Digital Processor Reviews

... spend $30,000 on this device when a Benchmark DAC3 HGC provides "state-of-the-art" performance for a mere $2,195.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/benchmark-dac3-hgc-da-preamplifier-headphone-amplifier-measurements

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the strokes.

Stereophile's policy is to review only piece of equipment at a time, and to keep everything else constant in our reference systems. Otherwise, we can never tell for certain what is creating the sound we're hearing. Without the EMM OptiLink or an EMM transport, I'm afraid I cannot perform this comparison.

jason

I sense no disrespect, and appreciate your comment. Your concerns are valid. Please note:

1. The dCS Network Bridge has been reviewed by me—the review is online—and is an integral part of my system. There is nothing unfamiliar about it at all to me. It is the most transparent way to get files into a DAC that I have available to me. It's a really wonderful product that I use virtually every time I'm in my music room (which is almost every day).

2. Roon has been my preferred music software for quite some time. I've compared its sound on computer to Audirvana Plus - I've given up on Amarra because its search engine stinks - and Roon trumps it easily. You can't play back files through Roon and feed them directly into the EMM Labs DV2 without using a computer, music server, or bridge such as the dCS Network Bridge.

3. I have reviewed the Aurender A10, and was thus familiar with Aurender's software and basic sound. The N10 has better sound than my MacBook Pro. It has been reviewed by us. It made absolute sense to use it. In fact, I have written a follow-up about the N10's sound.

4. I experimented with three different ways of getting files into the DV2: computer, music server, and bridge. Trust me (or don't trust me), there was a lot of listening involved in this review. I ended up with pages and pages of notes, and hauled lots of equipment back and forth. Contemplating the cable changes alone might have been enough to send someone into a tailspin.

I spent a huge amount of time with the DV2, which is now with me on loan to use in future reviews because I think it sounds so good. Because my best source for feeding it files is the Network Bridge, which doesn't have a USB out, I limit my files to 192 PCM or DSD64, and forego playing MQA. I can listen to / review the rest using the Rossini v2.0 DAC. (My follow-up that discusses Rossini v2.0 will appear in a later issue of the magazine.)

If you ever get to the PNW, search me out. I've had members of the Pacific Northwest Audio Society here on multiple occasions, and have now become audiophile buddies with several PNWAS members. It's a good thing.

Thanks, Ryan.

Thanks for reading my reviews and valuing my opinion.

All my reviews are assigned by Stereophile's new editor, Jim Austin. He can certainly contemplate a review of EMM's CD/SACD transport, which I'd be happy to undertake.

EMM Labs does not have a streamer available, as far as I can tell.

Yes, each company uses a different protocol. CH Precision and dCS (amongst others) use or are contemplating using dual AES for hi-rez files, and base their products on that protocol; others use USB. There are also two different ethernet protocols. Each protocol has its advantages. Some products are Roon Endpoints, while others are not. Some products decode MQA, but not all. And some companies use proprietary links which only work within their family of products. Life is not simple.

We all do what we can do, in the best way we know how. Well, at least some of us. I certainly strive to.