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Opinions: ML 390S, Esoteric D70, Opus21, Capitole?

I'm looking to buy either a CD player with volume control or a DAC with volume control, and a couple of digital inputs. To get the most mileage out of my dough I'll buy used and likely "older" units, but then I also hear about how much digital has improved in "recent years". Been doing a fair amount of reading and would like your opinions to help narrow my search a bit more:

1. Esoteric D70. $2500. Would initially feed it from my CD player and later buy the P70. Had rave reviews back in 2004. Digital volume control. Very dependable, I hear.

2. Levinson 390S. $3500. Analog volume control. One less power cord and IC. Read comments of it having issues with reliability, though. Very good reviews in '04.

3. Opus 21. $3500. Very good reviews a few years back. Users seem to love it.

4. Audio Aero Capitole II SE. $3500. Users love it. Again one less PC and IC. Dependable?
5. McIntosh MDA1000. $4500. People at the Mac forum rave about it. Seems it would fit nicely with my Mac amp MC275. I don't know that Mac makes first class front ends, though, so I'm wondering how it might compare to the above.

6. Theta Gen.VIII. $5000. We are getting too expensive for me, but...Fantastic reviews once upon a time.

7. McIntosh MCD500. $5000. Again, maybe too expensive and a lot of good talk about it at the Mac forum, but the guys there might have a skewed perception. Recent launch and almost no talk about it here on Audiogon. Is it better than the players above from around 2002-04?

Sorry for the long post. Rest of system is Rotel CD player and pre amp (both going away ASAP), a MC275, B&W 804s, and Rel Storm III. SACD would be nice to have, but not needed.
I live overseas now. Auditioning is not posible and buying and selling is complicated, so I need to try and make a safe bet.

Thank you for withstanding this long post!
lewinskih01
elberoth2's avatar
elberoth2
1,219 posts
 
EMM Labs CDSA lacks the variable outs though ... you would need EMM DCC2 dac.

I have had both Opus 21 and AA Capitole and would mirror Kurt_Tank comments, although I much prefer the Capitole player. After replacing the output caps with Teflon V-Cap (this is part of the SE mod) it is clearly in another league than Opus.

I would steer away from the 390s due to the reported reliability problems.
lewinskih01 OP
793 posts
 
Thanks for your answers. I guess that puts the Capitole ahead of the Opus, and maybe disqualifies the 390S as reliability is of value to me. Too bad as I kind of wanted the Levinson to be a good option.

What about the Esoteric D70/P70? I'm surprised there are so few comments here on A'gon about this combo, considering the reviews they received back in 2004.

And what about the Theta and McIntosh?

Cheers,
arbuckle
89 posts
 
I owned the Opus and the Capitole. I thought the Capitole had suspect build quality for its price and thought the soundstage was congested in comparison to the Opus. Yeah the mids were better in the Capitole, but everything else was much worse, in my opinion.
elberoth2's avatar
elberoth2
1,219 posts
 
I have to disagree with Arbuckle. I have had my Capitole for over two years, sold it to a friend who still has it. No problems whatsoever. I also know several other ppl that use Capitole, and they also have no problems with the player. Capitole is build around Philips CD-Pro2M transport, which is considered as one of the most reliable transports available on the market today.

I also found its soundstaging abilities to be far superior than that of the Opus. I have had close to $100.000 invested in my system at the time (Lamm M1.2 Reference monos, Avalon Eidolon Vision speakers etc) so I would say I have a platform to compare both players.
arbuckle
89 posts
 
Elberoth, disagree till your heart's content. I am glad there are people like you for me to have sold my Capitole to.

I said the build quality was weak for its price point. Nothing like the Esoteric gear whatsoever, but similarly priced. I never referenced reliability, just said its build quality was very poor for its price. Such as a sliding top door that was not perfectly square (no, unit was not damaged or anything like that). Just poor workmanship.

Seriously though, I thought the Capitole was soft, dull and lifeless. My system was not $100k but was ample enough to do a A/B comparison, which I did, with others. To each is own.
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