Post by garbulky on Feb 11, 2014 14:27:09 GMT -5
I didn't have enough time to really detail my thoughts on the XPR-2 when I posted. So here goes:
The amplifier was definitely larger than the XPA-2 but not so humungous that the wife would throw it out.
First I expected the thing to honestly not sound too great. Class H etc.
Well, that's not the case. It is - like B'zilla said - a mix between the UPA-2 sound signature and something significantly better. The signature was closer to the UPA-2's sound than the XPA-2 gen 1.
It sounded like it was coasting. But while it was coasting it was able to deliver some really nice quality. And the best way I can say is that the sound felt natural. It took the stregnths of the UPA-2 but also did away with the slowness and "bloat" of the bass. Didn't mean the UPA-2 was SLOW or bloated just in comparison, it was. The XPA-2 did this too. But the difference is that the XPR-2 did this while sticking to a very natural sound.
I listened to some sort of orchestral piece and there was a bass drum that sounded gently off to the side. It appeared in the air to the side with with a full body in space. Similar to what the DC-1 does. And as it sounded just the whole delivery of the dynamics and the resonance it produced afterwards somewhat echoing across the soundstage - almost like it was illuminating it - was. ... HARD to describe. But nevertheless it was obvious that I was hearing something impressive and life-like. It's like you took a DC-1 and simply made it an amplifier.
During the vocals, the vocals appeared in a large center image and you could almost feel where the people were. Unlike simply placing the voices, the body and depth portrayed made me feel like there was a group of people clustered together but still each voice in its own space in the same soundstage. Didn't make me feel like it was multi-mic'd or anything. Is this the live sound? I don't know as I'm not sure what that means. But it sure felt natural.
It had lots of control on the sound without giving any kind of impression that it was trying to do so. That kind of ease and naturalness was very pleasing.
Is that amplifier worth the (emo-scale) price? I couldn't say until I hear it mated to a more demanding full range load. But it certainly is a GOOD amplifier. A super powered version which doesn't have issues with playing at normal and soft volumes. I suspect that Emotiva snuck in quite a decent class A bias on this unit.
The amplifier was definitely larger than the XPA-2 but not so humungous that the wife would throw it out.
First I expected the thing to honestly not sound too great. Class H etc.
Well, that's not the case. It is - like B'zilla said - a mix between the UPA-2 sound signature and something significantly better. The signature was closer to the UPA-2's sound than the XPA-2 gen 1.
It sounded like it was coasting. But while it was coasting it was able to deliver some really nice quality. And the best way I can say is that the sound felt natural. It took the stregnths of the UPA-2 but also did away with the slowness and "bloat" of the bass. Didn't mean the UPA-2 was SLOW or bloated just in comparison, it was. The XPA-2 did this too. But the difference is that the XPR-2 did this while sticking to a very natural sound.
I listened to some sort of orchestral piece and there was a bass drum that sounded gently off to the side. It appeared in the air to the side with with a full body in space. Similar to what the DC-1 does. And as it sounded just the whole delivery of the dynamics and the resonance it produced afterwards somewhat echoing across the soundstage - almost like it was illuminating it - was. ... HARD to describe. But nevertheless it was obvious that I was hearing something impressive and life-like. It's like you took a DC-1 and simply made it an amplifier.
During the vocals, the vocals appeared in a large center image and you could almost feel where the people were. Unlike simply placing the voices, the body and depth portrayed made me feel like there was a group of people clustered together but still each voice in its own space in the same soundstage. Didn't make me feel like it was multi-mic'd or anything. Is this the live sound? I don't know as I'm not sure what that means. But it sure felt natural.
It had lots of control on the sound without giving any kind of impression that it was trying to do so. That kind of ease and naturalness was very pleasing.
Is that amplifier worth the (emo-scale) price? I couldn't say until I hear it mated to a more demanding full range load. But it certainly is a GOOD amplifier. A super powered version which doesn't have issues with playing at normal and soft volumes. I suspect that Emotiva snuck in quite a decent class A bias on this unit.