Esoteric K-03 or K-01

Denon1, I have heard both K-01 and K-03 at RMAF for a good number of hours over 3 days... The sound was so involving that I kept returning to the Esoteric suite for more!

I then had the phenomenal K-01 in my system for over 8 months during 2012. I preferred it over K-03 because K-01 delivers even greater image density, harmonic specificity, and an marvellous musical presentation. K-01 can sound very different depending on upsampling and filter selection. With no upsampling it can sound somewhat "matter of fact" and perhaps a little hard... As you go up with upsampling it gets more extended and detailed. I prefered its 4X upsampling setting. Filters also behave in unique ways... FIR filters seemed to me a little artificial and seemed to compress dynamics.... But apodizing Slow Delay filters are extremely enjoyable... Slow Delay 1 + 4X upsampling is the warmest and most "tube like", but I much preferred the Slow Delay 2 combined with 4X upsampling... This offered an ideal combination of wide spectral resolution, staging, imaging, harmonic exposure, and imaging/staging.... and fabulous musicality. DSD was just a little etched for my taste. You must allow between 500 and 700 hours of break in per filter before the device gives you its very best.

K-01 and K-03 can be fed directly into an amp... In a pinch, but in this configuration they sounded in my opinion a little grainy and not truly enjoyable.

If you can afford it, I recommend K-01 + a good preamp.... But if you have some budget concerns, go for K-03 and add a preamp.

The rest of my system consists of an Esoteric X-01, Rowland Criterion linestage, Rowland M725 monoblocks, and Vienna Die muzik speakers.

You will find my compact review of K-01 in the 2012 writers awards of PFO:
http://positive-feedback.com/Issue64/awards.htm

Guido

Guido, thank you for your advice and great overview. Your opinion is always appreciated and you have a great system. As for my situation, in order to get better sound than K-03 and K-01 with digital volume control driving amp direct, I need to get preamp in the reference rang, plus ICs and power cord so the K-01 with pre amp is out of the question, out of my budget.
So it will come down to K-03 with pre-amp (something like esoteric C-03) or K-01 only that will drive amp direct. I am leaning towards K-01 only. But again, I am not sure that my speakers and amplifier will explode all potential of K-01.
I will appreciate advice of any experienced audiophile.
Thank you.

Denon1, thinking about it, there may be long term advantages in going with a pure K-01 without pre... While initially the sound may not be at the same level as K-03+C-03, you can add a pre like the C-03 at a later stage, and at that point you would exceed the performance of K-03+C-03 without the financial hit of selling a depreciated K-03..

By the way, both K-03 and K-01 are quite sensitive to the benefits of an external clock, which is something that you can add at a later time.

Guido

I would definitely agree with Guido. I have a recent K-03 in my office (a bit of overkill for an office system, I know) running through a Melody integrated. The sound is amazing. Having said that, I have also demoed the K-01 and it is in a different league as far as capabilities and sonics are concerned. If my APL NWO-Master ever blows up at home, the K-01 as well as P-02/D-02 are on the "short list".

Guido- long time, no talk! I'll be at Axpono in March - maybe see you there?

Harve