Emotiva DAC

cokewithvanilla · October 2010

The XDA-1 Differential Reference balanced 24Bit/192kHz DAC/Digital Preamp represents a stunning achievement in sonic performance. Designed around the acclaimed Analog Devices AD1955 DAC operating in a fully differential mode, its differential output is then coupled to a digitally controlled, lossless volume control stage. The output of this stage then drives our fully discrete, cross coupled, Differential Reference balanced line amp stage. The result is breathtaking.

I always take a look at emotivas stuff because I used to run into their employees quite often when I worked in Franklin. What do you think?

VR3 · October 2010

When does it stop?

I mean seriously...

They are like the Walmart of hi fi dude.

I could care less at this point if they make good stuff.

cokewithvanilla · October 2010

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote: »

When does it stop?
.

haha. I just checked the emo forum and it doesn't stop there.

Now, I do care if they make good stuff. I really could care less about the brand name if it sounds good.

mini-me · October 2010

Thanks for the notice. I wanted to pre-order one. Anyone thinks it's worth it?

VR3 · October 2010

Im sure for 300 bucks you can find a used DAC that would blow this one out of the water...

cokewithvanilla · October 2010

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote: »

Im sure for 300 bucks you can find a used DAC that would blow this one out of the water...

There's very little on the gon for $300 last I checked. But I dunno anything about DAC's so, they could all be better.

I don't understand why they combined a preamp and DAC.

Toolfan66 · October 2010

By the way I'm just being sarcastic and joking..

Kinda

Ricardo · October 2010

Random thoughts:

-Their products look pretty cool to me.
-They have INCREDIBLE low prices.
-They must be making a shitload of money.

pearsall001 · October 2010

Ricardo wrote: »

Random thoughts:

-Their products look pretty cool to me.
-They have INCREDIBLE low prices.
-They must be making a shitload of money.

+1 Ricardo.

Sounds like a great business plan to me. Nothing wrong with that at all. Produce a good product, target your niche market, sell it at a reasonable price, provide good CS...now sit back & watch the money roll in.

I think there's more than a few audio companies out there that might learn a thing or two from them. Bottom line...business is business & they're in it to make money. The consumer will weed out the bad ones.

Now as far as their new DAC goes...I hope it sells as well as their other gear & it keeps people working. I won't be one of their buyers but there's plenty of consumers that will buy.

sucks2beme · October 2010

cokewithvanilla wrote: »

There's very little on the gon for $300 last I checked. But I dunno anything about DAC's so, they could all be better.

And after being announced as a new product for 6 months, there's
very few DACS at Emotiva for $300 either.

Dacmagic is a real product that can be had for $429. It's got
a good track record and is a good buy at that price point.

heiney9 · October 2010

sucks2beme wrote: »

Dacmagic is a real product that can be had for $429. It's got
a good track record and is a good buy at that price point.

I would somewhat agree, except the fact that is uses a cheap walwart for a power supply not a dedicated discrete PS. It's out for me because of this. The power supply is a very important part of the analog equation. At $429 it should have a discrete PS.

H9

thuffman03 · October 2010

Here we go again......Is there a way I can put a block on any thread that has the word "Emotiva"?

jinjuku · October 2010

thuffman03 wrote: »

Here we go again......Is there a way I can put a block on any thread that has the word "Emotiva"?

Try a block with heiney9, that would solve all the thread woes. Emotiva isn't the problem. It's H9 personally attacking members like Coke W/V for absolutely no reason.

heiney9 · October 2010

To the OP, give it a try and see what you think. I doubt you will, but that's the only you will know for yourself, with your gear, with your musical preference, in your listening environment, etc, etc.

H9

cfrizz · October 2010

pearsall001 wrote: »

+1 Ricardo.

Sounds like a great business plan to me. Nothing wrong with that at all. Produce a good product, target your niche market, sell it at a reasonable price, provide good CS...now sit back & watch the money roll in.

I think there's more than a few audio companies out there that might learn a thing or two from them. Bottom line...business is business & they're in it to make money. The consumer will weed out the bad ones.

Now as far as their new DAC goes...I hope it sells as well as their other gear & it keeps people working. I won't be one of their buyers but there's plenty of consumers that will buy.

Totally agree Phil.

They have a very sound business plan. They have lowered the ceiling for beginners to get in seperates for a very reasonable price. Until Outlaw & Emotiva came along, it was pretty much impossible for people making an average salary to buy & experience BRAND NEW better gear at an affordable price.

Quite frankly Polk works along the same lines with a wide spread line of products so that ANYONE can afford to own some outstanding, well made, long lasting gear.

And we all know that the audio snobs look down at the Polk brand on every other audio forum & aren't thought very well of in the B&M boutique audio shops as well.

So keep on truckin Emotiva, may you Live Long & Prosper!:)

Ricardo · October 2010

thuffman03 wrote: »

Here we go again......Is there a way I can put a block on any thread that has the word "Emotiva"?

You could just not click on them...this one had a very clear title

ohskigod · October 2010

jinjuku wrote: »

Try a block with heiney9, that would solve all the thread woes. Emotiva isn't the problem. It's H9 personally attacking members like Coke W/V for absolutely no reason.

certainly doesnt look like there was an attack here.

lets break open a can of honesty shall we? we all know the difference between a post / thread made to speak of a topic for the right reasons, and the ones to start trouble for the sake of starting it. were not morons here my friend.

heiney9 · October 2010

Hmmm....selective deleting of posts you forgot one. If you're going to delete non-topic posts all of them should go. Fair is fair, and I'm not trying to be snide or a smart a** to the mods.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107848

jinjuku · October 2010

ohskigod wrote: »

certainly doesnt look like there was an attack here.

lets break open a can of honesty shall we? we all know the difference between a post / thread made to peak of a topic, and to start trouble for the sake of starting it. were not morons here my friend.

The post by H9 with the Ad-Hominem attack along with my response has been deleted by a mod. So you don't get the benefit of the thread history here.

H9 went right after CokeW/V comparing him to another (I believed banned member). I can't recall the exact words. Maybe someone that has the thread subscribed can reconstitute what he said.

Now for the second part: Are you SERIOUSLY stipulating that posting about Emotiva product at PF constitutes starting trouble for the sake of starting it.

And you are right not all are morons here;)

sucks2beme · October 2010

My current budget DAC doesn't even have a wall wart! It's a USB
powered PICO. It gets pretty good reviews and works well.
The DACmagic at $429 is a very flexable DAC at that price point.
There are a lot of choices out there with those "China" brands,
but you are taking a bit of a chance. The Dacmagic is at least from a
real audio company.
The Emotiva is currently a wet dream. It was announced at the end of last
year and there was a lot of info made availble going back to april of this year.
The price of $300 may not be real, or a short term intro price.
Who knows. I'm certainly not going to be the first one to drop $300
on a product that has no history.

ohskigod · October 2010

jinjuku wrote: »

Now for the second part: Are you SERIOUSLY stipulating that posting about Emotiva product at PF constitutes starting trouble for the sake of starting it.

logic dictates it shouldnt be, but it is regressing to that. The folks specifically making it that way should stop and think if that serves Emotiva......as it serves a bang for buck that is more than respectable and deserves and based on that shouldnt be put in the negative light that it has. Incidentally, I heard an Emotiva amp (the model number i am unsure of, but it was 2 channel, and apparently made of depleted uranium as it weighed a ton)

compared it to my 4.0t at Polkfest, I feel the 4.0t won, but not by a huge margin by any shake, and also....this comparison was done on the Carver Amazing Plats.....which are a) brutally honest and b) a mother effer to power. the fact that the Emo did it good at all, comparisons be damned, was impressive in my eyes.

heiney9 · October 2010

sucks2beme wrote: »

My current budget DAC doesn't even have a wall wart! It's a USB
powered PICO. It gets pretty good reviews and works well.
The DACmagic at $429 is a very flexable DAC at that price point.
There are a lot of choices out there with those "China" brands,
but you are taking a bit of a chance. The Dacmagic is at least from a
real audio company.
The Emotiva is currently a wet dream. It was announced at the end of last
year and there was a lot of info made availble going back to april of this year.
The price of $300 may not be real, or a short term intro price.
Who knows. I'm certainly not going to be the first one to drop $300
on a product that has no history.

I bet if you did deep enough you'll find the DAC Magic is similar if not the same internally to some of those Chinese offerings, albeit with a few slightly nicer parts here and there. IMO, $429 is a decent amount of scratch and not having a discrete power supply is a deal killer. That is my opinion plain and simple. It may sound very good, but I've had enough experience with other similar gear swapping out the walwart for a dedicated linear PS to know the improvement is not subtle. So I would feel the compromise is too much at the $429 price point.

H9

jinjuku · October 2010

ohskigod wrote: »

logic dictates it shouldnt be, but it is regressing to that. The folks specifically making it that way should stop and think if that serves Emotiva.....

It sounds like you are assigning blame to the people that either:

1. Ask about an Emotiva product

or

2. Post about a new Emotiva offering

Let me know if I am wrong on my interpretation of your post.

dkg999 · October 2010

Emotiva offers a good value at it's price point, provides a good entry level point for new audio/HT enthusiasts, and wets your appetite for the next level up.

The expectations for a $300 DAC are pretty low, so if they can get the product to market at that price point it should do well, the competition at that price point isn't going to give them much resistance to gaining market share. It will be a good $300 DAC, get you 70% to 80% of the next level up ............... however that next bump up is very significant in terms of performance.

sucks2beme · October 2010

heiney9 wrote: »

I bet if you did deep enough you'll find the DAC Magic is similar if not the same internally to some of those Chinese offerings, albeit with a few slightly nicer parts here and there. IMO, $429 is a decent amount of scratch and not having a discrete power supply is a deal killer. That is my opinion plain and simple. It may sound very good, but I've had enough experience with other similar gear swapping out the walwart for a dedicated linear PS to know the improvement is not subtle. So I would feel the compromise is too much at the $429 price point.

H9

No debate there. It is made in China, and anything they can clone under another
name they do. The hard part is finding that cheaper clone.
And god help you, it craps out after a week. As far as the wall wart goes,
It might be better built than some internals, or not. I'm only concerned with
performance. There aren't a lot of places to go listen to anything OTHER
than the Dacmagic. It's all a crap shoot. Perhaps it's time to suggest a DAC
shoot out as part of the next Head-fi meet.There's a pretty good selection of
low and high end gear, and it would be nice to set up a Stax rig with some of
these to see where the bear goes to ****.
We could talk this one to death, but a good shoot out would help everyone.
Wouldn't it be nice if someone had a showroom with 20 or so DACs lined
up so you could see what your money is buying? Maybe that should be a
new business venture for someone. DACworld!

FTGV · October 2010

heiney9 wrote: »

...it uses a cheap walwart for a power supply not a dedicated discrete PS..H9

It depends on what they are doing for DC regulation inside the unit.Aswell having the transformer separated like that eliminates a potential noise source.

Toolfan66 · October 2010

Hey my post got canned....

kevhed72 · October 2010

Hmmmm, I wish I would have bought a bunch of Emo stock a couple years back, although not sure if they are a public co. or not . (another way to look at it...)

steveinaz · October 2010

jinjuku wrote: »

It sounds like you are assigning blame to the people that either:

1. Ask about an Emotiva product

or

2. Post about a new Emotiva offering

Let me know if I am wrong on my interpretation of your post.

Do you enter a thread for any other reason than to stir **** up?

Coke--
For $229, the piece might be worth investigating, who knows until you try it, right? In preamp mode I'd be a little weary of how the digital volume control is implemented...

nooshinjohn · October 2010

Yawn;)...

ohskigod · October 2010

jinjuku wrote: »

It sounds like you are assigning blame to the people that either:

1. Ask about an Emotiva product

or

2. Post about a new Emotiva offering

Let me know if I am wrong on my interpretation of your post.

I would say again that it shouldnt, but many strongly arguing that Emotiva is the best under the sun and outperforms everything (even though they never really a/b'd) it probably has made it that way.

It has gotten to a point that if one even objectively mentions Emotiva it garners anger and frustration. things dont get to that point out of nowhere.

there are ways to talk about products, and talk them up if you like them....without pissing everyone off. I will say, emphatically that many Emo fans didnt do it that way.

here's some examples of speaking about a product that impressed you:

1) I recently bought an Emotiva amp and am quite surprised how well it performs, particularly for the money it cost in the new/retail market. I would be curious how well it performs against other higher level amps for the money, particularly in regards to the used market to see where the best bang for the buck is.

2) I recently got an Emotiva amp, wow man, it rawks. 500 bucks and i bet it sounds better than a top of the line Mark Levinson any day of the week. Can't believe people are so dumb to buy expensive amps when they can just get the best right here for cheap.

not all Emo fans went option 2, but it sure seemed like a lot did. thats what hapenned here, and when you say that any mention of Emotiva can be considerred argumentative.......that can very well be the case now. as I said, it's sad. i dont think Emotiva deserves that, I really don't.

I think people that came here to talk them up did it in such a monumentally stupid way that it caused more harm than good to the company they are trying to help. Incidentally, I form my own opinions, and if i had to start a theater from the ground up, Emo would be on my list of possible gear as I like my theater to sound great, but is not my primary critical listening rig.

Some will not agree with me on that, and thats cool. I respect there opinion, as they respect mine as wroking for me and my goals.

Emotiva DAC

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