Esoteric K01 vs dCS Puccini

thedudeabides · Jan 30, 2015

Anyone have personal experience regarding these two SACD CDP's?

Contemplating big (for me) purchase.

Playback Design ruled out due to inability to program select tracks.

Thanks in advance for any comments / insights.

caesar · Jan 30, 2015

thedudeabides said:
Anyone have personal experience regarding these two SACD CDP's?

Contemplating big (for me) purchase.

Playback Design ruled out due to inability to program select tracks.

Thanks in advance for any comments / insights.

Dude,

Very familiar with both. It's like comparing a 1992 Accord to a new Corvette. Puccinni sounds detailed (in a bad way) and slow. It's design is from the late 2000's and doesn't really take into account the innovation leaps digital has made in the last 5 years. If it didn't have a dcs logo on it, it wouldn't get half the respect it does, and go used for $4K.

Esoteric k01, on the other hand, is very detailed yet musical; it has musical detail, as opposed to the distracting detail that is so in vogue in high end audio today. It can be analytical in the wrong system, but I think it will be sublime in your MBL system.

Now, if you go with the K01x, it will be like supercharging the Vette.

asiufy · Jan 30, 2015

thedudeabides said:
Anyone have personal experience regarding these two SACD CDP's?

Contemplating big (for me) purchase.

Playback Design ruled out due to inability to program select tracks.

Thanks in advance for any comments / insights.

I've had the previous Esoteric series, the X-01SE and the P3/D3 combo (DAC/transport). The dCS Puccini (with clock) killed both.
And the Playback Designs, in turn, kills the dCS

Mind you, friends have heard the new K-series, and proclaimed them to be much superior to the older series, much less fatiguing.

alexandre

caesar · Jan 30, 2015

asiufy said:
I've had the previous Esoteric series, the X-01SE and the P3/D3 combo (DAC/transport). The dCS Puccini (with clock) killed both.
And the Playback Designs, in turn, kills the dCS
Mind you, friends have heard the new K-series, and proclaimed them to be much superior to the older series, much less fatiguing.

alexandre

Alexandre, the K-01 is in a different league than other Esoteric players. I am not even a fan of any of their other newer k units, and k01 makes k03 and k05 sound like drek.

mcduman · Jan 30, 2015

i had both the x-01 and the k-01. x-01 had a nasal sluggish sound and was really embarrassed by the playback designs unit. i had a home demo of the puccini as well at that time and found it too forward for my taste, although as an fpga based design it improved substantially overtime with firmware upgrades to the point that it is now a much better machine than it was when it came out. more future-proof in that sense compared to esoterics. so one needs to hear a unit with the latest firmware.

i agree the k-01 is is A LOT better than the x-01 and the d2 it replaced thanks to the 8 parallel akm dacs/channel architecture. i have not heard the x version yet, but it is the same transport, same architecture same clock with the newer akm parts and without digital volume control.

Alpinist · Jan 31, 2015

mcduman said:
i had both the x-01 and the k-01. x-01 had a nasal sluggish sound and was really embarrassed by the playback designs unit. i had a home demo of the puccini as well at that time and found it too forward for my taste, although as an fpga based design it improved substantially overtime with firmware upgrades to the point that it is now a much better machine than it was when it came out. more future-proof in that sense compared to esoterics. so one needs to hear a unit with the latest firmware.

i agree the k-01 is is A LOT better than the x-01 and the d2 it replaced thanks to the 8 parallel akm dacs/channel architecture. i have not heard the x version yet, but it is the same transport, same architecture same clock with the newer akm parts and without digital volume control.

I also own the K-01 and I love its sound through the DAC, CD and SACD player. Incredibly transparent, detailed and dynamic without sounding analytical. I use a Wireworld Platinum Starlight 7 USB cable on the DAC and it raises the DAC performance right up to the level of the transport. I have not heard the K-01X but the exclusion of the digital volume control is a major omission for those who are building a system such as myself. I also prefer the sound of native sampling to oversampling, so the addition of 8 times oversampling adds little value for me.

Best,
Ken

mcduman · Jan 31, 2015

i agree with you ken re: oversampling and digital attenuation. plus they should have offered an upgrade option to k-01 owners, basically there is no change apart from two boards with new akm chips on

Alpinist · Jan 31, 2015

mcduman said:
i agree with you ken re: oversampling and digital attenuation. plus they should have offered an upgrade option to k-01 owners, basically there is no change apart from two boards with new akm chips on

Hi Mcduman,

There actually is an upgrade currently available for the K-01 and K-03. This excerpt is from the K-03X brochure:

Upgrade services are available for the K-01 or K-03 where speci?c new functions employed by X edition models can be added.
Applicable models: K-01, K-03
Details: USB input capability extended (Compatible with 2.8 MHz DSD and 384 kHz/32-bit PCM*)
Allows synchronization with an external master clock generator or 10 MHz clock signal when the USB input is selected.
*Not compatible with 5.6 MHz DSD.

The upgrade is being done by TAP, Esoteric's authorized service center. I don't know the cost. Here is the link to their website:
http://www.tapelectronics.com/service-overview/

Best,
Ken

mcduman · Jan 31, 2015

yes, that is the usb board though which i do not care that much for. the real upgrade is the dac boards which are not that difficult to swap, if you peered inside the machine

Alpinist · Jan 31, 2015

mcduman said:
yes, that is the usb board though which i do not care that much for. the real upgrade is the dac boards which are not that difficult to swap, if you peered inside the machine

I guess Esoteric does not want to upgrade the DAC boards because they would rather sell a new K-01X or K-03X to current K-01 or K-03 owners. So in reality, the K-01 and K-03 are only partially upgradeable and not the most important part.

Ken

mcduman · Jan 31, 2015

Alpinist said:
I guess Esoteric does not want to upgrade the DAC boards because they would rather sell a new K-01X or K-03X to current K-01 or K-03 owners. So in reality, the K-01 and K-03 are only partially upgradeable and not the most important part.

Ken

exactly. i decided to skip this one

Alpinist · Jan 31, 2015

mcduman said:
exactly. i decided to skip this one

I think I will do the same.

Ken

thedudeabides · Feb 1, 2015

Has anyone used the digital volume control on the unit and eliminating their preamp?

How did it compare sonically?

Thanks again for any feedback.

Alpinist · Feb 1, 2015

thedudeabides said:
Has anyone used the digital volume control on the unit and eliminating their preamp?

How did it compare sonically?

Thanks again for any feedback.

Yes, I am currently using the Esoteric K-01's digital volume control as I am in the process of revising my system. The current system is the K-01, Soulution 501 mono amps and Revel Salon 2 speakers. I previously tried this system with and without a Pass XP-30 preamp before I sold it. Running without the XP-30 and using the digital volume, the sound is supremely transparent and neutral without a hint of brightness. Dynamics and imaging are solid. With the addition of the XP-30, the sound becomes smoother and warmer with some improvement in dynamics. But the negative is some audible increase in brightness of the treble. So to conclude, there were some trade-offs under both scenarios. I'll be taking delivery on a Soulution 520 preamp in a couple weeks, so I'll try this test again with and without the 520. Interestingly, I did the same exact test when I used to own a Cary SLP-05 preamp and had exactly the same results as with the XP-30.

slowGEEZR · Feb 1, 2015

thedudeabides said:
Anyone have personal experience regarding these two SACD CDP's?

Contemplating big (for me) purchase.

Playback Design ruled out due to inability to program select tracks.

Thanks in advance for any comments / insights.

Gordon, I have experience with the K03 and the Puccini and prefer the K03, even to the Puccini with the dcs clock. I've no experience with the K01.

bk12 · Feb 1, 2015

I have to say I haven't heard the Esoteric unit, but felt I would weigh in the dCS comments. I am so surprised to find comments that the dCS is slow and outdated. I had the Paganini for a while, and have to say that smooth, accurate are better descriptors. Maybe it is my ESL speakers, but I never found the dCS to sound overly analytical and am always surprised at comments like this-still miss the dCS in my system!

thedudeabides · Feb 1, 2015

Thank you all for the input.

The disparity in opinions just reinforces my feelings that an in home audition is a must.

bk12 · Feb 1, 2015

thedudeabides said:
Thank you all for the input.

The disparity in opinions just reinforces my feelings that an in home audition is a must.

This is the absolute thing if you can do it. IMO, when dealing with pieces of this magnitude, it comes down to personal taste and system makeup. You hate to have any doubts when you are dropping this kind of coin, and it seems there are no absolute community opinions between pieces this nice.

asiufy · Feb 2, 2015

thedudeabides said:
Has anyone used the digital volume control on the unit and eliminating their preamp?

How did it compare sonically?

Thanks again for any feedback.

Unless Esoteric has an analog volume control now, I wouldn't use it the VC in their units.
Ditto for dCS.
Going amp direct with both will be shocking at first, but tiring in the long run.

alexandre

Alpinist · Feb 2, 2015

asiufy said:
Unless Esoteric has an analog volume control now, I wouldn't use it the VC in their units.
Ditto for dCS.
Going amp direct with both will be shocking at first, but tiring in the long run.

alexandre

Hi Alexandre,

I've been running the Esoteric K-01 straight to my Soulution 501 mono amps for the last several months and the sound is anything but tiring. There are trade-offs going with or without the preamp as I've described in a previous post. I could make the case that running without preamp is less fatiguing because its sounds more neutral in the treble. However, the preamp adds some nice things too.

Ken

Esoteric K01 vs dCS Puccini

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Industry Expert/VIP Donor

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Member Sponsor

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Industry Expert/VIP Donor

Well-Known Member

Similar threads