Or should I consider essentials?

I think this "one guy" is talking through his arse if he's telling you that

There were a lot of big changes introduced to snap and automation in X1 and these seem to be refined (and in some cases, reverted!) in X2, and even further in the X2A update.

I am still not entirely convinced that these new changes have "landed" with X2A (see my thread on potential automation bug), so if they're important to your workflow, one option would be to wait to X3 to see them optimized and matured.
 
That said, there are obviously numerous other great features introduced, so you need to evaluate yourself to see if you like X2.

I always go for the latest, not that much difference in price and all the Fixes are already integerated

but wait, theres MORE  

you get all the new features

Yup, Id agree to see what kind of workflow you use with them.  But Id still o for X2

IMHO the worflow improvements from V7 to X1 are immense, X2 even more improved. I'd upgrade on that alone. YMMV.

Why not try a demo and see what you think? I wouldn't make a decision based on someone's opinion on the internet and that includes mine.

I second Karl’s try the demo idea. Only you can decide which version is best for you. But be sure to look at the computer specs and see if your computer can run either program.

Actually, there are features in Producer that you won't get in Essential. It's not just additional plug-ins. For a detailed comparison, check out this PDF that Cakewalk has on their site:
http://www.cakewalk.com/p...ONAR-X2-comp-chart.pdf


--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
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