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Post by ossif on Mar 4, 2010 14:12:24 GMT -5
That is true. However my experience has been that the difference is rather small. |
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Post by strindl on Mar 4, 2010 14:14:24 GMT -5
Hi everybody, I have read that UPA1 is not fully balanced, is it the case for XPA-2 ? Best regards from France, Sergio Neither is fully balanced although both offer balanced XLR outputs. The only amp offered by Emotiva that is fully balanced from input to output is the XPA-1. Fully balanced amps are pretty rare and almost always very expensive. |
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Post by sergioredshoes on Mar 4, 2010 14:40:58 GMT -5
Thank you for this information ;-)
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Post by ossif on Mar 4, 2010 17:42:58 GMT -5
They have finally arrived and are ready for the fight... ;D
I will make a little comparison about the two this weekend to find and answer whether it is the XPA-2 or the UPA-1 I will fall in love with.
Anyhow, any suggestions which criteria to benchmark?
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Jimna
Minor Hero
Support Live Music
Posts: 92
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Post by Jimna on Mar 4, 2010 19:35:09 GMT -5
beautiful veneer on the speakers.
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Post by Nodscene on Mar 4, 2010 19:42:04 GMT -5
Definitely beautiful speakers. What make are they?
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Post by mrtrigger on Mar 5, 2010 6:57:20 GMT -5
They have finally arrived and are ready for the fight... ;D I will make a little comparison about the two this weekend to find and answer whether it is the XPA-2 or the UPA-1 I will fall in love with. Anyhow, any suggestions which criteria to benchmark? Really looking forward to reading about this, thanks!  |
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Post by leadliner on Mar 5, 2010 8:05:25 GMT -5
if you like the upas over the xpa are you planing on geting rid of it.
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Post by haugesynsar on Mar 5, 2010 11:03:02 GMT -5
They have finally arrived and are ready for the fight... ;D I will make a little comparison about the two this weekend to find and answer whether it is the XPA-2 or the UPA-1 I will fall in love with. Anyhow, any suggestions which criteria to benchmark? I`m not an expert, but I believe it would be smart to hear the different choises at the same desibel level. |
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Post by bongteo on Mar 5, 2010 11:09:54 GMT -5
They have finally arrived and are ready for the fight... ;D I will make a little comparison about the two this weekend to find and answer whether it is the XPA-2 or the UPA-1 I will fall in love with. Anyhow, any suggestions which criteria to benchmark? My advice is to let the mono cook for about 50hrs atleast before you make any critical compariosn as i've received mine on the 23rd Feb and found the sq change ard 8days later. Even my previous upa-2 took very very long time before the correct sq settle in. Nice speaker anyway  have fun! |
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Post by ossif on Mar 6, 2010 9:20:09 GMT -5
So what is the verdict?
Keep in mind that this is my impression and does also reflect the characteristics of my whole setup even though what I have experienced will easily be experiencable by you.
The differences between the two are not day and night, but in a side by side comparison undeniable.
I have given the UPA-1 some hours of warm up, clearly sound may still improve but for an initial impression of the characteristic and since both characters are quiet different I am pretty sure to be able to make a sustainable and valuable statement that may help choose the right partner.
Both, the XPA-2 and the UPA-1 are family, this is undeniable after having listened to both. However they have different characters and I will go so far to say that they have different customer perspective.
The XPA-2 in this comparison is very much what Emotiva states: Power and …
Well, the power statement still applies has the XPA-2 has noticeable more bass power. What I mean by this is that the bass is more noticeable in direct comparison to the UPA-1 and having more weight in the overall presentation. But this does not mean more control, as both have a very good control over the lower end. This is and stays the advantage of the XPA-2. Obviously at very loud volumes there could possibly be a little more reserves, but the way I experiences the UPA-1, one is really asking what more power could possibly be good for? The UPA-1 has plenty!
So if you main obsession is bass, stop reading here, buy an XPA-2 and never look back. Don’t do the same mistake I did.
However, the finesse statement should be revised.
The UPA-1 is a little audiophile dream. This is an amp for serious listening. The UPA-1 has the ability to reproduce music more defined and with a stunning transparency and resolution over the XPA-2. It adds a little depth and width to the stage and is dynamically incredible (I was most astonished by this). Music just flows and is charming. Speakers disappear better than with the XPA-2 and music just “is” in the room. This is a very musical amp.
A word about build quality: What we are looking here is bang for the bucks, so no problem with the fact that for some things budget had to run short. However the speaker bindings on the UPA-1 are the worst I have came across so far. Tolerances just seem not to exist, from 3 amps, on each of those 4 bindings I had at least 1 binding where the banana just would not go in. On one amp even two binding that are problematic. And the bananas are Swiss make quality that never ever made trouble on any other amp. I suggest to Emotiva to have a more attentive look on overall quality. There are existing issues that should be addressed.
Two sum it up, letting apart my binding issue, the UPA-1 is a fine mono amp and its concepts puts it ahead of the XPA-2. If best possible music reproduction is what you are looking for I strongly suggest you give the UPA-1 a try.
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Post by teedub21 on Mar 6, 2010 11:25:39 GMT -5
Interesting about the UPA1 speaker terminals. No, they aren't the same higher quality ones used on the x series amps, but they are a common speaker binding post seen on a lot of other gear. I also use banana connections and didn't have any issues with them working on my UPA1's.
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twilkins
Emo VIPs 
Sometimes it's to your advantage for people to think you're crazy -
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Post by twilkins on Mar 6, 2010 11:53:32 GMT -5
Interesting about the UPA1 speaker terminals. No, they aren't the same higher quality ones used on the x series amps, but they are a common speaker binding post seen on a lot of other gear. I also use banana connections and didn't have any issues with them working on my UPA1's. +1 |
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Post by briank on Mar 6, 2010 12:05:40 GMT -5
No problems with my UPA-1 binding posts, but I'm using bare wire and not banana plugs. I totally agree with your assessment of the sound of the two amps. The UPA-1 is one awesome little mono-block. That is, if you consider 200 watts into 8 ohms little. |
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Post by Nemesis.ie on Mar 6, 2010 12:55:22 GMT -5
Interesting about the UPA1 speaker terminals. No, they aren't the same higher quality ones used on the x series amps, but they are a common speaker binding post seen on a lot of other gear. I also use banana connections and didn't have any issues with them working on my UPA1's. I used Emotiva X-series speaker cables and if anything the connection was a little loose, but seemed much the same on all 3. |
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Post by shawmcbigdis on Mar 6, 2010 17:35:08 GMT -5
I've been meaning to bring up the binding post issue. I'm glad other people are experiencing it also. Strange that some people aren't having a problem with it. Both my UPA's have this probem. I use the same banana plugs I use on the XPA and my Parasound HCA with no problems.
On the UPA the plugs barely fit into some of the posts, and easily slide into others, it's very annoying. But it is the only complaint I have with the UPA's
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Post by SteveB on Mar 6, 2010 17:53:35 GMT -5
I had issues with banana plugs and my pair of UPA-1's as well. I'm bi-wiring my 6.2's so I'm using all 4 sets of binding posts. 2 are VERY tight! Still can't get the banana plug to go in all the way. 1 was a little loose and the others OK. Spades might be a better choice. Doesn't seem to affect sound quality though. They sound friggin awesome!
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Post by franki1 on Mar 7, 2010 10:05:26 GMT -5
So what is the verdict? Keep in mind that this is my impression and does also reflect the characteristics of my whole setup even though what have experiences will easily be experiencable by you. The differences between the two are not day and night, but in a side by side comparison undeniable. I have given the UPA-1 some hours of warm up, clearly sound may still improve but for an initial impression of the characteristic and since both characters are quiet different I am pretty sure to be able to make a sustainable and valuable statement that may help choose the right partner. Both, the XPA-2 and the UPA-1 are family, this is undeniable after having listened to both. However they have different characters and I will go so far to say that they have different customer perspective. The XPA-2 in this comparison is very much what Emotiva states: Power and … Well, the power statement still applies has the XPA-2 has noticeable more bass power. What I mean by this is that the bass is more noticeable in direct comparison to the UPA-1 and having more weight in the overall presentation. But this does not mean more control, as both have a very good control over the lower end. This is and stays the advantage of the XPA-2. Obviously at very loud volumes there could possibly be a little more reserves, but the way I experiences the UPA-1, one is really asking what more power could possibly be good for? The UPA-1 has plenty! So if you main obsession is bass, stop reading here, buy an XPA-2 and never look back. Don’t do the same mistake I did. However, the finesse statement should be revised. The UPA-1 is a little audiophile dream. This is an amp for serious listening. The UPA-1 has the ability to reproduce music more defined and with a stunning transparency and resolution over the XPA-2. It adds a little depth and width to the stage and is dynamically incredible (I was most astonished by this). Music just flows and is charming. Speakers disappear better than with the XPA-2 and music just “is” in the room. This is a very musical amp. A word about build quality: What we are looking here is bang for the bucks, so no problem with the fact that for some things budget had to run short. However the speaker bindings on the UPA-1 are the worst I have came across so far. Tolerances just seem not to exist, from 3 amps, on each of those 4 bindings I had at least 1 binding where the banana just would not go in. On one amp even two binding that are problematic. And the bananas are Swiss make quality that never ever made trouble on any other amp. I suggest to Emotiva to have a more attentive look on overall quality. There are existing issues that should be addressed. Two sum it up, letting apart my binding issue, the UPA-1 is a fine mono amp and its concepts puts it ahead of the XPA-2. If best possible music reproduction is what you are looking for I strongly suggest you give the UPA-1 a try. which amp is better for 2 channel only high end music |
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Post by franki1 on Mar 7, 2010 10:14:04 GMT -5
I am interested in botth the X2 and the UPA1 I want the best musicality for 2 channel only to drive my Maggie MMG. I have a powered sub for bass so the amp that is the most musical and refined is what I would an opinion on.
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Post by paintedklown on Mar 7, 2010 10:47:15 GMT -5
I am interested in botth the X2 and the UPA1 I want the best musicality for 2 channel only to drive my Maggie MMG. I have a powered sub for bass so the amp that is the most musical and refined is what I would an opinion on. I do not own the maggies or an XPA-2 (so I cannot speak from first hand experience) but I asked this same question in another thread and the general consensus among Maggie owners was that the XPA-2 would be a better match due to the relatively low efficiency and high power handling capabilities of those speakers. Also, from all of the compare and contrast of these two amps, it seems to be that the differences in sound are subtle and unless you did a side by side A/B test you would not notice a gap in the sound QUALITY of these two amps. The XPA-2 would (probably) fare better in this match-up due to the extra power, headroom, dynamics, ect... Hope that helps. |
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have fun!
