Electrocompaniet vs Krell vs Musical Fidelity

My girlfriend's system is composed of the ECI-3 and a EMC-1UP driving a pair of MG1.6s and its sounds terrific.She tried other CDP but loved the sound of the two EC pieces together. I cannot and will not argue with Steve over "circuit design" but no way the ECI-1 sounds better over the EMC-1UP.The EMC-1UP is still one of the best sounding players around for under 10000.00.I often refer to the Electrocompaniet stuff as solidstate for tube lovers.Both my girlfriend and I found the Musical Fidelity pieces not a good match in her system.Hope this helps. Good luck in your audtions.

I'm norwegian my self, and all my friends have Electrocompaniet products. I think they kick ass! =)
I've heard Thule, mcintosh and some other amps before.
But EC are by far the best amps when it comes to clearity and "sound picture". It might not have the "punch" as other amps.. but I like it that way.

Check out SEAS Thor speakers. They sound great with ECI5 or AW220. :)

IMO, the ECD-1 sounds better than the EMC-1UP. Both have a reverberant, warm quality that results from insufficient power delivery, really strange digital circuit design and S/PDIF not matched to 75 ohms. For a stock component, the ECD-1 is one of the best. These things as well as the lack of detail can be remedied with mods.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer

Just out of curiosity...what kind of speakers are you using...I have the ECI3 also...and although I agree with your romantic yet not-so-detailed system comment...I'm curious to see what other people are running with this amp. I don't find the detail extremely lacking due to the metal dome speakers although it has lost some of it's brightness/sparkle when comparing it to the bryston B60 it replaced. Still 90% of my music sounds much much better, with only a few discs that I feel have gone a little soft...my tube loving friend tells me that is how it's supposed to sound and I was just used to sibilance.

If it were me...I'd probably make a go of the EMC1...face it..we have unique looking amps...why not get the cd player that matches...the reviews seem to be good, and if buying used, I'm sure you could turn & sell it for little loss if any. I'd rather start there and if I weren't happy then I'd look into mixing & matching...after all...wouldn't it suck to get another cd player...yet still have that burning question in the back of your head saying "hmmm...I wonder what that EC would have sounded like?)...I know which path I'm going...I just wish EC made a DVD/CD player.

just my 2c.

Ellery