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Post by Michael Hill on Jan 2, 2015 12:05:46 GMT -5
For many you may recall my review of the Fusion 8100. Overall it's a nice bit of kit rating it a 4 out of 5. Added an Oppo BDP-103D Blu-Ray player to the system and the synergy between the visuals and audio increased my satisfaction with both even further, 5 out of 5. My new edition to arrive later today is the Cocktail Audio X10. I've struggled for years now to rip all of my 700+ CDs, tried doing it at work while I worked. Had a laptop setup at one-time near my listing position to feed CDs into, but I've never been able to get my whole collection captured, stored in one place and I really hope the Cocktail Audio X10 is going to get me there once and for all. Temporarily plan on sitting it on the coffee table next to me to easily feed CDs into it. The 2TB hard drive will allow me to save all files as WAV for fidelity and the built in FreeDB database that comes with it (or the ability to connect through a wired (and optionally wirelessly) means that tagging should be a relatively easy affair, and for those that aren't recognized, there's a browser based interface where you can hand update album art and tags. Once I've ripped my CDs I'll move it into my system. One particularly nice feature is the X10's ability to record audio in. I was pleased to see a "mix out" on the back panel of the Emotiva Fusion 8100 (another Fusion win!) so I should be able to connect those jacks to the audio in on the X10 and anything run through the receiver could be recorded on the X10. I have a Pro-Ject Carbon turntable with built in phono equalizer in my system and this 1-2 combination should make it stupid easy to rip albums (though I've always had that ability with the Carbon but rarely went through the trouble to break out the laptop, connect it to the USB out of the turntable, etc.). Sure I could have done much of this with a laptop or PC jacked into my system but then that adds even further complexity that I just don't want. Simply put I want to hit the power on the remotes, set the input (actually my Logitech remote will do this when I've got it setup to run the X10) and get to my music without the complexity of Windows/Mac, laptops/PCs, security updates, patches, etc. I'll give you all an update on the sound, pros-cons as I work through things in the coming days, weeks but I really think I'm getting close to satisfying pretty much every A/V need with the Fusion 8100 of course the centerpiece of what's shaping up to be the most satisfying home theater system I've ever had.
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Post by MusicHead on Jan 2, 2015 15:41:16 GMT -5
Congratulation Michael for your new addition. I do not have that many CDs, but I can see how having 700+ makes the X10 appealing. The Oppo 103D is on my wishlist, I had been thinking about completely revamping my Music/Home Theater set up for a while. The recent demise of both my NAD receiver and Philips DVD player have made me shift in high gear. The Fusion 8100 a couple of weeks ago has been the first purchase, followed by a basic Seiki SR4KP1 BD Player, as I wanted multi-region capability. Once I get the Oppo, I may get the add-on kit to make it multi-region.
Off topic, but may I ask if you have tried Zone 2 in your Fusion? I am having some problem with mine (I posted about in the forum). Thanks.
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Post by teaman on Jan 2, 2015 23:36:31 GMT -5
Great addition Michael. Please let us know how it works out. I was eyeballing one of the Cocktail Audio X-10's just before Christmas. With 1000 cds myself I would love to have one but want to wait until I see some reviews outside their own site.
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Post by broncsrule21 on Jan 4, 2015 14:34:45 GMT -5
The X10 and X12 look nice but it would be nice if they had video out to put the display on your flatscreen....
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Post by Michael Hill on Jan 9, 2015 14:18:25 GMT -5
Just a quick update. About 100 CDs in so far. Rips take about 5 to 7 minutes usually saving to WAV files. A suggestion I'm going to forward on to Cocktail Audio is an option to auto-rip on insertion of a CD. Currently it's a 3 button push which seems rather unnecessary to me. Listening by headphone for just a short time revealed no surprises though the real test will be once I've connected it into the Emotiva using the optical out. Yeah broncsrule21, a video out would be nice and quite frankly I'm not for sure when I ordered it whether that was part of the package or not. With that said the color screen and the fonts used can easily be seen from my sitting position but agreed that having an HDMI out connected to the big screen would be even better. More expensive units in the series do in fact have HDMI out. What I find curious is why Cocktail Audio even worries about an "amp" for the X10 and X12. Could probably shave $50 to $100 of the cost, improve reliability, etc. without the included amps and position these as strictly media servers/rippers. Musichead, haven't used the 2nd zone on the receiver so I don't have much to contribute. The Emotiva guys can help you with that and if there's an issue they're good about returns if that functionality is in fact faulty. Future updates coming.
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Post by MusicHead on Jan 9, 2015 16:47:13 GMT -5
Michael,
good to hear all is well with the X10 and you are happily ripping away. Since you are doing that in WAV, it should just be an "inage" of what you have on the original CD. I would not expect loss in audio quality.
As for my 8100, thanks for the note. I was able to resolve the problem re-flashing the firmware (which very quickly Emotiva Tech Support provided, you gotta love those guys...) I had a strong suspicion it was a firmware and not a hardware issue, I am very glad I was proven right! Only thing is that tech support did not have at hand the exact firmware revision, the one ending in .54, which appears to be the latest. I had to flash version 0.52 but I haven't noticed so far any difference in operations compared to 0.54.
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