Is it possible to transform the EMM CDSA SE?

Hi Dgad, What is your sound stage like -- height, width, depth, sense of "being there" in 3D?

It depends on the recording mostly. Soundstage is excellent. Decent height, width & depth. I wouldn't say world class but I wasn't at the recording to know. I wish there was a touch more detail and a bit more "power" behind the music. I find the CDSAse slightly softens things on CD and poor SACDs. On good SACD's & DSD based recordings I find the sound excellent and worthy of the price.

I do find high res 24/192 via my Prism Orpheus to be equal to the EMM on DSD sourced SACDs.

Dgad, Our systems are very different. My experience with the EMM CDSA SE was similar to yours -- a softening. But with the various improvements I have made the sound is now very resolving and dynamic. The sound stage is scary realistic. I have ICs in series and PCs in series. All my plugs are Oyaide. I am using ERS paper, magnets and crystals. The 3 latter improvements have made a huge difference in the sound.

I have Synergistic Research Acoustic ART on the way as well as SR Galileo universal speaker cells. Later on I may add a Nordost Quantum Qx4. And that will be it.

I am not familiar with the Prism Orpheus.

I have 6 Herbie Tenderfeet under the unit and 3 Brass Pucks on top with a 2" maple plinth on top of them, and I use JPS Digital AC with Running Springs conditioner. I don't know if any of this makes a huge difference, but the player sound plenty good to me.

The object is to get the EMM CDSA SE into the world-class arena. It takes a lot of time and money. The synergy of components, accessories, cables and tweaks in my system has finally got me there. I anticipate further sonic improvement with the addition of the above-noted elements.