Usp-1 vs pt-100 ??? Analog performance

[brubacca]

Anyone make this comparison from an analog perspective?

I know that they are very different from a feature perspective, but how about analog performance? I have neither, owned a usp-1 and liked it. Only sold it because of the large remote volume jumps. It drove my wife nuts.

[Axis]

I have the USP-1 and using it right now. It sounds marvelous. I would take in to consideration that Big Dan said they were able to improve on the Ultra Series with the BasX gear. If all the volume control issues that people complained about on the USP-1 is resolved then it is no brainer for best preamp from Emotiva in the budget range. If they put digital in there along with analog and get the reviews it does here from people that a familiar with good gear, enough said.

[mercury]

I still have my usp-1 but since I aquired the pt-100 I have never hooked up the usp-1 again. It's just sitting in a shelf. I don't know the right word to describe it
but from what I recall there is a slight difference in the sound presentation in mid/high dynamics...maybe...I'm not so sure. I've been using the pt-100 in my
living room setup. Will hook up the usp-1 again and compare. I also have the XSP-1 in my main 2 channel listening room which I listen to most of the time.

[beardedalbatross]

I was more impressed with the USP-1 actually. With the PT-100 the noise floor would rise much more quickly. It begins to be audible at 60/80 and just rises from there. Ditto with the headphone output, I really enjoyed the USP-1 headphone out.

[Axis]

Jun 21, 2017 17:03:21 GMT -5 beardedalbatross said:

I was more impressed with the USP-1 actually. With the PT-100 the noise floor would rise much more quickly. It begins to be audible at 60/80 and just rises from there. Ditto with the headphone output, I really enjoyed the USP-1 headphone out.

I have nothing myself to complain about with the USP-1 all analog preamp. Do not use the remote and the headphone output makes my HD-600 and 650's sound awesome. I think the headphone amp on the USP-1 Is better than folks know. I got one and it will be my analog preamp until I go a different direction and it does not play well with that direction. I want a 300 watt per channel tube amp for my next two channel system and after I have secured that I will mate a preamp with it.

You guys talk about amps for weeks, months and years here and my little Emotiva UPA-2 sounds as good as two XPA-1's for my speakers. If I had speakers that could extract more out in the frequency range, then the XPA-1's would serve them better. Preamps need to get out of the way. Short signal path with no interference or digital processing. Give me a dedicated analog preamp and a dedicated DAC for digital for a true two way analog system. My ERC-1 is that dedicated DAC for digital right now. My USP-1 is my pure analog preamp. Just saying. I have been doing this a long time and if the gear I got can make me happy then I must be doing something right.

[mercury]

And yes I liked the headphone amp too. And the slight difference in sound presentation was I think
better on the usp-1 except for the annoying large volume jump on the remote. Will use the usp-1 this weekend.

[garbulky]

The USP-1 has wonderful slam and dynamics. The PT-100 (used as a DAC) is a bit cleaner and natural sounding on the treble. I would pick the DC-1 over either of those. I have tried the analog input on the DC-1 and I found its transparency to be the best in the preamps I've tried. But the margin isn't huge or anything.

[vneal]

I have the TA 100 in one system. I suspect that it uses the same phono preamp as the PT 100. I have only auditioned it briefly in that I do not use a table for this system but removed it from my other to hear it. It sounded very good. In fact damn good. At this price point I don't think you can beat it.

I have not experience with the USP-1

[mercury]

I haven't tried the analog input of the DC-1 yet...using it only as a dac. I might try it then. Thanks.

[Axis]

Jun 21, 2017 18:21:39 GMT -5 garbulky said:

The USP-1 has wonderful slam and dynamics. The PT-100 (used as a DAC) is a bit cleaner and natural sounding on the treble. I would pick the DC-1 over either of those. I have tried the analog input on the DC-1 and I found its transparency to be the best in the preamps I've tried. But the margin isn't huge or anything.

The DC-1 has excellent analog transparency. It is a newer design and more went into it for professional use. That's right, Emotiva has built gear for professional studio use. Why they are not making more I do not understand but that may come in the future. They just got there whole line of BasX gear out and the future looks bright. You want a good professional monitor system that pro's are using in Nashville studios, then get a DC-1 and a pair of Stealth 8 speakers ! I think that is what KeithL is listening too.

[Gary Cook]

A USP-1 was the first piece of Emotiva gear that I owned, still own, it's just on loan to a friend of mine. I found that the volume control wasn't an issue with input from the turntable, both the volume knob and remote control worked just fine. It was only the other inputs that were initially quite loud even at next to zero volume (on the USP-1) and then jumped up quite rapidly eg; ERC-3. Hence excessive input voltage (for the USP-1). Having used them successfully many times before in pro environments, I simply inserted a pair of Harrison Labs attenuators into the inputs on the USP-1. Rothwell attenuators as also good, but a bit more expensive. I tried 3 db, 6 db and 12 db and eventually settled on 6 db. That removed the initial high volume and gave some progression into the steps even using the remote.

I know, attenuators are supposed to muck up the sound quality, but personally I have never noticed any difference when used in the input to a pre amp. Between a pre amp and a power amp there can be issues with impedance matching which can affect some.


Cheers
Gary