Post by budgetaudiophile on May 28, 2009 21:50:39 GMT -5
I received my ERC-1 yesterday. It arrived in fine shape, being well-packed as is usual for Emotiva products. I had a bit of time to listen, but the real review is yet to come. I wanted to post initial impressions and then compare them to critical notes later, after I've had a chance to live with the ERC-1 for a while.
First off, the remote. This thing could be used as a blackjack. Once the codecs are uploaded to Logitec, this remote will serve as personal protection. I pity the fool who breaks into my house at night!!!
But seriously, this thing is well built. I find that removing six screws to replace the batteries is a bit much, and it _could_ be smaller, but it works fine. I don't have huge hands, so I found that it was a bit awkward for me to use. The wife though it looked cool, though, so it's all good. The batteries that came with it work, too (I guess some had issues with the batteries), which is good, as I didn't have any AAA batteries lying around.
It's a very nice looking CD player, as you already know. It looks great with my XPA-2 and XPA-3 (sorry, digital camera broke, so no pictures). The option to dim the halo and peripheral lighting is a very nice touch. Sometimes I like to listen in a darkened room, and bright lights would be a distraction. I wish I could dim the power button lights on all my Emo products. This is really the only negative for me with Emo products. Don't get me wrong, they look cool, but when it's time to get down to darkened room listening (or movies), I want it DARK. Those lights on the XPA series amps are BRIGHT. Okay, enough with my pet peeve.
The loading mechanism worked flawlessly for me. Level the CD, carefully put in into the slot, and gently push until you approach the "hole" (wow, this comes close to sounding pornographic...), at which point the CD loading mechanism pulls in the CD, and no one gets hurt.
While I can't say I did double-blind, level-matched comparisons with my Panasonic Blu-Ray player, I did do a very non-technical, not very level matched comparison. The results surprised me a bit.
First off, the Panasonic did an admirable job. It compared better than I would have expected. If I only had 15-20 seconds of double-blind between the two, I'm not certain I could tell the difference. Of course, after that, all bets are off.
Overall impressions of this comparison can be summed up to a few bullet points:
* The first CD I played sounded a bit "tight". This didn't last beyond that CD. I'm not sure if CD players need to break in, but a warm up, in this case, seemed to help.
* ERC-1 has a "fuller" sound. It's not night and day on every CD I played, but on a couple songs it stood out clearly.
* The ERC-1 pulls out more details in a more cohesive manner. While the Panasonic pulled out close to the same amount of detail, it seemed to throw it up in a rather uncohesive (is that a word?) manner, while the ERC-1 put every detail in its proper place.
* Listening fatigue sets in much quicker with the Panasonic. Even when I can't notice a night and day difference on every track, I did notice that I tended to turn up the CDs louder on the ERC-1 than the Panasonic, without the listening fatigue.
* The ERC-1 had less "sheen". It was simply a cleaner, clearer sound. Again, it's not like comparing a worn out casette tape with the original master tape, but it was there.
* The ERC-1 was dead quiet. The noise floor was lower on it than on the Panasonic.
* Symbols sounded like symbols, rather than a high frequency "TSSS" sound. Again, subtle, but clear when you paid attention.
Basically, all the differences were subtle, but noticable IF I paid attention. Add up ALL the subtle differences, though, and you have a much better listening experience, especially for extended listening sessions.
Here are a few of the notes I took:
Steely Dan - Aja (a very nice recording)
Symbols smooth, no sheen. Solid sound stage, propery decay. More involving than the Panasonic, more cohesive. Crisp sound, without being harsh. Well-rounded notes.
Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat (another very nice recording)
Less sheen than with the Panasonic. Less edgy. Vocals more rounded and involving. Fuller. Well-layered sound stage. Pitch is correct.
Kenny Loggins - Outside From the Redwoods (live recording)
Smoother than the Panasonic. More detailed and cohesive. Guitar dead on. In 'Angry Eyes', I made a new discovery. Normally, Loggins is "center-ish" in his vocals on this one. With the ERC-1, he is clearly left of center. The image was clearer and more stable on the ERC-1.
All these are subtle differences, but subtle differences can have a big impact on the listening experience. I was surprised on a few tracks with details I hadn't heard before, and with a soundstage much broader than what I was used to.
I have a XRCD coming my way (Eagles - Hell Freezes Over) that I'm anxious to play on the ERC-1. This will be fodder for extended listening comparisons.
So far, so good. The ERC-1 is on the "keep" list. While crappy recorded CDs still sound crappy over the ERC-1, they seem a bit less harsh than on the Panasonic. The fact that I want to turn it up louder with the ERC-1 (vs. the Panosonic) says quite a bit.
I wish I was 20 years younger, with the same hearing I had then. I bet I could tell a lot more differences with younger ears. That's the irony of life. Now that I can afford nice things, I can't enjoy them as much as I could have 20 years ago when I couldn't afford them. <sigh>
First off, the remote. This thing could be used as a blackjack. Once the codecs are uploaded to Logitec, this remote will serve as personal protection. I pity the fool who breaks into my house at night!!!
But seriously, this thing is well built. I find that removing six screws to replace the batteries is a bit much, and it _could_ be smaller, but it works fine. I don't have huge hands, so I found that it was a bit awkward for me to use. The wife though it looked cool, though, so it's all good. The batteries that came with it work, too (I guess some had issues with the batteries), which is good, as I didn't have any AAA batteries lying around.
It's a very nice looking CD player, as you already know. It looks great with my XPA-2 and XPA-3 (sorry, digital camera broke, so no pictures). The option to dim the halo and peripheral lighting is a very nice touch. Sometimes I like to listen in a darkened room, and bright lights would be a distraction. I wish I could dim the power button lights on all my Emo products. This is really the only negative for me with Emo products. Don't get me wrong, they look cool, but when it's time to get down to darkened room listening (or movies), I want it DARK. Those lights on the XPA series amps are BRIGHT. Okay, enough with my pet peeve.
The loading mechanism worked flawlessly for me. Level the CD, carefully put in into the slot, and gently push until you approach the "hole" (wow, this comes close to sounding pornographic...), at which point the CD loading mechanism pulls in the CD, and no one gets hurt.
While I can't say I did double-blind, level-matched comparisons with my Panasonic Blu-Ray player, I did do a very non-technical, not very level matched comparison. The results surprised me a bit.
First off, the Panasonic did an admirable job. It compared better than I would have expected. If I only had 15-20 seconds of double-blind between the two, I'm not certain I could tell the difference. Of course, after that, all bets are off.
Overall impressions of this comparison can be summed up to a few bullet points:
* The first CD I played sounded a bit "tight". This didn't last beyond that CD. I'm not sure if CD players need to break in, but a warm up, in this case, seemed to help.
* ERC-1 has a "fuller" sound. It's not night and day on every CD I played, but on a couple songs it stood out clearly.
* The ERC-1 pulls out more details in a more cohesive manner. While the Panasonic pulled out close to the same amount of detail, it seemed to throw it up in a rather uncohesive (is that a word?) manner, while the ERC-1 put every detail in its proper place.
* Listening fatigue sets in much quicker with the Panasonic. Even when I can't notice a night and day difference on every track, I did notice that I tended to turn up the CDs louder on the ERC-1 than the Panasonic, without the listening fatigue.
* The ERC-1 had less "sheen". It was simply a cleaner, clearer sound. Again, it's not like comparing a worn out casette tape with the original master tape, but it was there.
* The ERC-1 was dead quiet. The noise floor was lower on it than on the Panasonic.
* Symbols sounded like symbols, rather than a high frequency "TSSS" sound. Again, subtle, but clear when you paid attention.
Basically, all the differences were subtle, but noticable IF I paid attention. Add up ALL the subtle differences, though, and you have a much better listening experience, especially for extended listening sessions.
Here are a few of the notes I took:
Steely Dan - Aja (a very nice recording)
Symbols smooth, no sheen. Solid sound stage, propery decay. More involving than the Panasonic, more cohesive. Crisp sound, without being harsh. Well-rounded notes.
Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat (another very nice recording)
Less sheen than with the Panasonic. Less edgy. Vocals more rounded and involving. Fuller. Well-layered sound stage. Pitch is correct.
Kenny Loggins - Outside From the Redwoods (live recording)
Smoother than the Panasonic. More detailed and cohesive. Guitar dead on. In 'Angry Eyes', I made a new discovery. Normally, Loggins is "center-ish" in his vocals on this one. With the ERC-1, he is clearly left of center. The image was clearer and more stable on the ERC-1.
All these are subtle differences, but subtle differences can have a big impact on the listening experience. I was surprised on a few tracks with details I hadn't heard before, and with a soundstage much broader than what I was used to.
I have a XRCD coming my way (Eagles - Hell Freezes Over) that I'm anxious to play on the ERC-1. This will be fodder for extended listening comparisons.
So far, so good. The ERC-1 is on the "keep" list. While crappy recorded CDs still sound crappy over the ERC-1, they seem a bit less harsh than on the Panasonic. The fact that I want to turn it up louder with the ERC-1 (vs. the Panosonic) says quite a bit.
I wish I was 20 years younger, with the same hearing I had then. I bet I could tell a lot more differences with younger ears. That's the irony of life. Now that I can afford nice things, I can't enjoy them as much as I could have 20 years ago when I couldn't afford them. <sigh>
