Bmichels, I was unable to respond to your question about the SCD-025Mk2 on Audioshark and AA because I was banned by the owner of Audioshark after being trolled on that forum & voluntarily leaving AA after being treated shabbily by a moderator. I couldn't believe the uninformed tripe you were being fed on AS!
Anyway, to your question. Firstly the players you mentioned are all different animals, each deserving consideration. So let me see if I can cut through the fog. The Esoteric K-01x is about the same price as the Vitus, though not that different in performance despite the obviously misleading information given to you on Audioshark which I wont go into publicly.
Firstly the Vitus has virtually identical resolution (24 bit) and an identical sampling rate (384kHz). The Vitus also has very wide bandwidth out to 2.5MHz which gives a very linear phase response. 32bit dacs are mostly a marketing gag fyi.
The Esoteric has a very good transport, certainly one of the best which no one would deny. However the SCD-025Mk2 has a Philips CDPro2LF transport which is stripped down to its basic mechanical and electronic parts and heavily modded by Vitus. The end result is one of the best transports i've ever seen.
The SCD-025 had a recent major upgrade as I described in my thread on Audioshark in January, 2015 incl: a new, upgradeable master clock, new main board inc: new I/V converter, new analogue modules, power supply upgrade & new USB board which accepts up to DSD128 via DoP. In this process, the board bypasses the receiver and SRC part and sends the DSD signal directly to the DAC. I know the DSD board alone took over 6 months to develop which delayed the release of the Mk2 version. So it was done right.
The SCD-025 similarly has 4 different and completely separate supplies. One each for the drive and digital audio part and two for the analog stage (left and right) in a twin mono configuration (ie: similar to the K-01x). Although Vitus use the same efficient UI-core transformers used in their Signature series amps which, along with the analogue stage modules (drawn from the SL-102) lend a fluid, analogue-like sound which is non-digital.
SACD. The SCD-025Mk2 is RBCD only. The reason for that was firstly due to the prohibitive licensing cost of SACD from Sony & the cost of developing an SACD drive. And secondly, in the scheme of things SACD's make up a tiny percentage of titles and the SACD format has now been abandoned by Sony. Besides that, why would you need SACD when there are so many high res RBCD formats such as XRCD2, XRCD24, K2HD, DXD, SHM, SHM Platinum, Audio Fidelity 24kt gold & Mofi 24kt gold cd's?
As for the most important part, the sound. These are two great players. The major difference you're going to find is in the voicing. Vitus designs his gear so he can listen for long periods without fatigue. Being a musician himself, he understands how real music sounds and designs all his products with this in mind. Also, during development, the SCD-025Mk2 was referenced against the previous spec SCD-025 and Vitus's own reference tt with a Masterpiece phono stage. So ultimately it comes down to a matter of taste and what sounds good to your ears.
Emm Labs XDS1 - This is a very nice Canadian player with a good dac, though I am personally not a fan of SMPS and the resultant PFC required to correct the noise from the switcher psu's. I also think the player is over-priced. Canadian hifi gear is normally very clean, precise, smooth and polite. And the Emm is no different. I bet you would find the Vitus more musical on a wider range of discs. Then again, if SACD is a pre-req, that is a moot point. Though again, I would point to the large array of high res RBCD formats above.
T+A Elektroakustik PDP 3000 HV - This machine appears to be very well engineered. But personally i'd never heard of them before Bovaird starting promoting the product on his forum which he is entitled to do. But you have to understand he is financially vested in promoting the product, whilst guiding anyone away from competing products like Vitus which he does not represent. It is big, it is heavy, but what will it's resale value be? And ultimately you have to like the voicing in the context of your system. So there are a number of things to consider.
[COLOR=333333]TAD D-1000 - Tad is owned by Pioneer. My first impression of this company was hearing the TAD Evolution One speakers which bled my ears, so my first impressions were not that positive. I can say that Vitus' build quality is second to none. They are using incredibly expensive machinery and are one of the few manufacturers who have the capacity to maintain a high level of in-house design and manufacture. In this regard, Vitus are second to none (incl: Boulder). But you also have to look at the person steering the ship. Tad's engineers will have a different view about how gear should sound compared to Hans Ole Vitus. Trust your ears![/COLOR]
[COLOR=333333]Accuphase DP-720 - I love Accuphase and their gear looks gorgeous. But Vitus is way better in sound (if that is most important to you). If you want to know more, I can be a bit more specific via PM once I have enough privileges on here.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=333333]In regard to your question - "I[/COLOR]s there any chance that their "internal DAC" can be at the Level of a dedicated DAC like a TotalDAC ?". The SCD-025Mk2 is the Signature Series dac and was essentially designed as a full dac with a drive (albeit a heavily modded & re-built one). So it is a no-compromise dac. Also consider the SCD-025Mk2 is a 3rd generation product which builds on the SCD-010 and SCD-025, so it is a very well sorted machine. And I can tell you the SCD-025Mk2 gets very close in sound to the Vitus Masterpiece dac, such than I see no need to upgrade. In fact, the upgrades in the 025Mk2 were so successful, some parts filtered up to the MP dac!
[COLOR=333333]Hope the above helps. Please note I have not heard most of the players you mentioned, but can offer my opinion based on being an audiophile for 25 years and having been there, done that. As always, trust your ears..not someone trying to sell you a product.[/COLOR]