I've been busy with other projects....
But I've been reading this thread (and its ancestors) from time to time....
And I've got a few comments to throw out there....
1)
As anyone who's followed my posts here in the past knows, I very much prefer to make statements that are "backed up by numbers".
Unfortunately, when it comes to audio gear, and especially high-end audio gear, the numbers don't always tell the whole story.
(OK, to be fair, the
right numbers probably
do tell the whole story; it's just that we don't know exactly what the right numbers are or how to fully interpret them yet.)
So here's the thing.....
According to one set of numbers, everything from the XMC-1 on down to the the cheapest $250 AVR from your least favorite company, has specs that probably
should make it sound "audibly perfect".
That's according to the people who insist that "anything with distortion below 0.5%, noise below -80 dB, and a flat frequency response, will sound audibly perfect, and anything that meets those specs will sound the same".
However, according to another set of numbers (statistics), you'll find a large number of people who are quite convinced that the XMC-1 sounds
clearly better than their old Marantz, or Anthem, or McIntosh equipment.
(I count myself among those - but clearly I am a bit biased.
)
You'll also find a few people out there (not nearly as many) who actually don't hear a difference - and that's OK too.
Interestingly, however, there are precious few people who think that any of that other equipment actually sounds
better (I'm only counting those who have actually heard it).
Now, to be honest here, the specs on the XMC-1 are very good, and we publish quite a few of them.....
But I couldn't tell you which of them "shows that the XMC-1 sounds better than Product X" - and I wouldn't even guarantee that such a single spec exists, or that we include it on our web page.
(A lot of what's great about the XMC-1 falls under "doing things right" or "paying attention to the proper design details" and not under "getting a particular number better than someone else".)
2)
All of our forums are here to provide a place where our users can discuss our products.
And, yes, that includes suggestions for new features, discussing problems you've had, and keeping track of the latest product developments and plans.
Compared to other product forums, we rarely delete negative comments, and we have a relatively "light hand" when it comes to moderation.
However, the forums are
NOT here for the purpose of allowing people who simply don't like our products or our company to bash them.
They are also
NOT "a historical record of the company".
And they are
NOT "a publicly owned democratically run forum where everyone has a right to say whatever they want - without threat of censorship".
They are
OUR forums.... which means that
WE get to decide when a thread simply ceases to be of benefit to
OUR CUSTOMERS.
To be totally blunt; if
you don't like something,
you have the right to complain; and, if
we don't like what
you said, then
we have the right to delete your post... or revoke your membership.
(Although I really doubt you'll find another forum where that happens
less than it does here.)
3)
We are caught in a bit of a tricky situation when it comes to disclosing plans and product information:
- If we announce a future target, then fail to meet it, we get accused of lying, or simply of being bad at meeting our goals.
- But, if we limit ourselves to announcing available products, and refuse to announce future plans, we get accused of "not being transparent".
Therefore, since there is no solution that will please everyone, we make the decisions about what to announce based on what we think is the best overall compromise.
We do our best to only announce things that are likely to come to pass, and to be honest about the odds on things that we aren't sure of.
If it makes you feel better, then consider everything we say here like those "forward looking" statements on company stock reports.
(They're not allowed to lie; but notice the footnote that says: "These are forward-looking statements, based on current projections and plans, and are subject to change".)
If you're not willing to accept what you read here under those conditions, then you're probably better off simply not reading it.
(If that's the case, just watch the website; and, when you see a product on the shopping cart, then it's available.)
4)
I should also note that everyone here at Emotiva is a human being - and so we have our own opinions and viewpoints (we assume the same is true for all of our forum members).
We may even disagree on certain technical issues or have different priorities.
Therefore, whenever practical, we try to be tolerant of those who happen to disagree with us.
Please try to act accordingly whenever possible.
IN SUMMARYWe really appreciate our loyal customers, and are doing our best to provide a forum where they can discuss pretty much anything they want to about our current or future products, or about audio in general.
In fact, we even do our best to ensure that the forums are informative and useful for those of you who are
NOT our customers.
(Of course, we'd like to think that everyone is a future Emo customer, but, if not, then we're OK with that too.)
And we do our best to keep the forums a fun place... and one where you can actually sometimes
learn something.
(We're pretty sure that we've achieved this goal for the vast majority of our customers and other forum members.)
But, in the interest of keeping this forum a good place to find information, and to conduct useful and productive discussions, we do reserve the right to delete things that we feel are
NOT useful or productive.
) 