Digital Processor Reviews

Among the many reasons to be grateful for audio shows (footnote 1), one stands out: They allow me to set reasonable expectations of what components and whole audio systems can or cannot achieve. They have helped me set standards.

Name your component: I've heard enough of them in every price range to know what's cutting edge, what's good, and what's barely (if at all) living up to its marketing promises (footnote 2). Although these days I mainly cover the higher priced spread, when I encounter a component that costs considerably less yet delivers most or all that I've come to expect from high five- and six-figure equipment, I know it's worth cheering about.

More than five years have passed since I evaluated the original, Canada-made DV2 D/A converter ($30,000 in 2019) from EMM Labs. Since then, I've heard it and other top DACs—many of them at audio shows; some in my reference system—and my appreciation for what the original DV2 could deliver has only increased.

At first, I found the DV2's presentation darker than that of my reference dCS gear, yet its bass was at least as strong as the original dCS Vivaldi's bass. Though the two DACs sounded different, both were musically satisfying. Somewhere along the line, EMM Labs made some changes to the DV2 that brought more light into its sound. Then came changes to its USB interface that improved sound quality with data input through that port. With each upgrade, my appreciation deepened. If given the opportunity to live with the DV2 long term, only a fool would reject it.

Now arrive two new components, the DV2's twin successors: the DV2i, an "integrated" stereo D/A converter with a software-driven, high-resolution digital volume control, and the subject of this review, the DA2i, a straight D/A with no volume control. Both cost $35,000.

Because EMM Labs wanted me to evaluate the Roon Ready streaming potential of their new DAC, plus its volume control, the company's original intention was to submit the DV2i for review . Alas, those plans were foiled by Roon's notoriously slow certification process (footnote 3).

Instead, EMM Labs supplied the model that had already received "Roon Ready" certification, the DA2i. EMM Labs tells me that, save for the volume control, the DV2i and DA2i contain exactly the same components. When the DV2i's volume control is bypassed, and it's used with an external preamp, the two models' DACs sound exactly alike.

Under the hood
The DA2i/DV2i is EMM Labs' flagship streaming D/A converter. Among its outstanding features are EMM Labs' proprietary, discrete, dual-differential D/A converters, dubbed "MDAC2," which render everything as very high-rate (16×) DSD; a newly designed folded cascode class-A analog output stage; and a network streaming system with its own isolated power supply. The DAC supports, at the input, DSD, 2×DSD, and MQA (and PCM of course), and it integrates with streaming platforms including Roon, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Qobuz, Deezer, and V-Tuner.

"Everything inside, from digital input to analog output, has been changed," Amadeus ("Deus") Meitner said at the start of a Zoom chat involving him, company founder (and Deus's father) Ed Meitner, and longtime Director of Sales Shahin Al Rashid. "That includes the FPGA inside the DAC that dictates how the bits are introduced to the D/A conversion process and, on Ed's side, the nalog output stage. The really big development—the thing that you're probably hearing straight away when you listen—is the result of fine-tuning Ed's brand-new analog output circuit.

"Ed is using a folded cascode design that he developed. It derives from his work on the MTRS and MTRX V2 amplifiers, as well as the DS-EQ1 V2 optical equalizer. A folded cascode is a really fast analog circuit that normally is used in high-frequency applications including computer-controlled automobile engines. It yields greater bandwidth. [It] can go up to the megahertz spectrum and handle high-frequency clock signals without trouble."

Ed, who remained silent during much of the interview but spiced up the dialog with priceless droll commentary and wry observations, said that the new design has a much simpler audio path that yields much less total harmonic distortion (THD), more transparency, better front-to-back definition, better bass, and better measurements.

"You want as much analog bandwidth as you can get out of the circuitry," he said. "You also want to move noise out far beyond 20kHz so it doesn't come into the picture. So, the digital process and analog process hang together. One wouldn't be any good without the other."

Deus noted that EMM Labs designs its own DAC circuit because doing so gives them the freedom to marry it perfectly with their new analog output stage. This approach gives them the flexibility needed to move the performance closer to the "perfect" sound they aspire to.

Ed insisted that neither technological breakthroughs nor magic were responsible for what he accomplished. "A transistor is a transistor; a FET is a FET," he said. "The technologies we employed were always available, but the gains always depend upon how technologies are applied. We used it before, but not with the same extended bandwidth and processing that we have now.

"Every digital circuit in the DSD realm has analog problems, including jitter. I look at those kinds of things, but most of the effort goes into the more complex part of the actual analog output amplifier/filter.

I keep the circuit as simple as possible. Its open-loop performance has bandwidth well beyond the audio range. That means that the closed loop performance is going to be good. There really isn't much more to say about it."

Deus noted that EMM Labs' special switching power supply, described as "proprietary high-isolation resonant mode" PS, has been revamped to lower noise and improve linearity. "Our previous power supply was used successfully for the better part of 20 years," he said. "The new one, which is even more stable and efficient, was designed with the DA2i/DV2i's analog stage, digital stage, and new built-in streamer in mind. We have separate isolated power supply lines ... that go to each stage in the DAC. This improves the separation of the digital and analog stages, making them akin to little islands connected by little telegraph poles."

And then there's that USB interface. "During the DA2/DV2's lifetime, we examined and improved the unit's USB interface to the level that it currently operates. The USB interface we now use offers better isolation from the source. We also increased isolation in our network streaming protocol. Ninety percent of our customers now use either the USB or Ethernet inputs almost exclusively. This was a big part of our redesign of the DAC's input stage and FPGA architecture. The latter handles all the incoming data and dictates what to do with it.

"We also significantly improved the unit's internal asynchronous clock, which we now call the MCLK3." The company's website says that the clock reduces jitter to "industry-defying levels." Deus said it "improved the texture of the sound." Time and again, manufacturers, engineers, and company reps I've interviewed have stressed that the volume controls in their D/A converters are analog. When I told Ed I was surprised to learn that the DV2i's volume control is digital, he replied, "The bits in the system are digital, so they can be changed. The old saying about volume controls was that for every 6dB, you lose a bit. But in the DSD/one-bit world, we're talking about millions of bits every second. We take advantage of that to change them and reshape noise. We don't really lose anything.

"There's a lot you can do in the one-bit world that would be difficult in the PCM world. Because our volume control operates in the one-bit world, it runs on speed rather than on intensity or depth. PCM users want their 24 bits, and I want my 5MHz and my 12MHz. If you take one bit and know the value of it, and you repeat that one bit millions of times, you can make a very fine interpolation."

At conversation's end, Deus summed matters up thusly: "Because of the number of advancements we've made inside the unit, I consider it a whole new product (footnote 4).

"We always do things our own way. Ed does things his own way, and Mariusz Pawlicki, who works on the digital end of components, does things his way. Ultimately, we're able to massage things individually and link them together into what we consider, in comparison with the previous iteration of the product, an advancement of the state of the art, and a masterpiece."

Talk about a comment destined to raise eyebrows! I determined to put that claim to the test.

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Footnote 1: This does not alter the reality that there are too many audio shows in the US these days, with more added every year.

Footnote 2: With one exception: I mostly leave coverage of analog products to writers who review them.

Footnote 3: The EMM Labs website will let us know when the DV2i receives "Roon Ready" certification, which is expected by the time you read this.

Footnote 4: EMM Labs continues its long-standing tradition of offering upgrade programs for current DA2 V2 and DV2 owners. The "Performance Upgrade" ($8000) includes replacing the DAC modules (MDAC), Clock (MCLK3), folder-cascode analog output stage, and power supply. It provides most of the new DAC's benefits but retains the "old" look and features. The "Full Upgrade" ($14,000) also includes new fascia, a new rear panel, a new input stage with included streamer and improved isolation to the USB and network interfaces, and the new FPGA architecture. It ensures that the DAC operates to its full "i" series potential.