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Old 08-19-2018, 11:06 AM
ariess ariess is offline
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Default Bad review of N-01 in Stereophile?

I do not have an N-01 and have never heard one but I am pretty familiar with this generation and level of digital Esoteric products so I was pretty surprised to read what passes in the audiophile world as a bad review of the Esoteric N-01 in the September 2018 issue by Jason Victor Serinus.

Of course reviews are reviews and its fair to be negative in one. But the standards in audiophile reviews curve the grades to aim high (as is not unreasonable given that these products are engineered to extremely high cost to be A+) so that class average at this price level and from an experienced manufacturer is normally an average of over the top praise. So what happened here?

Well from the first half of the review its clear that the reviewer had a very frustrating IT experience "Given that the N-01 froze more times than you might ever wish, I rapidly became a certifiable expert in pulling its power cord out just far enough to turn everything off, then reinserting it, without disrupting a shitload of connector cables" and "...the N-01 produced no sound and wouldn't respond to presses of its power button...only after I'd quit the app, unplugged and plugged in the power cord, let the N-01 reboot, breathed deeply and started from scratch could I hear music again. My dogs learned to put their paws over their ears to avoid hearing exclamations that the FCC deems unfit for the airwaves. Eventually, I recited the Serenity Prayer and got on with it." He then says that after his review was done he was told Esoteric issued an update that addressed the problem. So before he ever comments on sound quality he was already in a foul mood, cursing a blue streak at the N-01 and his nerves shot. (I am sympathetic, I hate dealing with IT shit. This is why I like spinning discs!) I just wonder if this was the right frame of mind to then provide an unbiased view of the sound quality, a separate issue?

His statements on sound struck me as quite negative given the standards of reviews in the field. Praise is faint ("very fine indeed"). He often relates a stream of negative appraisals like "...tambourine sounded a mite too rattly, the woodwinds beautiful but not supremely color-saturated and the soundstage boundaries vague. There was also a pervasive grayness to the space between notes. " and later "Depth was okay, but the sense of space was less than I'm accustomed to from DSD128 files...strings also sounded a mite thin and glassy and lacked warmth" However, he says in both cases that these negatives largely went away when adding in a dCS external word clock but hastens to add that he did most listening without the clock since others might not have it.

Which raises the other oddity in this review. The reference of comparison. Normally in these types of reviews, the reviewer bends over backwards to be positive about the item under reviewer by picking as the comparison a product which is either long-in-the-tooth (The Metronome Kalista CD player at $43k is compared elsewhere in the issue to a 17 year old Sony player) or to a lower quality, cheaper unit so the reviewed product towers over it or to something so much more expensive that the reviewer can say that the piece under study gets "closer than it should" to the higher cost product given the disparity in price. Not so here! The N-01 ($20k) is compared to the dCS Rossini DAC ($24k) which is state of the art, the latter apparently with its mates dCS Scarlatti clock and dCS Paganini SACD/CD Transport, in other words a dCS stack! The reviewer than acknowledges he had "a wicked cold which temporarily plugged his ears" (what a mood in which to conduct a review, IT problems that cause swearing followed by a deafening head cold!). So he brings in a musician friend who much prefers the Rossini in every comparison though he chimes in from his sickbed "I was certain that the Rossini was delivering more air and sense of hall, as well as clearer, more transparent sound.. The over and undertones of the thwacks on the biggest bass drum sounded more lifelike...there was no contest in the transparency, color saturation and contrast, three-dimensionality, air and transients. Save for the bass, there was more there there. Which is not to diminish the fact that the N-01 has one of the best-sounding presentations I've heard from a network player/DAC in its price range." Really?

Again, I have never heard the N-01 myself. But the reviewer also wrote "Throughout the weeks of intensive listening...the N-01's tonal gestalt sounded remarkably similar to what I've heard from Esoteric gear at audio shows; extremely detailed, balanced, and fleshed out, with superb bass, but with a bit of gray patina that reduced sparkle. Warm and fuzzy, romantic and lush are not terms I would ever use to describe the N-01's sound." This made me think the reviewer was sort of dissing the whole Esoteric line, wow. I usually describe my own Esoteric K1 (same DAC chips as the N-01) as sounding extremely lush (and I have heard the dCS Rossini) so I am rather confused how this reviewer describes the Esoteric house sound.

What happened here? Was the N-01 malfunctioning not only in its evident data transmission but in its audio? Was the reviewer already in too bad a mood from the N-01's IT problems and his head cold to not trash the N-01? Or was the benchmark unfair (dCS stack) while leaving out the clock for the N-01? Having worked with these clocks I know that implementation synergy is critical (the dCS clock output impedance is 75 ohm, the Esoteric input impedance is 50 ohm and my experience is that this makes a difference). So the dCS unit got the matching clocking and the N-01 got the mismatching clock. Or is none of this relevant and the reviewer and his mate just found the dCS to be vastly better than the Esoteric? As I said at the start, this review struck me as very unusual and far from what I've experienced with the same or similar products that I suspect more going on here.

Your thoughts?

Last edited by ariess; 08-19-2018 at 11:12 AM.
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  #2  
Old 08-19-2018, 01:53 PM
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W9TR W9TR is offline
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Given that the N-01 is first and foremost a network streamer, the fact that it performed poorly and was unstable in the reviewer’s system was the buzzkill.

Had I been the reviewer, I would have cancelled the review, wrote about the experience, and provided the mfg with the opportunity to fix their problems.

But JVS just marched on and that was that.

Is it fair for JVS to compare a $20k network player to a $24k DAC? Yes, absolutely!

Esoteric themselves notes that it is the same exceptional DAC as the TOTL K-01, thus inviting the comparison.

I don’t own and haven’t heard either piece so I have no SQ reference, but in this elevated terrain I think flavor preference will always be a big factor in subjective reviews.

Tom
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  #3  
Old 08-19-2018, 02:29 PM
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jdandy jdandy is offline
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I am not a fan of Serinus as a reviewer to begin with. Under his admitted physical condition he should have at the very least postponed writing the review. As for the network issues, they may not have necessarily been with the N-01. Who's to say what the integrity of his LAN may be. This review demonstrates his litmus test was skewed from the beginning.
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Old 08-19-2018, 02:48 PM
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As an Esoteric owner, and Dealer (full disclosure) I can only say that I have sold (12) N-01’s since they were introduced.

Each and every customer is completely thrilled, and satisfied with their purchase.
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Old 08-19-2018, 04:37 PM
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I'd like to know what his dogs, who "learned to put their paws over their ears to avoid hearing exclamations that the FCC deems unfit...", thought of the N-01's contribution to his system's presentation of music once he got past the setup difficulties that communication with Esoteric would have resolved.
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Old 08-19-2018, 06:11 PM
GSOphile GSOphile is online now
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I also read this review. My thought upon finishing: bizarre! Good analysis, ariess.
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Old 08-19-2018, 06:45 PM
SCAudiophile SCAudiophile is offline
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He obviously has an axe to grind, unfortunately he proves again that he lacks the skills to discharge the responsibilities of his position [emoji2]!
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Old 08-19-2018, 07:54 PM
Kal Rubinson Kal Rubinson is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by W9TR View Post
Had I been the reviewer, I would have cancelled the review, wrote about the experience, and provided the mfg with the opportunity to fix their problems.

But JVS just marched on and that was that.
It is not Jason's call. Policy is to review any product submitted and accepted for review. If the reviewer thinks it is defective, he can ask for a new sample but he must reveal this and comment on the original as well.

(That is just policy. I have not read the review.)

Last edited by Kal Rubinson; 08-19-2018 at 09:29 PM.
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Old 08-19-2018, 08:01 PM
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W9TR W9TR is offline
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Thanks Kal, for this info.
In retrospect some thing was amiss with the device or the network, could have been either. I always blame the new kid on the network, especially if everything else is working. Jason didn’t mention trying to get his review unit issues resolved. So I guess we’ll never know unless there is a follow up.
Tom
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Main System:
Amati Futura Mains
Amati Homage VOX Center,
Proac Response 1sc Rears,
Three MC2301's for L,C,R
MC 602 for the rears
C 1100, MX 151, MCD 1100, MR 80
Nottingham Dais with Wave Mechanic
Sumiko Palo Santos Presentation

SurfacePro 3, RPi 4, ROON, WW Starlight Platinum USB, Schiit Yggdrasil, Benchmark DAC3 HGC

MX 151, OppO BDP-95, JVC RS-500 DILA projector, 106" diagonal Stewart Luxus Screenwall Deluxe with Studiotek 130 G3 material.

Lake House:
Ohm F, MC 275V, C2300, MR 77, Rega P3

OnDeck:
McIntosh MAC 4300v
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Old 08-19-2018, 09:22 PM
JBT JBT is offline
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It happens!
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