Congratulations Mike welcome to the full EMIA family. This corrector is a beautiful match with the Gold cartridge as you will soon find out. Many years of enjoyment. Bazelio it was my idea for the dual power supply version. When I had the Aesthetix and added a second power supply all bets were off. So naturally I had Dave make me one. Mike wait until you raise your preamp volume and hear no noise from the phono. It's just as quiet as my line input connected to my dac. The best Jeff
EMIA LR Phono Corrector (review)
- Thread starter banpuku
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some first impressions......
after 4 hours last night, and now more than 2 hours this morning, it's clear that the Corrector is in a whole different league than any phono i have spent time with. there is a different level of force and power to the music, an underlying energy, a propulsion, i've not heard before. maybe 1/2" tape comes to mind.....it terms of pulsing with energy. how much is the 2 power supplies? the silver? both of those with the silver SUT? i don't know.
inside the notes and parts of the music i'm hearing and feeling more energy and power to the action, i'm feeling more the intent of the player, the idea of where the music is going. i'm trying to relate this shift in musical insights i'm getting.
simply; the tone is beguiling. nothing golden hued or colored. just pure tone color.
the other thing is that a tubed phono is sorting out big music and separating things in the soundstage on a whole different level than i have heard before. which imparts a relaxed ease and authority and it never breaks a sweat. my experience up till now was "lots" of tubes at some point becomes a bit soft and round, or muddy. this is the exact opposite, it just soars and scales to wherever the music takes me. yet maintains ultimate believability.
the bass is other-worldly. so much texture and tonality. i'm smitten with how the Corrector does subtle bass lines.
after 4 hours last night, and now more than 2 hours this morning, it's clear that the Corrector is in a whole different league than any phono i have spent time with. there is a different level of force and power to the music, an underlying energy, a propulsion, i've not heard before. maybe 1/2" tape comes to mind.....it terms of pulsing with energy. how much is the 2 power supplies? the silver? both of those with the silver SUT? i don't know.
inside the notes and parts of the music i'm hearing and feeling more energy and power to the action, i'm feeling more the intent of the player, the idea of where the music is going. i'm trying to relate this shift in musical insights i'm getting.
simply; the tone is beguiling. nothing golden hued or colored. just pure tone color.
the other thing is that a tubed phono is sorting out big music and separating things in the soundstage on a whole different level than i have heard before. which imparts a relaxed ease and authority and it never breaks a sweat. my experience up till now was "lots" of tubes at some point becomes a bit soft and round, or muddy. this is the exact opposite, it just soars and scales to wherever the music takes me. yet maintains ultimate believability.
the bass is other-worldly. so much texture and tonality. i'm smitten with how the Corrector does subtle bass lines.
Elliot G.
Industry Expert
Mike this item replaces the phono stage you were using before? Was that the Dart? I don't remember what you used but if the system sounds better it must be a wonderful item. Enjoy!
Did the Midnight Seranade wisk you away?
Did the Midnight Seranade wisk you away?
Your initial impression largely matches up to my 3ish years of time with the Emia phono corrector. As to what is doing what ... It's the entire circuit design creating the sound. The parts BOM selection is the icing on the cake. I first stumbled upon Dave on the Intact Audio forums years ago. Low readership, and mainly a forum for techie idea exchange. Dave was sharing circuit ideas, helping people design their own, and looking outside the box. Before long, I knew I had to hear something he created. There's an obvious no-marketing approach to Emia. But more importantly, there's a practical overall design approach that focuses on "does it make me want to get up and dance" at the end of the day. A question SPICE and schematics simply can't answer. And I think that's what you're hearing, more than anything.
it replaces the lovely CS Port phono, which is mostly what you heard. thanks. yes......the EMIA phono is wonderful.
not yet got around to the Midnight Serenade. i'll need to be nailed down so i don't float away when i go there.
your feedback on the EMIA relative to some other phono's a while back, then talking to Jeffy also about his time with the Aesthetix (which i had on hand as a reference) and then him going to the EMIA with two power supplies....together, was critical in me having the EMIA on my very, very short list.
there is something that feels right about Dave's and Jeffrey's below the radar, skunk works, introverted madness. which would not matter if it did not make great music too.
Or have Mike make his own comparison, he snuck out of his Io ownership very discreetly !
I would have loved to get his impression, don't be afraid of offending anyone Mike.Or have Mike make his own comparison, he snuck out of his Io ownership very discreetly !
Oh yes, no one misses what Mike writes. I seem to have missed Jeffy's if he posted on this topic.
my exit from Aesthetix had a few causes, (1) funding my Wadax adventure at that moment, (2) recognition of the size of the three "large" Aesthetix Io Eclipse boxes + four (soon to be five) Wadax boxes (something had to go), and (3) the realization that the Aesthetix, with NOS tubes, was going places that the CS Port was not.....so what was farther down that road?.....EM/IA was. and i was on the hunt for my 'into the sunset' phono.Or have Mike make his own comparison, he snuck out of his Io ownership very discreetly !
i bought the Aesthetix used back in Feb 2021, sent it to the factory for the voltage change, and it sat there for 6 months until August when the work got done. so my hifi life evolved in the meantime with the Wadax entering my picture. i tried to make it fit, but alas, it was not in the cards.
without hearing the Aesthetix not sure i would have had the chutzpa to dive into the EM/IA. it opened my eyes. glad i did it. performance wise, for my investment, the Aesthetix was killer.
my impressions of my Aesthetix was that it was big and bold sounding, but just ordinary and a bit dull with the stock tubes. start down the NOS road and things got interesting quick. it opened up, the bass got agile, and much more nuanced. but it was not 'fast' and still quite round and blunted. i know going deep into tube rolling and other enhancements i read on the Aesthetix thread would have improved all those shortcomings. being self aware of my own culture, the odds of me being sufficiently rabid to chase things enough to stay on that path were slim. i was the wrong person for it. time to cut my losses and move on. so i never tasted all that Aesthetix was capable of. and i was offered much hand holding by the Aesthetix Nation.
my particular 'beyond full-tilt' EMIA, now with the MC Trio, is a $46k investment (base EMIA corrector + copper EMIA SUT = around $22k). buying direct. i think it a very good value. i paid all-in $15k (used + getting the voltage converted to 115v) for the Aesthetix. Aesthetix owners should be a happy bunch.
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I've compared the IO to the Ypsilon and the Ypsilon to the Emia. For me:. Emia > Ypsilon > IO. The IO has about a dozen too many tubes, I estimate.
Had the opportunity to put Mike's new EMIA gear into my system. FWIW, as a long term happy Experience Music customer, I was biased to like it...
Quietest phono stage/SUT combo I've ever heard. Like eerie quiet. Like is it actually on quiet. The sound is spectacular. Jeffrey and Dave have taken things further than I would have thought possible. 'Tape-like' comes to mind.
And yes, I've already asked Jeffrey if I can have my phono stage 'McGyvered'
Quietest phono stage/SUT combo I've ever heard. Like eerie quiet. Like is it actually on quiet. The sound is spectacular. Jeffrey and Dave have taken things further than I would have thought possible. 'Tape-like' comes to mind.
And yes, I've already asked Jeffrey if I can have my phono stage 'McGyvered'
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It's said that this is the magic of the capacitor-less L-R circuitry which is rather difficult to implement well.
Certainly Dave's fabulous transformers & chokes are parts of the equation.
I am so glad to see Jeffrey and Dave getting the recognition they so deserve. I am absolutely in love with the silvered remote autoformer. It is truly a giant killer and has bested (even embarrassed!) preamps many multiples it’s price. I look forward to experiencing the Phono Corrector in my system at some point.
Happy to read this thread. It is fantastic that small company artisans are getting the due recognition for true state of the art products. The fact that they also make their own transformers (using best materials) and apply really interesting circuits such as LR pushes the envelope from yet another large scale “mega brand” horrid PCB stuffed with 12ax7s, and put in a nice metal cake tin box. This product is true high end gear imho ymmv (and all the politeness acronyms).
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