Esoteric DV-50S

[MiTT]

I may have an opportunity to aquire an Esoteric DV-50S and am giving it some serious consideration. It would replace my old Anthem CD-1 as a transport (I'd likely keep the Dodson DA 217 Mk.II DAC), as well as my Sony DVP-S9000es SACD/DVD player. Ultimately, when I build my dedicated Home Theater it would be my DVD source as well - depending on what comes of HiDef DVD.

I know that at least one person on this forum has the Esoteric unit, but darned if I can find it in the member systems.

I've only listened to the DV-50S a couple of times for a combined hour or so, but was mesmerised. Thoughts?

 

[aliveatfive]

It's me. I like it a lot. Very little sign of digititis. The only trouble with a unit like this is how long will the formats it supports be around? SACDs and DVDAs are becoming scarce. Sony no longer supports SACD and DVDAs are almost out of production. BluRay hi-def audio may be the coming thing, but who knows? If you can buy the unit for a good price, I highly recommend it. CD reproduction is really nice too.

 

[robertawillisjr]

I've had one for the past two months and really like it. SQ is very good. However, if you are a mult-channel person, it doesn't do time alignment nor bass management. It does do this for dolby and dts.

 

[MiTT]

It's me. I like it a lot. Very little sign of digititis. The only trouble with a unit like this is how long will the formats it supports be around? SACDs and DVDAs are becoming scarce. Sony no longer supports SACD and DVDAs are almost out of production. BluRay hi-def audio may be the coming thing, but who knows? If you can buy the unit for a good price, I highly recommend it. CD reproduction is really nice too.

Sony no longer supports SACD? I thought they were one of the co-developers?

I've probably got about 250 SACD'd right now. Music Direct has about 2600 titles available and there is an article in the latest Stereophile about SACD becoming the defacto standard for high definition classical music at the very least (review of the dcs 1 box player). My local Tower has an entire row devoted to SACD and talking to the folks there sales are brisk. Am I missing something in other parts of the country? Here it seems to continue as a valid format.

 

[DTB300]

Sony no longer supports SACD? I thought they were one of the co-developers?

Like the cable wars, the "format is dead" wars will also continue. Until the day the format is stopped, I will then believe it. One thing about SACD is that it is primarily used for Classical releases when compared to Jazz, Rock, etc releases. So if you do not listen to Classical, it is easy to understand why SACD is thought of being dead or non-existent.

Dan

 

[aliveatfive]

At last year's Stereophile Home Entertainment Show, Sony did not display SACD hardware. There was also an announcement that they would no longer produce any software under their labels. Telarc continues to make jazz, classical and some pop SACDs. Naxos, a large producer of classical discs, has just announced they will no longer produce SACDs. The market did not grow as per expectations. Tower and some other stores still stock some SACDs. Other stores do not. Draw your own conclusions. BTW - the audiophile press (in many instances) considers multichannel hi-def audio an almost dead format.

 

[MiTT]

At last year's Stereophile Home Entertainment Show, Sony did not display SACD hardware. There was also an announcement that they would no longer produce any software under their labels. Telarc continues to make jazz, classical and some pop SACDs. Naxos, a large producer of classical discs, has just announced they will no longer produce SACDs. The market did not grow as per expectations. Tower and some other stores still stock some SACDs. Other stores do not. Draw your own conclusions. BTW - the audiophile press (in many instances) considers multichannel hi-def audio an almost dead format.

No offence, but I disagree, and just posted my reasons why in a thread over on the Off-Topic forum (sorry - I don't know how to link it directly).

Sony does continue to support classical titles on SACD - including another 30 "Living Stereo" releases planned for this year; see my comments on same in the other post. Telarc, Harmonia Mundi, BIS and Mercury are all mainstream suppliers of SACD software, all with new titles coming out. Other, smaller label include Analog Productions, Chesky, Mobile Fidelity, Impulse and Groove Note, all with new titles released regularly.

Hardware continues to be developed for High Resolution formats as well, and again see my other post for detail on reviews of new VERY high end eqipment in all three of the most recent High End mags (Stereophile, Abso!ute Sound and Hi-Fi+). There's a lot of ink spent on an "almost dead format".

Not trying to spark controversy here, my perception is obviously different that's all.

Personally, I still prefer vinyl as my favorite source.

 

[robertawillisjr]

Vinyl. Hmmmm. I thought I read somewhere that it was a dead format.