I can say that several years ago I had purchased a K-01 before eventually upgrading to the P-02X/D-02X combo and after having the K-01 for about 6 months it developed an issue where it wouldn’t always always play a CD .. long story short the Esoteric Service Center here in the US took care of the issue and fixed and returned it in about a month. From my perspective their service was great!
Windows X, my first instinct based on the sound degradation you describe is that your unit might have a heat issue...as in too much heat. The analog output section can and does generate and build up heat over time. While ventilation is provided for in amp chassis, rarely is it for sources. I guess because running that many hours straight is not common either.
I'm just curious. Would you describe your place as having warm ambient temperature and do you have a lot of space around your unit?
Windows X, my first instinct based on the sound degradation you describe is that your unit might have a heat issue...as in too much heat. The analog output section can and does generate and build up heat over time. While ventilation is provided for in amp chassis, rarely is it for sources. I guess because running that many hours straight is not common either.
I'm just curious. Would you describe your place as having warm ambient temperature and do you have a lot of space around your unit?
I play music with air conditioner with a lot of free space on separated rack. I don't think it's heat issue. I suspect on capacitor discharge since turning off about an hour usually fix sound getting duller. But since screw tightness adjust improve body and fluidity, it's more bearable for me.
By the way, this happens to only new flagship discrete DAC design products.
There should be many potential bugs in the design of the new VRDS-ATLAS and Master Sound Discrete DAC that have not been discovered by Esoteric.
This is one of the risks of early adopters.
You asked for experienced Esoteric users (of the latest models just to be accurate). I have a very close friend that has the
Grandioso P1X, D1X DACs and G1X clock for the last couple of years and I've been to his place in Baltimore several times;
we also take frequently. He has not ever mentioned this issue and I never heard it in my 3 separate long listening session
visits to his home with him having had the system on for some days before my arrival.
For my part, I've owned the P-03U/D-03/G-0s then G-0Rb and then switched to G-03X clock, followed by P-02/D-02 with clock
and since December 2021, I own the Grandioso P1 and D1 stack (not the X). Going back to 2005-2006 with various multi-box
Esoteric stacks, I've never seen this issue personally. They are admittedly all units that use AKM DACs, not the latest Esoteric
Master Discrete Sound DACs. (As an aside, I've owned various single box top of the line Esoteric players before 2005-06 as well.)
One thing I can tell you about Esoteric owning their products for 20+ years now is that if there is ever an issue, they will definitely track it down and get it resolved if it's. in their units. As you problem appears repeatable, I would highly suggest reporting it to them and get them looking at it.
I’ve been using an Esoteric K-01XD for ~3 years. I use it as the DAC in our system for streaming audio as well as an optical disc transport. It has been powered up nearly everyday 24/7 because it sounds best that way. Not a single problem (knock wood). It has provided me enormous enjoyment.
Recently, I read about the availability of the new Esoteric Grandioso K1X SE. I was considering upgrading to the Grandioso but after reading this thread I think I’ll do a bit more due diligence before deciding.
Threads like this one, discussing issues and experiences with a product from a well respected brand, is one of the primary reasons I joined this forum. Thanks for sharing
I heard new SE update news from this thread and asked dealer to inform me when update is available. I hope new SE update will resolve some strange cases found in this thread. It's not major issue and I'm still happy with Esoteric K1X performance in my system.
