[bart]

Originally Posted by Dilettante

Sorry to hear that your turntable is also out of commission.

How did your Esoteric transport break into pieces? How old was your Esoteric? If I was given a choice between the Esoteric, DCS, MSB & EMM Labs I would not go with the Esoteric, it would be my least favorite sound profile wise.

If you can find a used Modwright Oppo 205/105 (fully modded) somewhere I highly recommend that. I have heard the Modwright Oppo 105 (fully modded version) in my own system few years ago and was highly impressed. The newer Modwright Oppo 205 (fully modded) would sound even better than the Modwright Oppo 105. The Modwright Oppo 105 is probably one of the most analog sounding digital device I've ever heard for under $15k. Even many much more expensive DACs or CD/SACD players costing much more than the total costs of these fully modded Modwright Oppo 105 lack analog or organic qualities in musical reproductions and fail to capture the musical emotions the way this Modwright Oppo 105 (fully modded) did. they just excel on details and resolutions. The fully modded Modwright Oppo 105 that I listened to few yrs ago was spectacular in all areas. Music simply blooms to the fullest and all musical elements possess full body. It's like listening to a live performance. The Modwright Oppo 205 would sound even better but I had never heard one.
Dan Wright of Modwright claimed that the Modwright Oppo 205 is the best modifications he's ever done. it's his masterpiece. Both Oppo 105/205 disc drive transports are solid and very reliable and last forever.

In regards to DACs getting better over time. It's true but the overall sound quality of disc players or standalone DACs aren't soly determined by the DAC chips & digital filyering. there are many other determining factors that contribute to overall soubd quality of your digital front end components. The power supllies and their implementation and regulations of them, voltage regulations, analog output buffer and most importantly the analog audio output stage (analog audio circuitry). All these don't really improve much over time.

I wished that Marantz put in the three-way prong AC inlet on their SA-10 and its other Reference series products.
It makes it hard for us to get a good quality upgraded aftermarket power cables to use with the SA-10 and other Marantz Reference series gears in order to optimize performance.

In Europe, the SA-10 can be used with the usual power cords, maybe the situation in the US is different.
The SA-10 got very very good reviews in almost every audio magazine over here.
I listened to it and I find it in the same league as its 7-10K competitors.
You can buy it used for under 5K which makes it a top deal if you want an SACD player imho.