Grandioso K1X - the two Esoteric "Revolutions" installed!

CKKeung

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2011
3,053
3,172
1,410
Hong Kong
It's debuted at the Hong Kong High-End Audio & Visual Show 2019 today.

Both the two new "Esoteric Revolutions" of VDRS-Atlas and resistor-arrays dac section are installed.
MSRP is ¥2.8M

The gold colour version looked gorgeous!

181716o8xhpssjhjte8feu~2.jpg

Its brochure to share :







(From http://www.avcat.jp/)

:cool::cool::cool:
 
Last edited:

CKKeung

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2011
3,053
3,172
1,410
Hong Kong
There are two DC input sockets.
For future optional external psu?
Will ask the HK dealer at the Show today.
 

dan31

Well-Known Member
Jul 22, 2010
1,016
365
1,153
SF Bay
Nice to see Esoteric making efforts to improve what they have. I will be interested in reviews as I use a disc player when not listening to vinyl lp.

My Ayre C5xe is getting long in the tooth. I have a backup transport. After that it’s Spectral, EMM Labs or Esoteric.
 

moby2004

Well-Known Member
Jan 21, 2018
163
158
148
I am also very interested in this unit ( the P1X / D1x is quite a thing!) Too bad that only Esoteric is still interested in improving in CD/SACD gear...
 

brodricj

Well-Known Member
Mar 13, 2016
33
17
138
It's debuted at the Hong Kong High-End Audio & Visual Show 2019 today.

Both the two new "Esoteric Revolutions" of VDRS-Atlas and resistor-arrays dac section are installed.
MSRP is ¥2.8M

The gold colour version looked gorgeous!

View attachment 55831
What do you mean, gold color version? It's the standard Esoteric Grandioso finish, no? Or, you mean the gold color trim on the tray facia is new?
 

CKKeung

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2011
3,053
3,172
1,410
Hong Kong

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
12,471
11,367
4,410
any idea on how this new Grandioso disc player might compare to your MSB Select transport?

obviously you have a separate dac so it's not really a fair compare, but it would be interesting to know the difference.
 

CKKeung

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2011
3,053
3,172
1,410
Hong Kong
Hello Mike,
I guess a more appropriate comparison should be the new Esoteric P1X & D1X vs MSB Ref stack or Select stack.

The Esoteric K1X sacd player got only coaxial & aes/ebu spdif digital outputs.
If acting as a cd transport, its spdif digital outputs must be way inferior to the ES-Link of Esoteric P1X and the ProISL or ProI2S of MSB, bcos the two latter connections are adopting I2S config.

Anyway the sound character of Esoteric digital components in the past are not my cup of tea.
I only briefly listened to P1X & D1X and noticed that they are warmer/richer than the previous editions.
I shall try to arrange auditioning them more seriously in future.
:)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mike Lavigne

Sammy T

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2012
241
26
933
I gave my K1 Mu metal ( shielding ) treatment on all 4 of the power transformers, along with a few other mods... Made a big improvement. Looks like the new K1x has the same 4 transformers , and no shielding...
 

thedudeabides

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2011
2,127
651
1,200
Alto, NM
Too bad that only Esoteric is still interested in improving in CD/SACD gear...

With all due respect, your generalization is simply not true. Other manufacturers, including Luxman, dCS, EMM Labs and TAD (amongst others), are still involved in improving the technology.

And FWIW, I had a Esoteric K01 and the transport on my Luxman D-06u (made by Luxman) is clearly quieter and better damped than the lauded Esoteric transport.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: GSOphile

CKKeung

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2011
3,053
3,172
1,410
Hong Kong
  • Like
Reactions: Mike Lavigne

SCAudiophile

Well-Known Member
Sep 11, 2010
1,156
435
1,205
Greer South Carolina (USA)
Nice...hopefully they will do this with P1X, D1X, C1, M1, S01, P02X, D02X, etc... (or C1X and M1X that hopefully they will surprise us with!)
 
  • Like
Reactions: gadawg58

CKKeung

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2011
3,053
3,172
1,410
Hong Kong
I think the coming external power-supply for the K1X will surprise Eso fans most!
:cool:
 

John57

Well-Known Member
Sep 29, 2015
237
39
260
Melbourne, Australia
I gave my K1 Mu metal ( shielding ) treatment on all 4 of the power transformers, along with a few other mods... Made a big improvement. Looks like the new K1x has the same 4 transformers , and no shielding...
I had my K03Xs treated completely inside for shielding and damping. Transformers boards signal and power leads, the works. Unfortunately it did nothing to subdue the high pitch sharp signature sound. Maybe worse actually cos it’s so black no noise background. Funny I love the transparency and hate the sharpness.
I’ll try the Luxman and maybe the Ayon CDP 35 as alternatives. Even the new K1X whilst better remains sharp to my ears.
My Hi-Fi guy suggests removing all rhodium terminals to replace with gold. And replacing all Furutech fuses also.
But in my view this will not change the source sound. I’d love to know exactly where this house sound derives, exactly which components of design are creating this sharpness. Then why hasn’t there been any after market wizard to solve this problem with mods?
 

Sammy T

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2012
241
26
933
How was the shielding done? What interconnects are you using ? Power cord ? Also modded my friends K03... did transformer shielding and a few other tricks, sounds much better . PM me .
 
  • Like
Reactions: John57

diaZ

Well-Known Member
Dec 30, 2019
37
29
105
67
To John57:

The K03Xs has in total 6 Muses dual Op Amps in the output stage, two Muses 02 and four cheaper ones.
Very interesting: this Op Amp configuration is very similar to the output stage in the new K1X Grandioso which uses 12 single Op Amps
Muses 03.
In my K01Xs ( with the same pcb except the second level with two more AK 4497 )I have exchanged all theese dual OpAmps via brown dog adaptors and switched to BB OPA 627 single OP Amps.
The BB OPA 627 are spec-wise very similar to the Muses 03, even a bit better, and soundwise extremely similar.
And you can bridge the output electrolyt capacitors, there will be no DC offset.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: John57

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing