I guess in the interest of clarity, I need to qualify some of the comments made here.
I am the owner of the EMM Labs XDS1 SACD player and the Killer DAC was tested in my system - Audio Research Reference 5 SE, Electrocompaniet Nemos, Thiel CS3.7 with SS2.2 smart subs (with S1 Integrator).
Theres no denying that the Killer is exceptionally great to listen to. But as I have stated elsewhere, this is just a matter of preference, rather than one DAC "killing"/"murdering" another :)
The Killer has the uncanny ability to highlight a lead component of the music - a saxophone, a guitar or the lead singer and the rest of the instruments sorta flows around it. There's a good sense of rhythm and the presentation is like a leader of a trio or quartet being in the spotlight, and being backed by the rest of his band.
All this has a small price IMHO. I believe the Killer does roll off the highs and lows, so the XDS1 showed a room bass node that the Killer did not. And with the Thiels, the highs can sound a bit crashy with the added detail of the XDS1. And where the XDS1 (and the Playback) shines is IMHO with the detail retrieval. I find myself being able to make out all the different instruments and layers and vocals in complex arrangements which can sometimes be an excellent revelation.
In my system, I did prefer the way the Killer sounded with the genres of music I threw at it, but it is also with the understanding that it is not quite completely neutral in its presentation. I do understand where the Killer's designer is coming from.
I am the owner of the EMM Labs XDS1 SACD player and the Killer DAC was tested in my system - Audio Research Reference 5 SE, Electrocompaniet Nemos, Thiel CS3.7 with SS2.2 smart subs (with S1 Integrator).
Theres no denying that the Killer is exceptionally great to listen to. But as I have stated elsewhere, this is just a matter of preference, rather than one DAC "killing"/"murdering" another :)
The Killer has the uncanny ability to highlight a lead component of the music - a saxophone, a guitar or the lead singer and the rest of the instruments sorta flows around it. There's a good sense of rhythm and the presentation is like a leader of a trio or quartet being in the spotlight, and being backed by the rest of his band.
All this has a small price IMHO. I believe the Killer does roll off the highs and lows, so the XDS1 showed a room bass node that the Killer did not. And with the Thiels, the highs can sound a bit crashy with the added detail of the XDS1. And where the XDS1 (and the Playback) shines is IMHO with the detail retrieval. I find myself being able to make out all the different instruments and layers and vocals in complex arrangements which can sometimes be an excellent revelation.
In my system, I did prefer the way the Killer sounded with the genres of music I threw at it, but it is also with the understanding that it is not quite completely neutral in its presentation. I do understand where the Killer's designer is coming from.