Joey_V
Well-known member
Has anyone here heard or experienced this player?
Emm xds1?
- Thread starter Joey_V
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MiTT
Super User
I've heard it a few times and it's well regarded. If I we're spending that kind of dough I'd probably gravitate more towards the Playback Designs MPS-5. Based on some other conversations we had in another thread Joey, the Playback has a USB input and accommodates higher bitrates and word lengths than the EMM in PCM and will also do DSD. The USB port on the EMM is for firmware updates only, not asynchronous music files.
Joey_V
Well-known member
The problem I have with PBD (although I've never auditioned it) was the poor measurements on stereophile. That's a lot of scratch for that kind of measurement read...
slowGEEZR
Well-known member
Both are rated very highly for sound quality and I absolutely love the looks of the Emm. When I asked my dealer about Emm labs he said he quit the line because he had issues with every single one he sold. Perhaps he just had bad luck, I don't know. I haven't seen anything else about their reliability, so I take his comment with a grain of salt, but it does put a little doubt in my mind.
Joey_V
Well-known member
So this one is straight from dealer with full warranty. Retail 25, this price is 16500 which is fantastic. I would love to jump on it... But maybe after the system is up and running for a bit. I want to try another source first.
amey01
Well-known member
I thought the USB input on the Playback was a danky OEM thing that maxxed out at 48k? Got to make you wonder when they're asking $15000 for the thing.
Gordon Gray
Well-known member
Adam,
Do you know if that is true (danky OEM thing) or are you just speculating?
Gordon
amey01
Well-known member
Adam,
Do you know if that is true (danky OEM thing) or are you just speculating?
Gordon
Read the first two words of my sentence.
I am happy to stand corrected.
Gordon Gray
Well-known member
With all due respect Adam, you throw out conjecture that is disparaging to a product without any knowledge to support your claim.
That's simply not right and is consistent with your apparent "hard line" about the superiority of computer based systems and is also consistent with your apparent bias against any other type of playback delivery.
Before you make these types of degrading remarks, is it asking too much for you to check your facts before posting? Seems like a responsible, reasonable thing to do. Other people should not have to do this for you.
Do the research and if you are wrong, you can tell us that you made a mistake and stand corrected.
That's simply not right and is consistent with your apparent "hard line" about the superiority of computer based systems and is also consistent with your apparent bias against any other type of playback delivery.
Before you make these types of degrading remarks, is it asking too much for you to check your facts before posting? Seems like a responsible, reasonable thing to do. Other people should not have to do this for you.
Do the research and if you are wrong, you can tell us that you made a mistake and stand corrected.
amey01
Well-known member
Opinion is not banned here Gordon. Especially when it is predicated quite clearly with "I thought".
I'm not interested in doing any research because I'm not in the market for the PBD DAC.
I stated an opinion, which was based on prior reading about the product.
Forum members may discuss further; and if the OP chooses to consider the product seriously then the onus is on them to review all comments and opinions in the forum and do their own research.
For the record (and purely out of interest - and not a desire to talk factually about a product in which I have no interest in buying), the Stereophile review on the MPS-5......
http://www.stereophile.com/hirezplayers/playback_designs_mps-5_sacdcd_player/
.....states quite clearly that the unit only accepts sample rates to 48K on its USB input (under the heading "full featured, future proof design). Although that review was from 2010 and of course things change with subsequent upgrades et al.
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MiTT
Super User
Adam is right. I'd gotten my information from the Playback Designs website, on the most recent release of the product.
Unique to Playback Designs is the ability of our products to playback super high resolution music files of up to 24/384kHz PCM and 6.1MHz DSD through USB off of either a PC or MAC. This is 32 times the resolution of players with the ability to playback 192kHz high resolution files.
The Stereophile review was related to a much earlier version.
Unique to Playback Designs is the ability of our products to playback super high resolution music files of up to 24/384kHz PCM and 6.1MHz DSD through USB off of either a PC or MAC. This is 32 times the resolution of players with the ability to playback 192kHz high resolution files.
The Stereophile review was related to a much earlier version.
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Gordon Gray
Well-known member
So there it is. Thank you Tim for the update. Issue closed and now Adam, you stand corrected. And I learned something about the unit that I didn't know since I may be interested in this product at some future date.
Not a surprise since the review you referenced was done in 2010.
Have a great day.
Gordon
PS: I'm fully aware that opinion is not banned and that's certainly a good thing. But your comment about wondering why the manufacturer is asking $15,000 for the thing is certainly innuendo and disparaging at best. Sounds alot like comments politicians make these days in the USA to discredit their rivals. Just my opinion.
Not a surprise since the review you referenced was done in 2010.
Have a great day.
Gordon
PS: I'm fully aware that opinion is not banned and that's certainly a good thing. But your comment about wondering why the manufacturer is asking $15,000 for the thing is certainly innuendo and disparaging at best. Sounds alot like comments politicians make these days in the USA to discredit their rivals. Just my opinion.
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amey01
Well-known member
You don't need to discredit me, Gordon. There are two equally correct statements in this thread about two different versions of an identically named product.
My thoughts were correct for an earlier version of the product.
There is valuable information in this thread for anyone seriously considering the MPS-5 DAC.
I think we've all learnt something - and that is that there are multiple versions of this product.
If anyone is considering buying an MPS-5 on the used market then it is valuable knowledge that the specs of the product for which they intend to hand over hard-earned money may not match the specs published on the PBD website for the current version.
It would be a disappointing trap if you bought a used MPS-5 on the 'Gon or Ebay thinking you were getting 24/384 and 6.1MHz DSD as published on the PBD website, only to find the maximum accepted rate was 48k.
Thank you to everyone's input as we have demonstrated the power of discussion on a forum.
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Joey_V
Well-known member
Thank you guys for your input, I, too, learned a bit on this thread alone.
Joey_V
Well-known member
Btw, I told the EMM dealer that I was going to hold and sit tight.
I just could not refuse the deal on the Cary 306 sacd... Gordon knows.
I just could not refuse the deal on the Cary 306 sacd... Gordon knows.
Just heard from someone who replaced his MPS-5 with a Lampi Big 7. Apparently for him it was a no contest
slowGEEZR
Well-known member
There are so many great DACs out there and the technology is improving at a fast rate. So fast, that for me there isn't much sense in paying a lot of money for one. I think there are plenty of great DACs in the less than 4 or 5 thousand dollar range that come so very, very close to the current "best" and that price could quite possibly be even lower. As we know, as technology advances the lower priced spread sounds as good, if not better than the earlier high priced stuff. If that time period is measured in a few years, it might make sense to buy the expensive gear, but when it comes to DACs the improvements come rather quickly.
Exactly, which is why I prefer to pay relatively low price for a dac that beats 40k dacs.
User211
Well-known member
I don't really buy this super sound quality lift that is supposedly happening with DACs at an alarming rate. Going backwards to triode output stages seems to have produced a DAC that sounds better than a very large majority including very expensive designs.
amey01
Well-known member
You have to question it, don't you. It is not consistent with logic or reason.
That said - I have experienced it myself. A few years ago I was set to buy a Naim DAC - and a year later the M-DAC comes out which comprehensively out-performs it for half the price. I don't know.
