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Post by hawk14 on Oct 25, 2010 15:30:49 GMT -5
Have any pro reviews/tests been done on the UPA-1's? Only info I seem to find on the web is from the Emo family. Just wondering.
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Pauly
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Post by Pauly on Oct 25, 2010 15:51:08 GMT -5
I haven't seen anything, and believe me, I've looked hard lol. But oh well, I've learned that pro reviews are pretty much worthless anyway. Every single one is favorable beyond belief lol.
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Post by hawk14 on Oct 25, 2010 18:19:12 GMT -5
Yeah, agree with you with the minor exception of Enjoy the Music.com. They've been very critical of some equipment from some well regarded manufacturers. That aside, I just wanted to see how the amp measured. Im considering buying two.
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Pauly
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Post by Pauly on Oct 25, 2010 18:25:35 GMT -5
You certainly can't go wrong with them. I borrowed a pair a while ago from my Dad, and they sounded amazing! I compared them to my Parasound Halo amp, and it was a toss up as to which sounded better. So needless to say, I decided to buy a pair to power my mains.
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Post by hawk14 on Oct 25, 2010 20:05:07 GMT -5
thats good to know. Which Halo did you compare them to?
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Pauly
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Post by Pauly on Oct 25, 2010 20:33:02 GMT -5
The Halo A23. Then later I compared them to a used A21 on a one week loan from my local dealer. The UPA-1s were actually a little better than the A23, as they had slightly better imaging, and soundstage. They also seemed to have a slight edge in overall detail.
The A21 was a different story. It really is a beast of an amp. Huge slam, great imaging, and incredibly clear in the upper frequencies. However, the UPA-1s held their own quite well against this $2,200 amp. If money was no object, the A21 is a no brainer, especially with music. But the Halo amps get very very hot as well. I loved this thing, as it's one of the best amps I've heard with my speakers, and I almost bought it for a little under retail. But, I just can't spend that kind of cash right now, as I'm trying to integrate my music system into my HT, and the UPA-1s give me at least 90% of what the A21 did for about $1,300 less, which is just astonishing. I will probably get the A21 someday, but the UPA-1s are too good to pass up when you're trying to save some money for other pieces of gear.
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Post by hawk14 on Oct 25, 2010 23:26:18 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. I've heard the A21 and its impressive. Good to know that the UPA-1 held its own against much pricier competition.
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Pauly
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Post by Pauly on Oct 26, 2010 0:19:52 GMT -5
I can't say that I'm really amazed that the UPA-1 compares so favorably to the A23. But I am amazed that it held it's own against the A21. IMO, the A21 is truly high end, and a bargain at it's full retail. It's certainly one of the best amps that I've had the pleasure of listening to with my speakers, and that's a lot of amps. I think the UPA-1s will satisfy for quite a while though, until I get the urge. They are truly the biggest bang for the buck I've encountered, and very close to some of the crazy priced big dogs out there.
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Post by roadrunner on Oct 26, 2010 12:59:38 GMT -5
Pauly,
The A21 is truly an amp to admire. Other than running very hot there is little to dislike about it. When I auditioned it I was quite impressed. I wish I had an opportunity to directly compare the A21 to the Emotiva XPA-1 because I was equally impressed with the XPA-1's sound quality. I suspect it will be very difficult to pick a winner between the A21 and the XPA-1, BUT imagine how much fun you would have while running the challenge. Trouble is I would want to keep both of them. ;D ;D ;D
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Post by monkumonku on Oct 26, 2010 13:10:11 GMT -5
Pauly, The A21 is truly an amp to admire. Other than running very hot there is little to dislike about it. When I auditioned it I was quite impressed. I wish I had an opportunity to directly compare the A21 to the Emotiva XPA-1 because I was equally impressed with the XPA-1's sound quality. I suspect it will be very difficult to pick a winner between the A21 and the XPA-1, BUT imagine how much fun you would have while running the challenge. Trouble is I would want to keep both of them. ;D ;D ;D I hear you... what starts out as, "I will try them both, see which one I like more, then sell the other one," winds up as "Might as well keep both of them. There's still room." ;D Or, "You never know when a spare might be needed." Or, "They sound so different but each has their own merits so I should keep both." |
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rubley
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Post by rubley on Oct 26, 2010 15:39:58 GMT -5
I'm using a UPA-1 to drive a DIY subwoofer, but that's probably not the kind of review you're looking for  |
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Post by roadrunner on Oct 26, 2010 15:53:22 GMT -5
Pauly, The A21 is truly an amp to admire. Other than running very hot there is little to dislike about it. When I auditioned it I was quite impressed. I wish I had an opportunity to directly compare the A21 to the Emotiva XPA-1 because I was equally impressed with the XPA-1's sound quality. I suspect it will be very difficult to pick a winner between the A21 and the XPA-1, BUT imagine how much fun you would have while running the challenge. Trouble is I would want to keep both of them. ;D ;D ;D I hear you... what starts out as, "I will try them both, see which one I like more, then sell the other one," winds up as "Might as well keep both of them. There's still room." ;D Or, "You never know when a spare might be needed." Or, "They sound so different but each has their own merits so I should keep both." Monkumonku I see you have been bitten by that same bug.   It is O' so hard to let go of gear that sounds so good. The temptation can be overwhelming if you don't force yourself to be logical. When the time to decide comes, are you going to be "Spock" or "Dr. McCoy"? At one time I owned the Klipsch Cornerhorns, the Cornwalls, Infinity Monitor II-A, and the Quad Electrostats all at the same time. I just couldn't find "Spock" when I needed to. ;D ;D ;D I finally sold off the excess speakers, but it wasn't easy. That is one of the hazards of this hobby. |
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Post by moovtune on Oct 26, 2010 16:20:38 GMT -5
Hawk, you have the XPA-3, so you already know how a UPA-1 sounds. Just with a bigger transformer and more secondary capacitance than one channel in the XPA-3 if you divided by 3.
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Post by monkumonku on Oct 26, 2010 16:38:16 GMT -5
I hear you... what starts out as, "I will try them both, see which one I like more, then sell the other one," winds up as "Might as well keep both of them. There's still room." ;D Or, "You never know when a spare might be needed." Or, "They sound so different but each has their own merits so I should keep both." Monkumonku I see you have been bitten by that same bug. It is O' so hard to let go of gear that sounds so good. The temptation can be overwhelming if you don't force yourself to be logical. When the time to decide comes, are you going to be "Spock" or "Dr. McCoy"? At one time I owned the Klipsch Cornerhorns, the Cornwalls, Infinity Monitor II-A, and the Quad Electrostats all at the same time. I just couldn't find "Spock" when I needed to. ;D ;D ;D I finally sold off the excess speakers, but it wasn't easy. That is one of the hazards of this hobby. My point of view reflects perfect Spock logic: you can always open your own audio shop with all the stuff, so might as well keep it. ;D |
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Post by hawk14 on Oct 27, 2010 15:22:25 GMT -5
Hawk, you have the XPA-3, so you already know how a UPA-1 sounds. Just with a bigger transformer and more secondary capacitance than one channel in the XPA-3 if you divided by 3. You know, I never thought of it like that, but you're more or less right. Obviously, with the UPA-1s, there should be more refinement such as less noise. I guess I'll have to take the plunge shortly! I'm pretty sure I won't be sorry. |
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Post by hawk14 on Nov 2, 2010 7:12:57 GMT -5
The holiday sale was the proverbial brick to the head for me and I could not resist the UPA-1 any longer. I will post some thoughts once they are set up.
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cgolf
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Post by cgolf on Nov 2, 2010 8:38:26 GMT -5
I made the mistake once of telling a friend that having a UPA-1 driving each of my surrounds was probably overkill. He looked at me crazy and of course said, "You can never have too much power or too much equipment". I've never had too much equipment or too much power since!!! ;D There's always a place for it and as long as new equipment comes out, the buying is never done!!!!!  |
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Post by hawk14 on Nov 17, 2010 10:05:38 GMT -5
I made the mistake once of telling a friend that having a UPA-1 driving each of my surrounds was probably overkill. He looked at me crazy and of course said, "You can never have too much power or too much equipment". I've never had too much equipment or too much power since!!! ;D There's always a place for it and as long as new equipment comes out, the buying is never done!!!!! I couldn't have said it better! |
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Post by paintedklown on Nov 17, 2010 10:30:10 GMT -5
+1 Especially when it comes to power. There is no such thing as too much power. Too much gear can translate into running out of rooms to put it all in. ;D I am sure you will love the UPA-1s. They are fine amplifiers and it's great to see Emo gear "hold its own" when put up against the "big boys" in the audio world.  |
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