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where to go beyond Esoteric x05

Hi

I'm looking for a jump in my digital source. I currently own an Esoteric x05. Budget is around $3k. Any dac in that budget will make a good impact (bel canto, berkley, ayre, acoustic arts etc ?) or any suggested swap with another cd/sacd player that will cost me like $3k ?

Thanks in advance to all repliers
icorem
chayro
2,926 posts
 
Icoum - Funny you should mention that, because when I had my X-05, I purchased a DAC2 to make it more listenable to my ears. One would think it would cause a ground hum, running ICs from the player directly and the outputs of the DAC, but it didn't.
icorem OP
149 posts
 
Jim

Why a new pre ?
I recently purchased the mc601 from Music culture and it is (to my ears) a hell of a pre and an excellent value alltogether. I didn't say i'm not happy with the x05 but rather seek an opinion if I will benefit (having a $3k budget) replacing it to something like a used k03 or adding an outboard dac.
mike60
275 posts
 
I see the Esoteric K03 and K01 as superb DACs first, which just happen to have a great quality transports built in. When you use them as a pure DAC they act as a pure DAC and sound fantastic. I think this has been said before, and I agree with it completely. If I were looking for an excellent stand alone DAC I would still look at these two from Esoteric.
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