Electrocompaniet EMC1 CDP owner's suggestions

My pre is tubed and my amp is a hybrid w/tube input and ss output. The slight loss of bloom has nothing to do with the pre and amp. The BAT D5 is simply a better performer where bloom and 3D voices are concerned. Especially with the NOS Amperex and Siemens tubes I was accustomed to using. In other respects, I prefer the EMC-1. Always the trade offs.

Some of these guys have great imaginations. I've owned a EMC-1UP for several months now and have heard my player running both ways. Initially I purchased a pair of high quality XLR to RCA adapters so that I could use the XLR outputs of the EMC-1. I could hear very little difference between that and running it straight single ended. I then had the opportunity to hear it in the system of an acquaintance, which is fully balanced. Since I wanted to compare the EMC-1 running in each mode, I also brought my preamp and using a RCA to XLR interconnect, was able to hook it up to his amps. Taking into consideration the differences in our preamps, I was not blown away by the superiority of the EMC-1 running balanced. Yes, there was more dynamic headroom and yes, it was seemingly a touch more transparent and detailed, but the difference was not staggering. Rolled off highs and mids? A lack of detail? Not in my system. If the highs were anymore extended, I'd have to grit my teeth each time I listened to cds. As for the mids, I do believe the EMC-1 is a rather neutral player in that respect. Certainly not possessing the midrange bloom of my previous cdp, the tubed BAT VK-D5. One thing I will do, once the stingy, one year warranty runs out, is intstall a better quality wire from the RCA outs as suggested by Subaruguru. Btw, in looking under the hood of the EMC-1 I found it totally unimpressive as far as build quality is concerned. Not much to it actually. After living with the magnificent build quality of the BAT D5, the EMC-1 is a bit of a disappointment. Oh well, it's sonics that count the most.

Tvad: It's actually a RCA-XLR and it's a Empirical Holophonic my acquaintance owns that he doesn't use anymore. No hum.

Yes, I really like the EMC-1UP sonically. That said, I've had some problems with it that remain intermittant and minor. Occasionally I will pause play and when I press pause again to start listening once more the counter will start counting as if it's playing but there's no sound. I only need to pause and start again to get the sound back. There occasionally are minute drop outs in the left channel. The stop button on the front panel jams so I don't use it anymore. Lastly, the remote occasionally does not work at all. I need to turn the player off and turn it back on to get the remote to work. EC has for the most part done a great job sonically with EMC-1, but despite its substantial bulk, I don't think it's the best built cdp around. Oh, and the Spider Clamp? I've heard it improves focus substantially. Focus happens to be exactly where the EMC-1 is weakest IMO. Now if EC ever gets its act together and produces Spiders for the general EMC-1 using public, I'll be set for sometime to come.

Agreed, it's the sound that counts, but the price tag does too when you're on the poorer side of audiophoolishness. Seems to me, it doesn't need to cost quite so much. But then, what does in this hobby? I have great admiration for companies like BAT. Their components aren't inexpensive by any standards, but one look under the hood and you can see why. To this day I miss the bloom of the D5. And what it did with voices was fantastic. I'm hoping the Spider (when and if) will coax some of that from the EMC-1 and take what the EMC-1 does better than the D5 (most things IMO) even farther.

Same results here. Results differ when comparing straight single ended hookup to straight balanced though. The straight balanced is indeed more dynamic with slightly enhanced detail. Not enough to convince me to "upgrade" my pre however. In fact, in some ways I actually preferred the sound running the EMC-1 into my pre compared to my buddy's truly balanced pre. I'm comparing apples to oranges of course as the two preamps are quite different.