Marantz SA-10 Vs Esoteric K-05Xs

Are they known to be unreliable then? Been offered a K-05XS but if reliability is an issue I'll pass.

I had the opportunity to hear in the dealer's setup in Singapore a NAIM CD555 and Esoteric K-01XS, and the CD555 easily bested the Esoteric. I then had another different chance to hear a long time owner of the CD555 who replaced his CD555 with one SA10, and then actually dumped the 555 altogether and went in for another SA10 for his second home. At another friend's house, I heard the Esoteric X-05 for many years, and when he replaced it with the SA10, the X-05 was quite fresh in my mind and I could see it was sensational, in detail, richness, tonality and exciting pace. Good as the X-05 had been, the SA10 lifted the friend to a greater level of ecstasy. All this was enough for me. I snagged a SA10, and it has proved to be a wonder, every bit. Very versatile, in terms of type of music, and no weaknesses. A 128GB usb stick houses a bunch of hi res files, so no need for PC audio, and when I play redbook, they sound quite magnificent. So though a series of steps, chained together, i had reached a conclusion which has proved correct.

When esoteric sacd works they are hard to beat, I still miss my SA 10, for their price they should be flawless.

SA10 is proving hard to come by at the moment, here in UK at least.

Trebor33 , the unit that gave up on me is SA 10. Read more post here and see what particular model , that works without issue.Like I said esoteric sacd are superb when there is no issue.Before you buy find out if the model you will buy has available authorize repair shop in your country, it will cost you a lot , to send it back to Japan.