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Post by jamingrizz on Feb 11, 2023 21:09:29 GMT -5
Found a couple newer generation Emotiva DAC/ Tuners available online. All look to accept balanced cables. Have a XSP 1 and 2 XPA 2s for a music only. Any recommendations on which would be best? Thanks for any help yall can provide.
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Post by Boomzilla on Feb 12, 2023 7:02:28 GMT -5
garbulky once told me that the first generation Emotiva DACs sounded better than the second. He also claimed that the third generation (Stealth DC-1) sounded best. FWIW
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Post by quattroll2 on Feb 13, 2023 12:52:16 GMT -5
Is there a way to tell them apart?
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Post by AudioHTIT on Feb 13, 2023 13:36:35 GMT -5
garbulky once told me that the first generation Emotiva DACs sounded better than the second. He also claimed that the third generation (Stealth DC-1) sounded best. FWIW Is there a way to tell them apart? I believe what garbulky was referring to were the XDA-1, the XDA-2, and the DC-1 (not revisions within the DC-1). |
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Post by garbulky on Feb 13, 2023 13:45:10 GMT -5
Yeah I think the DC-1 sounds the best and has the best features.
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KeithL
Administrator 
Posts: 10,261
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Post by KeithL on Feb 13, 2023 15:46:24 GMT -5
The easiest way to tell which is which is to Google for some pictures... The XDA-1 and XDA-2 are 17" wide and 2" high.... The XDA-1 had silver trim... the XDA-2 started out with silver trim then the second generation had black trim. The DC-1 is half-width (also 2" high). All have analog ladder network power supply and AD1955 DAC There are some other differences but the main differences between XDA-1 and XDA2 are: - all other inputs support 24/192k - however USB input on XDA-1 only goes up to 48k (but UAC1 so no driver needed) - USB input on XDA-2 goes to XDA-2 (UAC2 - so no driver needed on Windows 10 and above... needs driver for Windows 7) DC-1 has several distinctions: - better power supply - ANALOG INPUT - DC-1 has higher powered headphone output You can get the manuals for all of them form the Manuals pages on the Forum... Is there a way to tell them apart? |
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Post by quattroll2 on Feb 13, 2023 17:14:21 GMT -5
My bad, that seems obvious now! I concur on the DC-1 sounding best, I’ve had all three. I did get some good sound out of my XDA-1 with the USP-1 too.
In the Sabaj thread I created recently I talk about the Topping E70 and I’m continuing my auditions with it. I am impressed with this dac, I think the comments out there about this being smoother than a lot of its peers could be true (I’ve only listened to a few SMSL and Topping offerings) so I can’t be too definitive.
Beyond that there are several useful features of this dac. One is that it has balance accessible on the remote. A little tweaking with this can be helpful and I’ve sometimes done it for specific tracks. Another is output select. You can scroll through XLR, RCA, or combined, also on the remote. For me this means I can listen to my sub’s contribution on its own (RCA), then my speakers on their own with XLR, and then together. It’s an interesting way to see what kind of bass is coming out of each. That’s how I found out how much bass the LRSs can actually do, and it’s more than most would think. It also has trigger in and out, something I miss from my XDAs. In my setup I found the volume control to be very good, as I tried the E70 as dac with the analog in on DC-1, in addition to using it on its own. There was another thread that went into the merits and detractions of each FWIW.
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