Emotiva XDA-1

Comment

Comment by Jim Milton on February 23, 2011 at 7:33pm

I never said the XDA improved the CD500, but does improve my Oppo 980H and makes my Sony 570S sound horrible without out it. The Oppo allows me to send PCM in 48, 96 or 192 kHz...which the XDA can take. I am hard pressed to hear a difference between the Oppo @ 192 and the Cary @ 192 kHz. I can't afford the Cary, but I sure can the XDA-1! Still, the Cary is an awesome machine in it's own right.

Comment by Gary Walker on February 23, 2011 at 4:04pm

No knock on the Emotiva. Admittedly they've had some quality problems over the years, but the very idea that an Emotiva DAC could improve the performance of a Cary audio disc player is mind boggeling. It's truly amazing that low cost, online only sources like Emotiva can produce something this good and sell it at this price point. It only proves that high end isn't necessarily high cost.

Power to the people!

Comment by Jim Milton on February 23, 2011 at 12:15pm

I know the feeling. I switched over to separates (Emo) from an Onkyo receiver. In fact, I learned about Emo from the SECRETS web page. The pre/pro and amp cost about what I was going to spend on an upgraded receiver...so I switched. I am really pleased with their bang-for-the buck products. Give the speakers the power they need...and you will never be disappointed again with anemic sound. Music enjoyment will go sky high, too. Easy enough to upgrade the pre/pro as times change...but the amp can last you for years.

Comment by Steve Scaggs on February 23, 2011 at 9:04am

Speaking of Emotiva, I just helped my cousin set up his XPA-5 and UMC-1 amp and pre pro last night. He was coming from a Marantz receiver and a few other older pieces in his rack. This is a 110% improvement in every conceivable way. The amp is a beast with more then enough power to handle any speaker I can think of, and has balanced and RCA connections to accommodate everyone. The UMC-1 has more connectivity and dial in options for your room, that if you run out of room on the back or just can't get the sound just right, then you have a problem. Not Emotiva. Setting up the sources was a little tricky until we picked up the manual and read it. Then things went real quick. Once the cd players and turntable were set and named, we turned to the speakers. He has a pair of Aerial Acoustics 6 in front and a pair of Legacy(i don't know the model)in the back. With his old set up the Aerial's were way under powered and only sounded good on well recorded disk's and albums. Well The XPA-5 really kicked these things in the ass to the point were they are new speakers now. We set all speakers to full range and let it rip. The Emotive's give a presentation that at first we thought was a little bright. I sat in the sweet spot and calibrated the speakers with white noise and tried it again. This wasn't bright. This was the speakers doing what they were suppose to do. The Aerials came alive with detail and bass that was never there before. I've heard his system enough to know. Once we moved the speakers from six feet apart to nine feet, the center fill just hung there with so much body. I had a nice after market power cord I put on the UMC-1 that eliminated some grunge from the music and opened thinks up even more . The stage was layered with great separation

The people at Emotive have a hit on there hands. A lot of people describe products as being good for the money. Well these are just plane good. He still has a little tweaking to do, but he is going to set for a loooong time.  

Comment by Jim Milton on February 23, 2011 at 9:02am

Ha!

Comment by Gary Walker on February 23, 2011 at 8:59am

An Emotiva DAC setting on a Cary Audio CD player.

Emotiva should blow that photo up and put it on billboards.