01x doesn't do surround sound. I have a two channel system and a separate HT system in different rooms to maximize my enjoyment of each.

@mcgal - what are the biggest advantages of the K-01x in your system?

For me, the K-01x simply sounds amazing playing CD, SACD, DSD and other hi res formats. It is a very musical player. It does everything for 2 channel. My only problem with it is that I don't use it enough since I am  lazy and I need to get up to switch CD's and SACD's which I prefer over streamed and ripped music.

It appears Sony gave up on SACD m-ch after SA-60. Apparently the golden age for M-ch were the models XA 777, XA 9000se. They are still on for a $1000 or more. k-01 and others apparently do not even do DSD (forgive me if I am wrong,as there was a bit of fury going on in this thread), at least from somewhere I read but can’T find the source now. If DSD convert to PCM and still beats the Earlier SACD player that used direct stream digital playback then the Sony DSD chips must really suck. Though I don’t see any reviews regards to this.
My question is, should I get an old m-ch Sony and mod it (not even sure how much can be modded) or just get mod Oppo 205? I am mainly concerned with SACD playback (please don’t tell me to rip SACDs, not an option, SACDs are still much cheaper than DSD downloads and M-Ch DACs are rare and costly).

Regards to Video output effect. If the original AC is modded, which can still be done with mod right oppo then it should improve video (if even needed!). Dan said the clock is awesome so he did not mod it. He mainly did the audio output with tube stage. I suppose if I am still not happy with Sabre chip I can go for PS audio but it requires 3 external DAC to do surround!

Regards to Video output effect. If the original AC is modded, which can still be done with mod right oppo then it should improve video (if even needed!).

Why?