New Esoteric players (K-01, K-03): anyone has seen or heard? - Page 4

Hi googleli, l hope you're enjoying your K-01, it'll be next year before l can get hold of mine, the audio shop l got my X-03se from is going to be the same place l'm getting the K-01, because l'm excited at the thought of getting the K-01 l sent an email to Jack the shop owner and told him of my plans to get the K-01, he said that he owns one and that l wouldn't be disappointed, l've just sent another email to Jack asking when l visit his shop to listen to the K-01, whether l can listen to it with the G-0Rb connected to it.

 

                                                                           Dave.  
 

P.S. googleli, How do you rate the sound quality from the K-01, compared to other disc players you've heard.

 

Edited by David1961 - 5/15/11 at 10:09am

I have pre-ordered the SR-009 last week from Elusive Disc.  I'm not entirely convinced it will live up to the legacy of the HE-90s in terms of imaging and won't be until A/B them, however, I do have faith in STAX as they've been around awhile and take their time and R&D effort to innovate where it counts, not mainly focusing on external design and presentation like the Edition 10 without significantly enhancing the sound quality to a commensurate level.

 

At any rate, the risk is pretty low, since even if for some unlikely reason one would be disappointed for one reason or another, I'd think it would be extremely easy to resell without any loss at all assuming like new condition, etc.  The supply and demand situation should be uneven for some time to come because of the aftereffects of the earthquake/tsunami-related impacts throughout the Japanese home islands.

Googleli,

Could you tell me please if the sound quality from the K-01 with the G-0Rb connected is worth the cost of the G-0Rb, l sent an email to the Audio shop where l'm getting the K-01 from asking whether l could try the K-01 with the G-0Rb, but he said he didn't have a G-0Rb available, with you having the chance to listen with both connected l'm wondering if you could enlighten me.

 

                                                              Thanks,

                                                                Dave.

Edited by David1961 - 5/16/11 at 7:56am

Yes I have mentioned it earlier. There is an effect of the G0Rb on the K01 when I auditioned. A/b was easy as it just involved turning on or off the clock. However the difference is so minute that I don't even know whether that is an improvement. Actually with the G0Rb on, I feel that the sound is a touch colder. I tested several tracks and got the same feeling. The difference is so minute that, to me, even if there was an improvement, I seriously doubt whether I should spend another US$10k+ on it.

The effect of the clock on the P03 and D03 combo, on the other hand, was a shocker. Without the clock on, the combo sounded a tier inferior to the K01, IMO. With the clock added, the combo sounded at least at par with the K01 or slightly better.

But that's just me. I would certainly go pick some high end interconnects and/or some more high end headphones or even an amp upgrade with that kind of money. Heck, you can buy an SR009 with the Stax amp AND a pair of high end interconnect with that money.

The street price of the G-0Rb is $16K in the US at the moment, not $10K.  Every dealer I have approached here with the same question in fact discouraged me to even think about external clocks with single players.  They are as good as they are going to get, the better quality you want the higher up the chain you need to go up to the K-01, which I've never done.  The separates, however, benefit a great deal when synched to a highly accurate external clock all the way up to the state-of-the-art G-0rb Rubidium clock.

 

Googleli is right; you're far better off spending a fraction of that cost on the best interconnects you can afford.  At this level they are a must have.

If it is 16k in the US then it is a no brainer, insofar as single box players are concerned. What's the latest eBay price of the HE90 plus HEv90?
Edited by googleli - 5/16/11 at 11:33am

Thank you both for the info, l guess it was silly for me to ask because the price over here [ UK ] is £11,995 which is about $19,475, so there's No way l'd have payed that for it, but it was curiosity that got the better of me, regarding the cables, next year when l order  the K-01,  l'm also ordering two JPS aluminata power cords and one pair of aluminata balanced interconnects, l use JPS's superconductor 3 balanced interconnects with my audio equipment and l'm very happy with them, the aluminata cables are the best JPS do, l'm also trying out something called the Power Source Plus which is a line power conditioner.

                                            Anyway again Thank you both for the info and Take Care.

                                                                                    Dave.

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1310297474&/Sennheiser-he-90-+-hev-90-Orph

Luckily for you, it's on sale....  It's a supply and demand situation and Wiktor takes care of his stuff.
 

 

Warp08, if you are still looking for the P03 D03 combo, this may interest you. Selling at HK$110,000 I think it is a real deal. Not sure how much the shipping cost will be though, if the seller ships internationally at all. It is a local 2nd hand audio market. Usual disclaimers (I don't know the seller and take no responsibility if the units have any problems etc.).

http://www.review33.com/2ndhand/forum_message.php?topic=42110414173756

Thanks, but I've got mine last month including the G-0x clock.  I've been focusing on interconnects ever since.  The Rubidium clock upgrade will have to wait until next year with expenses like the SR-009, Dark Star and the BHSE coming up.

 

By that time I'm hoping more G-0rb clocks are showing up for reasonable prices in the used market, instead of having to settle for the older G-0s.

Am I done with my Head-fi journey? With the K-01, I find that I am now listening to my speakers through my Leben a lot more than my headphones now. None of my ED10, LCD2 or T5P gives me that precise image, the grandness of Orchestral music, the great sound staging, the articulated naunces, the dynamics as my speakers now do. And my speakers are by no means high end - just a pair of Monitor Audio Silver RX8 floorstanding speakers which I used mostly for AV purpose - I never knew what they could achieve before I switched to K-01. The improvements made by the K-01 on headphones are certainly very noticeable - but not as nearly as big an improvement on my speakers. Not sure how good the SR009 can do but I guess I will give headphones a final try and then move onto improving my speakers setup.

Although l mainly listen to music via headphones, l decided to visit an audio place in Glasgow, Scotland, [ l got my Esoteric x-03se from there ], to listen to the Esoteric K-01 SACD + DAC player, the place is called The Music Room which is owned by Jack Lawson, when l got there Jack had got the K-01 set up with an Amp and two speakers, the set up was, Esoteric K-01,  Esoteric A-100 and two Tannoy Westminster Royal se speakers, this was the first time l'd ever listened to an high end speaker system and l have to say l was totally blown away, the CD Jack put on was Jean Michel Jarre's Equinoxe and it sounded truly amazing, l will always listen to music through headphones but l have to say, if l had the money, l'd buy that speaker system tomorrow, no now,  however l'm buying part of that speaker system because next year l'm getting the K-01 along with SR009's and BHSE that l placed an order for in March, so l think l should be happy when l get those three.

                                                                  Dave. 

Hi arnaud,

Because l only heard the K-01 via a speaker system and not my sr007's, l was not able to judge between the K-01 and X-03se which at the moment l have, all l can say is the music l heard from Jack's speaker system was or is quite a lot better than my Headphone set up, however, my headphone system consists of sr007's, srm007t amp and x-03se and when bought was roughly £8,000 where as Jack's speaker system is approx £70,000 plus, so it should be better, but l would still sooner have a good headphone set up as opposed to a speaker, l feel the sr009's + BHSE + K-01 will be at least be on par with Jack's speaker set up if not better, but as previous head-fiers said it's a different sound between headphones and speakers.

                                                    Dave. 

 

 

The SR-009 is head and shoulders above both the SR-007s and 007As in just about every imaginable way, it's not even funny.  But it is still a headphone with all the advantages and disadvantages when compared to (insert your favorite reference speaker system here) speakers, regardless of how high quality sourcing and amping is involved.