Tony,
Jason's upgraded DV2 is the current DV2. Sorry for the confusion! But he did mentioned in the article that "EMM Labs' upgrades remain under development, for both its top-line EMM and lower-priced Meitner products."
Emm labs DA2 v2 upgrade
- Thread starter awsmone
- Start date
Jason's upgraded DV2 is the current DV2. Sorry for the confusion! But he did mentioned in the article that "EMM Labs' upgrades remain under development, for both its top-line EMM and lower-priced Meitner products."
Possibly the entire board containing the analog output stage will need to be changed out and replaced with a new one mounted with the new value-adjusted components and "optimized" circuits.
That means some users will have to send their dacs back to the factory, or trade in (to their local dealer) the current dac unit in exchange for a brand new unit.
Another $5000 to spend?
What they gonna call this?
"Epoch"?
That means some users will have to send their dacs back to the factory, or trade in (to their local dealer) the current dac unit in exchange for a brand new unit.
Another $5000 to spend?
What they gonna call this?
"Epoch"?
For those who love choral music, this is one test disc to determine the low-level resolution of your sound system. The recording is perfectly balanced in a wonderful acoustic. I heard the thunderous voices that excites the hall with reverberant resonance, and with great clarity. The pipe-organ sounded deep, thick, and heavy and real via my sound system.
Hi Folks,
Listen to Kantorow's version of Guido Agosti’s virtuosic piano arrangement of three extracts from Stravinsky’s Firebird. Here, his fortissimo (many thanks to Guido Agosti' s blood and guts transcription) was really terrifying via my sound system (volume level at -23dB of max.). Believe me, the L’Oiseau du Feu here is truly spectacular and breathtaking! The grand piano (Yamaha) sounded like the real thing.
SAINT-SAËNS: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 in D, Op. 17. No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22, No. 4 in C minor, Op. 44.
Anna Milakova, pianist; WDR Symphony Orch. Cologne/Thomas Sanderling, conductor. AUDITE SACD 92.509
GRAMOPHONE |10TH APRIL 2015 |says: "Vying for top place in terms of sound quality and recorded balance is Anna Malikova’s recording of the five concertos with Thomas Sanderling and the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, whose part in proceedings is beautifully captured (Mark Hohn the recording engineer) – even the three cymbal crashes in the finale, marked p, mf and f, are clearly graded."
I fully agree with Jeremy Nicholas! The first concerto opens with a series of horn calls which sounded full, velvety and resonant. The piano has a beautiful, mellow (sweet, rich) sound. The timbre of the string instruments was spot-on.
Hi Guys,
This SACD is truly of demonstration quality! Extraordinary! This is what a real symphony orchestra should sound like. The music comes alive. The soundstage was huge. The strings sounded so sweet and heartbreaking in a wonderful acoustic. The timbre of the brass and woodwind sounded so right. Cellos and basses digging in. The dynamics were awesome. The soft passages conjure up a mysterious effect. There was an excellence sense of space and place. The depth of image was lifelike. Detailing was realistically defined.
2018 GRAMMY® Winner – Best Orchestral Performance and Best Engineered Album, Classical
This SACD is truly of demonstration quality! Extraordinary! This is what a real symphony orchestra should sound like. The music comes alive. The soundstage was huge. The strings sounded so sweet and heartbreaking in a wonderful acoustic. The timbre of the brass and woodwind sounded so right. Cellos and basses digging in. The dynamics were awesome. The soft passages conjure up a mysterious effect. There was an excellence sense of space and place. The depth of image was lifelike. Detailing was realistically defined.
A very atmospheric, thrilling, scary, piercing, incisive, beautiful, exquisite, incredibly clear, tactile and transparent recording, and with a very good deal of ambient hall resonance. Via my sound system (including my EMM Labs DV2), instrumental timbres were exceptionally well caught and bass drum had great impact, tight and clear. The Rite of Spring's "Part 1" had delicacy, airy and plenty of atmosphere. The winds and brass had that "bite" they have live in the concert hall. The recording has a lifelike sense of stage depth. Altogether, a very intense, exciting performances!
Thanks for the reminder!
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring & Firebird Suite
Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ivan Fischer
- Release Date: 27th Feb 2012
- Catalogue No: CCSSA32112
- Label: Channel
- Length: 62 minutes
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)
Symphony No 15 in A major, Op. 141 (1971)
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Bernard Haitink
RCO LIVE RCO11003
This is an excellent DSD recording due not just to the excellence of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra but also to the famed acoustics of the Concertgebouw. Via my sound system, the sound is totally transparent with spot-on instrumental timbres. The timbres of the brass and woodwind (due in part to the wonderful acoustic of the Concertgebouw) were so satisfying. Cellos and basses were woody, full, weighty, and resonant. The dynamics of the instruments sounded real, alive.
Igor STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring (complete ballet) (1913, rev. 1947)
Carl NIELSEN Symphony No. 5 , Op.50 (1922) Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra/Paavo Järvi.
Recorded in Music Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio, January 25th – 26th, and February 22nd – 23rd, 2004. TELARC SACD-60615
Digital Recording System: EMM Labs DSD AD converter
Another great recording of The Rite of Spring to enjoy and savour! The sound was vivid, transparent, immediate, dynamic, almost perfect (perfect sound forever?). The brass, woodwind and everything else sounded so right. The brass was brassy, had the 'bite', the 'blat'. The woodwind sounded heavenly in a wonderful acoustic. The recording had a real sense of breadth and depth. The drums were awesome and resonant! However, I still prefer Ivan Fischer's version of the Dance of Earth (Budapest Festival Orchestra, Channel Classics SACD, track 8) which was scary, piercing, and extremely dynamic!
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Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op 68 [41:17]
Steven STUCKY (1949-2016)
Silent Spring [16:35]
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck
Recorded live 23-25 June, 2017 (Beethoven), 20-22 April, 2018 (Stucky); Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh, USA
FR -747SACD Reference Recordings
Someone wrote recently regarding Stucky's Silent Spring: "A 'filler' that turns out to be a master piece." He is totally right! This recorded symphonic poem is indeed a demonstration piece of music to use to impress others the excellence of your sound system. This piece was exciting, dramatic, and atmospheric! The sounds were completely transparent.
As regards to the recording of Beethoven Symphony No.6, it was only when the third movement got underway that my ears pricked up and I love Honeck's interpretation here and the sounds (as well as The Storm and the final movement).
We did an eval of the MSB Select II and the EMM DA2V2 and though it was close we purchased the EMM DAC & Pre. To put it briefly we found the EMM just delivered a little more realism for us. But as audio is so subjective not all people would agree with this.
DV2/DA2 are both underrated IMHO. With Gryphon/Mephisto/Pandora in my system it works Extremely well. I have a Lampizator Horizon on order (never had a tube component in my life). So we shall see, or hear. I hope the Horizon blows me away. It has good competition. Even if it does, I don't see myself ever parting with the DV2. Its as natural a presentation you will hear. Does it have limitations? Yes, only DSD 64 when paired with NS1, DSD 128 with USB. However sonically its a very good DAC.
Based on my personal experiences, to unleash the full potential of the EMM Labs DA2 V2/DV2 , you need top-notch associated equipments. Bear in mind also that the EMM Labs DA converters will be upgraded soon as I mentioned previously!
I am re-evaluating my thinking on upstream sources with the NS1 (with Optimism cable)+DA2 v2. I'm curious if others have found some improvements upstream of the NS1, or in place of the NS1.
Last year when I received my NS1 I compared using my Innous Zenith MKIII as a server via Shunyata Sigma ethernet cable, with just attaching a USB hard drive to the NS1, and the USB drive won by a hair. If memory serves, I also tried inserting Uptone Etherregen and LPS 1.2 between the Innous and NS1, and it actually sounded worse. It's almost not worth mentioning that the NS1 was better than Zenith+Phoenix into the DA2 USB. I concluded that the USB hard drive was the best I could do and that a dedicated server was of no use because of the optical isolation.
Recently, I actually tried adding some iFi USB isolators (iGalvanic 3.0 and iPurifier 3) I had laying around, plus my Shunyata Sigma USBS and some Q45T between my Seagate USB hard drive and NS1. Lo and behold, more detail, contrast, dynamics, and less noise. My thinking is that any USB or ethernet input to the NS1 does have the ability to inject clock noise into the streamer, and electrical noise into the power system (esp through the USB 5v power wire).
The only downside of my setup is a slight artificial sheen that I'm guessing comes from the iFi reclockers. Now I am interested if there are even better ways to clean up the electrical noise and clocking upstream of the NS1, whether network or USB.
Last year when I received my NS1 I compared using my Innous Zenith MKIII as a server via Shunyata Sigma ethernet cable, with just attaching a USB hard drive to the NS1, and the USB drive won by a hair. If memory serves, I also tried inserting Uptone Etherregen and LPS 1.2 between the Innous and NS1, and it actually sounded worse. It's almost not worth mentioning that the NS1 was better than Zenith+Phoenix into the DA2 USB. I concluded that the USB hard drive was the best I could do and that a dedicated server was of no use because of the optical isolation.
Recently, I actually tried adding some iFi USB isolators (iGalvanic 3.0 and iPurifier 3) I had laying around, plus my Shunyata Sigma USBS and some Q45T between my Seagate USB hard drive and NS1. Lo and behold, more detail, contrast, dynamics, and less noise. My thinking is that any USB or ethernet input to the NS1 does have the ability to inject clock noise into the streamer, and electrical noise into the power system (esp through the USB 5v power wire).
The only downside of my setup is a slight artificial sheen that I'm guessing comes from the iFi reclockers. Now I am interested if there are even better ways to clean up the electrical noise and clocking upstream of the NS1, whether network or USB.
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