by Michael

EMM Labs CDSA Photos

Well, here we are.

We actually got the player two days ago, but since Mike & Neli BOTH wanted to be at the unveiling, and we being quite busy lately, it took us until this afternoon to unwrap the player and connect it into the system….

First impressions, at the 5 minute mark, are quite favorable.


Same nice badge as its bigger brothers CDSD SE and DCC2 SE


Front panel comes covered with a blue plastic protector….


We took the protector off. Its easier to push the buttons and open the tray that way….


There is a new remote, with larger buttons. The buttons are seriously back-lit (no photo, oops) and larger than the previous remote, which is ncie for those of us who find it hard to read 6 pt font text.


The rear of the remote. Nice heft, good feel in the hands…


The rear panel of the CDSA.


A larger photo of the rear panel of the CDSA. Much less going on than the DCC2 – no preamp, no connectors to communicate with the CDSD transport….


The push buttons are now metal instead of plastic, and are firmer, and have a shorter ‘throw’ to them.

in Emm Labs / High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo 5 comments
 by Michael

Comparing and Contrasting Digital at Audio Federation

In this post, we will not talk about sonic characteristcs, per se, but just the differences in functionality of the higher-end players we currently have available.

Just by itself, the difference in what these players do, and their basic approach to sound, is enough to differentiate them – enough to help many people choose which one they are most likely interested in.

*** Audio Note U.K. DAC / Transport combinations. $[varies]

Tube. If you want a musical, very customizable sound (through tube-rolling), do not need another preamp, do not want to run your PC or video system into the DAC. , and have space for a two component player.

*** Audio Aero Capitole Reference CD player with linestage: $9,580.00.

Tube. If you want a very musical yet unveiled sound, need a good linestage, and do not care about SACD.

*** EMM Labs CDSA CD / SACD player $9,995.00

Solid-state. If you want a very pure yet musical sound, want SACD, do not need another preamp, do not want to run your PC or video system into the DAC, and/or only have rack space for one component.

*** Audio Aero Prestige CD /SACD player with linestage: $12,990.00.

Tube. If you want a very musical, detailed and solid sound, want SACD, need a good linestage, need a front loading CD player and/or only have rack space for one component.

*** EMM Labs CDSD SE and DCC2 SE: $21,900.00

Solid-state. If you want a very pure yet musical sound, want SACD, need a good line-stage, and/or want to run your PC or video system into the DAC, and have space for a two component player.

*** Audio Note U.K. CDT3 and DAC 4.1x Balanced: $22,600.00

Tube. If you want lots of detail with each note rendered in an analog-like fashion, do not need a preamp, and have space for a two component player.

————-

A FEW THINGS

First, these really are some of the, if not THE, best digital today.

Second, the built-in preamp are really quite good. Not spectacular, but really, REALLY good for the price paid.

Third, given your current system, and where you want to take it, you probably have a good idea about going for a tube versus a solid-state solution. The solid-state here is very, very good, very un-solid-state-like, but it will not ‘add musicality’, but neither will it take away musicality [unlike most other solid-state digital]. . It just ‘is’.

Fourth, given a budget, it may be best to allocate a larger portion of the overall budget to a player with a built-in pre, rather than get both a lesser CD player and a separate pre. Not only from a potential shelf space (and extra power cord and cable!) issue, but because it will be find to find a preamp that does what THESE built-in preamps do for anywhere near the money.

Audio Note is coming out with several single-box players, so this will make some choices harder. But for people on a budget, who have a system that they want to keep most of, who know whether or not they like their current preamp, have a preference for a specific-sound, who have limited rack space, the choosing process is really going to be very similar to the list above.

in Audio Aero / Audio Note / Emm Labs / High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo 0 comments
 by Michael

EMM Labs CDSA single-box CD / SACD player

We should be getting our own EMM Labs CDSA player in here in a few days.

Can’t wait! 🙂

It has a lot of the same technology that its bigger brother, the CDSD Signature Edition (SE) transport and DCC2 Signature Edition (SE) DAC pair, have but in a single chassis.

Sonically they are supposed to be very, very close. We’ll see, but it makes sense. There are advantages and disadvantages, again sonically, to having everything in the same box.

At around $10K, this is a great deal. Doesn’t have the built-in preamplifier or support for the myriad of inputs that the big DCC2 has, so it is not for everybody. We, for example, love the built-in pre of the DCC2, and use it most of the time – just not when we are running into the Audio Note Ongaku integrated amp or M10 linestage 🙂 . Or the Lamm L2 linestage for that matter.

We, of course, will have photos when we get it here, and reports about how it sounds during break-in. It looks just like you would think it would look (as seen in our RMAF show report last fall)… like the CDSD but with buttons on the front panel like the DCC2.

As far as we can see, this player puts to shame all solid-state competitors anywhere near this price range. Maybe, MAYBE you can get more sound by going with the $40K+ DCS or Esoteric digital combos… one might hope so, and they certainly have our respect.

But it would sure be nice to do a shootout between all these on a decent system (for a change), by people who care about subtle differences (ditto), who let the components warm up for a day or so (*sigh*), and who give the components the can-I-live-with-it-long-term-or-do-I-just-end-up-playing-vinyl-all-the-time-cause-I-think-all-digital-sucks-anyway test (which rules out the efficacy of the rest of the digital shootouts out there).

in Emm Labs / High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo 0 comments