Emotiva XSP-1 Pre-amp

No experience with this pre, but a friend of mine has their UMC-200 prepro and is not thrilled with it. It had problems that required him to send it back to the company to fix (which they did), and the interface was overly complicated and not very user friendly (and he's very tech savvy, but this may not apply to a 2-channel pre as much). This is just one data point and may not be representative of all Emotiva preamps, but the UMC-200 doesn't seem like a polished product and just something to keep in mind as you explore options. Best of luck.

Thanks Soix. Hope there will be some reviews soon.

I just set up my UMC-200 and I will say off the top I am very pleased in particular with the SQ.
I agree on difficulty with the menus. I've had a lot of gear over the years, some with rather involved setups, etc. but this one has to be one of the more unfriendly interfaces I've had to deal with.
There are only 2 "official" published reviews at this stage, and no one mentions any issue with navigating the menus.
I will just say the end result was worth the frustration in the end.
Mine is teamed with an Emotiva XPA-5 and this was a marriage meant to be made.
The step up from a nice Onkyo Receiver in the role of a pre/processor was noticeable right away.
If you need a lot control over video signals, and would not be happy with a processor that only switches out what video you give it (and does so faithfully), this may not be your processor.

I own this preamp. At the moment, I sent four E-mails to Emotiva because the preamps balanced inputs seem to bypass the tape monitor loop/processor loop and I can find nothing in Emotivas on-line quick owners manual that addresses this, and Emotiva has not responded to any of my E-mails. Emotiva keeps refering to a full version owners manual on their site which does not exist. As far as the sound goes, if you are used to tube preamps, you will quickly notice that this is an solid state preamp. Somewhat grainy, bright, and flat sounding. Its bass does not match that of my YS Audio A2SE preamp. In fact, it sounds rather thin compared to my YS Audio preamp and what I remembered from the sound quality of the tubes4hifi SP14 preamp I owned not too long ago. I like the features of the Emotiva preamp, but all that for just $899.00, and high sound quality too????? No, not happening. At least not in this case. I have never seen a company that has been more of a mess than Emotiva. They keep changing the dates of availability of some of their gear. They sell there customers products which were not ready to be released. It seems as if they are using there customers as beta testers.

Hi audionut

Have you tried posting your XSP-1 preamp questions in Emotiva's Lounge/Forum. Maybe there can be some people there who can help you with your problems with the XSP-1. Emotiva employees check there periodically and are more than willing to help.