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Music in the Round #85: Nimitra, exaSound, Baetis, Roon Recordings in the Round

Sidebar 2: Recordings in the Round

Langgaard: Music of the Spheres, At the End of Time, From the Deep
Inger Dam-Jensen, soprano; Hetna Regitze Bruun, mezzo-soprano; Peter Lodahl, tenor; Johan Reuter, bass; Danish National Concert Choir & Vocal Ensemble & Symphony Orchestra; Thomas Dausgaard, conductor
DaCapo 6.220535 (SACD/CD). 2010. TT: 72

This recording was released in 2010, but I was reminded of it when I discovered the even older recording of Rued Langgaard's Messis (2 SACD/CDs, DaCapo 6.220528-29). That and his opera Antikrist, also recorded by the…

A Video Tour of AudioQuest

Before the Los Angeles Audio Show, I spent a few days in southern California, and was able to schedule a visit to AudioQuest's massive facility in Irvine. In this video, Bryan Long (VP Operations), accompanied by Joe Harley's dog Pumpkin, gives a condensed version of his usual tour, which is normally well over an hour.

This is a time-lapse of a pair of AudioQuest Rocket 33 speaker cables being made. In real time, the process took nearly 30 minutes; this version is accelerated by 730%, and is very satisfying to watch (for me, at least). We hope to capture more components being…

The Los Angeles Percussion Quartet Moves <I>Beyond</I>

Imagine almost 86 minutes of superbly recorded percussion in which the traditional notions of steady beat, driving rhythms, and attention-catching melody rarely take center stage. Welcome to Beyond, a mind-bending /time-distorting three-disc percussion tour de force from Sono Luminus on which the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet plays a dazzling array of percussion as it explores the eloquence and beauty of color, texture, sustain and decay.

Recorded in DXD (24/352.8k), Beyond is available as either a hi-rez download in multiple formats, including DSD, or as a three-disc album that includes…

Music in the Round #96: Roon & Dolby Atmos Page 2

Bit-perfect playback of multichannel files at all bitrates up to 24/352.8 PCM or DSD256 was just fine. When I asked the Nucleus+ to downsample 24/352.8 to 24/192 or DSD256 to DS64, as one might do to accommodate a particular DAC, I got messages ranging from "2x" to "4x," indicating that it had little in reserve. Upsampling, too, seemed to drain the tank, more with upsampling from DSD to DSD256 than from 44.1/48kHz to 192kHz PCM. Upsampling from 44.1kHz PCM to DSD256 was just managed as continuous play, with a headroom indication of just under "2x," but 48kHz PCM to DSD256 was unstable, with…

Meitner on the EMM DV2, DSD, MQA, & Digital Audio

Imagine my surprise while I was preparing my review of the EMM Labs DV2 D/A processor in this issue, EMM Labs' manager of production and social media, Amadeus Meitner, informed me that what I'd thought would be a one-on-one chat with his father, EMM Labs founder and CEO Ed Meitner, would also involve himself and EMM's managing engineer of the past 15 years, Mariusz Pawlicki. Once all three had come to the phone, however, information flowed more or less smoothly. My first question was what makes the DV2 special?

Ed Meitner: It sounds good. At the end of the day, that's what matters. Rarely…

EMM Labs DV2 D/A processor

For years, I've attended audio shows at which the Canadian company EMM Labs, either on its own or in conjunction with Kimber Kable and IsoMike, has displayed some of the grandest, most impressive-sounding multichannel systems I've ever heard. When everything was aligned properly, as it was at the 2018 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, the sound was breathtaking.

When Shahin Al Rashid, EMM Labs' extremely knowledgeable and longtime director of sales, offered for review the just-released DV2 digital-to-analog converter ($30,000), the dogs and I eagerly welcomed him to our home in Port Townsend,…

EMM Labs DV2 D/A processor Page 2

Once I'd loaded the N10 with all the tracks I expected to listen to for this review, I again faced two choices. First, I could use the N10's USB output, which, as the DV2's USB input operates in the asynchronous mode, would allow the DAC to act as the master clock and let me take full advantage of the DV2's playback options. Second, I could use its RCA and AES/EBU outputs, which Aurender's US tech-support person, Ari Margolis, assured me were the sonic jewels in its crown. He explained by phone: "Both the N10's AES and S/PDIF outputs are superior to its USB because the former are both…

EMM Labs DV2 D/A processor Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Two-channel D/A processor. Digital inputs: AES/EBU, 2 coax S/PDIF, 2 TosLink S/PDIF, EMM Optilink (for SACD/CD playback), USB Class 2. Formats supported: via USB, PCM up to 24-bit/384kHz (DXD), DSD up to 128 (DSDx2), MQA decoding/rendering; via AES/EBU, coax, TosLink, PCM up to 24/192, DSD64; via EMM Optilink, PCM up to 24/44.1, DSD. Analog outputs: 1 pair single-ended (RCA); 1 pair balanced (XLR). Maximum output levels: 8.04 or 7.22V (+20.3/19.4dBu), balanced; 4.02 or 3.61V (+14.3/13.4dBu), unbalanced. Output impedance; RCA), 150 ohms, balanced;…

EMM Labs DV2 D/A processor Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Digital Sources: dCS Vivaldi DAC & Network Bridge & Scarlatti clock; Aurender N10 music server; Apple 2017 MacBook Pro computer with 2.8GHz Intel i7, SSD, 16GB RAM; Intel NUC7i7BNH with 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, running Roon; Linksys routers with two sets TP-Link gigabit Ethernet media converters, multimode duplex fiber-optic cables, Small Green Computer linear power supply; external hard drives, SS USB sticks, iPad Pro.
Power Amplifiers: Dan D'Agostino Master Systems Progression monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties Alexia 2.
…

EMM Labs DV2 D/A processor Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

I measured the EMM Labs DV2 using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"), using the Audio Precision's AES/EBU digital output—unlike JVS, I had no problems with this input—and USB data sourced from my MacBook Pro running on battery power, with Pure Music 3.0 playing WAV and AIFF test-tone files.

Apple's USB Prober utility identified the EMM processor as "DV2 Reference DAC with MQA Decoder" from "EMM Labs," with the serial number "LAB0012." The DV2's USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode. Apple's…