CD players - Luxman vs. Esoteric?

Looking for impressions of the D-08. Do you know of any reviews that you can point me to?

Frank

I have been enjoying the Verity Audio Parsifal Ovations for several months now, driven by the Luxman 509u integratd amp and Luxmn D-06 cdp. As a system it sounds wonderful, and the electronics match well with the speakers.

I enjoy classical music (piano, chamber) and jazz. I listen to a lot of solo piano, and I often feel like there is an actual Steinway D playing live in front of me.

Interestingly Redbook can sound as good as SACD to me when it is well recorded. Some Chandos and Hyperion recordings from the early 90's sound superb.

To be honest, I have stopped listening to the equipment and worrying about individual components. I now lose myself in the music and thirst to hear more. This is a system that conveys the essence of well played music.

Luxman makes a good cd player, but Esoteric is a step up. Of course depending on what model. I had some luxman players back in the day. Once I switched to Esoteric, I never looked back. Currently using an Esoteric X01 Limited CD/SACD player. Will probably step up to one of the two piece Esoteric setup soon. But at the present time I am very happy with the sound and enjoying my recent upgrades with power cables and other tweeks which dramatically improved my reference stereo system.

Esoteric players are known as strident and analitic, while Luxman D06 should be more natural; i am going to buy 509u + D06 without any doubt even if I've never heard them, many people who heard that Luxman system made enthusiastic comments.

I am afraid an Esoteric player could make may ears bleed within an hour with my B&W 803D speakers (very revealing) and my actual Audioquest Colorado interconnect and Gibraltar speaker cables (a bit thin and "cold"; after new amp and player arrive, I'll consider replacing them with Cardas Golden Reference).

Maybe Esoteric should best match with "warm" speakers, amps (tube!) and cables

Regards, and sorry for the bad english ;)

Emanuele from Italy

I have the Luxman N-100 tube amp and CD player in my residence in Japan and can highly recommend Luxman products. I think their 50 model is one of the absolute best player in the market place, and if you mate it with their 509 or 550 solid state amps, it is really unbelieveable in sound.