Esoteric K-01

I have the K-01 and it is a superb sounding machine. It is a big step up from the X-03SE, which I still consider a great player, and which deservedly attracted glowing reviews. I have had a few high end players in my system, and I think the K-01 excels in presenting music with exquisite detail that sounds natural and does not fatigue, and lays out a magical soundstage. Vocals are sublime. It needs
time to run in but fresh out of the box, you already know it is something special.
I think the TAS choice of the S_Dly1 filter on their K-03 review was a mistake, if the K-01 is anything to go by. To my ears the Fir1 or Fir2 (not certain yet but think Fir1) sound better. I feel the S_Dly1 filter seems to flatten out the music a little and rob it of a little air, but it is subtle.
Definitely use the 2x upsampling.

There is no noise with the K-01; it is dead silent. The build quality is superb. The machine is beautiful, a pleasure to use, look at and touch. The sound stage is extremely three dimensional. Instrument and voice separation is superb and emerges out of a black silent background. Music is very detailed and sounds more alive than any other CD player I have ever listened to. My prior CD player was the Esoteric X-01-D2. There is no comparison, the K-01 is in a different league. The improvement in sound was immediately obvious, right out of the box. I did not have to do an A-B comparison.

I really wanted to love the G-orb. But it made absolutely no improvement in sound with the K-01. I tried it with all types of music, various settings, Sacd, Cd. I focused on all aspects of sound: low level detail, dynamics, bass, treble, midrange, sound staging, timbre, instrument separation, voice, strings, jazz, classical, rock. Lengthy listening and A-B comparison with and with out the G-orb in the loop. I couldn't detect an improvement.

Regarding settings. I am still uncertain which one I like best. I would be interested in hearing what other K-01 owners like best and why.

K-01 settings suggestion: 'Fir1' filter and '2x' upsampling. This combination sounds best to me so far.

MIke60, and Matjet, it is great that yu like you k-01. I have k-03 and it is a great player.In my system and for my ears it bested x01-d2 and wadia s7i. Becaue my integrated has only RCA as diect conect to amplifier and I use only XLR cables, I cant compare how k-03 player sounds direct to amplifer. Can you provide any comments on this subject. It will be greatly appreciated. I am considering change to another amplifer and thiking running k-03 direct. Thank you.

Denon1, if your integrated amp has an input for an external preamplifier, you should be able to connect K-03 to that input directly, or through an XLR 2 RCA adapter. G.