ESOTERIC X-01 MULTI CHANNEL SACD/CD PLAYER

[Ossidian]

Fully balanced MULTI CHANNEL reference SACD player. Weight 55 lbs. Recent full service (2021) with new laser and belt. Includes additional new genuine factory laser (purchased 2024) and new German blue belts for long service life. Purchase price was $13,000 in 2004. Used with McIntosh, Krell and VTL. True reference audiophile player. Stainless steel chassis with stainless steel and aluminum parts. Local sale as I no longer have box. Local pickup in Bellevue, WA. New replacement of same quality from Esoteric is 30k. $2000 cash sale. I accept cash and cash.

 

[TLS Guy]

Fully balanced MULTI CHANNEL reference SACD player. Weight 55 lbs. Recent full service (2021) with new laser and belt. Includes additional new genuine factory laser (purchased 2024) and new German blue belts for long service life. Purchase price was $13,000 in 2004. Used with McIntosh, Krell and VTL. True reference audiophile player. Stainless steel chassis with stainless steel and aluminum parts. Local sale as I no longer have box. Local pickup in Bellevue, WA. New replacement of same quality from Esoteric is 30k. $2000 cash sale. I accept cash and cash.


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Good luck with that. SACD is virtually dead.

 

[lovinthehd]

Man good luck with asking so much for so little for what seems to be an unreliable unit. The very brand name should say "stay away".

 

[Ossidian]

Man good luck with asking so much for so little for what seems to be an unreliable unit. The very brand name should say "stay away".

Understand you're not interested. Buy why talk poop?

 

[Ossidian]

Good luck with that. SACD is virtually dead.

Why talk poop...move along if not interested.

 

[Joe B]

Fully balanced MULTI CHANNEL reference SACD player. Weight 55 lbs. Recent full service (2021) with new laser and belt. Includes additional new genuine factory laser (purchased 2024) and new German blue belts for long service life. Purchase price was $13,000 in 2004. Used with McIntosh, Krell and VTL. True reference audiophile player. Stainless steel chassis with stainless steel and aluminum parts. Local sale as I no longer have box. Local pickup in Bellevue, WA. New replacement of same quality from Esoteric is 30k. $2000 cash sale. I accept cash and cash.


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17 years on the first laser, had it replaced, and you're including a new one for the next time the laser dies. With the belts, this unit will probably still be in use in 2050.
SACD is not dead. For a forum which focuses on multi-channel theater set-ups, I'm surprised members aren't into multi-channel music as well. Blu-ray disc concerts recorded in 5.0 DTS-HD Master Audio are great. Maybe it's just classical music fans who are taking advantage of their multi-channel speaker set-ups. Anyway, good luck selling this.
I'm in New England, so I'm saving $2,000 today.

 

[TLS Guy]

Why talk poop...move along if not interested.

The only poop here is what you have for sale. This is a product definitely in the Audiophool category. For one thing SACD is dead to dying. It was the fist multichannel disc format, but it would have been better PCM based. DSD is virtually impossible to work with in production. Anyone working with it now has to convert to PCM and back to DSD. The whole rationale of DSD was a total misunderstanding of digital audio, and actually conceived from colossal ignorance on multiple levels.

As regards that player it depends on the version. Early ones had significant failures and owners had to send the units to Japan for service! So fairly soon, the transport was replaced with a cheap one, that was more reliable , but no price decrease.

Balanced output has no advantage over RCA and unless the cable is very long.

It reminds me of a remark by the founder of Hyperion, the late Ted Perry. He once remarked that the ability of a player to play discs is inversely proportional to its cost.

I was reminded of this when working on a minor problem with a friends Mac disc player. I found that the transport was the cheapest level Sanyo! So obviously they agreed with Ted Perry.

On this forum we pride ourselves on steering members away from overpriced gear that offers zero advantage over cheaper products. Your player is right in that category.

Lastly most members here connect their digital disc players via HDMI, or other digital cable, to their AVPs or AVRs. So all they need is a player that will reliably read the disc and send it in a digital stream. And yes, error correction actually is perfect until the point of drop out. That is a point lost on the Audiophool fraternity.

This is the truth and not 'poop' as you put it.

 

[mono-bloc]

Esoteric have a very good name in the audio world for there high standard in construction and performance,

On this forum we pride ourselves on steering members away from overpriced gear that offers zero advantage over cheaper products. Your player is right in that category.

More garbage from the "All Knowing"

Just because you live in the cheap and nasty world doesn't mean we all have to . Unlike you not everyone thinks there local charity shop is the pinicial of excellence

Esoteric products have a big following in the European and Asian markets, Unfortunately the American market is really down to a very few retail outlets,
But Esoteric will be featured at this years Florida Audio Show, Read about it here https://www.audioshark.org/threads/2025-florida-audio-expo.26412/

Lastly most members here connect their digital disc players via HDMI,

Just a small point HDMI was never designed for Audio,

 

[lovinthehd]

Esoteric have a very good name in the audio world for there high standard in construction and performance,



More garbage from the "All Knowing"

Just because you live in the cheap and nasty world doesn't mean we all have to . Unlike you not everyone thinks there local charity show is the pinicial of excellence

Esoteric products have a big following in the European and Asian markets, Unfortunately the American market is really down to a very few retail outlets,
But Esoteric will be featured at this years Florida Audio Show, Read about it here https://www.audioshark.org/threads/2025-florida-audio-expo.26412/



Just a small point HDMI was never designed for Audio,

Judging the market by what some silly audiophiles will pay for overpriced stuff.....lol.

 

[everettT]

Esoteric have a very good name in the audio world for there high standard in construction and performance,



More garbage from the "All Knowing"

Just because you live in the cheap and nasty world doesn't mean we all have to . Unlike you not everyone thinks there local charity shop is the pinicial of excellence

Esoteric products have a big following in the European and Asian markets, Unfortunately the American market is really down to a very few retail outlets,
But Esoteric will be featured at this years Florida Audio Show, Read about it here https://www.audioshark.org/threads/2025-florida-audio-expo.26412/



Just a small point HDMI was never designed for Audio,

I would assume you've been around long enough to understand that he doesn't live in an "a cheap or nasty" audio world...

 

[lovinthehd]

FWIW OP should advertise in a more friendly place like some of the silly audiophile groups on FB or Audiogon....

 

[everettT]

FWIW OP should advertise in a more friendly place like some of the silly audiophile groups on FB or Audiogon....

Agreed, no traction here for a used $2k disc player that doesn't even decode the latest codecs.

 

[lovinthehd]

Just the brand name Esoteric is annoying to me....especially looking at their products in actual practice. Just a bunch of bullshit.

 

[mono-bloc]

I would assume you've been around long enough to understand that he doesn't live in an "a cheap or nasty" audio world.

What I do know is he can dish out the ridicule, But when it comes for taking it he ducks for cover.

I really don't understand why someone is attempting to sell something, and everyone's attempting to not only downgrade the sale
but adding there own snide comments. When the chances are the muck rakers have probably never heard , seen or used the item
A very poor show,, By so-called respected contributors

 

[mono-bloc]

Just the brand name Esoteric is annoying to me.

So climb back down your hole, and STFU

 

[Joe B]

The only poop here is what you have for sale. This is a product definitely in the Audiophool category. For one thing SACD is dead to dying. It was the fist multichannel disc format, but it would have been better PCM based. DSD is virtually impossible to work with in production. Anyone working with it now has to convert to PCM and back to DSD. The whole rationale of DSD was a total misunderstanding of digital audio, and actually conceived from colossal ignorance on multiple levels.

As regards that player it depends on the version. Early ones had significant failures and owners had to send the units to Japan for service! So fairly soon, the transport was replaced with a cheap one, that was more reliable , but no price decrease.

Balanced output has no advantage over RCA and unless the cable is very long.

It reminds me of a remark by the founder of Hyperion, the late Ted Perry. He once remarked that the ability of a player to play discs is inversely proportional to its cost.

I was reminded of this when working on a minor problem with a friends Mac disc player. I found that the transport was the cheapest level Sanyo! So obviously they agreed with Ted Perry.

On this forum we pride ourselves on steering members away from overpriced gear that offers zero advantage over cheaper products. Your player is right in that category.

Lastly most members here connect their digital disc players via HDMI, or other digital cable, to their AVPs or AVRs. So all they need is a player that will reliably read the disc and send it in a digital stream. And yes, error correction actually is perfect until the point of drop out. That is a point lost on the Audiophool fraternity.

This is the truth and not 'poop' as you put it.

Paragraph 1 - DVD-audio preceded SACD as a PCM based multi-channel format. "DSD is virtually impossible to work with in production" is an obvious overstatement. You make the conversion to DXD sound like it's done by hand with a calculator. Many major classical labels have recorded in the DSD format, so it obviously isn't cost prohibitive. "The whole rationale of DSD was a total misunderstanding of digital audio, and actually conceived from colossal ignorance on multiple levels." I do not believe Sony and Philips engineers ever published any white paper about the false promises of DSD or the SACD format and the missteps which lead them down a dead end.

Paragraph 2 - TEAC has been manufacturing their own VRDS transport system since 2003. The version in question is stated in the thread title: ESOTERIC X-01 MULTI CHANNEL SACD/CD PLAYER. Teac has not replaced VRDS transport mechanisms with Sanyo drive mechanisms. (Sanyo does make good CD drive mechanisms. Hegel choose them to use in their Mohican CD player, updated with their own servo boards).

Paragraph 7 - Not having an HDMI out on the player makes sense given its manufacture date. Don't hold that against the seller. "And yes, error correction actually is perfect (WORKS) until the point of drop out."

"Audiophool fraternity" - What an attitude.