Emotiva not so good

Examples you encountered?

XDA-1 dac, XPA amp, ERC-1 cd player.  After that I gave up on Emotiva.  The XDA-1 was bested by a $150 dac from Schiit.

Never heard their amps. Their HT processor was a real disappointment.

There is a local person who writes reviews for one of the more well known mags, he replaced all of his Parasound gear with Emotiva and swears by it.  His focus is more on home theater, but he has a really nice system.  I haven't heard it, but he's done some meetups and there seemed to be a lot of oohs and aahs.

I have owned a couple of their monoblocks, which powered two of my surround sound speakers for a while.  I have an XPA-5 in my bedroom surround system.  It has held up well.

I haven't used them for critical two channel listening, and wouldn't at this point in my journey in the hobby, but they might be OK for someone putting together a beginner system or for home theater.

I've not heard anything in a few years from Emotiva.

The issue for me, was it sounded exactly like the Onkyo.  I was comparing to a much older Theta Casanova, which was not only more musical, but the 5.1 presentation totally blew away the Emotiva in terms of believability and effortlessness.

The Emotiva was a very clean, very quiet, very antisepctic presentation, and just.... felt constrained.  Like my amps were much smaller suddenly.

I haven't heard anything more recent, but the Anthem I'm using for HT right now is just so much better than that. If you can listen to Anthem and Emotiva and like them both, pick the cheap one. :)

Best,

E

_________________amps are good until you hear another brand in the same space.

Fill in the blank.

It's as simple as going from emotiva to Parasound 2250 v2....night and day, upwards backwards and side to side. Parasoind is that mush better. imagine going to a Halo...

Interesting.... I have had their XMC-1 pro since it was released and just love the sound for home theater, which is what I use it for exclusively. It did sound even better once plugging it into a good power conditioner. At the time people compared it to the sound of much higher end processors.
I only have a 3 channel amp And subs attached, but am looking for an inexpensive 5 or 7 channel amp And am thinking of the new outlaw that is about $900.

I guess I’m a Home theater cheapskate in the sense that my 2 channel setup is at the other end of the spectrum. I do have What I think I a very good center (even though it was reasonably priced) the Elac Adante Ac61 on it’s dedicated stand.

millercarbon's "_________________amps are good until you hear another brand in the same space. Fill in the blank" is right on point. There is always something else.

The amps are descent for what you get for the price you pay.
  Own a pair of the older xpa-1 monobloc amps.

 Are they the most musical , nope, will they hand out goosebumps, nope.

will they play balls to the wall loud, and have low distortion, yup.
 They are great at what they are.
there is always something better, someone tougher, stronger, a faster car.

 Their customer service has declines a lot over the years, ol Dan laufman should be concerned about the fixing of stuff, before releasing more.  

Compare them to anything with the same price point and power, etc. and there really isn't much. Especially if you live far from any audio stores and have to research online magazine reviews - which by the way are all very good of Emotiva. 

Went from xpa 1l mono's to Parasound Halo Integrated different as night and day. Parasound a huge step up with Maggie 1.7 speakers.

@golferadam Maybe build up some credibility first. Before launching a troll post, that is.

@millercarbon 
I think ya nailed it. 

I currently have a couple pieces of Emotiva gear and have owned several others.  Excellent sound and no problems.

Quite nice if you ask me...

You get what you pay for...the brand is good enough for Home Theater applications. 

Best gear for the money but is pretty cold and hard on speakers if you accidentally clip. I have a pt 100/a 300 combo that has been pretty good.  Just got a McIntosh MA252 and the difference is profound... The mac is superb but also much more money. DG

I have two XPA-5 gen2 in a surround system and the sound is pretty good also for stereo.I don't use them for my stereo setup I have a Primaluna HP

I’m quite happy with my PA-1s powering GR Research X-LS Encores.

Emotiva is a fine first step into HT. Someone on a limited budget can get a decent setup. If I was looking for a processor in the entry level category I'd look at Outlaw. 

Hello,
As far as the amps go they are good for HT. I would say for surrounds and center channel only. If you use your HT setup for music I would not use for your mains. The surround processors cost way to much because they are linear and differential which is not necessary for surround. I believe the newer amps are class H which is good on power and controlling heat, but sound very sterile. I do use the two channel preamp XSP-2 and the separate DAC and they sound very nice with the right amp. I use a Marsh Sound Design HT500. It is very detailed and sounds warm like tubes even at very low volume. My speakers are Soliloquy 6.3s. The amps I tried were the top of the line fully linear and differential. XPA-3 Da. I returned it to emotiva. I like the XDA-2 dac used with balance cables to keep everything clean as a whistle. The preamp has a home theater bypass that lets you use your surround hot system with it and subwoofer management. I tell everyone, Test, Test, Test. That is the only way you will know. 

I don't have any of their amps yet. But I use their USP-1 & UMC-1 preamps with good results . I have had Counterpoint, McIntosh preamps that you would have a hard time saying one was better than the other. My son has a Emo amp with a Acurus pre and B&W speakers that he enjoys.

I heard um, have to light a fire to get um' warmed up, and then, well they still suck. A buddy that was deaf, I guess, thought they were the cats meow. Man could they spin a meter and still sound bad. I just don't care for them..I'd take an old Adcom over the one's I heard anyday..XPA, XPRs and the little ones. The problem with the Adcoms, DC offset. They will fry speakers, when they mess up, they had their problems too, leakey caps, cause the DC offset...Old news anyways..

Regards

My buddy goheelz...there is always one like you to starts with the name calling so maybe you are the troll.

I tried a few Emotiva amps and found them to be inexpensive amps that do inexpensive things well. I get tied of companies that sell their products as something they're not - that’s it. They use the word audiophile and I feel that this is misleading.

Can't speak about the amps but the new Emotiva ERC-4 CDP/DAC sounds rich and full in my system. 

I was buying some speakers off Craigs . Got to this guys house and he started giving me prices I knew were well under the market value for a Emotiva XSP-1 and Paradigm speakers as well . Also a NHT class D amp . I figured I could flip the gear so bought the whole lot . As I was walking out the door he threw a pair of almost new Audioquest speaker wires on the stack for free .
Long story short the Emotiva is getting some use in the main rig . It seems ruler flat and dead quiet , both attributes I like in a preamp . Think I paid $350 for it $1200 retail .

My main concern,
was,  and still is the high gain, of them, they made my tweeters have a slight hiss and more during quiet passages. 
 May have talked poorly in the past. ONLY for the poor customer service they have had in regards to sending in a warranty on a new CD player, and a b-stock CD player being sent to a bunch of people.
for a full price purchase, send out a new unit, not a b stock, or a repaired unit.  
 They make great starter stuff, or a great HT setup, as far as musical stuff, they are ok, and most will not notice, anything poor of their sound.  Most purchasers have never heard a Mac with b&w, or levinson with paradigm, etc etc......

for,those, it’s all cool, if emotiva makes you happy, with SEPERATES,  hell yes, enjoy!!
  I’ve come a long way since my first xpa-1 monos’
    Mine are boxed up and waiting to hand them down.

its very descent audio gear.  I’ve heard their speakers are great, and comparable to the Martin Logan series xt? 40’s and 60’s models, that is saying something!

their main issue is repair, customer service, warranty work, etc etc.  
which should be much better! Maybe they have changed in past few years, from what I’ve heard they need help in that department, for sure 

golferadam OP3 posts03-16-2020 2:28pmMy buddy goheelz...there is always one like you to starts with the name calling so maybe you are the troll.

Don't be shy put a name to it who's a friggin troll? I don't know what a troll is? I know people TROLL celebrities. We have any here? You know celebrities? Who's calling names? Emotiva's just sound BAD, to me
HT is not a big thing in my house, sorry guys' shell shocked. Booms and bangs I'm looking for cover. That's where I heard them, HT environment.
From my OLD Mac tube gear to Emotiva. Well let's just say, it (EMOTIVA) had a LONG way to go for my music lovin' ears. 

Comparing any Emotiva product to Mcintosh is like comparing a 64 VW beetle to a Rolls-Royce silver shadow. Suppose you could paint them the same color. ay? HAVE to have hearing loss. MUD comes to mind.
A lot of folks just can't hear the difference, simple. Sure less expensive no doubt.  No thanks..

I didn't dislike their CD players, or power conditioners. + 2 ay..
Speakers, I was running....Though nice looking..

Respectfully and with regard, I think...

Best gear for the money but is pretty cold and hard on speakers if you accidentally clip. I have a pt 100/a 300 combo that has been pretty good. Just got a McIntosh MA252 and the difference is profound... The mac is superb but also much more money. DG

Back in 2008 or 2009 they were best gear for the money, but a lot has happened since then( I bought their XPA-3 for $519, it was barely worth it sonically).  One, they have moved the majority of their assembly to the US, and therefore the prices have risen sharply.  Two, Schiit Audio has put out 2 amps that both smoke anything that Emotiva has put out.  Then there are a half dozen other start ups that make some very intriguing amps.

And of course, Adcom is still making new amps and I've now tried 3 of them.   Way cheaper than Emotiva's XPA line and with way better specs.  Very good sounding for the money.  Outlaw Audio's entry level multi channel amps are also stronger and with better specs.  

Bottom line, the marketplace changed and Emotiva is now just another option.  Dan L, owner of Emotiva, is a business guy first, not an audio guy first, and it shows.

I've got the XPA2's and the Gen 1 DAC with a Parrasound preamp and another of the 2ch Gen 1's.  Ok for the money.   The mono blocks can't drive my rebuilt AR9's.  Anything below 4 ohms ....trip.  Someday I would like to get some Bryston mono's but for now I'll have to try my recapped Hafler XL600's maybe in mono and see how it goes, I just hate the fans though.  lol. 

Emotiva has a really sweet sounding... company owner who touts it on You Tube.  I am not surprised that it is OK for home theater.  What isn't? 

Had an XPA2 and it was good. Just... good. Nothing to write home about, not very musical, just... there. Replaced it with a Bryston 2B and some others, including Anthem, vintage Samsung 9090, and a Peachtree amp. I settled on KEF LS50W powered speakers with a music server and am very happy. I do use some Schiit products too, which are sonically quite good. I also have a Emotiva CD player sitting in a closet gathering dust. 

Hi,  I also had an XPA2.  It was my first 'nice' stereo amp.  Replaced it with a Classe CA-2300 ex demo.  Wow.  Bye Bye Emotiva.  It was ok for the cost.  Yes the Parasound Halo also nice, a sweet spot in the market I think.  All of these are heavy...I have just heard the Mola Mola Kalugas.
My impression of class D has changed!

The Outlaw M200/M2000 monoblocks are better.  They are relatively musical.  But they do have a bit of grain blocking absolute transparency.  For the price, though, I think they are a real bargain.  Both for home theatre and for audio.

Emo isn't all to bad. I use to call it a poor man's stereo gear. With hi end fuses installed in them they opened up quite a bit. But of course the Emo is on contest with the higher end gear. I had them a moved on to better gear. I will say one thing about Emo I never had any problems with there gear for all the years I had them. 

I have a XPA2 driving my Maggies. For the price I don't think I could do much better. What I like about it is what Porcubunny is not crazy about. It's just there. Doesn't add or take away anything...just there. 

The only Emotiva gear that I have are their DACs. I currently have 3 Emotiva XDA-2 DACs in 3 different systems. I have been using them for over 5 years. They have a rich, detailed, engaging presentation in my systems. Over the years, I have tried several DACs costing up to 5x the price but haven't found any that I like better.

well, I have a Pass xa30.5 and while of course it sounds better than my xpa100 mono’s Guess what is running most of the time? My Emotiva’s. I run my main system daily at least 8 hrs . I’d say the Pass is run maybe 6 or 7 hrs a month on average. I could live without it.

I only have a Emotiva CD player.ERC-3  I love it well like alot ,lol.

I use the Emo XPA-3, XPA-5 for surround and ceiling speakers, XPA1L for center speaker, and Mac MC452 for front speakers. The Emo speakers are clean to handle surround speakers with no issue.

its the money the cost mid fi.  Good for films ,theater 
stuff.  But nothing inportant 

I think this is being unkind to Emotiva. I have 6 of their amps, ranging from XPA's (monoblock and 5 channel version), plus one of their low-cost BasX amps. Plus I have 3 of their XMC-1 processors. I also own their speakers and subwoofers (although not as my main system speakers).

So I'm kind of heavily invested in them. I have heard better, but only from a friend's custom built electronics. Their Stealth 8 powered monitors are truly spectacular (I use them as my computer system speakers both at home and work).

The processors are still being supported with firmware updates, and their service is second to none. I would certainly recommend them to anyone starting in this hobby. Try them, you may find they are all you need. I did :-).

I am 62 years old and have been in the hobby for 45+ years. Early on most of my systems were mass market and Mid-fi. An awful lot of Adcom, Yamaha, Hafler, Carver and B&K... went through my home and my systems. Now you are more likely to find Audio Research, Esoteric, Mark Levinson, McIntosh, Rogue Audio... As well as other high-end and boutique brands. I also play with vintage gear and modern high-value electronics as well. While I love my expensive electronics I get particular Joy from modern high value components that sound as good or nearly as good as the higher priced spread. These include Odyssey, Rotel, Marantz and Emotiva. I have owned and heard a number of Emotiva pieces. I find them to range from very good for the money to truly excellent! One of my best Audio buddies has the XDA-2 DAC in his main system. I have always found it to be engaging. I had the original XPA-2 amplifier. At the same time I had the Parasound Halo A-21 and a Mark Levinson 532H amplifier on hand as well. The  75 lb. EMO drove my KEF blade two speakers as well as any amplifier that I have owned (I currently use a Mac 452). I sold the Parasound and Levinson and kept the EMOTIVA. The fellow who purchased the EMOTIVA from me has more high end/exotic gear than anyone I know. He uses the XPA 2 On speakers that are difficult to drive. Every time I see him he tells me how much he loves that amplifier. More recently I had the BASX preamplifier and A-300 Amplifier in a spare bedroom system. They aquitted themselves well and even pinch-hit in the big rig for my Mac amp and preamp while they were away for a check up. Emotiva is today’s Adcom/Hafler. There is nothing wrong with that!

I have had many Emotiva and Sherbourn  products over the years and have enjoyed every one of them for the price paid.  I still use an xda-2 dac and a Sherborne CD-1 as my player.  It’s the one CD player that I have had that I do not feel the need to run through the dac.  I also have a Sherborn Pre-1 preamp which is basically a Emotiva Usp-1 without the bass crossover but does have excellent XLR outputs.  The remotes for all of them are some of the best made I’ve used.  i had a Xpa-200 amp as well as the Sherbourn 2-160.  Both were solid performers.  Say what you want but you generally have to spend a lot more than the cost of the Emotiva gear to actually see dramatic differences in sound quality. 

There is no way that Emotiva is today's Adcom or Hafler.  In at least Adcom's case, they were designed from the ground up by an audio god, Nelson Pass.  Emotiva?  Typically ordered from a factory in China, and then assembled in the US.  

The other idea expressed by Jax that you have to spend a lot more than Emotiva's prices to get dramatic differences in sound quality I must also take issue with.  Both of Schiit Audio's amps have far superior SQ than Emotiva and at 699 and 799 are cheaper than Emotiva's XPA line.  Adcom's current line up also measures quite a lot better than Emotiva's XPA line, albeit at somewhat higher prices.  Outlaw Audio's multi channel amps also measure better and sound better, take it from personal experience.

In fact there are several companies now making amps that challenge Emotiva's price/performance levels, and some of those are Class D designs.  I'll disclose that I was a true blue Emotiva fanboy, but got the shock of my young life when I swapped in a Parasound Halo amp.  Putting aside one's fanboyism is the first step in realizing the world is not Emotiva blue.

Well said!

Years ago I had a home cinema system entirely made by Emotiva, then I decided to also create a 2-channel audio system entirely Emotiva, with Klipsch speakers.
Shortly thereafter I understood how badly the Emotiva electronics sounded in terms of timbre correctness.
Needless to say, it was immense displeasure and I soon sold everything.

I have to say my experience with Emotiva has not been good. I am in the process of sending back my second sound processor.  This last one, the XMC-2 was used for less than 10 hours. A customer service representative suggested they were making a significant accommodation, above company policy, by sending me a UPS shipping label. My previous processor had difficulties recognizing my AppleTV. Hardly an obscure product for a home theater. The representative at Emotiva at the time, literally told me that if I wanted a product that would work right out of the box, I should consider one of the more commercial brands like Pioneer. I'm not joking. If anyone wants to buy an XMC-2 that will be coming directly from warranty repair, please DM me. I'm open to offers. Tired of dealing with this brand. I gave it more than one shot.