Did everybody jump ship?

Bar81

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2017
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Strange to see it so quiet - not that this subforum was ever crazy busy.

I would have thought that the release of the DA2 (a DAC that has made me stop looking) would have gotten people excited but the last thread here is basically people upset that they can't upgrade their DAC2X to a DA2 (in all fairness to EMM, there is now a V2 upgrade: ://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30588-emm-labs-and-meitner-audio-update-their-dac2x-and-ma-1-dacs/).

Are people just quietly enjoying their systems or have people moved on? And if so what to?
 

Bar81

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2017
129
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98
Still rocking V1 or did you upgrade?
 

Bar81

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2017
129
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98
V1... How's the v2? I have newest firmware though

No idea. I skipped from the XDS1 directly to the TX2/DA2. I assume it incorporates some of the advancements from the DA2 and if so, it should be a significant upgrade.
 

joey_v

Well-Known Member
Nov 30, 2015
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No idea. I skipped from the XDS1 directly to the TX2/DA2. I assume it incorporates some of the advancements from the DA2 and if so, it should be a significant upgrade.

Wowza

So how is it and what did you compare it to?
 

Bar81

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2017
129
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98
Wowza

So how is it and what did you compare it to?

My comparisons were made when I purchased the XDS1. Once I heard that, for me, EMM got it righter than anything else. I pretty much knew that the TX2/DA2 would be what I was looking for. You can see a brief review of the TX2/DA2 and how I got there in the comments in the link in my signature.
 

joey_v

Well-Known Member
Nov 30, 2015
248
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Read your review, very nice.

Not sure I need any more upfront staging however but I can understand your preferences.

What kind of coin did you end up spending on the new stack (pm me). I wasn't sure if I wanted to make the leap. I'm very happy with my stack.
 

marty

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Apr 20, 2010
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I've written about my experience with the TX2/DA2 shortly after I received them well over a year ago.

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?20033-The-Meitner-DA2-and-TX2&highlight=meitner

I'm still smitten. Even more delightful, I have made numerous system changes since then and with each iteration, the Meitner not only holds steady as a rock, but improves as the system changes have allowed. (For example, for streamed music and my NAS files, I didn't appreciate what they were truly capable of until I replaced my Wireworld Platinum with a Stealth Select "T" USB cable.) see post #34:

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...SB-Cables-Sound-Different&p=456139#post456139

My general approach to this hobby has always try and replace the weakest link in my system. At this point, that weak link is certainly not the Meitner gear, so I'm quite content with them and imagine I will be for quite some time. They are excellent performers. Meitner has a good track record of upgrading firmware for free, and occasional hardware at a reasonable cost. These are yet other reasons to be satisfied. Very few people have a better track record with digital than Ed Meitner. However, being "fashionable" as high end goes, is not necessarily EMM"s strong suit. But his engineering and sound is hard to fault. Again, for me, I've not heard many (any?) digital systems that can reproduce the top end as "analog-like" as Meitner, so it's a keeper for me. Might there be better DACs out there? Of course. Some may even cost less than 100K! DACs seem to be the one item in high end audio that obeys a Moore's law "equivalent" (not necessarily a continued doubling the number of transistors on an integrated circuit but a more generalized "continually better performance, lower cost" hypothesis). My sense is as that happens, Ed Meitner will still be a highly relevant player down the road. Fads come and go but the TX2 and DA2 will stay right where they are for now.
 

Bar81

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2017
129
20
98
My general approach to this hobby has always try and replace the weakest link in my system. At this point, that weak link is certainly not the Meitner gear, so I'm quite content with them and imagine I will be for quite some time. They are excellent performers. Meitner has a good track record of upgrading firmware for free, and occasional hardware at a reasonable cost. These are yet other reasons to be satisfied. Very few people have a better track record with digital than Ed Meitner. However, being "fashionable" as high end goes, is not necessarily EMM"s strong suit. But his engineering and sound is hard to fault. Again, for me, I've not heard many (any?) digital systems that can reproduce the top end as "analog-like" as Meitner, so it's a keeper for me. Might there be better DACs out there? Of course. Some may even cost less than 100K! DACs seem to be the one item in high end audio that obeys a Moore's law "equivalent" (not necessarily a continued doubling the number of transistors on an integrated circuit but a more generalized "continually better performance, lower cost" hypothesis). My sense is as that happens, Ed Meitner will still be a highly relevant player down the road. Fads come and go but the TX2 and DA2 will stay right where they are for now.

That's always been my approach as well - try to have no weak links. One of the most common things I keep seeing is systems with ridiculous speakers with front ends or amplification that's not in the same league and owners very proud of what they've done. All they've done is crippled their speakers - they'd very likely be much better off with a more balanced system where all the components are of a commensurate quality.

Back on topic, I still can't understand why there's not more discussion about the DA2 - maybe EMM is just not cool anymore as you said. Outside of your post (repeated in various forums), there was almost no discussion about the unit. Besides that, there were a couple of reviews (dagogo and yfs) and that was it. On the other hand, I can't avoid tons of posts with people gushing over schiit, chord, MSB and DCS.
 
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Bar81

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2017
129
20
98
A third review of the DA2:

Soundstage
http://www.soundstagehifi.com/index...abs-da2-reference-digital-to-analog-converter

Similar takeaway as the first two:

Dagogo
http://www.dagogo.com/emm-labs-tx2-limited-edition-cdsacd-transport-da2-stereo-dac-review

YFS
http://yourfinalsystem.com/dac-reviews/196-emm-labs-da2-dsd-dac-review

Enjoying the TX2/DA2 even more now that I upgraded to Focal Maestro speakers (still breaking them in). I knew my speakers were holding back the system but I was still pretty surprised how much performance I was leaving on the table with the Scalas.
 

marty

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
3,025
4,167
2,520
United States
A third review of the DA2:

Soundstage
http://www.soundstagehifi.com/index...abs-da2-reference-digital-to-analog-converter

Similar takeaway as the first two:

Dagogo
http://www.dagogo.com/emm-labs-tx2-limited-edition-cdsacd-transport-da2-stereo-dac-review

YFS
http://yourfinalsystem.com/dac-reviews/196-emm-labs-da2-dsd-dac-review

Enjoying the TX2/DA2 even more now that I upgraded to Focal Maestro speakers (still breaking them in). I knew my speakers were holding back the system but I was still pretty surprised how much performance I was leaving on the table with the Scalas.

Thanks for posting the link to the Soundstage review that I have not seen previously. I agree, not sure why but this product is not garnering the attention many think it deserves.
 

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