{"id":154143,"date":"2023-01-18T12:55:22","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T12:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techweekmag.com\/?p=154143"},"modified":"2023-01-18T12:55:22","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T12:55:22","slug":"esoteric-k-05xd-the-ultimate-sacd-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/hi-fi\/esoteric-k-05xd-the-ultimate-sacd-player\/","title":{"rendered":"Esoteric K-05XD: The ultimate SACD player"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Japanese company Esoteric has introduced a new optical disc player K-05 XD , endowed with the functions of an external DAC. The K-05XD inherited the philosophy of the legendary K-05 series, but was practically developed from scratch.<\/p>\n

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The player is based on the proprietary\u00a0VRDS-\u00a0<\/i>ATLAS ”\u00a0<\/i>ATLAS 05″<\/i>\u00a0optical disc transport , specially created for this model, and the digital-to-analog conversion unit is made in the\u00a0Master\u00a0<\/i>Sound\u00a0<\/i>Discrete\u00a0<\/i>DAC<\/i>\u00a0concept with solutions developed for the Grandioso G1X precision clock generator.<\/p>\n

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The upgraded VRDS-ATLAS mechanism, as well as the player’s electronics and power supply, are housed on a durable two-layer chassis.\u00a0The body of the player is made of aluminum panels.\u00a0There are three power transformers in the power supply – two powerful toroidal ones for powering the digital and analog parts, as well as a small EI transformer for the control system.\u00a0The Esoteric K-05XD player supports MQA decoding, including the MQA-CD variant.<\/p>\n

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The switching arsenal of the Esoteric K-05XD player includes coaxial and optical digital inputs, as well as a USB-B port.\u00a0There are also digital outputs here – both balanced AES \/ EBU and coaxial, as well as a 10 MHz input for connecting an external clock generator on the BNC connector.\u00a0Analog outputs are available in both balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA outputs.\u00a0There is also a proprietary ES-LINK Analog output for switching with Esoteric amplifiers.<\/p>\n

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The Esoteric\u00a0K-05\u00a0XD\u00a0SACD player\u00a0will be offered in silver or black finishes.\u00a0The recommended retail price depends on the selected design option.\u00a0The K-05XD in silver color will cost 1,045,000 yen\u00a0, which at the current rate is approximately 557 thousand dollars.\u00a0For the black version of the player, you will have to pay\u00a01,067,000 yen\u00a0or 569 thousand dollars.\u00a0In Japan, the player is expected to be on sale in February.\u00a0In Europe, the K-05XD will be available in the spring of 2023.<\/p>\n

Esoteric K-05XD SACD specs:<\/h3>\n