My New Emotiva DAC


I posted this on Audio Asylum/digital as well.

I took delivery a few days ago for a refurbished Emotiva dac. So far, I only have very positive things to say about it. All my observations is with the dac in my system using my choices of music. I am very impressed with the build quality. The layout is nice and open and the dac has many high quality audiophile parts inside. There are no less than 6 digital inputs so I won't have to worry about growing out of the unit for quite a while.

The dac is dead quiet. I get no ticks or pops when switching the digital inputs. Presently, I have my HP laptop with an external 1 terrabyte usb3 drive running J rivers Media Center 16 hooked up to the usb input with a Kimber usb cable. I also have my Sony SCD777ES sacd player hooked up to the coaxial input using Emotiva's x Digital coax cable. I spent a lot of time comparing the dac in my sacd player with the dac in the Emotiva and they sound remarkibly similar yet the Emotiva sounds more musical. I am extremely pleased with the sound via usb and I have been listening to my music rips which are all in FLAC mode.

I have heard some say this dac is cold and lifeless and others say the bass is boomy and treble is tizzy, but not so in my system. Maybe my tube preamp helps a bit. I am extremely fussy and very pleased. One Audiogoner told me the dac is a "piece of crap", but again it sounds absolutely wonderful in my system.

I feel my system has made quite a leap forward and feel I will be satisified for quite some time. Notice the picture of the interior of the dac. I feel I have made a very wise purchase.

Bob
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Showing 3 responses by stereo5

I really like the Emotiva dac. I used it in my main system for 7 months and moved it to my secondary system where it still sounds wonderful. I am using a Wyred dac 1 now on my main system. To be honest, the Emotiva is about 92% of the Wyred at an unbelievable price. I wouldn't hesitate to get one.
I am positive that it will. Enjoy your new dac. It took a couple of days for mine to break in. I used the Isotek cd to burn it in faster. I also added an aftermarket Shunyata Diamondback Platinum (bought used here for 100.00) cord and it made the overall experience just a little bit better. Have fun
After a couple of weeks of using the Emotiva dac, you will suddenly realize the bass is more "there" as are other aspects to the sound. So, if you think it sounds good right out of the box, just wait a couple of weeks. You will be pleasantly surprised.