wadia-miester
Mighty Rearranger
Esoteric X-01 Limited Edition CD/Sacd player
Esoteric X-01 Limited Edition CD/Sacd player
There's been an awful lot written about this digital replay device over the last 18 months. So, I would like to share a few thoughts of my own with you.
I've been living with this player for just over 3 weeks, its taken me that long (Very Unusual for me I know !!!) to finally dropping a few comments to paper so to speak (Virtual paper that is ;-) ).
For those of you that know me, it takes something pretty special to enthuse about, even the mighty Mbl & Meitner players leaves me cold !!!!
On this occasion however, the take is some what different.
Upon removing the X-01 from its box (that's 3 boxes as its sealed in a triple carton array), you realise, that even the packing pieces have been methodically worked out.
Lifting the unit is quite straight forward, although heavy (25+ Kilos) its physical size is not imposing, and much easier to man handle than a lot of other higher end equipment.
The unit oozes quality, its beautiful brushed aluminium carcass, secured by precision counter sunk washers & stainless allen cap bolts. Its thick burnished ally front panel coupled with the Rolls Royce quality buttons, that have wonderful presence of correctness about them. A generous sized blue display with 3 dimmer level options provides a clear and precise reading even at 15 feet!!.
All the function buttons are 'ringed' with a blue backlight surround, which 'change position' according to your current selected operation. Nice touch, however for me personally not sure about the m/f content factor there, a bit bling possibly.
The unit sits on its own outriggers, all of which are adjustable and more than capable holding its weight several times over.
The quality of this player never fails to impress me, from every angle its understated looks & Herculean construction just let you know this is one very special machine.
Ergonomics too, like all the very best things in life, are simple yet effective.
Clean lines, and quality also follow through to the remote control as well. Unlike the Wadia's of this world. The Esoteric remote functions from all angles, is very simple to use and has a very good range.
The remote itself, has that beautifully made solid yet elegant feel, whilst seducing your palms with a genuine leather back. A real pleasure to use, not only is the player bloody remarkable, the remote ain't bad either!!!!.
The Esoteric X-01 is badged an SACD/CD player, in the land of its creation SACD is still a 'big thing' although a victim of the format wars (IMO) its Kudos in Japan is still very much alive, hence the SACD/CD tag.
Technical specifications for this player are impressive, but do top spec's give top sound alone? Hummââ'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦.. Tuff question, one I'll attempt to answer!!!!
The X-01 utilities the best of the Teac 'Neo-mechanisms' (the less one be used in the X-03/UX-3)
http://www.teac.co.jp/av/esoteric/p01_d01/p01.html#
A Massive bridge unit made from SS400 steel supports the turntable (fashioned from Magnesium) and spindle unit, supported by 20mm thick stainless steel bridge coupled with 10mm steel bottom frame makes for one seriously rigid outer mechanism shell.
The motor is rated at 5000rpm, more than 3 times the rating of Sacd/Dvd-a rotational speeds. The sled motor too features some revolutionary design work, with a hall effect 3 phase brush less motors being used in the sled transport, coupled with current sensing speed feedback circuits controlling the actual mechanism itself, thus improving on data acquisition.
http://www.teac.co.jp/av/esoteric/vrds_neo/images/x01ux1_picup_s.jpg
The motor is completely isolated from the sled at all times, eliminating all the high frequency vibrations that occur in the transport drive itself.
One new innovation that Esoteric have implemented is the laser pick-ups mounting on a sliding shaft device, that prevents tilting even when the laser is being moved, along with upgraded supports to the photodiode.
http://www.teac.co.jp/av/esoteric/vrds_neo/images/thre_mor_s.jpg
What does this mean in layman's terms?.
Less grief for the disc and superior digital data acquisition and greatly reduced errors thrown in for good measure.
Fully isolated servo drive control and digital power supplies, that do not 'talk' to each other, further reducing the risk of contamination of the signals.
True dual mono dac's for left/right channels, each fully regulated and supporting some the best components you can lay your hands on.
Each dac module has 4 yes 4 Burr Brown dac-chips (1704's in true dual differential configuration) per channel producing some of the best jitter figures ever tested by Stereophile. http://stereophile.com/thefifthelement/205fifth/index3.html
The X-01 features include, 5 channel Sacd surround facility with full speaker management options and test tones. Balanced and single ended analogue outputs, dual digital outputs, both toslink and single ended (Which can be turned off via the software for claimed improved performance). An external word sync clock can be fitted also and engaged by the front panel button.
Using the players menu's are a doddle, simple & intuitive.
Enough of the guff, now down to brass tacks! How does it soundââ'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦
Very different to almost all the equipment I've managed to listen over the years, but do this mean its better? Fair questionââ'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦..
Right out the box, its pretty damn good, easily seeing off a standard 861 se with consummate dispatch. If fact the difference in ALL areas is pretty obvious from the outset.
The very first thing that strikes with the X-01 is the pure musicality this player exudes, intertwined with an expressiveness that I've never really heard before, its natural rhythmic prowess redefines the 'groove factor' by some margin whilst producing a wonderful flowing nature to the sound.
The detail that's portrayed (both macro & micro) is quite simply astonishing, it unearths layers on CD's that have laid dormant until now, yet have always been on there, just never released. You really do not grasp what is actually on the cd's until you play all your favourites on the Esoteric, it's a true hairs/back of neck syndrome thing!!!!
Now as you guys may be aware, being a drummer ( I know a guy that hangs around with musicians!!!) dynamics are quite close to my heart. So attempting to re-create that 'live experience' has always being one of my top goals.
Suffice to say the Esoteric X-01 ticks the box in no short order, the dynamic realism that is presented is just plain smile inducing.
Snare thwacks are superbly real, from the articulation, to the skin stop following note body & true decay. Its scarily close to being there.
Sound staging, BIG and encompassing without giving you a 10 foot high guitar solo or Eva Cassidy J in pure 20 foot cinema-scope.
Imaging is deep and starting to layer even at this early point in its youthful stage.
Oh did I mention BASS !!!!!! Arrange these words in any order and you'll get the gist of the X-01's performance in the lower regions. Demolition Ball Slam, the fiscal /tightness of Cjr, the speed of a cheetah coupled with the depth of the marianas trench.
All this from a mere 4 hours on its virgin bores, well that was 3 weeks ago and as they say ââ'¬Å"that's a long time in politicsââ'¬Â J
When we displayed at the show the X-01 was a mere 2 days old!!!!.
Now all you sceptics that say running/bedding in is all psycho-acoustic and mumbo jumbo, could tell the difference between a 350+ hour unit and a brand new one I fell with some confidence.
I've left the player running 24/7, some reports say 200 hours is all that's needed, a good few customers feel 500 and some even citing 800 hours!!!
Not sure it needs that length of time. However the changes that the players Sonics have undergone are anything but subtle!!
The staging has improved markedly, with more width plus the into the room sensation without that 'forced feeling'. The detail and dynamics are now simply the best I've heard of any digital replay system to date (save one, its bigger brother the D01-P01), the tonality of this player has been more rounded and fuller, with beautiful texture & vocals portrayed with such grace and delicacy, it has me reaching for Nora Jones :-0 (just jesting, hell will freeze over before that happens!!!)
The imaging and layering that's going on behind the speakers is stretching back with such sublime realism it really gets me every time I listen to it. Which is both great and bad, as I don't have the time to listen to it with complete entanglement. (great word eh?) Due to the pressures of moving shortly and all that entails.
Also the bass has 'bedded in' as well as the rest of the above, completely nuts are adequate words to use I feel.
So where does this leave the review?.
There is more to come, though I feel the bulk of the players performance is now fully on display.
I just everything this player does and that way it does it, now that doesn't mean that everyone will enjoy it the same way I do.
The X-01 is purely about musical expressiveness and detail retrieval IMO.
Its presentation is on the cool side, and can upset the balance of some systems for sure, making them too cold.
It has a heft & presence to its sound, which some may find not for them. While more than capable of doing beautifully intricate delicacy, with the pipe and slippers bit too. Its not in any way an M/F.
Bad recordings are just that, bad recordings. It does not gloss/smooth out over them in the way the Remiyo 777 does, it's a 'truthful presentation' of what's on the disc.
The X-01 is a superlative music making machine verbatim.
Last note on the Sacd replay side of the beastie.
My dislike of the Sacd format is well documented, I normally find it far too polished, totally lacking involvement & basically yawn inducing!!!
For classical, female vocals & Jazz it's a boon. The richer mid band textures and cleaner vocals suit these genre's very well, but for me lack any musical involvement, cohesiveness or immediacy. Big thoughts I know, yet I've owned some of the 'so called top drawer stuff' Dcs stack full fire wire, Audio Aero Prestige, Sony Sacd 1, heard many more inducing the Meitner Labs EMM Philips transport and dac.
For the first time (to these ears anyway LOL!!!) Sacd sounds like it should, like Cd but better!!!.
The Esoteric X-01 does not convert PCM (Red book 44.1khz) to DSD (Sacd 1 bit), its actually does it ass about face (sacrilege for Sony engineers I reckon) The DSD is up sampled to 88.2khz (twice red book) and then sent thought the dual, dual differential dac chips!!!
I only own 4 Sacd's, so I can't comment too much but it works damn well!!!
To some up with the Esoteric X-01.
Its certainly the best one box player I've heard to date PERIOD and by a very large margin.
It's a damn fine looker, its built like things should be built like.
Sounds Bloody fantastic.
However, its not a bargin purchase, its expensive muchly so, Is it worth it?, In the right system without a doubt. IMO
IT won't suit everybody, it can sound on the cool side & possibly tip the balance of a system too far. Home demo's a sheer must.
I just love the sound this player gives, it's the closest machine that really does recreate the 'Live being there feeling' . Mr. C
Esoteric X-01 Limited Edition CD/Sacd player
There's been an awful lot written about this digital replay device over the last 18 months. So, I would like to share a few thoughts of my own with you.
I've been living with this player for just over 3 weeks, its taken me that long (Very Unusual for me I know !!!) to finally dropping a few comments to paper so to speak (Virtual paper that is ;-) ).
For those of you that know me, it takes something pretty special to enthuse about, even the mighty Mbl & Meitner players leaves me cold !!!!
On this occasion however, the take is some what different.
Upon removing the X-01 from its box (that's 3 boxes as its sealed in a triple carton array), you realise, that even the packing pieces have been methodically worked out.
Lifting the unit is quite straight forward, although heavy (25+ Kilos) its physical size is not imposing, and much easier to man handle than a lot of other higher end equipment.
The unit oozes quality, its beautiful brushed aluminium carcass, secured by precision counter sunk washers & stainless allen cap bolts. Its thick burnished ally front panel coupled with the Rolls Royce quality buttons, that have wonderful presence of correctness about them. A generous sized blue display with 3 dimmer level options provides a clear and precise reading even at 15 feet!!.
All the function buttons are 'ringed' with a blue backlight surround, which 'change position' according to your current selected operation. Nice touch, however for me personally not sure about the m/f content factor there, a bit bling possibly.
The unit sits on its own outriggers, all of which are adjustable and more than capable holding its weight several times over.
The quality of this player never fails to impress me, from every angle its understated looks & Herculean construction just let you know this is one very special machine.
Ergonomics too, like all the very best things in life, are simple yet effective.
Clean lines, and quality also follow through to the remote control as well. Unlike the Wadia's of this world. The Esoteric remote functions from all angles, is very simple to use and has a very good range.
The remote itself, has that beautifully made solid yet elegant feel, whilst seducing your palms with a genuine leather back. A real pleasure to use, not only is the player bloody remarkable, the remote ain't bad either!!!!.
The Esoteric X-01 is badged an SACD/CD player, in the land of its creation SACD is still a 'big thing' although a victim of the format wars (IMO) its Kudos in Japan is still very much alive, hence the SACD/CD tag.
Technical specifications for this player are impressive, but do top spec's give top sound alone? Hummââ'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦.. Tuff question, one I'll attempt to answer!!!!
The X-01 utilities the best of the Teac 'Neo-mechanisms' (the less one be used in the X-03/UX-3)
http://www.teac.co.jp/av/esoteric/p01_d01/p01.html#
A Massive bridge unit made from SS400 steel supports the turntable (fashioned from Magnesium) and spindle unit, supported by 20mm thick stainless steel bridge coupled with 10mm steel bottom frame makes for one seriously rigid outer mechanism shell.
The motor is rated at 5000rpm, more than 3 times the rating of Sacd/Dvd-a rotational speeds. The sled motor too features some revolutionary design work, with a hall effect 3 phase brush less motors being used in the sled transport, coupled with current sensing speed feedback circuits controlling the actual mechanism itself, thus improving on data acquisition.
http://www.teac.co.jp/av/esoteric/vrds_neo/images/x01ux1_picup_s.jpg
The motor is completely isolated from the sled at all times, eliminating all the high frequency vibrations that occur in the transport drive itself.
One new innovation that Esoteric have implemented is the laser pick-ups mounting on a sliding shaft device, that prevents tilting even when the laser is being moved, along with upgraded supports to the photodiode.
http://www.teac.co.jp/av/esoteric/vrds_neo/images/thre_mor_s.jpg
What does this mean in layman's terms?.
Less grief for the disc and superior digital data acquisition and greatly reduced errors thrown in for good measure.
Fully isolated servo drive control and digital power supplies, that do not 'talk' to each other, further reducing the risk of contamination of the signals.
True dual mono dac's for left/right channels, each fully regulated and supporting some the best components you can lay your hands on.
Each dac module has 4 yes 4 Burr Brown dac-chips (1704's in true dual differential configuration) per channel producing some of the best jitter figures ever tested by Stereophile. http://stereophile.com/thefifthelement/205fifth/index3.html
The X-01 features include, 5 channel Sacd surround facility with full speaker management options and test tones. Balanced and single ended analogue outputs, dual digital outputs, both toslink and single ended (Which can be turned off via the software for claimed improved performance). An external word sync clock can be fitted also and engaged by the front panel button.
Using the players menu's are a doddle, simple & intuitive.
Enough of the guff, now down to brass tacks! How does it soundââ'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦
Very different to almost all the equipment I've managed to listen over the years, but do this mean its better? Fair questionââ'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â¦..
Right out the box, its pretty damn good, easily seeing off a standard 861 se with consummate dispatch. If fact the difference in ALL areas is pretty obvious from the outset.
The very first thing that strikes with the X-01 is the pure musicality this player exudes, intertwined with an expressiveness that I've never really heard before, its natural rhythmic prowess redefines the 'groove factor' by some margin whilst producing a wonderful flowing nature to the sound.
The detail that's portrayed (both macro & micro) is quite simply astonishing, it unearths layers on CD's that have laid dormant until now, yet have always been on there, just never released. You really do not grasp what is actually on the cd's until you play all your favourites on the Esoteric, it's a true hairs/back of neck syndrome thing!!!!
Now as you guys may be aware, being a drummer ( I know a guy that hangs around with musicians!!!) dynamics are quite close to my heart. So attempting to re-create that 'live experience' has always being one of my top goals.
Suffice to say the Esoteric X-01 ticks the box in no short order, the dynamic realism that is presented is just plain smile inducing.
Snare thwacks are superbly real, from the articulation, to the skin stop following note body & true decay. Its scarily close to being there.
Sound staging, BIG and encompassing without giving you a 10 foot high guitar solo or Eva Cassidy J in pure 20 foot cinema-scope.
Imaging is deep and starting to layer even at this early point in its youthful stage.
Oh did I mention BASS !!!!!! Arrange these words in any order and you'll get the gist of the X-01's performance in the lower regions. Demolition Ball Slam, the fiscal /tightness of Cjr, the speed of a cheetah coupled with the depth of the marianas trench.
All this from a mere 4 hours on its virgin bores, well that was 3 weeks ago and as they say ââ'¬Å"that's a long time in politicsââ'¬Â J
When we displayed at the show the X-01 was a mere 2 days old!!!!.
Now all you sceptics that say running/bedding in is all psycho-acoustic and mumbo jumbo, could tell the difference between a 350+ hour unit and a brand new one I fell with some confidence.
I've left the player running 24/7, some reports say 200 hours is all that's needed, a good few customers feel 500 and some even citing 800 hours!!!
Not sure it needs that length of time. However the changes that the players Sonics have undergone are anything but subtle!!
The staging has improved markedly, with more width plus the into the room sensation without that 'forced feeling'. The detail and dynamics are now simply the best I've heard of any digital replay system to date (save one, its bigger brother the D01-P01), the tonality of this player has been more rounded and fuller, with beautiful texture & vocals portrayed with such grace and delicacy, it has me reaching for Nora Jones :-0 (just jesting, hell will freeze over before that happens!!!)
The imaging and layering that's going on behind the speakers is stretching back with such sublime realism it really gets me every time I listen to it. Which is both great and bad, as I don't have the time to listen to it with complete entanglement. (great word eh?) Due to the pressures of moving shortly and all that entails.
Also the bass has 'bedded in' as well as the rest of the above, completely nuts are adequate words to use I feel.
So where does this leave the review?.
There is more to come, though I feel the bulk of the players performance is now fully on display.
I just everything this player does and that way it does it, now that doesn't mean that everyone will enjoy it the same way I do.
The X-01 is purely about musical expressiveness and detail retrieval IMO.
Its presentation is on the cool side, and can upset the balance of some systems for sure, making them too cold.
It has a heft & presence to its sound, which some may find not for them. While more than capable of doing beautifully intricate delicacy, with the pipe and slippers bit too. Its not in any way an M/F.
Bad recordings are just that, bad recordings. It does not gloss/smooth out over them in the way the Remiyo 777 does, it's a 'truthful presentation' of what's on the disc.
The X-01 is a superlative music making machine verbatim.
Last note on the Sacd replay side of the beastie.
My dislike of the Sacd format is well documented, I normally find it far too polished, totally lacking involvement & basically yawn inducing!!!
For classical, female vocals & Jazz it's a boon. The richer mid band textures and cleaner vocals suit these genre's very well, but for me lack any musical involvement, cohesiveness or immediacy. Big thoughts I know, yet I've owned some of the 'so called top drawer stuff' Dcs stack full fire wire, Audio Aero Prestige, Sony Sacd 1, heard many more inducing the Meitner Labs EMM Philips transport and dac.
For the first time (to these ears anyway LOL!!!) Sacd sounds like it should, like Cd but better!!!.
The Esoteric X-01 does not convert PCM (Red book 44.1khz) to DSD (Sacd 1 bit), its actually does it ass about face (sacrilege for Sony engineers I reckon) The DSD is up sampled to 88.2khz (twice red book) and then sent thought the dual, dual differential dac chips!!!
I only own 4 Sacd's, so I can't comment too much but it works damn well!!!
To some up with the Esoteric X-01.
Its certainly the best one box player I've heard to date PERIOD and by a very large margin.
It's a damn fine looker, its built like things should be built like.
Sounds Bloody fantastic.
However, its not a bargin purchase, its expensive muchly so, Is it worth it?, In the right system without a doubt. IMO
IT won't suit everybody, it can sound on the cool side & possibly tip the balance of a system too far. Home demo's a sheer must.
I just love the sound this player gives, it's the closest machine that really does recreate the 'Live being there feeling' . Mr. C
.
