Electrocompaniet EMC1 CDP owner's suggestions

Tvad: It's actually a RCA-XLR and it's a Empirical Holophonic my acquaintance owns that he doesn't use anymore. No hum.

Yes, I really like the EMC-1UP sonically. That said, I've had some problems with it that remain intermittant and minor. Occasionally I will pause play and when I press pause again to start listening once more the counter will start counting as if it's playing but there's no sound. I only need to pause and start again to get the sound back. There occasionally are minute drop outs in the left channel. The stop button on the front panel jams so I don't use it anymore. Lastly, the remote occasionally does not work at all. I need to turn the player off and turn it back on to get the remote to work. EC has for the most part done a great job sonically with EMC-1, but despite its substantial bulk, I don't think it's the best built cdp around. Oh, and the Spider Clamp? I've heard it improves focus substantially. Focus happens to be exactly where the EMC-1 is weakest IMO. Now if EC ever gets its act together and produces Spiders for the general EMC-1 using public, I'll be set for sometime to come.

Tvad,Jm88439 - thanks for stepping up to the plate on this one. Agree, there's not much "under the hood" in the EMC1, particularly in terms of high end passive components. I did see a couple of Kimbercaps on the Analog power supply board. Everything else was penny parts. In the end, it's the sound that counts, so who cares? The EMC1 is a great player and will be with me for a very long time.

Jm88439, this is probably going to sound like a dumb question, but what's the difference between an XLR-RCA cable and an RCA-XLR cable? I'm assuming you're going from the balanced outs of the EMC to RCA inputs of your preamp, correct? Thanks for your comments regarding the player. I wasn't aware of the cheap parts qoutient, but I do like the sound they make together. Regarding the Spider clamp, haven't I seen a dealer on Audiogon advertising the clamps @ $350? I assumed this meant they were available, but I have to confess that $350 is awfully steep for a glorified puck.

Agreed, it's the sound that counts, but the price tag does too when you're on the poorer side of audiophoolishness. Seems to me, it doesn't need to cost quite so much. But then, what does in this hobby? I have great admiration for companies like BAT. Their components aren't inexpensive by any standards, but one look under the hood and you can see why. To this day I miss the bloom of the D5. And what it did with voices was fantastic. I'm hoping the Spider (when and if) will coax some of that from the EMC-1 and take what the EMC-1 does better than the D5 (most things IMO) even farther.

jm88439 - are you using solid state or tube amplification? Is your preamp tubed? I lost much of the bloom experienced with my EMC1 when I swapped out my tube amp (Air Tight ATM2) with a Bryston 14B-SST. Don't get me wrong, the solid state amp and EMC1 are providing great sound - just a little more analytical and less emotional. I sure miss that midrange bloom, especially on vocals, but the accuracy and speed of the big SS amp brings out subtle details like never before. Thank goodness I kept the Air Tight - now I can enjoy the best of both worlds with a simple equipment swap. I just wish my bank account (or lack thereof) loved this hobby as much as I do!