EMM LABS TSD1/DAC2

EXT10.01.2011

Digital sources

Just to make sure that I was not just dreaming I used a mid-priced CD player to see whether there could be such a difference between two digital players. It was, the sound became detached, uninspiring and orchestral fortissimo turned to sonic mess without any resolution. The EMM Labs justified its price with ease.

100% reference

Function and form

90%
Ease of use
86%
Sound
85%
Appearance

SACD/CD transport EMM Labs TSD1: outputs - EMM OptiLink, AES/EBU (XLR), inputs - external clock (BNC), digital interface RS-232C, USB

D/A converter EMM Labs DAC2: digital inputs - EMM OptiLink, AES/EBU (XLR), 2x USB, coaxial, 2x optical, RCA, XLR

The craftsmanship is typically American, that is industrial design without finesse. The transport has a dissapointing noisy mechanism and the control software is far from intuitive but the sound makes up for all these drawbacks. After all, the EMM Labs were originally studio devices.

Bass management

Weight
90
Slam
88
Articulation
88

Clarity & delicacy

Detail
88
Air
88
Transparency
88

Listening to old good recordings became vey rewarding with the EMM Labs. I was able to hear things that I had never noticed before - the compact disc like Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd or Dire Straits were like an opened window to aural bliss, like a transcendental trip to a higher dimension. The fidelity of strummed strings or the depth of David Gilmour's vocals was conveyed with such realism that I just listened and listened and listened.

Tonal accuracy

Timbre
88
Dynamics
86
Temporal resolution
87

The music just flows. The dynamics of a choir is stunning. Then you spend 75 minutes on something that sounds like a prelude to an orgastic finale that explodes into a fantastically resolved and mighty sound maelstrom - voices, organ, orchestral crescendos...all is there and the EMM Labs conducts it with aplomb.

Spatial resolution

Holography
89
Soundstage width
89
Soundstage depth
90

In the Symphony No.2 of Gustav Mahler (Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Leonard Slatkin) the EMM Labs becomes inseparable part of the music experience. Especially the soundstage, both lateral and its depth) ws excellent. All instruments and instrumental groups were brilliantly locked in their positions within the big orchestra and the sound travelled as they handed over the musical themes.

Price as reviewed:600 000,- Kč

Recommended resellers

HI-FI studio TYKON, Ostrava, tel. +420 723 449 894

Associated components

  • Sources: Theta Compli, Audiomat Maestro Référence DAC
  • Amplifiers: Audiomat Récital, Audiomat Opus2, Audiomat Festival
  • Interconnects and speaker cables: Actinote Aria, Nordost Valhalla and Ego Professional.
  • Loudspeakers: Triangle řady Magellan Duetto, Cello and Quatuor

Gallery

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