Esoteric New D02-X

[piolaxo]

The new D-02X looks gorgeous... The DAC to take it to a deserted island.

[-E-]

Originally Posted by jdandy

E.......No one pissed in my Wheaties today, at least not until I read your post.

I made no comment about the usefulness of the D-02X or how compelling it may or may not be to some. Furthermore, what you call a useless spinner I call a valuable transport that I enjoy to use. I realize what camp you stand in and promote. I have no problem with your personal bias in support of your music server, but your opinion certainly doesn't make obsolete all other means of digital playback as somehow suddenly useless, not by a long shot.

As for the co-developed Esoteric VCXO high-precision clock (±0.5 ppm), it is found in the K-03, K-01, K-03X, K-01X, and the Grandioso D1. It is not exclusive to the K-01X and up. The point I was trying to make and you seemed to miss is the ±0.5 ppm precision has been a benchmark for years. I think it would be advantageous to see that benchmark raised without having to employ an external clock, especially in the $20,000 DAC price range. It was wishful thinking on my part, not lamenting.

My comment about being disappointed that Ivan seems to have abandoned the idea of auditioning the G-02 clock with the K-03X centers on my desire to know how that combination performs and the advantages of using the G-02 versus not using it, especially since my curiosity can often be a precursor to a purchase. Ivan initially said he intended to audition the G-02 with the K-03X. I responded to a couple of posts about that. Now he has up the ante to the D-02X DAC. I understand his reasoning. Legend Audio is a business and decisions made for Legend aren't made by me. None the less, I was anxiously waiting to hear the results of the G-02 and K-03X pairing, which now appears to be scuttled. That's fine, but a disappointment for me just the same. I simply expressed my point of view.

Well see... When you put it in the wishful thinking side of things it makes a whole lot more sense. In that case I not only see your point but agree with it. Getting more performance for the same dollar is always a pro consumer philosophy and one I tend to advocate for.

And yes you certainly know which camp I am in. But perhaps I should clarify since what you call bias is simple objective reasoning: by ditching the transport, which even by TEAC standards represented a large OEM cost, esoteric is now able to deliver, what is, essentially, mini D1s crammed into a single box, for the same price as the K01x. There is also plenty of data out there on the buying habits of consumers: physical media is on the way out and has been for some time. Yes some will always cling to the past but even the ultra high end manufacturers must adapt to survive within a new generation of purchasers (many of whom still need training and coaching on the important virtues of quality over crap).

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by -E-

There is also plenty of data out there on the buying habits of consumers: physical media is on the way out and has been for some time. Yes some will always cling to the past but even the ultra high end manufacturers must adapt to survive within a new generation of purchasers (many of whom still need training and coaching on the important virtues of quality over crap).

E.......Yes, you are quite right. There is plenty of available data about consumer's buying habits. The shop worn mantra of physical media being on the way out is an exaggeration. Those with special interests beat that same drum a quarter century ago about the death of vinyl. Neilson/Billboard, the predominate source for tracking music sales (compact disc, vinyl, digital downloads), reports an active market in both CD's, digital downloads, and vinyl. CD's currently outsell vinyl ten to one while continuing to outpace digital downloads, albeit by a shrinking margin. According to the Neilson/Billboard sales figures for the first half of 2015, vinyl album sales reach 5.6 million. Compact disc sales during the same time reached 56.6 million, and digital downloads accounted for 53.7 million sales. Digital downloads were down by just over 1% during the first half of 2015 from the previous year.

Although certainly not as robust a sales picture as the music industry enjoyed in the 1970's and 1980's, physical media sales remain vibrant. Another important aspect to physical media is the depth of the catalog of available music. It will be decades if ever before digital downloads can lay claim to the same depth of available music in their catalog.

High-end audio equipment manufacturers continue to design, build, and bring to market premium CD/SACD/DAC players while other manufacturers continue delivering astonishing turntables, tonearms, and phono cartridges. There doesn't seem to be any end in site for the available components necessary to play physical media. That bodes well for the millions of people who own and enjoy large libraries of CD's, SACD's, and vinyl LP's. Physical media is not being tossed out with the proverbial bath water.

Certainly music servers, streaming audio, and computers have etched out a place in high-end audio. Convenience seems to be the driving force behind this approach to enjoying music libraries. But even with the advent of digital playback from hard drives and solid state drives many users experience a learning curve that isn't readily understood or mastered by all. In addition there is still the need for a transport to get one's physical media onto a server's drives. Say what you will, call it a useless spinner, but to enjoy all of our physical media from a music server we still must use a transport to move the majority of our music to a server. Somehow that doesn't strike me as the definition of useless. Music servers will continue to require a transport for this purpose until such time as the digital catalog catches up with the physical media catalog. In my opinion, that won't be happening any time soon. Despise the transport if you wish, but without it a server's library would remain limited to only what is available for download. Call it clinging to the past if you want. I see that as just more exaggeration. My point of view is different in that I enjoy accessing all formats, being able to use all the various playback mediums available in today's world. And why not?

The death knell chant for the eminent demise of music's physical media has been repeated over and over for years, yet by all accounts people are still buying, enjoying, and growing their physical media libraries. The market remains quite strong and I don't see it going away any time soon. Chant on if you deem it necessary to support your cause. It may be quite possible that one distant day in the future music servers might eventually be our only audio playback option, but that occasion is certainly not likely to happen any time soon.

[2fastdriving]

Originally Posted by jdandy

E.......Yes, you are quite right. There is plenty of available data about consumer's buying habits. The shop worn mantra of physical media being on the way out is an exaggeration. Those with special interests beat that same drum a quarter century ago about the death of vinyl. Neilson/Billboard, the predominate source for tracking music sales (compact disc, vinyl, digital downloads), reports an active market in both CD's, digital downloads, and vinyl. CD's currently outsell vinyl ten to one while continuing to outpace digital downloads, albeit by a shrinking margin. According to the Neilson/Billboard sales figures for the first half of 2015, vinyl album sales reach 5.6 million. Compact disc sales during the same time reached 56.6 million, and digital downloads accounted for 53.7 million sales. Digital downloads were down by just over 1% during the first half of 2015 from the previous year.

Although certainly not as robust a sales picture as the music industry enjoyed in the 1970's and 1980's, physical media sales remain vibrant. Another important aspect to physical media is the depth of the catalog of available music. It will be decades if ever before digital downloads can lay claim to the same depth of available music in their catalog.

High-end audio equipment manufacturers continue to design, build, and bring to market premium CD/SACD/DAC players while other manufacturers continue delivering astonishing turntables, tonearms, and phono cartridges. There doesn't seem to be any end in site for the available components necessary to play physical media. That bodes well for the millions of people who own and enjoy large libraries of CD's, SACD's, and vinyl LP's. Physical media is not being tossed out with the proverbial bath water.

Certainly music servers, streaming audio, and computers have etched out a place in high-end audio. Convenience seems to be the driving force behind this approach to enjoying music libraries. But even with the advent of digital playback from hard drives and solid state drives many users experience a learning curve that isn't readily understood or mastered by all. In addition there is still the need for a transport to get one's physical media onto a server's drives. Say what you will, call it a useless spinner, but to enjoy all of our physical media from a music server we still must use a transport to move the majority of our music to a server. Somehow that doesn't strike me as the definition of useless. Music servers will continue to require a transport for this purpose until such time as the digital catalog catches up with the physical media catalog. In my opinion, that won't be happening any time soon. Despise the transport if you wish, but without it a server's library would remain limited to only what is available for download. Call it clinging to the past if you want. I see that as just more exaggeration. My point of view is different in that I enjoy accessing all formats, being able to use all the various playback mediums available in today's world. And why not?

The death knell chant for the eminent demise of music's physical media has been repeated over and over for years, yet by all accounts people are still buying, enjoying, and growing their physical media libraries. The market remains quite strong and I don't see it going away any time soon. Chant on if you deem it necessary to support your cause. It may be quite possible that one distant day in the future music servers might eventually be our only audio playback option, but that occasion is certainly not likely to happen any time soon.

All very interesting. I wonder which has the most real world benefits... A more accurate clock, or more (and newer more advanced) dacs coupled together to reduce noise? I wonder what blind a/b testing would reveal. Considering the costs, I wish we had better information.

[paul1]

Originally Posted by 2fastdriving

All very interesting. I wonder which has the most real world benefits... A more accurate clock, or more (and newer more advanced) dacs coupled together to reduce noise? I wonder what blind a/b testing would reveal. Considering the costs, I wish we had better information.

+1

[SuperD]

Originally Posted by jdandy

E.......Yes, you are quite right. There is plenty of available data about consumer's buying habits. The shop worn mantra of physical media being on the way out is an exaggeration. Those with special interests beat that same drum a quarter century ago about the death of vinyl. Neilson/Billboard, the predominate source for tracking music sales (compact disc, vinyl, digital downloads), reports an active market in both CD's, digital downloads, and vinyl. CD's currently outsell vinyl ten to one while continuing to outpace digital downloads, albeit by a shrinking margin. According to the Neilson/Billboard sales figures for the first half of 2015, vinyl album sales reach 5.6 million. Compact disc sales during the same time reached 56.6 million, and digital downloads accounted for 53.7 million sales. Digital downloads were down by just over 1% during the first half of 2015 from the previous year. Although certainly not as robust a sales picture as the music industry enjoyed in the 1970's and 1980's, physical media sales remain vibrant. Another important aspect to physical media is the depth of the catalog of available music. It will be decades if ever before digital downloads can lay claim to the same depth of available music in their catalog. High-end audio equipment manufacturers continue to design, build, and bring to market premium CD/SACD/DAC players while other manufacturers continue delivering astonishing turntables, tonearms, and phono cartridges. There doesn't seem to be any end in site for the available components necessary to play physical media. That bodes well for the millions of people who own and enjoy large libraries of CD's, SACD's, and vinyl LP's. Physical media is not being tossed out with the proverbial bath water. Certainly music servers, streaming audio, and computers have etched out a place in high-end audio. Convenience seems to be the driving force behind this approach to enjoying music libraries. But even with the advent of digital playback from hard drives and solid state drives many users experience a learning curve that isn't readily understood or mastered by all. In addition there is still the need for a transport to get one's physical media onto a server's drives. Say what you will, call it a useless spinner, but to enjoy all of our physical media from a music server we still must use a transport to move the majority of our music to a server. Somehow that doesn't strike me as the definition of useless. Music servers will continue to require a transport for this purpose until such time as the digital catalog catches up with the physical media catalog. In my opinion, that won't be happening any time soon. Despise the transport if you wish, but without it a server's library would remain limited to only what is available for download. Call it clinging to the past if you want. I see that as just more exaggeration. My point of view is different in that I enjoy accessing all formats, being able to use all the various playback mediums available in today's world. And why not? The death knell chant for the eminent demise of music's physical media has been repeated over and over for years, yet by all accounts people are still buying, enjoying, and growing their physical media libraries. The market remains quite strong and I don't see it going away any time soon. Chant on if you deem it necessary to support your cause. It may be quite possible that one distant day in the future music servers might eventually be our only audio playback option, but that occasion is certainly not likely to happen any time soon.

Dan,
Thanks for taking the time. Great post!

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

Dan,
Thanks for taking the time. Great post!

SuperDave.......I appreciate your comments. All I really want to do is listen to great musical performances in my home with a level of accuracy and vitality that approaches in some way the original performance. The machines we use to get there are just the bitter pill we endure to recreate the thrill and excitement we strive to reproduce. Splitting hairs about one component or another, the media type, digital versus vinyl, streaming versus spinning, downloads versus physical media, on and on, gets boring for me. The joy I find in all of this is the music, not the mechanics. Sure, it's great fun to discuss audio components, their design, their sound, and their value. We are all gear-heads to one degree or another. The aesthetics of equipment and pride of ownership also play a big part in our excitement and willingness to assemble great sound systems. Our egos fuel the quest as well. Ultimately though, it is the perfection of reproduced music that we seek. Sometimes it is all too easy to lose sight of that mindset.

[SX-626]

Originally Posted by jdandy

SuperDave.......I appreciate your comments. All I really want to do is listen to great musical performances in my home with a level of accuracy and vitality that approaches in some way the original performance. The machines we use to get there are just the bitter pill we endure to recreate the thrill and excitement we strive to reproduce. Splitting hairs about one component or another, the media type, digital versus vinyl, streaming versus spinning, downloads versus physical media, on and on, gets boring for me. The joy I find in all of this is the music, not the mechanics. Sure, it's great fun to discuss audio components, their design, their sound, and their value. We are all gear-heads to one degree or another. The aesthetics of equipment and pride of ownership also play a big part in our excitement and willingness to assemble great sound systems. Our egos fuel the quest as well. Ultimately though, it is the perfection of reproduced music that we seek. Sometimes it is all too easy to lose sight of that mindset.

+1

[rns]

+ + 1

So many exciting methods and tools for enjoying our music these days. And wow Esoteric is making killer products across the board. Hope to own a piece someday.

[Masterlu]

I just confirmed my D02-X order; I scored the last one in the Country!