Emotiva XSP-1 Pre-amp

I own this preamp. At the moment, I sent four E-mails to Emotiva because the preamps balanced inputs seem to bypass the tape monitor loop/processor loop and I can find nothing in Emotivas on-line quick owners manual that addresses this, and Emotiva has not responded to any of my E-mails. Emotiva keeps refering to a full version owners manual on their site which does not exist. As far as the sound goes, if you are used to tube preamps, you will quickly notice that this is an solid state preamp. Somewhat grainy, bright, and flat sounding. Its bass does not match that of my YS Audio A2SE preamp. In fact, it sounds rather thin compared to my YS Audio preamp and what I remembered from the sound quality of the tubes4hifi SP14 preamp I owned not too long ago. I like the features of the Emotiva preamp, but all that for just $899.00, and high sound quality too????? No, not happening. At least not in this case. I have never seen a company that has been more of a mess than Emotiva. They keep changing the dates of availability of some of their gear. They sell there customers products which were not ready to be released. It seems as if they are using there customers as beta testers.

Hi audionut

Have you tried posting your XSP-1 preamp questions in Emotiva's Lounge/Forum. Maybe there can be some people there who can help you with your problems with the XSP-1. Emotiva employees check there periodically and are more than willing to help.

Hi Jedinite24,
No, maybe I should do that and see what happens. Thanks.

Thanks for all the nice opinions. I am still expecting more reviews before I make up my decision.

The preamp is starting to open up. The thin sound quality is now sounding much fuller. The soundstage has opened up. The bass, while still not the equal to my YS Audio Balanced A2SE, has improved nicely. It's sounding much less like a solid state preamp and becoming very enjoyable. I also changed my CD player which has helped to improve the sound. My first report was when the preamp had about three hours on it. Now it has about 25. I still don't care for the looks of it. Very cheap looking. And it actually looks heavier than it is.