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EMM Labs DAC 2 presentation

Hi All:

I'm using the highly respected Emm Labs DAC 2 in my PC Audio set up. In spite of USB cables, tweaking of the FUBAR settings etc, I find the sound dry and mechanical. I'm asking for suggestions on a warmer, more lush sounding DAC as my primary source of listening is vinyl. Perhaps something that employs tubes in its design. Maybe Audio Research, Wavelength?
frontier1
guidocorona
4,114 posts
 
Hi Chris, you may want to have a look at the DAC introduced by Playback Designs. I believe it upsamples to 24/192. PD is headed by Andreas Koch, formerly of EMM. According to all reports I have heard, PD sound is both more emotional and more detailed than EMM. My favorite though is the TEAC Esoteric D-03, which while maintaining the emotive characteristics ofPD, sounded to me even more refined, lower in distortion, and seemed to yield an even more convincing sound stage. TEAC has recently introduced a USB/lossless option to the D-03. G.
crna39's avatar
crna39
145 posts
 
We have the EMM Labs DAC, the Digital Audio Denmark AX24 and the Playback Designs MPS-5. The Playback Designs is our new reference DAC. It will even accept the ST-optical connection of the EMM labs transport if you have one. They also make a seperate DAC without the transport.
guidocorona
4,114 posts
 
Crna39, how would you characterize the sonic differences between the PD DAC and the EMM DAC?
crna39's avatar
crna39
145 posts
 
Yes, the EMM Labs is very transparent and clinical. It's what recording and mastering engineers want. The Playback is more "musical", allowing the harmonics to come though and is just a tad punchier on bass transients.
I'd suggest the Positive Feedback article written comparing the EMM labs to the Playback. Too bad the Playback isn't an A to D converter...
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