Post by ramx on Aug 1, 2020 12:50:23 GMT -5
I have an XPA-DR3 powering the main channels of my home theater, Legacy Audio Signature III and Marquis XD, both large, powerful speakers. Over the years, I've used different amps with them (XPA-5, XPA-1L, Outlaw 7100, ATI 1505) , and even biamping. In all cases, I like the sound better with the DR3. The best word I can use to describe the sound is "effortless". Both, the amp and the speakers disappear with any kind of music, at any volume.
Since I moved recently, I no longer have a dedicated home theater in this new home, but a nice family room instead. However, due to the configuration of the room, my Legacy speakers were too big, and I moved them to the living room, along with the amp (I'm using it now effectively as a DR2), and using my Emotiva Stealth 8 powered monitors as mains (sadly no longer being produced). This means I needed a monoblock for my center channel, but I didn't have the space or weight tolerance in the rack to buy another Emotiva, yet, I wanted the same sound. So I bough a state-of-the-art, very small and lightweight Purifi class-D amp from VTV with a custom input buffer, which fits the bill for what I need. However, before installing it, I took the time to do a side-by-side comparison with the DR3 in the living room, albeit with only one channel, disconnecting the other speaker.
Bear in mind that this is as good as it gets in Class-D for 2020, and the final price per channel is very close to Emotiva, so I felt it was a fair comparison. After going through my test material at different volumes for about 2 hours, I still prefer the DR3, but the difference is very small, likely imperceptible for non audio geeks. The DR3 is "fuller", particularly in the midrange. But again, VTV has 6 input buffer options to choose from, so this may just be a reflection of the one I picked.
In any case what I can say is that I'm extremely happy with my DR3 and it's not going anywhere, but Emotiva may want to start looking more closely at what's coming up in Class-D these days, just like ATI did, because they're not that easily dismissed as 10 years ago anymore.
Since I moved recently, I no longer have a dedicated home theater in this new home, but a nice family room instead. However, due to the configuration of the room, my Legacy speakers were too big, and I moved them to the living room, along with the amp (I'm using it now effectively as a DR2), and using my Emotiva Stealth 8 powered monitors as mains (sadly no longer being produced). This means I needed a monoblock for my center channel, but I didn't have the space or weight tolerance in the rack to buy another Emotiva, yet, I wanted the same sound. So I bough a state-of-the-art, very small and lightweight Purifi class-D amp from VTV with a custom input buffer, which fits the bill for what I need. However, before installing it, I took the time to do a side-by-side comparison with the DR3 in the living room, albeit with only one channel, disconnecting the other speaker.
Bear in mind that this is as good as it gets in Class-D for 2020, and the final price per channel is very close to Emotiva, so I felt it was a fair comparison. After going through my test material at different volumes for about 2 hours, I still prefer the DR3, but the difference is very small, likely imperceptible for non audio geeks. The DR3 is "fuller", particularly in the midrange. But again, VTV has 6 input buffer options to choose from, so this may just be a reflection of the one I picked.
In any case what I can say is that I'm extremely happy with my DR3 and it's not going anywhere, but Emotiva may want to start looking more closely at what's coming up in Class-D these days, just like ATI did, because they're not that easily dismissed as 10 years ago anymore.
