EMC-1 MkII

Dave, Will do!

Ernie, first of all, why do we always assume masochism is such a bad thing? Experiment yourself into a heated frenzy I always say. Do the comparison now, so that your insights relative to the SPM vs. Essence IC swapping could be used as data for those of us who are too content with our already amazing EMC-1 mk2's to: 1. risk any unpleasant changes/damage to our beloved cdps by upgrading, or 2. too skeptical to pay for the latest upgrade!;-) or 3. both. (I'm 3) Seriously though, I question whether the upgrade will actually replace any of the "warmth" lost by swapping essence to spm...? I may be wrong, but I thought I read on a related thread here that the new mod more or less opened up the sound (of an already dynamic machine). Who knows. The only way to know is to try them both obviously, and I know that whichever IC you stick with, the other would not be hard to sell, and frankly, when I buy my Pass pre (real soon) I may be in contact with you about the essence (if you decide to sell it!)Best luck and keep us posted on the effect of the upgrade, etc. Regards, Dave