Long Term XSP-1 owners...

[ematthews]

If you have owned your XSP-1 for some time now, are you still happy? Looking to pull the trigger on one today.

[mshump]

I own a gen 1 and am still very happy here. Very nice piece of gear.

[yeeeha17]

I've own mine for over 2 years now and very happy with it. Down the road I would like to get an XMC for 2 channel rig only. Im thinking the DAC and Dirac in the XMC will make a better difference for me since all my music is digital and no analog

[lhracing]

I have had mine for about 1 year and am very happy with it. Recently added a DC-1 and ripped my CD collection to a Laptop using JRiver

[garbulky]

The XSP-1 is fantastic. Really really good. It's got dynamics in spades. A very pleasing musical sounding preamp. I
t's between that or an Audio GD He -1 based on KRELL CAST tech with full class A power and regenerative power supply.
www.audio-gd.com/HE/HE-1/HE-1EN.htm
Though the audio gd specs quite a bit better, the Audi GD He-1 has no sub management or HT bypass. So it's 2.0 only. It's also twice the price.

Either the XSP-1 or the audio gd is what I shall upgrade to.

[novisnick]

Dec 31, 2015 12:44:19 GMT -5 yeeeha17 said:

I've own mine for over 2 years now and very happy with it. Down the road I would like to get an XMC for 2 channel rig only. Im thinking the DAC and Dirac in the XMC will make a better difference for me since all my music is digital and no analog

Thats alot of coin just for DIRAC! Just add the DC-1 to your system and you're there, +/- ,  10% sound quality.

Ive had both systems and if I were doing Two channel only, I would have stopped there, XSP-1 gen 2 plus DC-1. 

[Chuck Elliot]

Dec 31, 2015 12:44:19 GMT -5 yeeeha17 said:

I've own mine for over 2 years now and very happy with it. Down the road I would like to get an XMC for 2 channel rig only. Im thinking the DAC and Dirac in the XMC will make a better difference for me since all my music is digital and no analog

My thoughts exactly. Although I have owned a XSP-1 Gen 1 for some time and love it, the future holds a second XMC-1 as a replacement at some point in the future. All my sources are digital too!

[yeeeha17]

The XMC will eventually come down in price, new and use, base on the the track record of Emotiva. For some reason Emotiva products don't hold their values in resale. I can wait until it's under $1k. I'm not in a hurry for it

[klinemj]

I had an XSP gen 1 for over 2 years,and I loved it. I only sold it when I got the xmc-1 because I personally found the XMC better for bass integration, and then adding DIRAC on top makes it unbeatable. If I needed it for a two channel only sysemt or had not bought the XMC, I would still have it. I think it is one of the finest preamps available.

Mark

[Chuck Elliot]

Dec 31, 2015 14:48:21 GMT -5 klinemj said:

I had an XSP gen 1 for over 2 years,and I loved it. I only sold it when I got the xmc-1 because I personally found the XMC better for bass integration, and then adding DIRAC on top makes it unbeatable. If I needed it for a two channel only sysemt or had not bought the XMC, I would still have it. I think it is one of the finest preamps available.

Mark

Digital Bass Management and Digital Room Equalization (Dirac or PEQ) are the keys. With a digital input all the processing for both can be done in the digital domain before the DACs. This is preferable for many reasons.

Although I have been in favor of a XSP-1D that would have these features, I am resigned to believe the market may be limited and therefore a HT processor, XMC-1, will be needed.

Regardless, the XSP-1 is a killer unit once the subs are tuned in. I found that letting the XSP-1 high pass roll off at close to the speaker's F3 @ 12 dB and using the subs crossover at 24 dB worked best for me.

[restless]

I've owned a XSP-1 for several years now, and it is my go to piece for 2 channel listening.

Mine is placed after the XMC-1 (l/r conected to L/R on XSP-1, and XSP-1 used in Home Theater Bypass when in multi-channel). My XPA-1 are connected to the XSP-1. So, for ONLY 2 Channel, the XSP-1 has a Emotive CD connected via XLR and a Phono player connected to analog inputs. Also have a Sub attached to the XSP-1. It seems to do everything well in a 2.1 environment, that also double as my L/R channels in the muilti setup.

DIRAC is really nice in correcting the room for all channels active, but my thought is that the XSP-1 gives a more pure nature to what you are listening to. Depending upon mood, I have the Emo CD for 2-ch input, or the OPPO CD/XMC-1 for input into 7.3 channel.

XPS-1 is a piece that you can always find a use for. I plan on having this for a while, even with the XMC-1.

John

[deltadube]

Dec 31, 2015 12:32:14 GMT -5 ematthews said:

If you have owned your XSP-1 for some time now, are you still happy? Looking to pull the trigger on one today.

what are you waiting for !!!

cheers

[brutiarti]

Dec 31, 2015 12:58:44 GMT -5 garbulky said:

I have an audio gd master 6 that is pretty much the same preamp section as the master 1 and comparing with the xsp-1 gen2 i found the audio gd is a little more transparent but not by much. I decided to keep the master 6 because the xsp-1 died after just one day of operation. Emo offered me an immediate replacement but i declined. If bass management is a must the xsp-1 is the clear winner hands down

[garbulky]

Dec 31, 2015 17:03:50 GMT -5 brutiarti said:

Dec 31, 2015 12:58:44 GMT -5 garbulky said:

I have an audio gd master 6 that is pretty much the same preamp section as the master 1 and comparing with the xsp-1 gen2 i found the audio gd is a little more transparent but not by much. I decided to keep the master 6 because the xsp-1 died after just one day of operation. Emo offered me an immediate replacement but i declined. If bass management is a must the xsp-1 is the clear winner hands down

Just the person I want to speak to. Can you PM me any other differences? Yes the bass management was my hesitation as well. I don't need a lot of switching but someday maybe I might own two subwoofers.
Now unfortunately with bass management the problem is that the XSP-1 does not do it in fully balanced mode.
Since my dream has always been fully balanced sound I don't know how I feel about that. It probably won't make much of a difference but I realized when you have an itch and you want it scratched...don't compromise!

I wonder if by it's not fully balanced just means the subwoofer out is not fully balanced (no problem) or that the speaker outputs are also not fully balanced (problem).

Either way please tell me more about your preamp! I am very interested in it. Especially because with the XPA-1 gen 2s I find that I have more bass extension than I did before. So though I do believe that dual subs will offer an improvement the bass difference gap is at a spot where I think I could live without it for hopefully a bit more refinement in the top to bottom coherence of the speakers.

[brutiarti]

Dec 31, 2015 17:50:19 GMT -5 garbulky said:

Dec 31, 2015 17:03:50 GMT -5 brutiarti said:

I have an audio gd master 6 that is pretty much the same preamp section as the master 1 and comparing with the xsp-1 gen2 i found the audio gd is a little more transparent but not by much. I decided to keep the master 6 because the xsp-1 died after just one day of operation. Emo offered me an immediate replacement but i declined. If bass management is a must the xsp-1 is the clear winner hands down

Just the person I want to speak to. Can you PM me any other differences? Yes the bass management was my hesitation as well. I don't need a lot of switching but someday maybe I might own two subwoofers.
Now unfortunately with bass management the problem is that the XSP-1 does not do it in fully balanced mode.
Since my dream has always been fully balanced sound I don't know how I feel about that. It probably won't make much of a difference but I realized when you have an itch and you want it scratched...don't compromise!

I wonder if by it's not fully balanced just means the subwoofer out is not fully balanced (no problem) or that the speaker outputs are also not fully balanced (problem).

Either way please tell me more about your preamp! I am very interested in it. Especially because with the XPA-1 gen 2s I find that I have more bass extension than I did before. So though I do believe that dual subs will offer an improvement the bass difference gap is at a spot where I think I could live without it for hopefully a bit more refinement in the top to bottom coherence of the speakers.

Hey Gar, I will PM with a more detailed approach about the differences. But I can tell you that you like the Master 1 on steroids so it is always a win win.