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Re: Emm Dac 6e/DCC2 versus new Signature version

Posted by mikel (A) on May 2, 2006 at 06:41:35

In Reply to: Emm Dac 6e/DCC2 versus new Signature version posted by nevillekapadia on May 1, 2006 at 03:03:36:

OK, due to popular demand......below is the original post from the thread i openned on AudiogoN. to be perfectly honest; i have no idea why it was any big deal.....or why the thread was deleted. i have done further listening comparisons with particular attention to redbook and my conclusions are very consistent.

*************

sorry guys. after 8 hours on Sunday i was just not in the mood to sit down and get into this Sunday night. i had planned on doing this when i got home last night; the OWMBO (one who must be obeyed) had a different plan. my daughter is getting married in a month and it was determined that we needed to talk about that last night.

so the whole digital audio world was put on hold while i talked to my wife and daughter.

wadaya gonna do?

anyway; Alex and his wife arrived at 'the barn' about 11 am on Sunday morning......they had started driving from Fremont about 11 pm Saturday night. Alex came bearing a gift.....an unopened bottle of 12 year old single malt Macallan Scotch which was deposited in the pantry as Alex was going to be driving back that same night.

my friend 'Bud', a fellow EMM Labs owner, arrived a few minutes later. we determined that the first order of business was to compare the EMM Labs Signature DAC6e to the original DAC6.

the setup; both the DAC6e Signature and DAC6 were sitting on my Grand Prix Audio rack......on Formula Selves with identical foam compliance pads. both DAC6's had identical Jena Labs Fundamental power cords plugged into the same Jena Labs duplex outlet. to switch outputs i unplugged my 1 meter XLR Valhalla from one DAC6 to the other. i had set up the original DAC6 the night before and had it run all night to make sure it was fully warmed up for this comparison.

we did plug Alex's ALPHiFi Denon for warm up as soon as he showed up so later it would be fully warmed up.

back to the EMM Labs.

our original plan was to play one CD sampler disc and one SACD sampler disc and then quickly switch. we started down this road first with the Signature DAC6e and CDSD. we played a few cuts on the CD sampler; i then decided to add a couple other CD's including classical piano and small string quartet. we then played the SACD sampler and finally i added one more SACD; 'Sempre Libera'; by Anna Netrebko. this is a collection of Arias.

track 11 on this disc ("Ardon gli incensi" by Donizetti) has become probabaly my most played demo track. it is a very dynamic and open aria that features great singing and a glass harmonica that gives a system absolutely no place to hide.

Anna's crystal clear soprano will expose anything less than natural neutrality, smooth mid and upper treble and total clarity. there are a few moments where the glass harmonica seems suspended in space; any veils are exposed by restricting the texture and clarity of the glass harmonica. both Anna's voice and the glass harmonica can sound hard, rough or edgy if the system and digital player is lacking.

to be honest; for the rest of the day this 'track 11' became the test that we used to compare. if you have not heard this i highly recommend it......it is great music anyway but extremely useful to easily hear differences; and particularly differences that make lots of difference in long term listening satisfaction.....at least to me.

my personal sonic priorities start with 'veils removed while retaining naturalness' as most important. i want my gear to get out of the way and allow the music to flow with the least gear signature as possible while always sounding natural. "natural vividness" might describe it. others might want a bit of warmth or lushness; or maybe richness would be a better way to describe it. i have no problem with that approach as long as 'blurring' the clarity is not part of picture.

the DAC6e was better than the DAC6. the Signature had a lower noise floor; had better clarity and texture. there was more a sense of Anna standing there in front of me. the glass harmonica seemed to come to life and pulsate with texture and clarity. not that the DAC6 was not satisfying; it's just that the DAC6e Signature seemed to go further down that road..

i don't want to speak for 'Bud' or Alex; but to me it was obvious.

we then replaced the old DAC6 with Alex's Denon. the Denon was in the same place the old DAC6 had been and since it weighed about the same we used the same compliance pads and the same power cord. i did take the RCA Valhalla off my tt and use it for this comparison as Alex's Denon does not have XLR outputs and the DAC6e Signature does have RCA outputs.

we had decided to first compare the APL Denon with the EMM Labs Signature combo with the Denon used as a digital source and play it thru the darTZeel preamp. we played "track 11" thru both digital sources.

we all agreed that the EMM Labs had more detail. i preferred the EMM Labs as less veiled and more real. the APL Denon was simply not as open on top and as 'there' as the EMM Labs. Anna's voice had more definition and texture. the glass harmonica popped out more and was more real and alive sounding. i was more involved with the EMM Labs.

i will not speak for Don or Alex as far as their opinions beyond this. there is no doubt that the APL Denon is a very good digital source and a great value.

i'm keeping my EMM Labs.

we then moved the APL Denon to between my speakers and used it without a preamp directly into my darTZeel amps. there was a slight degree of improvement in clarity in this configuration from the APL Denon and likely a bit more dynamics too. this is likely the ideal way to use the APL Denon.

it was now about 2 pm.

my friend Bud then left and a few minutes later my friend Ted and his wife showed up. a word about Ted; he is very knowledgeable about digital audio design. he has designed DAC's and digital audio workstations.....and is also an EMM Labs owner. Ted owns 3000 SACD's......yes THREE THOUSAND SUPER AUDIO CEE DEE's.

anyway; we went thru the same drill with essentially the same results......except; Ted felt like there was less difference between the DAC6e Signature and DAC6.

this was what we thought on Sunday afternoon.

in the last hour tonight i have again gone back and forth twice on this same comparison to be sure of my perceptions. i hear more clarity and textural nuance from the DAC6e Signature......i hear farther into the soundstage with the DAC6e Signature......and things are a bit more effortless with the DAC6e Signature. but to be clear; the DAC6 is still pretty damn good.

based on my earlier comparison on Sunday i had said to Alex that the old DAC6 might not be as good as the APL Denon.....based on my more recent listening i would need to modify that to say that i clearly prefer the old DAC6 to Alex's Denon......based on my personal sonic priorities.

we did the same comparison for Ted with the APL Denon that we did with Bud; if anything Ted leaned stronger toward the EMM Labs than Bud.

I want to mention what a ‘class act’ Alex was. He was open and non-defensive about his Denon. He never forced his perspective and was content to sit back and allow this process to go forward. At one point we played some vinyl. I don’t want to speak for Alex but he indicated that he was impressed. he might have said something like ‘wow’ or maybe a little more.

at about 6 pm Alex and his wife said their goodbyes and drove off for California. Ted left with his wife an hour later.

it had been a long day; i felt the tug of the Macallan but instead went in to see the wife.

i hope this helps.

**************

thanks to 'Shokunin' on AudiogoN for saving my post and sending it to me.

if i may (and here on the wild and wooley audioasylum i guess i may if i damn well please to) i would like to add an e-mail response i made to this question that further focuses my perceptions.

**************

As far as the difference; it is as I posted.

First; I have not listened to a Signature Edition of the DCC2 so I can't comment on that except that I would expect it to be on par with the Signature Edition of the DAC6e.

The difference between the DAC6e SE and the original DAC6 is subtle only in the fact that the original DAC6 is pretty darn good.....it has been the best digital for the last 4 years. So the SE and original versions are not night and day different. OTOH there are important differences that mainly have to do with noise floor and improved naturalness. These differences result in hearing farther into the music, better bass articulation and better clarity. Piano's have more textural nuance, voices are less veiled, horns are more seamless and smoother. Everything is more analogue sounding.

These differences are consistent on SACD and Redbook.

As I listen to the SE edition longer the differences do jump out at me. I 'get' it. I originally went back and forth maybe twenty times between the two on all kinds of music and identified the differences. Now I am listening to the SE version and it is easy for me to hear the differences in how much more involved in the music I am.

Some might call the upgrade slight, some might call it clear......i would call it significant but not dramatic. It is simply farther down the same road and more refined.

If you never did the upgrade you should still feel that the original DCC2 is a fantastic DAC. But it can be a bit (or a big bit) better. In the context of my system it was easily worth it to me.

******************

please understand that my perspective is that these perceptions are just one person's perspective and everyone needs to draw their own conclusions.

mikel

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