Post by a2058 on Jun 2, 2009 22:02:57 GMT -5
Well, after much anticipation and canceling my pre-order at first due to temporary money issues, I went ahead and got it anyway, received today in good order, serial number 39.
Prior to this, I have used Sony SCD-CE595 and Oppo 980H as digital transports into LMC-1, to RPA-2 for the front L/R channels and into Tannoy Mercury F-4 floor standing speakers plus Aurum Cantus supertweeters crossed over at 16kHz, wired in parallel. For the LMC-1 crossover, subwoofer was disabled and speakers set to "large".
As an experiment, I simultaneously connected both of the RCA outs from the ERC-1 to: 1) 7.1 input L/R channels; and 2) 2 channel analog input of LMC-1 playing in bypass mode and toggled between the two connections
I played Jane Monheit "Taking a chance in love". I am used to this playing on Oppo 980H as the digital transport, and letting the LMC do the D/A conversion in that case.
7.1 channel input: Crazy... I mean, really. I could not stop saying to myself "OMG" for at least 10 minutes straight. This is not even "a thin veil had been lifted"- territory. It's like, if it had a tad bit more transparency and "air" around the sound, it would be a good SACD stereo recording! More transients are obvious, mid-tones are obvious, highs are clear, lows are tactile and more defined. My jaw dropped to the floor on this one.
Analog 2 channel input: This uses the LMC-1's AD/DA conversion. It imparts more of that familiar sound that I am used to from "Oppo digital-LMC" connection where it tends to "soften" everything up a bit, but still, similar observations hold as in 7.1 case but not as in your face difference compared to "Oppo digital-LMC" route, still different enough though. Running this now in a surround matrix mode through DTS-Neo6 made the whole thing much more convincing than "Oppo digital-LMC-DTSneo6" connection and actually surprisingly similar to 2-channels-only case, indicating ERC-1 playback is actually very convincing in recreating the whole sound stage. I do all 7 channels in class H amplification.
This brings me to one of the key points: In the upcoming XMC-1, it would be a total shame if it cannot handle 2-channel fully analog pathway, ideally via the balanced connection, to take advantage of the absodefinitively awesome analog section of this player WHILE allowing 7.1-channel connection for those of us needing to use that for SACD/DVD-A connection !
So, Emotiva does it again. This player is the best thing that happened to my system since the RPA upgrade!!
Well done Emotiva, for putting out such an awesome player at an unbelievable price. To those that think CD player is a CD player, you are missing out! Go and get this, NOW.
Prior to this, I have used Sony SCD-CE595 and Oppo 980H as digital transports into LMC-1, to RPA-2 for the front L/R channels and into Tannoy Mercury F-4 floor standing speakers plus Aurum Cantus supertweeters crossed over at 16kHz, wired in parallel. For the LMC-1 crossover, subwoofer was disabled and speakers set to "large".
As an experiment, I simultaneously connected both of the RCA outs from the ERC-1 to: 1) 7.1 input L/R channels; and 2) 2 channel analog input of LMC-1 playing in bypass mode and toggled between the two connections
I played Jane Monheit "Taking a chance in love". I am used to this playing on Oppo 980H as the digital transport, and letting the LMC do the D/A conversion in that case.
7.1 channel input: Crazy... I mean, really. I could not stop saying to myself "OMG" for at least 10 minutes straight. This is not even "a thin veil had been lifted"- territory. It's like, if it had a tad bit more transparency and "air" around the sound, it would be a good SACD stereo recording! More transients are obvious, mid-tones are obvious, highs are clear, lows are tactile and more defined. My jaw dropped to the floor on this one.
Analog 2 channel input: This uses the LMC-1's AD/DA conversion. It imparts more of that familiar sound that I am used to from "Oppo digital-LMC" connection where it tends to "soften" everything up a bit, but still, similar observations hold as in 7.1 case but not as in your face difference compared to "Oppo digital-LMC" route, still different enough though. Running this now in a surround matrix mode through DTS-Neo6 made the whole thing much more convincing than "Oppo digital-LMC-DTSneo6" connection and actually surprisingly similar to 2-channels-only case, indicating ERC-1 playback is actually very convincing in recreating the whole sound stage. I do all 7 channels in class H amplification.
This brings me to one of the key points: In the upcoming XMC-1, it would be a total shame if it cannot handle 2-channel fully analog pathway, ideally via the balanced connection, to take advantage of the absodefinitively awesome analog section of this player WHILE allowing 7.1-channel connection for those of us needing to use that for SACD/DVD-A connection !
So, Emotiva does it again. This player is the best thing that happened to my system since the RPA upgrade!!
Well done Emotiva, for putting out such an awesome player at an unbelievable price. To those that think CD player is a CD player, you are missing out! Go and get this, NOW.
