Esoteric SA-10 CD/SACD Player

[Κώστας Φ.]

Ένα Esoteric για τους "πτωχούς" - πλην τίμιους - χομπίστες. :happy_2:


"So how did Esoteric get the SA-10 to come in at $3500? Well, for one thing, the SA-10 is strictly a two-channel player. Sure, at some point in the future Esoteric will come out with an I-Link board and connection that can be retrofitted into the rear of the SA-10’s chassis should you wish to spend the money for the upgrade to allow multichannel playback. Also, while the SA-10's chassis is made from anodized aluminum, it’s not as fancy-shmancy as those of its more expensive brethren. You’ll find no engraved company name on the top of the unit, no smoothly rounded edges, no excessive buttons and LEDs. Instead, Esoteric settled for a single row of rectangular push buttons and only two LEDs on the front panel. The display is also small and tough to read from across the room. Internally, the SA-10 eschews FIR and RDOT filters that other Esoteric players provide.

Still, what you do get is impressive. First there is Esoteric’s proprietary VOSP (vertically-aligned optical stability platform) transport. No off-the-shelf or modified unit for Esoteric, the company designs and builds its own transports to ensure absolute rigid stability, thereby enabling the player to read the information encoded on your discs properly and transmit it to the DACs with a minimum of error and jitter. It costs a fair bit to conceive and build a transport mechanism. That Esoteric can include the VOSP in a unit at the SA-10's price speaks volumes for the company's commitment to sound quality.

Internally, Esoteric has isolated the different sections -- analog, power and digital -- to keep interference and vibration to an absolute minimum. After the data leave the transport, they encounter a pair of Cirrus Logic CS4398 DACs, and then a dual-mono analog output stage. You can connect the SA-10 via single-ended or balanced outputs. However, in its case, the output levels are the same -- 2.2V. A fully balanced circuit normally has double the voltage of a single-ended one, but in the case of the SA-10 the balanced output voltage has been cut in half at the first gain stage. Thus, when the balanced output is summed, it is only 2.2V, the same as the single-ended. Why did Esoteric do this? My only guess would be out of concern for overloading certain preamps with the greater balanced voltage. I did try both single-ended and balanced connections, and I preferred balanced for their greater clarity. The SA-10 doesn't perform DSD-to-PCM conversion, as earlier Esoteric digital players have. Each format is kept native right up to the analog output stage. As you may have already gathered, the SA-10 supports CD and SACD only.

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Summing up

So, the SA-10 offers very good CD replay and beyond-reproach SACD playback. Is it $3500 worth for both? Absolutely. I could live with the SA-10 as my single digital source into the foreseeable future. The SA-10 isn't the ultimate in either CD or SACD playback -- it doesn’t offer all that the megabuck players and separates do. Its CD replay in particular doesn’t equal that of some top-flight standalone players, but it's very good nonetheless.

However, the SA-10 certainly lives up to the high sonic standards Esoteric has set for itself -- and if you check the SoundStage! archives, you’ll see that many of us here have been favorably impressed with Esoteric products in the past. The SA-10 is the digital source for audiophiles on a budget, allowing us to jump off the equipment merry-go-round and get on with the enjoyment of our music collections. It's Esoteric and affordable.


Περισσότερα: soundstage.com

 

[Κώστας Φ.]

Review για το "οικονομικό" σετάκι της Esoteric που περιλαμβάνει το SA-10 (CD/SACD) και τον AI-10 (class D ολοκληρωμένος).



Conclusion:
Esoteric's SA-10 (SA)CD player and AI-10 integrated amplifier represent the firm's entry-level offering. While €3.300 and 3.500 respectively are relative entry-level only, we're dealing with luxury brand Esoteric. It makes these components accessible to a broader audience and thus welcome and newsworthy.


To these ears, Esoteric's SA-10 sets very high standards for CD playback across the board and is committed to the neutral path of the born truth teller. This player is characterized by:

• an agile, well defined bass which remains dry into the lowest reaches
• a midband and treble which are perfectly linear, lucid and transparent and thus the essence of high fidelity
• great dynamics both in the micro and macro domains. The Esoteric SA-10 is also a gifted player and blessed with rhythmically impulsive reflexes to convey the energy and life of the music
• truly spectacular staging. Be it the strikingly transparent layering or -- even more so -- the absolutely impeccable image focus, more doesn't seem possible. Should it be, I'd call it too much already.
• a minor weakness which curtails the ultimate decay of certain instruments. Alas, this depends on the choice of music and is valid only for the "narrow" setting of the digital filter. A simply button push to "wide" and this apparent minor liability turns asset because...
• ...the shallower filter produces enhanced warmth and longer fades. This particularly benefits piano music to transform piano notes into piano runs. What you give up is a degree of image lock and staging transparency. This program-specific adaptability is a very useful feature.

Esoteric's integrated amplifier AI-10 exhibits the same design genetics and is committed to the ideals of transparency and accuracy:

• Bass is athletically lean but nimble and impulsive. This benefits an exceedingly clear and informative midrange and the treble is rendered transparent and clear but with a careful brush
• Bass runs are well damped, dry, properly articulated and full of swagger yet without sacrificing composure.
• The AI-10 builds up the stage from the base line to afford the listener a clear view on the imaginary action.
• Stage width is good, depth excellent and separation high.
• The Esoteric AI-10 has good timing and rhythm to be clearly organized during rapidly lined up sounds. When called for, transients are hard and sudden and assumptions of restraint get a wakeup call whenever Power Rock is cued up. I'd be surprised if involuntary toe tapping wasn't the result then...

Full Review: 6moons.com