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EMM Labs CDSD / DCC2 - Initial Listening Session

With only 48 hours of burn-in on these pieces, this review is hardly definitive- but here goes...

I think old Ed (Meitner) has hit the cover off the ball with this, his latest offering in CD/SACD playback equipment. The following comments are based on comparisons to my previous front-end: Meitnerized Philips SACD 1000, Meitner DAC6, Meitner Switchman II and apply to both SACD & CD playback.

The CDSD & DCC2 - compared to the previous Meitner rig---

-Much deeper soundstage, much more layered, as well, width about the same.
-Hall ambiance retrieval is vastly superior.
-Tonal and timbral qualities are unsurpassed in any digital gear I've experienced. Piano reproduction is absolutely stunningly good!! Acoustic guitar has the string interaction/wooden resonance of the real thing.
-There is a "Bloom" to instuments, even voice, that seems typically absent in digital playback. This quality is very "Analog" like.
-So far, I sense not even a suggestion of stridency or digital fatigue- It is just not there. This new gear is just plain musical. That word is overused- but there is no other word to better describe the overall experience. There is a natural seamlessness and natural bloom to the music, as a whole, which reminds me of a live performance within a live venue. All of the elements of that live experience seem reproduced faithfully by the CDSD & DCC2. This is no small feat. In quantitative terms I'd say the new gear is 25%-35% better, in every listening category (it is about the same in soudstage width), than the earlier 3 piece set-up I had.

As the new gear continues to burn-in there will certainly be changes and refinements, probably for the better, which I will try to keep track of. But so far- Ooh, La, La!!!

ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT:
Kharma Midi Grand
Tenor 300 HP
Jena Labs Pathfinder
Shunyata Anaconda VX & VX Alpha
fbhifi
robm321
932 posts
 
Gladstone, are you an English professor or just bombastic?

On previous posts that had to do with CDSD / DCC2 I tried to keep enthusiasm in check (I got slammed for it, but I expected that) in order to keep someone from ordering one based on hype instead of realizing that maybe it is not the be all, end all CD - DAC combo. And maybe some people will not like the sound. Most of the posts were that it was the best combo out there. Well, not everyone has the same tastes.

The TT comment was just a fun jab, hence the smiley face.

Rob
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Given my other posts extolling the virtues of the Exemplar over the EMM, please don't assume that I am caught up in the rush to the DCC2/CDSD combo. I now am fairly confident that it is superior to the DAC6/Phillips sacd 1000 combo, which my Exemplar easily outperformed. So I will now have to give the DCC2 some leeway until I get to hear it.
tireguy
1,964 posts
 
Brucegel- I would really love to hear you describe the sound of the CDSD/DCC2. I try to offer help the best I can, perhaps its not to the level that would satisfy you- but its the best I can do.

Tbg- Well said!
gladstone
296 posts
 
Rohm321--I'm neither. Just a harmless drudge.
brucegel
148 posts
 
My experience with the emm gear is with their 8 channel dsd/pcm converter into a genex 9000 fed by a grace preamp and royer ribbon mics and geffel mics.This is 30,000 dollars worth of high end recording gear which I mention ONLY to elicit oohs and ahhs from the money boys out there(you know who you are).As a musician first and a audiophile recording engineer second I need to be very accurate and careful when describing acoustics,what a given mic and pre sound like (everything is a coloration...there is no neutral}etc..etc.So with this in mind I can tell you that the meitner sound is unparalleled for detail retrieval and the envelope of spatial retrieval is equally impressive yet it still has the digital taint that is inextricably part of the gene pool of digital.It is too hi-fi ish for my tastes.I ultimately fall on the colored sword of tube gear because this always in critical comparisons ends up sounding more live and thick and meaty and rich and enveloping like sitting in with a group of musicians sounds like to me.In the end it's all blah blah.
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