CD players,Electrocompaniet EMC-1 or YBA

I own the YBA CD3. It is very good. I tried the EMC-1 and it is also very good. They are different sounds. The YBA is more laid back and does not jump out at you. The EMC had a wider soundstage. I have learned that some components sound great with some things and like crap with other things. I think if I had it to do over I would go for the EMC. I like the wide soundstage and most everything else was as good as the YBA. They are both great for the money.

No experience with the YBA gear but I owned the EMC-1 and it is very good, very musical for CD. (I tried a lot of players in it's price range and it was the best..IMO) I upgraded to the 47labs flatfish and progression dac, which if you can swing the price, is the best I have heard... period.

While i've had very little experience with the EMC-1, what i did hear was VERY impressive. At that price level though, you might want to check into a Marantz SA-1 if you can find a really good deal on it. It is supposedly much better at "red book" cd's than the equivalent Sony models are and will also give you the versatility to try out a few SACD's should you succumb to the whim. Just a thought. Sean >

I own the EMC-1 and love it. I have also owned Pass Aleph 2s. I had them on Dunlavy SCIV speakers. I think the EMC-1 would work great with those amps. The EMC-1 has a very rich, musical presentation. It is detailed without being analytical. The Alephs tend to be a tad dry, so there should be some synergy. I put a Sahuaro Slipstream power cord on the EMC-1 and the sound became even more holographic, detailed, and natural sounding. Aurios underneath also helped. The first post is correct....it's a soundstaging champ, especially in width. It is one of the most listenable players around, and it looks great.