Emotiva XPA DR-2 Gen 3 Amp (AB output - input H)

I have two of the XPA-DR2 amps and have also had most of the big Emotiva previous generation monoblocks.  The Gen 3 sounds okay, but it is a bit fast and bright in the upper mids and highs. The bass is also somewhat thin.  Gen 3 doesn't use fuses so you can't do fuse upgrade.  I rebuilt most of my Gen 3 amps and added in 6 x 22,000 big caps on the power supply output.  This helped with the bass, but I still think the bass isn't as full/powerful as a big linear power supply.  It also still has a bit of a upper midrange glare.  I think most of this is due to the switching power supply.  The previous generation Emotiva are great platforms to work with if you are an amp modder.  If you're looking to just buy an amp at this price level, I would look at the Monoprice Monolith amps instead.

There's a uised ATI AT4002 on usaudiomart for $2000.  This is a better version of the Monoprice Monolith amp and it's not that much more than a Emotiva XPA-DR2.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and opinion. I know at some point, a big transformer amp will eventually end of life. Emotiva seems to be very new to audiophile community, their expertise is home audio theater, however, I really like the way they designed the amp and ideology.

I tried Emotiva about 6 years ago.  I found the sound very thin and hard sounding.  When I opened the unit up, there was a huge empty chassis with 3 small boards.  Power supply was a joke.  Emotiva is midfi that likes to pretend it is high end, only it is not. Once an Emotiva is out of warranty, they won’t repair it, so be warned.