AMR / EMM / PLAYBACK Designs

Suteetat, EMM lost me when they made everyone buy that Philips SACD 1000 transport. Whenever someone describes a problem, I always think back to the beginning.

Let me again stress that the sound of the unit is much impacted by the choice of power cord. I have tried a number of cords with which I have had success in the past, including the Stage III Zyklops. With most of these cords, the mids were a bit lean for my tastes and the bass was not right. Some of this is undoubtedly breakin related. The cord with which the unit seemed to lock/sound right to my ears was the Jorma Prime with Prime balanced interconnect. I have friends that have also had excellent luck with the Odin power cord and interconnects. It is too early to say whether the unit is ruthlessly honest or a bit lean, but it has great potential.

I have not heard the EMM gear, but I do seem to read about a number of issues with the gear (now including their $25K flagship) is this the case? Or are these isolated idiosyncrasies which are quickly rooted out and nulled?

I cannot speak to use of the EMM Labs XDS1 as anything other than a player, but in that mode EMM Labs has been extremely successful in addressing earlier criticisms. The transport mechanism which is sourced from Esoteric works flawlessly and the time required to access tracks is similar to other top brands. The build quality is excellent, certainly much improved over past efforts. The unit appears to be very well thought out and very nicely implemented. The manufacturer is also quite helpful. I also like the fact that many functions are software based and any upgrades can be easily accomplished by reprogramming and do not require hardware changes.

Fcrowder, I also own an EMM Labs XDS1, and I agree with you. It's easily one of the best players I've ever owned. SACD is wonderful, and standard CD playback is also great. I use one of the digital inputs with my Blu Ray machine, and the sound is phenomenal. Movie soundtracks come alive. No regrets with this purchase.