The Emotiva XDA-1

UPDATE: The email arrived that annouced my opportunity to purchase an XDA-1, but I decided not to buy it. I thought I could use the XDA as a pre- and as a source, if I could pipe sound into it from my laptop, but with all the techno garbage I'd have to deal with (audio over USB, iTunes vs FooBAR vs XP64, low hard drive space, driver conflicts, bleh), I'd have to update my OS or buy a new laptop to use as a music server. In the end, if I don't get shot down by tech conflicts, I'll have spent enough to have bought a pre-/CDP, if not in $$$ than certainly in time. I'll DAC the CDP I buy later. Keeping it simple for now.

It is a variable output DAC. For those that want to use it as a DAC only, leave it at the default "80" setting, which is full output.
I have been using the XDA-1 directly into my Bryston 4Bsst with excellent results.
First impressions are: extreme clairity and excellent dynamics, both micro and macro
Longer term listening opens it up considerably, top to bottom.
Feeding it with my OPPO 83 via s/pdif coax, sounds better to me than OPPO's dac. Speakers are B&W802D's FWIW .

I agree with Highendool! I am running it directly into my XPA-2 and it sounds just fantastic. After the first two days
of owning it, I thought it was the worst Dac/Pre I ever heard
and had my return number issued and was ready to send it back. And after a few day's it started to sound better, and now a few weeks later it sounds superb! Glad I gave it some time, it is a great piece, and a steal at it's price. My last DAC was a Dac Magic and I like this better.

Have had the XDA-1 for less than a week. My Sony DVD feeds it via Tosklink cable and the DAC runs via RCA connectors into my DIY Hypex ST180 Amp running into my DIY SEAS 2-way monitors. For a $249 unit I am very impressed by the sound quality. I will try with balanced conncections when I get cables next week. Emotiva on their website indicates that the XDA-1 volume control is digital, and thus is not lossless, so anything less than full volume results in the lose of some bits and one must presume some musical detail. I cannot get close to 80 withouth blowing my walls out from a volume perspective, but at about 65 on the volume meter. it sounds pretty damn good. Eventually I will have a Pass DIY B1 Buffer/preamp and run the Emotiva at full output. For $249 (got mine never used from a gent on Ebay for $200) the Emotiva clearly demonstrates how far digital has come in recent years and how much you now can get for your money. Doubt you can find a better deal than the Emotiva for 249 clams. Recommended.