New Esoteric P02 D02

Hey Opera Lover, Spent better part of yesterday doing a Ypsilon DAC 100 Esoteric D-02 comparison. I've had my D-02 a year now, and would say it is as broken in, settled in, etc. anyway it is "in". The D-02 is by far the best Esoteric I've have heard, and I had the X-01/D2 and the K-01 after that, I still have the X-01/D2 for that matter.
The Esoteric sound as a whole is extremely detailed with incredible resolution, sounds are easy to deliniate and are very well sorted. That hasn't changed from the X-01 to the K-01 to the D-02/P-02, the progression has just gotten easier to listen too. No doubt the current Esoteric stuff is the best so far.
But, if I had it all over to do again, I would have paid better attention to the Hybrid stuff that is out there. After the Ypsilon DAC100 A/B with the D-02, I would not hesitate to move to the Ypsilon. And I love the Esoteric D-02/P-02, but overall, there is a general lack of musicality to the overall sound that was easily noticed in the Ypsilon. Now the Ypsilon has a tube in the output stage and does not upsample at all. In fact it only plays Redbook, and does so at a State of the Art playback. The listening was a pleasure . Now not to throw the D-02 out the window, I am still very pleased with the D-02, it does most things at a very high level, it just lacks a relaxedness to the overall presentation.
So I can see why you would be attracted to the D-01 Vuk, as it surely the most relaxed sound Esoteric has to date.

Hey everyone, Where have you all been. I just set up my new Ypsilon Aleius Amps. They are Hybrid tube input stage, solid state output stage, zero negitive feedback. The D-02/P-02 is already more relaxed and these amps have only hours on them.

Do any of you have any experience with the Esoterics with tubes in the chain. Hope to get this thread fired up again. Hope all is well

Tom

I am waiting to hear the new Esoteric D1 Grandioso converter that is replacing d01vuk. I will compare it to d02, d03 and I will try to hear dCS Puccini one more time.
D02 still sounds a bit forward and dry for my taste. According to some European reviews K series players roll off treble a bit earlier than previous players with SACD. I still like SACDs better on D03(more fluent and musical if not as detailed) than D02.
D01vuk and even D03 sounds more laidback. There is definitely old and new sound of Esoteric.
I am hoping that the new D1 Grandioso will offer best of both worlds.

Hey Pharma, How's everything, well I hope! Just wondering if you have any news on the sounds of the new Grandioso's. I'm not sure they can even be purchased in the States, but if so, I hoping you got your hands on them and have a few words on there performance. Anyhow, hope this gets this thread fired up again.

The new Esoteric D1 is truly wonderful sounding on my system. It has taken me almost 1 month to run it in. If you have a chance you must listen to it. My CDs have never sounded so beautiful. It is a open and lush. Of course, high-res material sound wonderful as well. It must be heard with a very good USB cable. By the way, Esoteric has a free music player on their website for both Windows and Mac which can be used on their DACs. It can play back native DSD and can also load the music directly into RAM. I had decided not to go with the G1 and use computer playback entirely.