I run two turntables. The high end one is a SOTA Cosmos IV with vac and the "easy" one is a JVC OLY5F. I believe vinyl has the highest fidelity in my house.
As I get older I find myself turning to sacd/cd more for ease of use. I started with a Nak cd2 and when I was impressed with a few sacd demo's I purchased a Sony 333. I liked the sacd format and decided to up the ante and went in for the 777 (plus having a brass puck made it like vinyl in that I had to clamp it). The 777 was a better sounding player than the 333 but it was not a night and day difference that the 333 was over the Nak. Well the 777 needed more service than my vinyl setup and after dealing with repair a couple of times I decided screw it and bought a used Esoteric X03se right here on the Gon. I bought it more for the build quality and was extremely happy when I found the sound quality on par with the build quality. The seller was moving up to the K01 and my buddy had a 777 so we got to compare the Sony 777 with the Esoteric. He ended up selling his 777 and ended up with a used K03 right here on the Gon(and that seller was a doctor who decided on moving up to the K01). So, depending on budget I would say an Esoteric is worth seeking out for an audition. Been extremely happy with mine.
Depends on how often you plan to use it I suppose. My engineer buddy has an Oppo and the number of folks recommending them seems to make it the budget choice.
Love the Esoteric and very glad I spent the money. I have never heard a K01 but if you get a chance try to get in front of one. The X and K series my friend and I own are great and so that K01 must be all that!!
Have Fun!
As I get older I find myself turning to sacd/cd more for ease of use. I started with a Nak cd2 and when I was impressed with a few sacd demo's I purchased a Sony 333. I liked the sacd format and decided to up the ante and went in for the 777 (plus having a brass puck made it like vinyl in that I had to clamp it). The 777 was a better sounding player than the 333 but it was not a night and day difference that the 333 was over the Nak. Well the 777 needed more service than my vinyl setup and after dealing with repair a couple of times I decided screw it and bought a used Esoteric X03se right here on the Gon. I bought it more for the build quality and was extremely happy when I found the sound quality on par with the build quality. The seller was moving up to the K01 and my buddy had a 777 so we got to compare the Sony 777 with the Esoteric. He ended up selling his 777 and ended up with a used K03 right here on the Gon(and that seller was a doctor who decided on moving up to the K01). So, depending on budget I would say an Esoteric is worth seeking out for an audition. Been extremely happy with mine.
Depends on how often you plan to use it I suppose. My engineer buddy has an Oppo and the number of folks recommending them seems to make it the budget choice.
Love the Esoteric and very glad I spent the money. I have never heard a K01 but if you get a chance try to get in front of one. The X and K series my friend and I own are great and so that K01 must be all that!!
Have Fun!