[Bina]

We will have Ultrasone Edtion 10 on our meet in Prague, in combination with Leben CS300 and EmmLabs CDSD SE/DAC6e SE, I hope it will be good combination.

 

[googleli]

Ok, I have made the appointment for the audition of K-01. They will also hook it up with the Accuphase C-3800 flagship pre-amp as a headphone amp.  From what I have read from one guy early on in this thread, the C-3800 is as good as headphone amp can get, just that very few would use it due to its price and its primary intended use as a flagship preamp (rather than a headphone amp). Plus I will bring the Leben - I am all set !!!
 
This is also the first time in my life I have to call my credit card company to "raise the limit" just in case... Coz debit card transfer is limited to around US$8,000 per day here in Hong Kong. So I still need to pay by credit card although I have more than enough at bank, and by doing so I have to call the card centre and raise the limit.
 
This will be the single largest purchase I make apart from my car and investments... Even my Rolex is just around half the price of this thing when it was bought brand new.
 
In short - Warp08, I hate you...

 

[badwisdom]

I dont know what the price of the Esoteric K01, but from what ive read, it seems the price in Hong Kong is around the 15.000 USD ?

If so i think there are more interesting players at this or under that price. In no particular order, i would look at the offerings from Linn, Meitner, Playback Designs, Dcs, Reimyo, Accuphase, 
 
Ive always stayed away from Esoteric because they have a tendency to cut a lot of corners in their components, and the sound is too 'plain' (but thats entirely subjective of course).
 
Would love to read your impressions of the C3800 though, that looks like an amazing machine.
 
Cheers
 

 

[warp08]

Quote:

Ok, I have made the appointment for the audition of K-01. They will also hook it up with the Accuphase C-3800 flagship pre-amp as a headphone amp.  From what I have read from one guy early on in this thread, the C-3800 is as good as headphone amp can get, just that very few would use it due to its price and its primary intended use as a flagship preamp (rather than a headphone amp). Plus I will bring the Leben - I am all set !!!
 
This is also the first time in my life I have to call my credit card company to "raise the limit" just in case... Coz debit card transfer is limited to around US$8,000 per day here in Hong Kong. So I still need to pay by credit card although I have more than enough at bank, and by doing so I have to call the card centre and raise the limit.
 
This will be the single largest purchase I make apart from my car and investments... Even my Rolex is just around half the price of this thing when it was bought brand new.
 
In short - Warp08, I hate you...

LOL, I'm honored.  But unlike the Rolex which has a similar accuracy in timekeeping as a $20 Casio or Timex watch, but with a K-01 you will actually experience a difference vs. whatever you're using now.  Not a subtle one, indeed.  It's optional, but I highly recommend that you invest $30 more in the ISO-Tek burn-in disc as it has been optimized to perform the initial break-in for ESOTERIC components (that's why most dealers sell it).  It worked very well for me.
 
Plus your bank will love you...
 
In short.  You can't loose. Ha!
 

 

[warp08]

Quote:

I dont know what the price of the Esoteric K01, but from what ive read, it seems the price in Hong Kong is around the 15.000 USD ?

If so i think there are more interesting players at this or under that price. In no particular order, i would look at the offerings from Linn, Meitner, Playback Designs, Dcs, Reimyo, Accuphase, 
 
Ive always stayed away from Esoteric because they have a tendency to cut a lot of corners in their components, and the sound is too 'plain' (but thats entirely subjective of course).
 
Would love to read your impressions of the C3800 though, that looks like an amazing machine.
 
Cheers
 

 
So, l agree that there are many excellent offerings out there in the marketplace and I'm not advocating the ESOTERIC is the only game in town.  Their external designs tend to be minimalistic but elegant--similar to other high-end offerings out there--however, I disagree with your statement that they are cutting corners, especially in their higher end models.  These are built to performance standards and not towards a particular price points.  All you need to do is read some of the reviews where they take them apart to analyze the design and components and see for yourself.  Seeing, touching and hearing them in person is quite an experience in itself and you immediately understand why they are priced in the range they are.  This old review here does a decent job in showing some of the stuff (pricing of the components increased since, a P-03 and D-03 list for $18K each, and the new G-0rb Rubidium clock is $20K.  Good read.
 
http://www.sixmoons.com/audioreviews/esoteric4/trio.html
 
The sound signature of the K-03 and better yet, the P-03/D-03/Clock combo is just amazingly detailed with extremely high bandwidth.  IMHO, the last thing you want from a source to color the SQ in any way.  They do require very decent interconnects to shine, so I had to replace a whole bunch of mine to accommodate all the nuances my previous ones couldn't convey.  Googleli is about to undergo a similar revelation (or elevation), me thinks.  
 
 

 

[Skylab]

Guys, it is seriously time to take your discussion of Esoteric disc players to either PM, or another thread.

 

[googleli]

The Esoteric K-01 may make the Ultrasone ED10 take a sharp turn and become the best dynamic headphone on earth. This is what all these would eventually lead to.
 
Lol just kidding.
 
Quote:

Guys, it is seriously time to take your discussion of Esoteric disc players to either PM, or another thread.

 

 

[musicman59]

Guys, it is seriously time to take your discussion of Esoteric disc players to either PM, or another thread.

I agree with you Rob. This is ridiculous. Either start your own Esoteric thread or do it through PM.

 

[googleli]

Get off, you guys don't even own ED10 no more!

 

 

 

[googleli]

I am wondering whether the rubidium atomic clock technology can be implemented on luxury watches.

 
Quote:

LOL, I'm honored.  But unlike the Rolex which has a similar accuracy in timekeeping as a $20 Casio or Timex watch, but with a K-01 you will actually experience a difference vs. whatever you're using now.  Not a subtle one, indeed.  It's optional, but I highly recommend that you invest $30 more in the ISO-Tek burn-in disc as it has been optimized to perform the initial break-in for ESOTERIC components (that's why most dealers sell it).  It worked very well for me.
 
Plus your bank will love you...
 
In short.  You can't loose. Ha!
 

 

 

[musicman59]

Quote:

Get off, you guys don't even own ED10 no more!

 

 

Maybe not but out of respect to all the others that still do you should respect the subject of the thread.

 
 
 

 

[Wedge]

Not a whole lot of people really chiming in on the ED.10s anymore in general.  I do find it interesting that in the beginning this thread started off with sounds great right out the iPod, to damn I need to sell my car so I can buy a source to make these things sing (BTW, traffic or not I won't trade my CTS-V for Esoteric gear  

).  I for one have tried to listen to it every which way that I have available to me, and I feel like the best I can do is use a really good amp and call it a day.
 
Quote:

Maybe not but out of respect to all the others that still do you should respect the subject of the thread.

 

 
 

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

Not a whole lot of people really chiming in on the ED.10s anymore in general.  I do find it interesting that in the beginning this thread started off with sounds great right out the iPod, to damn I need to sell my car so I can buy a source to make these things sing (BTW, traffic or not I won't trade my CTS-V for Esoteric gear  

).  I for one have tried to listen to it every which way that I have available to me, and I feel like the best I can do is use a really good amp and call it a day.

I totally forgot about that part.  Now that I think about it, you can draw some interesting and unflattering conclusions from those data points...

 

[googleli]

No one would be that stupid to buy a US$20K+ source just to hope that it would make the ED10 different. The ED10 sounds just as it is, not easy to like but still outsines the LCD2 by far in some aspects, but it will sound that way no matter it is matched with an iphone 4 or the Esoteric K-01 -> Leben setup. I would really look forward to see how the K-01 would sounds with my Leben -> LCD2 setup. After that, I may consider the Stax 009. The headphone price is actually ok, just not sure about what electrostatic amp I should get. 
                                   
 

 

[winzzz]

cant wait for your c3800 impressions googleli.. cheers