Transport?
 

Thinking a transport rather than an upgrade in my CDP. What is the preferred connection method between a transport & DAC these days? Optical, RCA, single XLR, USB, what.?

Depends on which Transport; many have proprietary connections.

In general for a Transport to a DAC; Coax or AES/EBU is the preferred cable method.

It appears that the Esoteric P-05X output is proprietary and does not support coax or AES/EBU.

It has the proprietary ES-Link which is what you would want to use if you connect to Esoteric Dac. It also has AES and coax that will work with other DACs. So it’s got both.

ES-Link is the proprietary connection and is only good if you have an ES-Link capable DAC with limits that to an Esorteric DAC.
Does the AES go over the single RCA or the pair of XLRs? The only coax connection is the clock sync in. No coax out that I can see.

It does actually have coax. To the left of the clock sync and the the right of the es-link. The AES can go over either one or two cables and is configurable via the menu. I own a P-02X and has similar connectivity.

George

Thx. As with CDPs, transports seem to be more scarce these days.

If you buy an Esoteric transport and use it with a non-Esoteric DAC, you will give up its ability to play SACDs (which may or may not be important to you). For Esoteric as with most other high end transports, this usually means you have a preference for using it with that brand's DAC.

I2s.