[googleli]

I would very much like that to be the case too, to be honest...  But enjoy your ripped FLACs.

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Quote:

Haha. 22 THOUSAND dollars for a CD player!?!?! No thanks. I'll just rip my CDs with my $10 computer CD player to lossless FLAC played through at most a modern high end DAC and amp chain. Costs 1/10th and most certainly won't sound any worse (unless the CD player has some magically good DAC/amp not available elsewhere).
 
Then again, I could probably make a lot of money marketing snake oil "audiophile" products too. You don't even need to be very well technically educated to come up with convincing enough technobabble to get some people to purchase it.

x2
 
100% agreed. I could never justify spending that much on a cd player.
 
Edit: Googeli must be quite rich to afford what he has. I could never afford that.

 

[ac500]

> I would very much like that to be the case too, to be honest...  But enjoy your ripped FLACs.
 
It is the case, trust me . Digital is digital. A CD ripped to FLAC = lossless. FLAC played out of optical out = lossless. Optical out goes into your DAC = lossless. Your DAC then does its duty, and your amp as well. Nothing in your chain before the DAC matters, aside from messing around with bitrates/etc. My computer and DAC supports 24/192 just fine.
 
I think audio-phile world desperately needs something to somehow beat it into people's heads that "DIGITAL LOSSLESS = NO LOSS. ZERO. NONE. AT ALL." but people just like to be willfully ignorant I think. Even if it's qualified engineers telling them otherwise (as was the case with the whole USB cable debate - the designers of USB actually replied to an email request from someone here and explained that USB cables cannot degrade sound quality whatsoever)

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Quote:

> I would very much like that to be the case too, to be honest...  But enjoy your ripped FLACs.
 
It is the case, trust me . Digital is digital. A CD ripped to FLAC = lossless. FLAC played out of optical out = lossless. Optical out goes into your DAC = lossless. Your DAC then does its duty, and your amp as well. Nothing in your chain before the DAC matters, aside from messing around with bitrates/etc. My computer and DAC supports 24/192 just fine.
 
I think audio-phile world desperately needs something to somehow beat it into people's heads that "DIGITAL LOSSLESS = NO LOSS. ZERO. NONE. AT ALL." but people just like to be willfully ignorant I think. Even if it's qualified engineers telling them otherwise (as was the case with the whole USB cable debate - the designers of USB actually replied to an email request from someone here and explained that USB cables cannot degrade sound quality whatsoever)

Thank you i agree.
 

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

There's a difference between drawing a line somewhere on a gradual scale of increasing quality, and something that is no better or possibly worse than something 1/10th the price. In the case of the CD player, that $22,000 system will literally sound no better than what I described (computer ripped flac -> high end DAC -> high end amp). Does that unit really contain a DAC worth $10,000 and a amp worth $10,000? Because if not, I could easily buy a better quality DAC and Amp, buy a full featured computer with optical audio out, and get much better sound for much less money overall.

Well, no amp in that Esoteric K-01 ~ that's extra!
 
But I think the first rule of Head-Fi is being trashed here
 
'Haven't heard it? Don't knock it'
 
I am yet to hear the Esoteric K-01 for myself so I'm just staying on the fence, yes it appears to be a lot of money but
I have not heard it hence I don't have a valid opinion, be that positive or negative, any commentary at this point
does not do anyone any favors.

 

[googleli]

I wasn't kidding when I said enjoy your FLACs. I am enjoying my ripped WAVs at this very moment through the iPhone and Fostex HP-P1 via my UE18 Pro. 
 
I also use my Esoteric K-01 as a DAC by the way - streaming music from the Oppo 95. I bought a fair bit of High Rez 192/24 and 96/24 tracks from HDtracks.
 
Quote:

> I would very much like that to be the case too, to be honest...  But enjoy your ripped FLACs.
 
It is the case, trust me . Digital is digital. A CD ripped to FLAC = lossless. FLAC played out of optical out = lossless. Optical out goes into your DAC = lossless. Your DAC then does its duty, and your amp as well. Nothing in your chain before the DAC matters, aside from messing around with bitrates/etc. My computer and DAC supports 24/192 just fine.
 
I think audio-phile world desperately needs something to somehow beat it into people's heads that "DIGITAL LOSSLESS = NO LOSS. ZERO. NONE. AT ALL." but people just like to be willfully ignorant I think. Even if it's qualified engineers telling them otherwise (as was the case with the whole USB cable debate - the designers of USB actually replied to an email request from someone here and explained that USB cables cannot degrade sound quality whatsoever)

 

 

[obazavil]

Shall we go back to the topic of this thread?
 
Bashing K-01 for what it costs, and commenting about ppl that are able to afford it and want to do it I think is not a good thing. I don't want to see an admin coming here and closing the thread.
 
I won't buy something that expensive in a near future, but that doesn't mean I don't want to do a listening test on that beauty.
 
As everything with audio, everybody's opinion may differ, and everything is relative. If I tell what I paid for my LCD-2 and Ed8 LE cans to some friends in real life, they would laugh at me for an important amount of cash "trashed" on just 2 headphones. Same occur with any price range IMHO.
 
Anyway, this K-01 topic should go to audio science forum?
 
Peace and love

 

[ac500]

.

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Let a female friend listen to my hd 25 1 ii. She said they sounded good but she wasn't sure how to describe it.

 

[antberg]

with a hd800 and for example,a phontor,there would not be so much difference.i hope
btw for 22000 i hope it brings me beer from the fridge and shaves my nuts too!!!!
for 22000 i`d have a negative non-audiophile reaction too!

 

[Gwarmi]

 
 $22,000 for a CD player, it's a bit of money, however in the world of speakers for some people, that's the pocket
 change - take a look at these happy audio engineers upon receiving their pair of Focal Grande Utopia's.
 
 Unlike, our disposition for playback for enjoyment - these guys see them as an exquisite tool of excellence
 for work, serious audio work.
 
 Price? Try $260,000USD. Some call them the finest speakers on the planet.
 
 Swings and round-abouts people 

 
 

 

[B-Dawk20]

I don't think I'll ever mess with high end speakers. Too much reliance on acoustics for my tastes

 

[DVDRey]

 
Quote:

Some call them the finest speakers on the planet.

 
Normal its french loudspeakers

.
 
Joke aside, I had the chance to listen during a show, its simply fabulous, no comparison, but considering the price, unfortunately, very few people can buy these monsters (2 meters height and more than 250kg by unit).
 
The Focal entry-level is very good, but it has nothing to do with Utopia serie.
 
In France we have many excellent loudspeaker manufacturer, but unfortunately, no manufacturer of headphones (or i don't know them), why? i don't know, I would have preferred the opposite,lol..

 

[RudeWolf]

I think that Earsonics are french.

 

[DVDRey]

 
Quote:

I think that Earsonics are french.

 
Apparently, i didn't know. Unfortunatly i don't like "intra auriculaires" (?) in-ears headphone i think.