Emotiva ERC-3 or Music Hall C-DAC15.3 / connections?

gdhal, are you saying that Emotiva is not sure whether the ERC-3 is fully balanced?  That's what it appears you are saying.

I bought one of their early dacs, the XDA-1, and Emotiva was sure that it had lossless volume and could do 192 hz over USB.  They were wrong on both counts, and had to recant, after many customers complained.

The ERC-2 was noisy too, and to hear that they haven't made any headway in that regard is disappointing.  The cd player has to do several things well, including the DAC process, and if the manufacturer can't even decide if the cd player that they designed is fully balanced, well that's a red flag, the price be damned.

I had the ERC-1 as well as the XDA-1, and it had issues too. 

gdhal, so you don't think it's fully balanced, but Emotiva does?

I am fully aware of the possible compromises in design that can occur when a component comes with XLR jacks though it is not fully balanced.  

Thank you for the offer, but I trust your memory of your communication with Lonnie, I don't need to see it.  I just went to the Emotiva product page for the ERC-3, and they seem pretty confident that the ERC-3 is indeed a balanced design.  Has an independent party found some sort of proof that it is not?

Op amps are also a cost cutting indication, the better designs go with discrete circuitry.

I'm sure, however, that the ERC-3 sounds nice, but op amps plus a noisy spinning mechanism indicate that it's built with a lower price point in mind.

My apologies kfox, I should have noted that in your budget, and probably any cd player under $1000, op amps would be pretty common.  I will say that the Music Hall unit looks pretty sparse under the hood, while an Emotiva has much more circuitry, as does the mid level Nad C546BEE.

With your Anthem MRX 710, you'll have the option to let the Anthem do the digital to analog conversion.  I heard one of the lesser Anthems driving a pair of Totem Dreamcatchers in two channel mode.  It was quite impressive to say the least.  I expect that Anthem's room correction is very good, and you'll be quite pleased with the result.