Post by mjarve on Jan 21, 2011 11:03:32 GMT -5
For many years I've swapped my system around numerous times, going from sand to glass back to sand, to hybrids, analog, digital, high-power, low-power, DIY, ad nauseam. Throughout that time, however, my CD player stayed the same: the Cambridge Audio Azur 640c.
The source of longevity for the 640c stemmed from the fact that it did so little wrong and so much right. Imaging (placement of instruments/sounds in space, proportion, depth, and so on) was, in my experience, exceptional. It also possessed the sort of midrange magic that many British components (at least British designed components) are reputed for. If it had a weakness, it was that it was a bit polite in terms of dynamics. Bass, while appropriately deep and resonant, was a bit uninspired. especially when compared to a true TOTL unit, like the Sony SCD-777ES.
My decision to part with the Cambridge unit initially came about because I wanted to get into SACD. Although it's already being pronounced a dying, niche format (it was since its inception, I would argue), I have amassed a collection of SACD media, notably the BIS recordings of the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra performing the Beethoven symphony cycle. Although all the discs are hybrids, I thought it a shame I that I was unable to enjoy the performances to their full potential. Further, I had an opportunity to purchase a reference grade SACD player for not a lot of money. So, I sold the Cambridge and it went to an enthusiastic new owner. Unfortunately, my deal to buy the über-SACD deck fell through, and I was in a tight spot.
I had heard of Emotiva through various words of mouths and online forum postings. The company seems to have a very nearly rabid following akin to that enjoyed by such iconic companies as McIntosh Labs. However, those of a more skeptical and, I dare say, snobbish bend, attached themselves to the too-true mantra of "you get what you pay for". The argument would go that if the products were budget priced, they were budget grade, and as such, would certainly be a step or two below the old Cambridge deck (itself billed as a budget unit at an original MSRP of $600).
I, myself, am of a different bend. I'm not rich, but I do have rich tastes when it comes to my hi-fi setup. Indeed, I had spent more on just my phono stage than I had on my last car, and thought myself better for it. I was also one of the early adopters of the then almost unknown Yaqin brand which brought to the world of tubes much what Emotiva appears to be doing for solid-state (high-value, high performance), and I am still madly in love with my MC-10L II many years later, never once regretting the decision to buy it.
Emotiva, on the other hand, even had a leg-up. The products are not gray-market double-imports much like the Yaqin was, and the company itself is, of course, based in the US.
So, when it came down to it, I pulled out the old charge-card and lad down $449 of my hard-earned for the ERC-1. I'm on my second day with it now, and what follows are my early impressions.
First, the unit itself is very well constructed, with build quality comparable to my Musical Fidelity A3cr preamp. Indeed, if it were not for the fact that the ERC-1 is black-faced and uses blue LED's, it would be easy to mistake it for a Musical Fidelity piece from afar, or even up close. Well done!
Some degree of anxiety has been indicated by many about the slot-loading transport. I'm personally not worried about it, having owned other slot-loading transports by way of the iMac, Wii, and Playstation 3. Even Musical Fidelity is in on the drawer-less act with their new M3 series player.
I can't say much more about the remote that hasn't already been said- it's a work of art, and worth nearly the price of the whole kit just to hold it.
If some of you are familiar with my postings on AK, I'm not a fan of gratuitous use of lights on equipment, especially blue LED's, which more and more seem to be in use just because they can be. I prefer simple and elegant, which is why I'm a bit conflicted about the front panel and lighting on the ERC-1. When in the "Dim" mode, I like that it veers towards the elegant look, but would have liked to see one or two more levels of "Dimness" added, one to turn off all the display (power light and information window), with the addition, perhaps, of an intermediate setting which would actually just dim the remaining power and status lights. Small quibble, but maybe a thought for the future.
One final quibble regarding the design is that I would have gladly lost the second set of RCA output jacks in favor for some higher-grade, panel mount RCA outputs (Cardas or some clone, maybe). For the ERC-1's target market, high-end home theater, I suppose the second set makes more sense, but if the company has ambitions to court the fickle audiophile sect (as they seemingly do, given the balanced outputs), it would be a nod in the right direction. That said, I've seen supposedly superior equipment (my old 640c, for instance) with similar grade jacks or ones of even lesser quality.
Setup is as simple as pie. Plug it in, allow it to go through its POST, and you're ready to play.
Disc play starts automagically when you put a disc in. For those, like me, who prefer to be seated and hit play on the remote before the music starts, this is a bit of an annoyance, though I've taken to hitting Stop just after the disc is loaded.
The owner's manual specifies that the player can play MP3's but neither the manual or site specify as to what bit-rates are supported or whether it requires a special format. I intend to eventually burn an MP3 CD in iTunes to find this out, but I would reiterate that it should be listed in the specs. Maybe if someone from Emotiva reads this, they can enlighten us as to the unit's MP3 capabilities (and update the manual and website accordingly).
Finally getting to the most important part here- how it sounds. In a word, excellent, but with a qualification: I'm a believer in the need of a piece of equipment to "break in". Whether it's me adjusting to the sound, or the unit settling it, either way I've been surprised by how much a device's sound can change over time. That said, the ERC-1 has had a grand total of about 4 hours of power-on time, and about 2 hours of actual play time. I myself usually do not pass judgement until the magical 100-hour mark, so this is still quite early. To that end, the unit will be powered up and playing the included demo CD on repeat while I'm at work and what not, though still powered down while I'm sleeping.
Imaging from the ERC-1 is so far good rather than great. While giving a proper sense of placement across the stage, as well as proportion, it's lacking somewhat in the depth department, and does not present any real sense of "air" or space around the instruments. Sort of a flat, 2-dimensional performance, rather than an involving holographic one. I've noted before that this is one of the things that usually changes for the better over time, and so I've reserved judgment on this note for now.
Playing the included demo CD, I noted a slight hollowness to the mid-high-end that gave the performance a slight cup-over-mouth coloration, but I did not note the same coloration or hollowness on my own well-known discs. Tonally, the unit seems to come in at as close to true neutral as I've heard, leaning neither cool or warm in timbre. Further, the sound is not as dry and uninvolving as the Denon DCD-1650R I demoed, as the ERC-1 seems to have a musical character I can appreciate. Bass is very good, tighter and more energetic than the Cambridge, but it does not have quite the same degree of "slam" that something like the Sony SCD-777ES does. It's actually quite close to the Marantz SA-8001 in this regard. Midrange and treble are, at this point, as good as most other similarly priced players, with only a slight sense of congestion in the upper midrange, but plenty of clean, non-fatiguing extension on the high-end. Background noise seems to be exceptionally low, bettering the Cambridge, Denon, and Marantz in this regard by orders of magnitude. My Musical Fidelity A3cr preamp is itself singularly quite, and the ERC-1 does not seem to add any noise of its own. This allows for very "black" quite passages and allows note to sustain and decay very well indeed. It also has the effect of making better use of CDDA's constrained dynamic range when using discs (like Telarc) that are well mastered.
So, in terms of objective design, the ERC-1 is quite the miracle. It nearly boggles the mind that either the company can offer this level of construction quality at this price, or that other companies charge such a high premium for comparable quality.
As far as subjective performance goes, the jury is still out, while the unit continues through its break-in regimen. It is, as of now, the equal of anything else you'll find (new) at a similar price point, but I have heard used players available for under $450 that provide, in particular, a better sense of depth and overall imaging quality. Tonal quality and dynamic range, however, are about as good as you'll find in an under $1000 player, and would give even more highly regarded (and much more expensive) players a run for their money.
If you've not been spoiled by multi-kilobuck players that do everything well, the ERC-1 will be among the better units available. On the other hand, if you have tasted that small part of heaven, the ERC-1, while ambitious, might fall a bit short, but I stress that this is just my preliminary opinion and that the room for improvement might be taken up by thorough break-in.
The source of longevity for the 640c stemmed from the fact that it did so little wrong and so much right. Imaging (placement of instruments/sounds in space, proportion, depth, and so on) was, in my experience, exceptional. It also possessed the sort of midrange magic that many British components (at least British designed components) are reputed for. If it had a weakness, it was that it was a bit polite in terms of dynamics. Bass, while appropriately deep and resonant, was a bit uninspired. especially when compared to a true TOTL unit, like the Sony SCD-777ES.
My decision to part with the Cambridge unit initially came about because I wanted to get into SACD. Although it's already being pronounced a dying, niche format (it was since its inception, I would argue), I have amassed a collection of SACD media, notably the BIS recordings of the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra performing the Beethoven symphony cycle. Although all the discs are hybrids, I thought it a shame I that I was unable to enjoy the performances to their full potential. Further, I had an opportunity to purchase a reference grade SACD player for not a lot of money. So, I sold the Cambridge and it went to an enthusiastic new owner. Unfortunately, my deal to buy the über-SACD deck fell through, and I was in a tight spot.
I had heard of Emotiva through various words of mouths and online forum postings. The company seems to have a very nearly rabid following akin to that enjoyed by such iconic companies as McIntosh Labs. However, those of a more skeptical and, I dare say, snobbish bend, attached themselves to the too-true mantra of "you get what you pay for". The argument would go that if the products were budget priced, they were budget grade, and as such, would certainly be a step or two below the old Cambridge deck (itself billed as a budget unit at an original MSRP of $600).
I, myself, am of a different bend. I'm not rich, but I do have rich tastes when it comes to my hi-fi setup. Indeed, I had spent more on just my phono stage than I had on my last car, and thought myself better for it. I was also one of the early adopters of the then almost unknown Yaqin brand which brought to the world of tubes much what Emotiva appears to be doing for solid-state (high-value, high performance), and I am still madly in love with my MC-10L II many years later, never once regretting the decision to buy it.
Emotiva, on the other hand, even had a leg-up. The products are not gray-market double-imports much like the Yaqin was, and the company itself is, of course, based in the US.
So, when it came down to it, I pulled out the old charge-card and lad down $449 of my hard-earned for the ERC-1. I'm on my second day with it now, and what follows are my early impressions.
First, the unit itself is very well constructed, with build quality comparable to my Musical Fidelity A3cr preamp. Indeed, if it were not for the fact that the ERC-1 is black-faced and uses blue LED's, it would be easy to mistake it for a Musical Fidelity piece from afar, or even up close. Well done!
Some degree of anxiety has been indicated by many about the slot-loading transport. I'm personally not worried about it, having owned other slot-loading transports by way of the iMac, Wii, and Playstation 3. Even Musical Fidelity is in on the drawer-less act with their new M3 series player.
I can't say much more about the remote that hasn't already been said- it's a work of art, and worth nearly the price of the whole kit just to hold it.
If some of you are familiar with my postings on AK, I'm not a fan of gratuitous use of lights on equipment, especially blue LED's, which more and more seem to be in use just because they can be. I prefer simple and elegant, which is why I'm a bit conflicted about the front panel and lighting on the ERC-1. When in the "Dim" mode, I like that it veers towards the elegant look, but would have liked to see one or two more levels of "Dimness" added, one to turn off all the display (power light and information window), with the addition, perhaps, of an intermediate setting which would actually just dim the remaining power and status lights. Small quibble, but maybe a thought for the future.
One final quibble regarding the design is that I would have gladly lost the second set of RCA output jacks in favor for some higher-grade, panel mount RCA outputs (Cardas or some clone, maybe). For the ERC-1's target market, high-end home theater, I suppose the second set makes more sense, but if the company has ambitions to court the fickle audiophile sect (as they seemingly do, given the balanced outputs), it would be a nod in the right direction. That said, I've seen supposedly superior equipment (my old 640c, for instance) with similar grade jacks or ones of even lesser quality.
Setup is as simple as pie. Plug it in, allow it to go through its POST, and you're ready to play.
Disc play starts automagically when you put a disc in. For those, like me, who prefer to be seated and hit play on the remote before the music starts, this is a bit of an annoyance, though I've taken to hitting Stop just after the disc is loaded.
The owner's manual specifies that the player can play MP3's but neither the manual or site specify as to what bit-rates are supported or whether it requires a special format. I intend to eventually burn an MP3 CD in iTunes to find this out, but I would reiterate that it should be listed in the specs. Maybe if someone from Emotiva reads this, they can enlighten us as to the unit's MP3 capabilities (and update the manual and website accordingly).
Finally getting to the most important part here- how it sounds. In a word, excellent, but with a qualification: I'm a believer in the need of a piece of equipment to "break in". Whether it's me adjusting to the sound, or the unit settling it, either way I've been surprised by how much a device's sound can change over time. That said, the ERC-1 has had a grand total of about 4 hours of power-on time, and about 2 hours of actual play time. I myself usually do not pass judgement until the magical 100-hour mark, so this is still quite early. To that end, the unit will be powered up and playing the included demo CD on repeat while I'm at work and what not, though still powered down while I'm sleeping.
Imaging from the ERC-1 is so far good rather than great. While giving a proper sense of placement across the stage, as well as proportion, it's lacking somewhat in the depth department, and does not present any real sense of "air" or space around the instruments. Sort of a flat, 2-dimensional performance, rather than an involving holographic one. I've noted before that this is one of the things that usually changes for the better over time, and so I've reserved judgment on this note for now.
Playing the included demo CD, I noted a slight hollowness to the mid-high-end that gave the performance a slight cup-over-mouth coloration, but I did not note the same coloration or hollowness on my own well-known discs. Tonally, the unit seems to come in at as close to true neutral as I've heard, leaning neither cool or warm in timbre. Further, the sound is not as dry and uninvolving as the Denon DCD-1650R I demoed, as the ERC-1 seems to have a musical character I can appreciate. Bass is very good, tighter and more energetic than the Cambridge, but it does not have quite the same degree of "slam" that something like the Sony SCD-777ES does. It's actually quite close to the Marantz SA-8001 in this regard. Midrange and treble are, at this point, as good as most other similarly priced players, with only a slight sense of congestion in the upper midrange, but plenty of clean, non-fatiguing extension on the high-end. Background noise seems to be exceptionally low, bettering the Cambridge, Denon, and Marantz in this regard by orders of magnitude. My Musical Fidelity A3cr preamp is itself singularly quite, and the ERC-1 does not seem to add any noise of its own. This allows for very "black" quite passages and allows note to sustain and decay very well indeed. It also has the effect of making better use of CDDA's constrained dynamic range when using discs (like Telarc) that are well mastered.
So, in terms of objective design, the ERC-1 is quite the miracle. It nearly boggles the mind that either the company can offer this level of construction quality at this price, or that other companies charge such a high premium for comparable quality.
As far as subjective performance goes, the jury is still out, while the unit continues through its break-in regimen. It is, as of now, the equal of anything else you'll find (new) at a similar price point, but I have heard used players available for under $450 that provide, in particular, a better sense of depth and overall imaging quality. Tonal quality and dynamic range, however, are about as good as you'll find in an under $1000 player, and would give even more highly regarded (and much more expensive) players a run for their money.
If you've not been spoiled by multi-kilobuck players that do everything well, the ERC-1 will be among the better units available. On the other hand, if you have tasted that small part of heaven, the ERC-1, while ambitious, might fall a bit short, but I stress that this is just my preliminary opinion and that the room for improvement might be taken up by thorough break-in.
