As I was perusing Esoteric's site today, I noticed this new DVD player at the bottom of the Products page. It looks like a new version of their DV-50, even though that player is still listed as a current product. I checked out its manual and it has a lot of great features like 480i and 1080p via HDMI, L&R balanced outs, 44.1k PCM-to-352k or DSD upsampling and the list goes on. It also uses Esoteric's new X-series chassis which looks way better than the DV-50's. And all this can be yours for "only" $6000 (actually thats not bad for Esoteric) MSRP! So, any of you rich bastards had a chance to take one of these badboys for a spin? And by "rich bastards" I of course mean "Gentlemen".:D

I have them on order. I will hook one up and test it as soon as I get one. The DV50 was a hugh seller for me. It will be interesting to see how the DV60 does considering the advent of HD DVD and Blu Ray.

I have a DV50S and I would be lying if I said that I was not at least curious to how it sounds. ie cd and Hirez. I would be more interested in that as I am sure that the video will excellent.

I have them on order. I will hook one up and test it as soon as I get one. Hugh seller for me. It will be interesting to see how the DV60 does considering the advent of HD DVd and Blu Ray.
Cool! Please post a review when you can. Thanks.

Here's some interesting stuff Anthony at Aberdeen components had to say about the DV--60, DV-50, and UX-3.

"I agree 100% with Frank. I currently have 2 of each, of the Dv-50, Dv-60 and one UX-3.
A dv-50 is very easy to uncork the performance. Dv-60 same Pioneer drive as dv50, but the dv-60 has half the size of the Dv-50 power supply, and a 1/4 of the size what the Dv-50 uses as the HQ 2 channel output.

UX3 has serious potential, ready to be unleashed, but a major bottle neck I found within the core board prevents this beast to be unleashed. (Fix is almost there)
A big plus for the UX-3 the analog board is very similar to the UX-1, another plus the UX-3 has a New (Neo) drive assembly over the UX-1, with a final plus the UX-3 can upscale the Video, via DVI, while the UX-1 cant.

Dv-60 can upscale the video threw the much wanted HDMI,
While the others lack this feature, with the exception of the PO-1 and PO-3. What get me nuts, it has the ABT top chip that can support HDDVD and Blue Ray, looking at press photos, the Dv-60 was shown sporting the 2 optional ram chips to be used with these features to top it off. Meanwhile they disabled the chip to support these formats! :c(.....My Likes of the Dv-60 internal... Cute little R-core t-former, and despite the smaller power board section, nice to see multi - Inductor/capacitor filtration being used.
Unlike the DV-50, the rest of the video section looks great. But all analog sections are nothing like the more robust section used in the Dv-50...

My wish: Give me a dv-50 with the video section of a Dv-60 (re-worked of course)

In reality: total re-worked Dv-50

Ux-3: A beast, re-worked, but I think at this price point,
I would like to see HDMI."

"The Dv-60 uses Teac's horizontal sled and vertical optical assembly. A plus over the Dv-50. Unlike the Pioneer drive, the control boards are not sandwiched under the drive assembly. They are laid out cleanly, in an uncongested manner. Again, Inductor based ground decoupling is heavily employed, showing a well designed control board. Much more Robust engineered, over the Pioneer dive assembly design. In regards to the Dv-60 power board, despite being a smaller footprint over the Dv-60, as above, inductor based filtration, is used with a well designed power board, over the Dv-50."

Sounds like a DV-50 with an external video processor might be a good option. That's what I have done and the video side of things is first rate compared to any machine I have tried...and that's a lot of players.

For audio, a used DV50 is one of the best bargains you can get now. On Agon, some are listed for well below 3K now. A year ago I paid a tad under 3K (used). With a external video processor you should be in good shape. For the few minutes I had mine connected to a display to make sure the setup was correct for audio, I did run some test patterns. It has pretty severe CUE or ICP chroma problems. An external processor will filter that away.

larry

The dv50 used a faroudja chip. All new Esoterics are using a new scaling chip from Anchor Bay Technologies. I am not sure about the 60 though.

Here 's the link:
http://www.anchorbaytech.com/news/teac-esoteric.html

New Edit-

The DV-60 uses the Faroudja DCDi chip for 480p, 720p and 1080i and uses the ABT 1018 chip for scaling the 1080i output to 1080p if so desired, pretty much the same thing Denon did with their 5910 except it, of course, used the SO Realta chip. The cool thing is that it can output 480i via its HDMI, potentually making this a great choice to use as a video transport as well as for audio playback. It would be nice if Esoteric would supply Secrets with a demo unit to play with, like they did with their UX-1. Hopefully, they've applied the feedback that came from that review towards the video section of the DV-60. That would be very nice. :D

The DV-60 uses the Faroudja DCDi chip for 480p, 720p and 1080i and uses the ABT 1018 chip for scaling the 1080i output to 1080p if so desired Interesting. If they went to all the trouble to pay for the ABT and install it, why not use it? They'd get better performance just letting the Faroujda deinterlace and use the (better) ABT for scaling.

If you are serious about video, a SDI modded player or something like the Oppo 970HD for 480i via HDMI and an external scaler is the way to go. The Faroudja 23xx and SIL50x deinterlacers are now also-rans compared to the new chips/software available. Deinterlacing is the most crucial part of SD DVD playback.

larry

BTW - The DV-50 and DV-50S do NOT have Faroudja DCDi. It just has the basic older Pioneer solution, nothing special on the de-interlacing side of things.

Interesting. If they went to all the trouble to pay for the ABT and install it, why not use it? They'd get better performance just letting the Faroujda deinterlace and use the (better) ABT for scaling.

If you are serious about video, a SDI modded player or something like the Oppo 970HD for 480i via HDMI and an external scaler is the way to go. The Faroudja 23xx and SIL50x deinterlacers are now also-rans compared to the new chips/software available. Deinterlacing is the most crucial part of SD DVD playback.

larry
Ya know, that might be the way they're doing it. Either way, the Faroudja chip is definitely being used for deinterlacing, so the scaling would probably look about the same whether being done by Faroudja or ABT.

And I totally agree that using an external processor via 480i HDMI is the way to go, that's why this player looks like it's the "total package".

"Why go with Oppo........when you can have all of Thissssssss!" :D

This is the scaling chip: http://www.anchorbaytech.com/products/ABT1018chip.html

larry

any update on this player? anyone heard it or own one? better than dv50s for audio (video obviously is)?

since this unit uses the faroudja to deinterlace and then the abt to upconvert, does that mean it still will have the macroblocking problem, or is that the case only when the faroudja does all deinterlacing and upconverting? also, by using 480i, will the faroudja ever be touched in this case (ie. if no, then a pure signal to the scaler)?

Why spend so much on a unit that has all these features (ABT upscaler etc) and then not use any of them and output 480i to a processor? Seems like a waste to me.... If there are other reasons to buy this unit over another that does 480i then I'd love to know what they are. Especially considering that even with a superb analog out, if you opt to pass the audio through HDMI then you essenially nullify that feature too, no?

you are right, the reason i ask is because i am trying to eliminate some "boxes" in my setup and want to get a universal that will be both a redbook player and dvd video player. right now, yes 1080p is the way to go, but being able to output 480i and use a scaler in the future makes it a no brainer as it has all the "goodies" in one box. in additional, if i get a high end projector that has a better scaler built in, i would no doubt want to send it a 480i signal. i use mostly redbook, hence the reason for the player, but having dvd also is major bonus.

From a Agon ad for a used DV-60:

"I've acquired many items of my soon-to-be-ex-husbands' and this is one of them. A male friend informed me of the ridiculous price that it is worth and I don't need anything like this. I'm told this is the place to sell it. I understand that I don't have any feedback but if you have good feed-back I will "reverse" the common scenerio and send the DVD player before payment. He bought this thing just a few months ago and it has rarely been used. I'd say it's a 10 but the scale says that is rarely trusted. All the stuff is accounted for and perfect; double box, packing, manual, remote etc... It's on our mutual credit card with my name so the warranty is good if you need to contact me for any reason to send it in as well. "

Priceless..... :)

larry

uhhhh, send before payment? thats the best one-liner i've heard in a long time. man , the thought of running off with it is very appealing right now!!!


............ someone STOP me!

From a Agon ad for a used DV-60:

"I've acquired many items of my soon-to-be-ex-husbands' and this is one of them. A male friend informed me of the ridiculous price that it is worth and I don't need anything like this. I'm told this is the place to sell it. I understand that I don't have any feedback but if you have good feed-back I will "reverse" the common scenerio and send the DVD player before payment. He bought this thing just a few months ago and it has rarely been used. I'd say it's a 10 but the scale says that is rarely trusted. All the stuff is accounted for and perfect; double box, packing, manual, remote etc... It's on our mutual credit card with my name so the warranty is good if you need to contact me for any reason to send it in as well. "

Priceless..... :)

larry

She's willing to send it first and then receive payment. She did the same with her soon to be ex-husband, first sent him away and now she's cashing out.
That is very Esoteric of her.

no pun intended!!!!!

for those who have used the dv50s with an external scaler, did you use a dvi to hdmi adaptor? are there any disadvantages of doing this as opposed to using a player with an hdmi output?

I also have the DV-60. I used the HDMI connection to deliver a 1080p signal to the TV with good results. The picture is very detailed and sharp, however, the backgrounds are very grainy. I have a processor that does upconvert to 1080p. and while the DVD player I have been currently using doesn't provide as sharp and detailed image as the DV-60, the processors signal is much smoother and free of grain. A combination of the two will be top-notch, pretty dang close to HD.

How about sound quality?

Hi:
This thread has been quiet for some time.
While out at CES I made a decision to buy the DV-60. My question relates to the G25u, the (lower model) outboard Up Converter/Clock Generator. Has anybody heard this with the DV-60?
I was able to hear some new Esoteric equipment apply the Clock Generator to a new CD player and the improved result was easily heard by all in the room.
Perhaps Mark Haflich has heard both together???
Thanks
BP

I looked at the piece but it was not connected, however in the next suite ove they had a NEW integrated-power-dac, which is low cost and it sounded great.

My question is about the UX-1 limited has anyone heard this piece? It has VRDS NEO but also has anakog outputs for all 6 channels with very high quality dacs.

Peter;
Do you mean the demo suite where the new Esoteric product was? If so, yes, I heard the piece you are referring to. They played their new $3,500 cd with and without the clocking (Word Synch) in the new amp/dac/clocking unit and, IMHO, you would have to be tone deaf not to hear the difference. I hope for a similar difference with the DV-60.
Bob

I looked at the piece but it was not connected, however in the next suite ove they had a NEW integrated-power-dac, which is low cost and it sounded great.

My question is about the UX-1 limited has anyone heard this piece? It has VRDS NEO but also has anakog outputs for all 6 channels with very high quality dacs.

Hello bp, I happened to be in the same demo room as you during the CES demo and yes there was an obvious improvement with the G25. So far I have been extremely pleased with my DV60. The next question is when do I get the G25?

product literature dv-60 (http://cineramax.com/images/DV%2060%20Sept%202006.pdf)

Hi Bob, I did not get a chance to hear it but I trust you. That is great news.

I am thinking about the SA-60. Not sure if I need the DVD video. How good is the video on the DV-60? Badbenzz, how is the multi-channel audio? I expect it to do well on stereo. How much better than your old player.

Frankly I have not heard it in mutil-channel as I have a CBIII without a 6shooter. The redbook sound is outstanding and the video quality beats out my Denon 3910. Overall,I am extremely happy with the 2 channel sound if this machine. To make it even better, I will get the G25, as BP and I hear a significant difference at the Esoteric room at CES. Bulldogger you should be very pleased with either the SA60 or DV60.

Thanks badbenzz. What are you using for a pre-amp? I say with all seriousness that the Six Shooter is good enough to justify buying it just to use with two channel sources. For 2k, I do not know of any two channel pre-amps that can beat it or even come close. It still is hard for me to get out of New Orleans to go and demo the Esoteric. I am bogged down with repairs to rental property. The promise of even better sound with the add on clock is intriguing.

Have you all read this review? http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/esoteric2/g25u_2.html

What a poor reviewer, the guys thoughts are all over the place, very difficult reading for me.

Little information on some of the best components. Lost of the really good stuff is out there on the fringe. Have to take what you can get as far as reviews. I can judge by the systems that both badbenzz and BP have that their opinions are credible. Steve Bruzonsky has some great ears too. It is nice when you have guys like this to give you a "head up" on what should be on your short list to audition. Some know-it-all with about 500.00 worth of speakers and who have been reading a book can not really help you. If reading would get you there all you would need would be a cook book to become a great chief. This is why you need to know exactly how experienced the guy giving the recommendations is. With the internet, some 15 year old can "know" as much as the next guy. I am not into listening to guys that are 15 or guys with 500.00 worth of speakers.

Bulldogger I may give you a review on multi-channel soon. I'm trying to pick up a 6shooter and will know soon.

Hey Bulldogger - I own the DV-60 and it is superb - also you do not need to leave New Orleans to demo the DV-60 - you have a local dealer near you - it is the same dealer that I bought mine from - additionally you are welcome to come and audition the player at my home - My current setup includes the DV-60 with Maggie 3.6 and and combo of ARC and Anthem gear - contact me if you are interested - FYI - My Video have NEVER been better - the video is outstanding - I am dumbfounded by how good it is - now if they could just get the DV-60 universal to sound more like the ARC CD7 I would be in hog heaven - but I guess you always need something else to add for the future.

Gus

I am considering the DV-60, but also ARCAM's newest . Thoughts?

I am considering the DV-60, but also ARCAM's newest . Thoughts?

A customer that I recently sold the new Arcam DV139 raves about its performance. He tried the Esoteric DV50s but found it to be too sterile for him. The Arcam is detailed yet very musical. This was in a B&W system using Classe amplifiers. Dont know how the DV60 would compare.

Interestingly the Arcam DV139 has superior video processing than the DV60, as it features ABT processing in BOTH deinterlacing and scaling, whereas the Estoeric employs older Faroudja DCDi deinterlacing with ABT scaling.

Hey Bulldogger - I own the DV-60 and it is superb - also you do not need to leave New Orleans to demo the DV-60 - you have a local dealer near you - it is the same dealer that I bought mine from - additionally you are welcome to come and audition the player at my home - My current setup includes the DV-60 with Maggie 3.6 and and combo of ARC and Anthem gear - contact me if you are interested - FYI - My Video have NEVER been better - the video is outstanding - I am dumbfounded by how good it is - now if they could just get the DV-60 universal to sound more like the ARC CD7 I would be in hog heaven - but I guess you always need something else to add for the future.

Gus
Great! I'll contact you.

Bulldogger I may give you a review on multi-channel soon. I'm trying to pick up a 6shooter and will know soon.
Thanks. You have already helped me with your comments about Red book performance. The last SACD player I had the Sony XA9000 just did not do it for me with Red book. I tried to like the player but just never really warmed to it and sold it. Recent comments about the video performance in Home Theater Mag, have me thinking that perhaps I should indeed get the DV-60 instead of the SA-60.

I am ready to purchase either the DV or SA 60 for my son and was wondering which one. Also, there question was never answered about the cdp performance. If any of you guys own this player please explain your interpretations of this player. Currently he has a Musical Fidelity A5. Would this be an improvement for him? Thanks Guys!!

the mf is tube whereas the esoteris is ss. i prefer the esoteric, but many will enjoy the nf's more lush midrange. the esoteric definately does things more "right" in my book, but your son may prefer the mf. all depends on his sonic tastes. spec wise, the esoteric is above the mf, if your son wants a cd only player then go with the sa. if he wants dvd, then the dv. i believe i read somewhere where someone did a comparisoin between the 2 and said the sa was better on redbook than the dv.

I have an "old" DV-50 the I have sent to The Upgrade Company. I would recommend this path in a heartbeat. My player is so far beyond what it was originally it is not even funny. Actually, I would recommend contacting them and finding out what Dave thinks would fit your needs based on what your preferences are.

FWIW, I have had a lot of players in my system too, including Modwright and APL.

Since I am not near you, I cannot offer you a listen [being in AZ]. PM me if you want. I think I know someone in AZ that has an Upgrade Company machine.

No matter what - demo if at all possible, and against some sort of reference. All of this is personal preference regardless of what anyone says. There are NO FACTS about it...even with me. It is all personal opinion. Keep that in mind and you won't have delusions of grandeur that lead to utter disappointment.

Your two posts help! I will probably still buy the player and sell which one we like least. The tube output stage was on my mind. I guess we will have to a/b the two. Let me know any other feedback. Thanks!

I have an "old" DV-50 the I have sent to The Upgrade Company. I would recommend this path in a heartbeat. My player is so far beyond what it was originally it is not even funny. Actually, I would recommend contacting them and finding out what Dave thinks would fit your needs based on what your preferences are.

FWIW, I have had a lot of players in my system too, including Modwright and APL.

Since I am not near you, I cannot offer you a listen [being in AZ]. PM me if you want. I think I know someone in AZ that has an Upgrade Company machine.

No matter what - demo if at all possible, and against some sort of reference. All of this is personal preference regardless of what anyone says. There are NO FACTS about it...even with me. It is all personal opinion. Keep that in mind and you won't have delusions of grandeur that lead to utter disappointment.

Thanks for you help! I have a problem spending 6 or 5 grand for a cdp and then having to upgrade it. Do you know what they do with the upgrade? Thanks again!

The Upgrade Co does mods to the Theta Compli as well. Anyone heard a modified Compli and care to compare to the Esoteric?

I can't comment on the Compli, but I know Schulte really likes the Theta DACs, especially some of the earlier ones over the newer ones. Like the Gen III and pro basic I think.

Hi;
I have a close friend who owns a b&m store and sells Arcam. Despite that I ended up with the DV-60. Not sure why except that I like to have a player that has "more advanced" siblings on the off chance that some of their genetics made it into my player.
I changed from a PMDT and am very pleased. While the drawer is not up to the PMDT level of quality the transport and resulting audio/video quality and options get the job done well for a single device. I am not saying it is the best available at any price, just that it is quite good and I am hearing new information on old disks.
I am still within 100 hours so final conclusions can't be drawn yet but I do have some feelings about that review I read...
To spice up the system a bit I added the G25u and I can't tell you how much I enjoy what it does to stereo sound! I heard it demoed at CES and am pleased that I have a similar reaction.
At any rate, Arcam is also a great option so you can't go wrong either way.
Good luck!
BP

... The last SACD player I had the Sony XA9000 just did not do it for me with Red book. I tried to like the player but just never really warmed to it and sold it.

Hi Bulldogger,

I have the SACD XA777ES in my system with Classe pre/power amp and B&W 802.
I came to listen to this set at a HiFi store and ended up getting the exact same config in the end. I tried to dumb down initially to ROTEL, but hurt my ears in the process (which lasted a mere 35seconds tops). I find the Sony very crisp, detail rich, enveloping and built like a house.
The 9000 is not much different. Can you tell me what you specifically disliked and what you found in the DV60 that makes up for that?

What makes the G25 such a praised object here? Is the DV60 not doing a good job at it? Would the sound improve as well by linking it to my Sony? I like High End...but sometimes it seems to get a little silly... getting a 6k cd player, then adding another box to it. Then why not "just" get seperates altogether? Spinner + DAC?

Cheers,
Dodo