Pathos Endorphin vs Esoteric X-05 CD Player

by Johan Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:00 pm

Last night I had a fabulous opportunity to audition the Endorphin and X-05 side by side at Centre Circle Audio at TTDI. Prior to this audition, I read many good reviews on the X-05 and some just average reviews on the Endorphin. The Endorphin is RM4K pricier than the X-05. The X-05 excels in engineering with its fantastic turntable type tray design , VRDS etc (vitually no noise during opening & closing its simply so smooth), and can play SACD and decode HDCD too. Based on magazine reviews I already pre- determined that X-05 is the one that I will own.
Due to not much time for testing, I tested both players with a few high
firing Cranberries gold disc tracks and with a few Jennifer Warnes
tracks.
The X-05 sounded fantastic, very detail, clear, timing, dynamics, the base etc etc etc... everything was great.
The Endorphin sounded fantastic, detail, clear, timing, dynamics, base etc etc etc... everything was also great. But sounded analogue..not very analogue but partially analogue. The music became wider, deeper, taller and very spacious. The vocal was so well reproduced it sounded so natural. Its easier to listen and with less listening fatigue.

My conclusion (my own perspective)
The X-05 sounded fantastic, can hear some subtle sounds that you won't hear from the Endorphin. The accuracy is superb. Perhaps much more reliable than Endorphin. Designed and manufactured in Japan.

The Endorphin does everything well too, but in addition, it sounded analogue. I personally fell in love with the vocal that came out from this player. I would say in terms of vocal alone the Endorphin is around 20~30% better. Between both players the X-05 is like a self trained artist learning from somebody and perfected his talent along the way, whereas the Endorphin is like a naturally born artist.
In terms of appearance the Endorphin will beat the X-05 outright flat anytime.
I have changed my mind now and I am going for the Endorphin unless I can find something else that is better than this in the same price category.