musichal
poet emeritus
Well, last night about midnight, Christine and I decided to replace the FM-defunct Adcom GTP-450 in the bedroom with the new Emotiva. On my way back there to supervise the task, I fell. Hard. Slammed my already-challenged spleen against the edge of an end table, my right shin against the walker I was using, which fell right along with me, and doubled back all the smaller toes of my left foot. This rather trivial event had a quelling effect on our determination to connect the Emotiva Preamp/DAC/Tuner at that time, so...
Fast forward to now. Today I dragged my bruised and battered body back to the bedroom, along with the dastardly walker (even now I'm eyeing it with suspicion) along with Christine and we got the preamp set in place and correctly connected. So, this initial report is a preliminary one, with a full review to follow in a couple days or so, when I'll have had more listening time.
Some of you may recall that I recently bought the more expensive XSP-1 Generation 2 preamp, which I love, but which I highly criticized for it's thin blue display characters that are very difficult (impossible for me) to read across the room. I'm happy to report that for this new, more basic model that Emotiva listened to me and made the characters on this much bolder, and easy to read across the room - Emotiva even sent me a note admitting that it was my AK review of the XSP-1.2 that led to the improvement, which of course is only a damn lie I just made up.
But I'm happy with the display. For $299 you don't get a metal remote control, but the plastic one is not of the credit-card size, which I hate. The buttons have good tactile feedback, and the size and shape fit the hand well. Few buttons, which is fine by me. Three digital inputs, two line-level unbalanced analog inputs, and a phono input with a switch on the rear to set gain for either MC or MM cartridges, and the built-in FM-only tuner comprise all source selections, which cannot be chosen directly, but requires switching sequentially through them. At least they allow this in either direction, so once you get used to it you'll learn the quickest route.
The menu is a little bit awkward, but not really. Pretty straightforward - most readers here could figure it out without instructions. But you press Menu and navigate the few choices with left, right, up, down buttons on the remote, or with front panel buttons if you prefer. So it takes two or three presses to adjust bass, treble or balance - controls I really don't use, so they could be much more difficult to access and I wouldn't care. I did have a little difficulty with FM presets, but still figured it out w/o the manual. It does come with a printed manual in regular English.
There are not a lot of bells and whistles. In addition to the Main outputs, there are a pair of "summed mono" (L+R) outputs labeled Sub, without filtering as they figure your subwoofer will have its own filters, thus saving money and avoiding redundancy. I like that approach for this basic component - put the money where it counts, which is the line's raison detre'. BasX, pronounced Basics.
Which brings us finally to sound quality. Emotiva has a knack for offering very good SQ for the money. I view the brand much like I did NAD 25 years, or so, ago. More? Time flies. But back when NAD made splashes with their xx20 series, like the 3020 integrated, or 1020 preamp, etc. High value units offering very good performance.
Except that Emotiva is better, even quieter than those early NADs, though I won't and can't say that their phono section is better, because I wouldn't know, and NAD put a lot into those sections. No table, no vinyl anymore at my house - requires too much up-and-down for me, though I do miss having Thorens turntables. Someone else must report on the RIAA input.
The sound with CD via coax is dynamic and deep. I use dual subwoofers back there (and so appreciated the dual outputs), and bass is very clean and impressive. It isn't a warm preamp, though. I think it neutral. Initial impressions are that it sounds better than the Adcom GTP-450 which it replaced, which, admittedly, did not set the bar extremely high anyway. But I'll need more listening time to go much further than that.
The unbalanced inputs are extremely quiet, as well. So far, I'm very happy with the purchase, and have no major criticism of sound, function, or appearance. The chassis feels substantial, not flimsy, and is made of metal, with a thick black-finish aluminum face. The more I use Emotiva products, the more I like blue circles. The company's goal of offering excellent SQ at affordable prices for this BasX line appears, thus far to me, a remarkable success.
Finally, the tuner. Color me impressed. Reception in our bedroom is horrible. I've had an NAD 4130 back there that has always been a pretty decent tuner, but even the strongest FM stations came in with some noise, whether using a folded dipole or rabbit ears. Other tuners fared no better there. The dipole was put on a different system long ago, because the rabbit ears beat it. However, someone who I shall not name but whose initials are Christine managed somehow to break off one ear recently even though it sits atop a 7' high cabinet.
Even with a one-eared rabbit, the Emotiva hears more stations more cleanly than did the NAD. Plus, I can change stations now from my seat - and I do enjoy listening to FM, ever since I put the Kenwood KT-615 in the guest bedroom. Again, more listening and a better antenna are required but even the built-in tuner seems pretty good so far. More to come later.
Fast forward to now. Today I dragged my bruised and battered body back to the bedroom, along with the dastardly walker (even now I'm eyeing it with suspicion) along with Christine and we got the preamp set in place and correctly connected. So, this initial report is a preliminary one, with a full review to follow in a couple days or so, when I'll have had more listening time.
Some of you may recall that I recently bought the more expensive XSP-1 Generation 2 preamp, which I love, but which I highly criticized for it's thin blue display characters that are very difficult (impossible for me) to read across the room. I'm happy to report that for this new, more basic model that Emotiva listened to me and made the characters on this much bolder, and easy to read across the room - Emotiva even sent me a note admitting that it was my AK review of the XSP-1.2 that led to the improvement, which of course is only a damn lie I just made up.
But I'm happy with the display. For $299 you don't get a metal remote control, but the plastic one is not of the credit-card size, which I hate. The buttons have good tactile feedback, and the size and shape fit the hand well. Few buttons, which is fine by me. Three digital inputs, two line-level unbalanced analog inputs, and a phono input with a switch on the rear to set gain for either MC or MM cartridges, and the built-in FM-only tuner comprise all source selections, which cannot be chosen directly, but requires switching sequentially through them. At least they allow this in either direction, so once you get used to it you'll learn the quickest route.
The menu is a little bit awkward, but not really. Pretty straightforward - most readers here could figure it out without instructions. But you press Menu and navigate the few choices with left, right, up, down buttons on the remote, or with front panel buttons if you prefer. So it takes two or three presses to adjust bass, treble or balance - controls I really don't use, so they could be much more difficult to access and I wouldn't care. I did have a little difficulty with FM presets, but still figured it out w/o the manual. It does come with a printed manual in regular English.
There are not a lot of bells and whistles. In addition to the Main outputs, there are a pair of "summed mono" (L+R) outputs labeled Sub, without filtering as they figure your subwoofer will have its own filters, thus saving money and avoiding redundancy. I like that approach for this basic component - put the money where it counts, which is the line's raison detre'. BasX, pronounced Basics.
Which brings us finally to sound quality. Emotiva has a knack for offering very good SQ for the money. I view the brand much like I did NAD 25 years, or so, ago. More? Time flies. But back when NAD made splashes with their xx20 series, like the 3020 integrated, or 1020 preamp, etc. High value units offering very good performance.
Except that Emotiva is better, even quieter than those early NADs, though I won't and can't say that their phono section is better, because I wouldn't know, and NAD put a lot into those sections. No table, no vinyl anymore at my house - requires too much up-and-down for me, though I do miss having Thorens turntables. Someone else must report on the RIAA input.
The sound with CD via coax is dynamic and deep. I use dual subwoofers back there (and so appreciated the dual outputs), and bass is very clean and impressive. It isn't a warm preamp, though. I think it neutral. Initial impressions are that it sounds better than the Adcom GTP-450 which it replaced, which, admittedly, did not set the bar extremely high anyway. But I'll need more listening time to go much further than that.
The unbalanced inputs are extremely quiet, as well. So far, I'm very happy with the purchase, and have no major criticism of sound, function, or appearance. The chassis feels substantial, not flimsy, and is made of metal, with a thick black-finish aluminum face. The more I use Emotiva products, the more I like blue circles. The company's goal of offering excellent SQ at affordable prices for this BasX line appears, thus far to me, a remarkable success.
Finally, the tuner. Color me impressed. Reception in our bedroom is horrible. I've had an NAD 4130 back there that has always been a pretty decent tuner, but even the strongest FM stations came in with some noise, whether using a folded dipole or rabbit ears. Other tuners fared no better there. The dipole was put on a different system long ago, because the rabbit ears beat it. However, someone who I shall not name but whose initials are Christine managed somehow to break off one ear recently even though it sits atop a 7' high cabinet.
Even with a one-eared rabbit, the Emotiva hears more stations more cleanly than did the NAD. Plus, I can change stations now from my seat - and I do enjoy listening to FM, ever since I put the Kenwood KT-615 in the guest bedroom. Again, more listening and a better antenna are required but even the built-in tuner seems pretty good so far. More to come later.
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