I realize that Esoteric is best known for its transports, which it sells as full-fledged components as well as raw mechanisms that, in turn, form the guts of other manufacturers’ products. However, since my review of the K-03 player, I have developed an affinity for the company’s DACs. The K-03 included a comprehensive DAC that turned out to sound terrific. I raved about it and have been looking forward to reviewing one of the company’s stand-alone models ever since. So when Esoteric offered me both its new $5000 D-07X DAC and its K-01 player for review, I hardly considered it a sacrifice.
Hardware-wise, the D-07X is a serious piece of kit, despite being Esoteric’s entry-level DAC. The chipset is the popular 32-bit AKM 4392, and Esoteric deploys two of them per channel to increase linearity. The clock is a high-precision Voltage Controlled Crystal Oscillator (an upgrade from the 7X’s predecessor, the D-07), with a dedicated power supply. (A robust, overbuilt supply powers the rest of the unit.) A high quality buffer amplifier fronts the analog output circuit, and the entire device is fully balanced and dual-mono. All this bristling technology is encased in an elegantly proportioned, beautifully built aluminum chassis with a fetching blue display. Operationally, this DAC offers not only the usual I/O, but also enough upsampling, clocking, and filter options to tailor the sound to your liking—or to get you in trouble (see “Set-Up Notes”). Looking at the D-07X inside and out, it is easy to see where the $5000 has been spent. Indeed, the price seems low.
That impression of the price being low continues upon listening. The first thing—the unmistakable thing—you hear when you first fire up the D-07X DAC is the massive space it conjures. Compared even to my reference dCS Debussy, which costs more than twice as much as the Esoteric, the D-07X’s space is gargantuan. I have listened to the Pentatone recording of Stravinsky’s Histoire du Soldat at least a billion times—I drag the poor thing to every trade show—yet I have never heard it display as much depth as it does through the D-07X. In my room, the tambourine jangled from well behind the wall that is itself well behind my speakers. Also, for the first time I could hear notes rebound off the stage’s backwall. Side-to-side and vertical space, too, are voluminous.
Spatially, listening to the D-07X is unlike the usual sensation of observing events on a stage before you. Imagine, instead, being in a glass bowl within a fish tank, with colorful fish swimming all around you. You observe them with wonder, taken by their beauty and variety, as they float by. This is what it’s like to listen to notes and sounds through the D-07X.
Since I have begun with a comparison to the dCS Debussy, I might as well continue. I do this not to embarrass the D-07X; on the contrary, as you will see, the Esoteric comes commendably close to my reference. Indeed, the two DACs have a very similar temperament, and switching from one to the other does not cause any aural dislocation. Both are lively, dynamic powerhouses, and rhythmically tight. Timbres are rich in both cases, and any differences there are subtle; on non-classical music they are essentially inaudible.
Of course, the Debussy has to earn its reference status—and higher price—somehow. This it does primarily in two ways. The first is its sense of effortlessness, whereby the DAC seems not to be “working” at all—music is just coming out. Related to this is a complete lack of grain or digital edge. The D-07X does not possess that same degree of analog-like purity, but I know of nothing else at anywhere near its price point that does. On direct comparison—and only on direct comparison—it is clear that the Esoteric is adding a thin digital veneer. This makes it a tad less relaxing to listen to than the Debussy—but only a tad. Other than that, I can report that the dCS offers slightly fuller bass. And that pretty much ends my list of differences between the D-07X and my much more expensive reference DAC.
Still, to earn its keep, a $5k DAC must also outperform DACs costing less. To be sure this was the case, I put the D-07X up against the venerable Bryston BDA-1, which runs $2195. This was not the slam-dunk proposition it might at first seem, given the price difference; the Bryston won a Golden Ear Award and generally punches well above its weight class. In my tests, it proved to have a quieter background than the Esoteric, allowing for easier listening into dense tracks like “Red Rain” from Peter Gabriel’s classic So. On the other hand, the Bryston’s spatial perspective is relatively flat compared to the D-07X’s holography. This is obvious, for instance, from the very first note of the incandescent “Mercy Street” from the same album. On this track, as with all source material, the Esoteric’s sense of space is simply overwhelming. Further, the D-07X has a subtler touch than the Bryston when it comes to dynamics. Listen to the ramp-up near the start of “Red Rain,” and hear how the force builds more inexorably through the Esoteric. Tonally, the D-07X is slightly darker, but also substantially richer. And the D-07X is more adroit at sorting out and sustaining complex rhythm sections, such as the one on “Mercy Street.” All these traits combine to make the D-07X the more engaging and emotionally affecting DAC.
So far, my comments have pertained to S/PDIF sources, but Esoteric put a lot of work into the USB module in this DAC—indeed, the upgrade was one of the primary reasons for the new “X” model. The K-03 I reviewed actually bettered the dCS when it came to USB. The D-07X doesn’t go quite that far, but the two are squarely in the same territory. As with other sources, the D-07X allows the merest digital veneer to peek through, but it more than compensates with tonal richness and dynamic vitality.
In fact, in space and rhythms, I would give the edge to the D-07X over the dCS. Listen, for instance, to the very natural space on “One Sunday Morning,” from the HDtracks 96/24 download of Wilco’s latest album The Whole Love. The sense of space is much larger, and the air cushion around each instrument, especially the piano, really ups the realism factor. On the title track, the D-07X proves rhythmically tighter, ergo more propulsive, than the dCS. In sum, the D-07X delivers bravura USB performance.
I found the Esoteric surprisingly respectable as a linestage, directly driving an amp. It is quiet, smooth and refined. True, it is also rolled off at the top and dynamically mellow, but neither to a degree that obscures detail or renders the presentation boring. The overall density of information, particularly when it comes to timbres and spatial cues, is where you hear the D-07X linestage’s limitations compared to a good stand-alone unit. In such a comparison, the DAC proves engaging and lively enough to convey the music—just not all of it. So, no, the D-07X is not going to unseat any expensive stand-alone linestages, but it may well outperform many of the mediocre $1k and $2k linestages out there. This cannot be said of most other DAC-based linestages.
My time with the D-07X came on the heels of reviewing another similarly-priced DAC. That unit was a keen disappointment, so I approached the Esoteric with trepidation. Clearly, though, my apprehension was unwarranted. The D-07X has not only validated my high regard for Esoteric’s DACs, it has also restored my faith in the ability of manufacturers to build a $5k DAC that is worth the uplift over less-expensive options. In all facets of its performance, the D-07X is something special.
SPECS
Inputs: Digital USB, XLR, RCA, TosLink, word clock
Outputs: Analog balanced XLR and single-ended RCA, headphone, word clock
Maximum resolution: 192/24
Dimensions: 17" x 4" x 14 1/8"
Weight: 23 lbs.
Outputs: Analog balanced XLR and single-ended RCA, headphone, word clock
Maximum resolution: 192/24
Dimensions: 17" x 4" x 14 1/8"
Weight: 23 lbs.