Pure Soundscape
With the birth of the Grandioso M1X, our flagship monoblock power amplifier, the Esoteric amplifier design platform has been completely revamped. The Grandioso S1 has now been reborn as the Grandioso S1X, the new flagship in a completely different class of Class-A stereo power amplifiers.

The monoblock M1X embodies Esoteric’s idea of the ideal amplifier. The dynamic sound of the M1X, produced by a completely redesigned drive stage and a powerful power supply unit that incorporates an enormous amount of material, has captivated audiophiles around the world. The S1X, a Class-A stereo model, beautifully follows the M1X’s signature sound of “a sense of dynamism that unleashes the full power of music” and “a sense of grand scale.” In exchange for its high power of 2,400W/1 ohm, the S1X offers a half the space form factor and the transparent and detailed expressiveness that only Class-A can deliver.

Here, is a milestone model that realizes Esoteric’s ideals of the Class-A stereo amplifier.
 
New Drive Stage
The newly designed drive stage, a simple 5-parallel push-pull drive with large bipolar transistors, is Class-A (operating range 50W/8Ω) and has a full sound with clear transparency. However, the general characteristics of Class-A, – pure, polished tone – cannot fully describe the true beauty of the S1X.

Vivid colors like a direct heated triode amplifier, high-speed transient backed by ample idling current, power, and openness... The S1X’s new Class-A drive stage inherits the powerful and dynamic design concept of the M1X, including large bipolar elements and a powerful power supply section. Regardless of the amplification method, the S1X earnestly pursues what the best amplifier should sound like and achieves peerlessly powerful sonic signature people unmistakably recognize as Esoteric sound.

Fidelity
With the flagship Grandioso amplifier models, Esoteric is breaking new horizons by pushing the limits of fidelity in preamp-to-amplifier signal transmission. Esoteric’s unique current transmission system “ES-Link Analog” is the ideal method for preamp to amplifier transmission where the signal level is extremely low. Compared to the conventional voltage transmission, it transmits approximately 100 times more current, making it less susceptible to noise and sending the full energy of the music to the amplifier.

Also, it is not affected by the impedance of the interconnects running between the preamp and amplifier, so it maintains a perfect integrity between the output signal of the preamp and the input signal to the amplifier.
 
ES-Link Analog – Esoteric’s unique current transmission
ES-Link Analog is Esoteric’s proprietary current transmission method. By connecting devices that support this method, it is possible to reproduce the sound as if it were being played directly from an analog console in a recording studio. The sonic signature of ES-Link Analog is powerful, live and dimensional. In conventional voltage transmission, the output impedance of the source device is low, and the input impedance of the target device is high. In other words, the current required for signal transmission tends to be kept low.

Also, due to the resistance component (impedance) of the transmission path (interconnect cable), the voltage of the transmitted signal is attenuated by the level calculated by Ohm's law (voltage = current × resistance) when delivered to the target device. Therefore, a longer the cable causes increased resistance which has significant affects on that signal.

In contrast, in current transmission, the output impedance of the source device is high and the input impedance of the input device is low, resulting in a "High out, Low in" circuit, and the current level is maintained higher during signal transmission than in voltage transmission, allowing a powerful audio signal delivery.

Also, in current transmission, the current level output from the source device always matches the one on the target device. Imagine using a hose to send water from a faucet to a bucket. As long as there are no holes in the hose, the same amount of water from the faucet will always flow to the bucket, regardless of the length of the hose.

Similarly, if the cable that serves as the transmission path is not divided into multiple paths, all current from the source device will be delivered to the target device, and the current values flowing will always be the same, even if the transmission path is longer. This advantage of accurate transmission of even the smallest signals is evident from the fact that current transmission is widely used in measuring instruments that measure precise signals.

Conventional voltage transmission impedance of the Esoteric products is designed several tens of ohms on out-going circuits and around 100k ohms on in-coming circuits. In contrast, the ES-Link Analog out-going/in-coming circuits are designed approximately 1kΩ on the out-going circuit, and 0Ω on the in-coming circuit.

If we focus on the current value that flows when transmitting audio signals, the current level of ES-Link Analog transmission when transmitting audio signals at the same level as normal voltage transmission is approximately 100 times higher than the current level flowing in voltage transmission. Consequently, the high current level allows for the full energy of the music to be delivered.

Dynamics
Robust driving power worthy of a flagship. The source of this power is Esoteric’s dedicated power supply unit. For amplifiers that constantly require high current for Class-A operation, the power supply is the most key component to achieve a powerful and rich sound stage. Thanks to Esoteric’s unique power supply design, the S1X boasts an extremely dynamic musical expression with great precision.
 
Over-Sized Bare-Mount Power Transformers
The S1X employs the largest toroidal transformers that the S1X chassis can accommodate. The transformers performance, with a much larger size than the size required for actual use, allows for extremely high follow-through to dynamic changes in current supply, resulting in a dynamic and open sound. Also, suppressing transformer vibration results in limiting current flow. For this reason, the S1X dares to employ a bare mounting with the transformer’s metal cover removed.
 
Power Transformers and Power Supply Boards for Drive Stages
 
Power Transformer Dedicated to the Pre-Drive Stages
 
The S1X’s high resolution sound is also a major feature, allowing the delicate tones of each instrument to be heard clearly, even at the climax of a full orchestra performance. A power supply section dedicated to the pre-drive stage (voltage amplification stage), which handles low-level signals from the preamplifier, eliminates the influence of the main drive stage, which has large current fluctuations, and improves resolution.

In addition to the two power transformers for the main drive and pre-drive stages, an R-core power transformer for control is installed in a three-transformer configuration to create a pure power supply with thoroughly low noise.
 
Power Transformers and Power Supply Boards (L-ch and R-ch) for Pre-drive stages, and Power Supply Board for Input stage
 
Dual Mono Rectifier Circuits
Unless it is a monaural source, the left and right music signals are different. The power rectification circuits are designed in dual mono configuration, not shared by both channels, to avoid mutual interference and achieve clear channel separation and resolution.