Grandioso PS1

The Esoteric Grandioso PS1 is a high-performance external power supply for the Grandioso K1X Super Audio CD player. It was developed to provide greater scalability from the K1X’s integrated, space-saving design and bring its performance closer to the level of the 4-unit Grandioso P1X/D1X system.

The Grandioso P1X/D1X was introduced in 2019 as a Super Audio CD player with separate chassis for its transport and digital-to-analogue conversion stages. The Grandioso K1X followed with a single-chassis design combining 2 of Esoteric’s key technologies, the VRDS-ATLAS transport mechanism and Master Sound Discrete DAC. The PS1 was subsequently developed to enhance the performance of both technologies in the K1X.

During the K1X development process, Esoteric evaluated the use of a high-performance external power supply to improve its sound quality further. The resulting Grandioso PS1 optimises the power supplied to the K1X’s VRDS-ATLAS CD transport and Master Sound Discrete DAC, with the aim of supporting more realistic audio playback.

Connecting the PS1 to the K1X does more than increase the scale of the analogue circuit, or D/A converter module, power supply from 2 transformers to 4. The K1X’s 2 analogue circuit power transformers are shut down, reducing the effect of transformer vibration and magnetic flux leakage on the analogue circuits. This allows further improvements to the K1X’s overall sound quality.