walter: you've already gotten a number of good suggestions. permit me to attempt an ordering of possible fixes, including a couple of my own. first, i agree with famaraca that you should give your cdp a bit more time to break in. when i got my boulder 1012 pre/dac just before christmas, i ran it continuously for >200 hours before doing any critical listening. since then, its run at least another 600 hours while ive listened and broken in cables/ic's/pc's. it continues to improve. if the sound of your emc-1 doesn't improve after longer burn-in, you might try some different ic's and/or pc's; these can greatly affect the sonic presentation, even rolling off some frequencies, as you may be experiencing. third, send your unit back while it's still under warranty, particularly if the first two "fixes" don't work. fourth, live with the fact that your player's dac uses sampling algorithms as abstract7 describes, which may not be optimal for your tastes. finally, do not, under any circumstances, give into the pathetic ploys of the tireguy and send him any more chocolates; my sources say he already eats on average 8 pounds per day of m&m's (blue only). -cfb
Can Someone Explain This?
I just got my new EMC-1 24/192 about a week ago and absolutely love it. As a relative 'newbie' to this hobby, I have little experience or frame of reference in high end gear, and did not really fully understand how or why someone could describe a CD player as having an 'analog' sound. Now I do.
However, last night I experienced something that had me experimenting for hours and finally left me scratching my head in bewilderment. I was listening to one of my favorite CDs and a particularly beautiful acoustic track on it. For some reason, it didn't sound quite right. Something seemed to be "missing." After listening to this track over and over, I determined that part of the "plucking" of the guitar (specifically the higher notes) WAS missing. Just to be certain that I wasn't cracking up, I plugged in my old CD player, the Ultech (which sounded harsh and strident next to the water smooth EMC-1), and--sure enough--the information was restored.
I have not noticed the EMC-1 doing this with any other CDs, although I am obviously still getting acquainted with it.
I confess I am completely baffled with this turn of events. Does anyone have a clue what I might be experiencing or why?
Do I have a defective player? If the same CD plays perfectly on another player, the computer CD-Rom drive, and my car CD player, shouldn't it also play on the EMC-1?
I will send a box of chocolates to anyone who can help me solve this problem.:-)
Happy Valentine's Day to all.
However, last night I experienced something that had me experimenting for hours and finally left me scratching my head in bewilderment. I was listening to one of my favorite CDs and a particularly beautiful acoustic track on it. For some reason, it didn't sound quite right. Something seemed to be "missing." After listening to this track over and over, I determined that part of the "plucking" of the guitar (specifically the higher notes) WAS missing. Just to be certain that I wasn't cracking up, I plugged in my old CD player, the Ultech (which sounded harsh and strident next to the water smooth EMC-1), and--sure enough--the information was restored.
I have not noticed the EMC-1 doing this with any other CDs, although I am obviously still getting acquainted with it.
I confess I am completely baffled with this turn of events. Does anyone have a clue what I might be experiencing or why?
Do I have a defective player? If the same CD plays perfectly on another player, the computer CD-Rom drive, and my car CD player, shouldn't it also play on the EMC-1?
I will send a box of chocolates to anyone who can help me solve this problem.:-)
Happy Valentine's Day to all.