RMAF 2010

Esoteric Cassidy

John Atkinson  |  Oct 21, 2010

Michael Fremer enthuses over the sound of the Esoteric E-03 phono preamplifier in our forthcoming December issue, and this $6500 component was being featured in Esoteric's ground-floor room at RMAF, fed from a VPI Scoutmaster turntable fitted with a Dynavector DV20X phono cartridge. The rest of the system, which sounded excellent on Eva Cassidy's Songbird LP, comprised Esoteric's C-03 preamp, A-03 class-A solid-state amp, and MG-20 tower speakers, hooked up with Esoteric's XL cables. (I very much liked the MG-20 when I reviewed it in the August 2008 issue.) The digital front-end was the X-05 player feeding the $4800 D-07 D/A processor, which I will be reviewing in the January 2011 issue of Stereophile.

COMMENTS
Arnold Martinez's picture
Submitted by Arnold Martinez (not verified) on October 21, 2010 - 9:31pm

Esoteric E 03 is fabulous phono stage. Turntable Calibration by Arnold at Tweak Studio!

S Peterkin's picture
Submitted by S Peterkin (not verified) on October 22, 2010 - 9:14am

An audiophile quality recording of the Eva Cassidy's SONGBIRD album is also available on an XRCD disc. Together with the Steve Hoffman HQ 180 vinyl LP mentioned in this article, Eva Cassidy's work continues to be a favorite of audiophiles for showcasing female vocals. Thanks for including this coverage.

Douglas Fisher's picture
Submitted by Douglas Fisher (not verified) on November 12, 2010 - 8:26am

I recently bought the Esoteric E-03 phonostage to replace an older phonostage. I listed to phonostages at twice the price with my dealer and this one really outperformed the competition, even at twice the price. Great product and unbelievably quiet! The demag is also a great bonus.

Douglas Fisher's picture
Submitted by Douglas Fisher (not verified) on November 12, 2010 - 8:26am

I recently bought the Esoteric E-03 phonostage to replace an older phonostage. I listed to phonostages at twice the price with my dealer and this one really outperformed the competition, even at twice the price. Great product and unbelievably quiet! The demag is also a great bonus.

arnoldpm's picture
Submitted by arnoldpm on October 5, 2011 - 9:19pm

Please visit the Esoteric room Arnold P Martinez of Tweak Studio - Chicago www.myavstudio.com will be maximizing the performance of turntable and the E-03 :-) See you all there :-)

X