I too have been very happy with my Essence XLR on my EMC-1 MkII. I'm now trying SPM as well, and am curious as to which I will prefer. I am initially very impressed by SPM's more transparent portrayal of transients and leading edges, and without leanness (like my old Red Dawn). We'll see...I'll resell one or the other after Xmas, I suspect.
Cheers.
Cheers.