PREAMP - Thoughts on Emotiva XSP-1


Seems to be a decent / well put-together unit for the money / features that are hard to beat for the price.
Looking to mate it with my Emotiva XPA-2 Gen 3 Power Amp

It's my current "front-runner" in a Pre-Amp quest for $1500-ish or less
My only reservations are:
-It's kinda' BIG
-All those Blue illuminated switches / display / power Button
-I seem to see quite a few of them, used, for sale on A-GON (makes me wonder or are people just "upgrading"?)

Anybody have one and/or heard one lately? If so:
  • What are your thoughts?
  • How would you rate it?
  • How did it compare to what it replaced?

geeqner

Showing 1 response by 213runnin

Preamps, I’ve tried a few.  My take away is that the pre is supposed to do as little as possible to the signal or sound.

I haven’t tried the XSP, but the best sounding unit I’ve had is the Schiit Saga.  It’s magic is that it uses discrete circuitry and has few extra circuits/features to colour the sound.

its very transparent compared to the Parasound Halo P5 it replaced, which had lots of op amps apparently.

They’ve updated their line up recently bringing improvements to the line.  I’m probably going to get the Freya S, which has true balanced inputs/ outputs for my dac.  Built in the USA with foreign parts, worth a look.