Post by versicolor on Feb 10, 2012 20:12:36 GMT -5
Hello everybody. Yesterday I received my first Emotiva product, the fabled XPA-2. I thought I would come in here and share my initial thoughts. I'll give you a little background info first.
I'm 41 and have been involved in audio since I was a kid. I'm a musician (primarily drums) and have a humble home studio, and have owned or been exposed to equipment ranging from a jam box to amps, cd players, and speakers worth thousands. Equipment that i've owned that I would consider somewhat the equivalent to Emotiva are: Carver TFM 35x amp/CT-26 preamp, Nad 275BEE amp/165BEE pre. I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I guess I could be considered somewhat of an audio/sound aficionado.
I have been out of the separates world for a handful of years now
so my current set-up is as follows. Paradigm Monitor 11 fronts, Elemental Designs A7S-450 sub, some cheap ID center/surrounds,(they do the job for now), Yamaha S1700 SACD/DVD player, Pioneer Elite SC-05. I also have a PS3 for my Blu-ray player. This system actually sounds pretty darn good, but I found myself missing the power, control, headroom, etc that separates provide.
I am always messing around looking at audio gear on the net whether i''m looking to buy or not, and a few years ago I came across Emotiva. I've had my eye on this XPA-2 for all this time in anticipation of the day I was able to get back into separates. And now here I am with it sitting in my rack.
I've had about 3 or 4 hours with it, not much but enough to give a first impression. It goes without saying that this thing is big and heavy. It looks cool to me and they might be sort of gimicky but I really like the blue meter lights. I always loved the analog needles on my Carver amp and this is the same kind of thing to me but in digital form. Hook-up was easy enough, i'm no stranger to setting this stuff up and this was as straight forward as it gets.
The first cd I put in was the latest Dream Theater release. Very powerful with this amp. Ever since I got the Pioneer I felt like the Paradigms just weren't being used to there full potential and now I know for a fact that they weren't. They sound so much cleaner, bass is tighter and punchier, all instruments are separated and crisp. I ended up going through all kinds of music very quickly because with each listen I would think of what I wanted to hear next so out would come the cd and in would go another. Rush Moving Pictures 5.1 remaster, Spock's Beard, Dave Matthews, Tool, Tribal Tech, Porcupine Tree. Everything sounds so refined. Descriptive words that come to mind: Solid, power, punch, clarity, warmth, airy, open, spacious, clean. And this is only after a few hours.
So in the first few hours of play, the XPA-2 is everything I hoped it would be. I forgot how awesome it was to have a separate amp to power my main speakers, and the XPA-2 reminded me as soon as I hooked it up and pushed play. In comparison to what I remember of the NAD system, it definitely has out done that. I did like the NAD but it wasn't quite as unbridled as the XPA. The NAD had a softer quality to it, which was cool but not exactly what I was after. In comparison to the Carver, I have to say it's very close. Maybe it's because the Carver was the first "real" system that I ever had, and I also had Paradigm Monitor 11's at the time but an earlier edition than what I have now, ones I feel were better, but I really loved that system. It just flat out had balls and I am getting that same feeling with my XPA-2.
I don't know how I feel about burn in, I guess there could be something to it, but I honestly don't know if I buy it or not. But if this thing does end up getting even better with some time on it's clock then this might be the best audio purchase i've ever made. Thanks for reading. I plan on taking some video of the system and throwing it on youtube so keep an eye out.
Paul
I'm 41 and have been involved in audio since I was a kid. I'm a musician (primarily drums) and have a humble home studio, and have owned or been exposed to equipment ranging from a jam box to amps, cd players, and speakers worth thousands. Equipment that i've owned that I would consider somewhat the equivalent to Emotiva are: Carver TFM 35x amp/CT-26 preamp, Nad 275BEE amp/165BEE pre. I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I guess I could be considered somewhat of an audio/sound aficionado.
I have been out of the separates world for a handful of years now
so my current set-up is as follows. Paradigm Monitor 11 fronts, Elemental Designs A7S-450 sub, some cheap ID center/surrounds,(they do the job for now), Yamaha S1700 SACD/DVD player, Pioneer Elite SC-05. I also have a PS3 for my Blu-ray player. This system actually sounds pretty darn good, but I found myself missing the power, control, headroom, etc that separates provide.
I am always messing around looking at audio gear on the net whether i''m looking to buy or not, and a few years ago I came across Emotiva. I've had my eye on this XPA-2 for all this time in anticipation of the day I was able to get back into separates. And now here I am with it sitting in my rack.
I've had about 3 or 4 hours with it, not much but enough to give a first impression. It goes without saying that this thing is big and heavy. It looks cool to me and they might be sort of gimicky but I really like the blue meter lights. I always loved the analog needles on my Carver amp and this is the same kind of thing to me but in digital form. Hook-up was easy enough, i'm no stranger to setting this stuff up and this was as straight forward as it gets.
The first cd I put in was the latest Dream Theater release. Very powerful with this amp. Ever since I got the Pioneer I felt like the Paradigms just weren't being used to there full potential and now I know for a fact that they weren't. They sound so much cleaner, bass is tighter and punchier, all instruments are separated and crisp. I ended up going through all kinds of music very quickly because with each listen I would think of what I wanted to hear next so out would come the cd and in would go another. Rush Moving Pictures 5.1 remaster, Spock's Beard, Dave Matthews, Tool, Tribal Tech, Porcupine Tree. Everything sounds so refined. Descriptive words that come to mind: Solid, power, punch, clarity, warmth, airy, open, spacious, clean. And this is only after a few hours.
So in the first few hours of play, the XPA-2 is everything I hoped it would be. I forgot how awesome it was to have a separate amp to power my main speakers, and the XPA-2 reminded me as soon as I hooked it up and pushed play. In comparison to what I remember of the NAD system, it definitely has out done that. I did like the NAD but it wasn't quite as unbridled as the XPA. The NAD had a softer quality to it, which was cool but not exactly what I was after. In comparison to the Carver, I have to say it's very close. Maybe it's because the Carver was the first "real" system that I ever had, and I also had Paradigm Monitor 11's at the time but an earlier edition than what I have now, ones I feel were better, but I really loved that system. It just flat out had balls and I am getting that same feeling with my XPA-2.
I don't know how I feel about burn in, I guess there could be something to it, but I honestly don't know if I buy it or not. But if this thing does end up getting even better with some time on it's clock then this might be the best audio purchase i've ever made. Thanks for reading. I plan on taking some video of the system and throwing it on youtube so keep an eye out.
Paul
