Esoteric x-03 se vs ARC cd3 mk2

call over at aberdeen components and talk to ANTHONY PADILLA. you might be surprised what he tells about the esoteric dv50s vs. the X-03 se and why !!!!!! before buying anthing call him. tell him BILL L. said you would have some interesting things to share about the two units. the man is THE BEST when it comes to understanding how and why things work and to make them sound better.

regards

bill
ps try www.mauimods.com as well to send email.

Needless to say, there is also an upcoming Esoteric DV-60, to replace the DV-50, although little is known about it at this time. Ultimately, regardless of what you will read on this thread, or anywhere else, or what any dealer says, it can be only your own auditory cortex that judges a new unit.

The ARC CD3 MK2 is still in production. Their new CD7 is in ARC's reference series line up and not a replacement of the CD3.

06-14-06: Guidocorona
The CD3 is out of production as far as I know.

I beleive this statement is incorrect.

In any case, I have not heard X-03, but I do own CD3 MkII.
I like it a lot. I think it has a very good transport. The only problem for some people may be the fact that this is a top loading player. Aside from this, performance is really really good. Especially when run through its XLR outputs into a balanced preamp. To me, the CD3 MkII is a much better player than DV-50S, although I haven't heard this one in my system, I heard it plenty of times to come to conclusion about its sonic character. Very good player, but in my opinion not as good as CD3 MkII. If you have a lot of SACDs to play, then may be you should consider Esoteric. Otherwise, ARC player would be my recommendation for redbook playback.
Also, check out the review of ARC where it gets compared to separates as well as Esoteric X-01.
this is ARC review http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/audioresearch_cd3mkii.htm

and this one is a review of X-01
http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/esoteric_x01_limited_followup.htm

Oops, my bad Audiophile1. As you pointed out above , the AR CD3 Mk. 2 is indeed still in the Audio research catalogue, and it is described at:
http://www.audioresearch.com/CD3.htm