SACD's are making a big comeback and Esoteric's new $45k / £38k player proves it

Esoteric knows more of us are embracing CDs — and we'll love SACDs too Meet the elite K1XE SACD player and optional PS1XE external power supply How much is it? If you need to ask, I fear it's going to be too much… Money no object We love to give practical buying advice about the latest tech products here on TechRadar.

But sometimes what we love even more is to indulge in the most outrageously high-end, cutting-edge, luxurious propositions on the planet.

That's what we bring you in these Money No Object columns — you can read the whole series here .

Well well well.

We knew CD players were having a moment because we can't seem to stop writing about them — whether ultra-luxe , super-fresh and with aptX Bluetooth , be they hefty and toting both analog and digital inputs , fully transparent like some sort of award , inspired by Death Stranding 2: On the Beach in neon orange or even an affordable little ripper, from FiiO.

So there's a CD player for everyone in 2026.

TechRadar even published a roundup of 9 of the coolest new CD player releases not six weeks ago, in an effort to stay abreast of them all.

And now, there's an option for people in possession of an awful lot of money.

And why not? It's your money and if you have a collection of SACDs you want to make use of, along with a sizeable chunk of cash to invest into the experience, you should be able to do so.

What am I talking about when I say 'SACD'? These delicate little beauties are shiny and circular just like your regular CDs, but the moniker stands for 'Super Audio Compact Disc'.

It's a high-resolution optical audio disc format first introduced in 1999 and developed jointly by Sony and Philips Electronics.

Unlike CDs, the format uses a 1-bit resolution with a sampling rate of 2.8224 MHz, also known as DSD64, to provide a data rate of 5.6 Mbps — and that walks all over your typical CD's 16-bit/44.1kHz resolution, or a data rate of 1.411 Mbps, in the hi-res audio stakes.

So, it makes sense to get a serious player for your seriously detailed recorded music, right? That's clearly what Esoteric was thinking too.

Behold: the ultra-luxe K1XE SACD player.