Emm labs DA2 v2 upgrade

[Yuen A.]

Hi folks,

For those who love the sound of a violin, this is the disc for you: Ning Feng, Violin, Hello Mr. Paganini (Channel of China SACD)

Via the EMM Labs DV2, Ning Feng's violin sounded so lively, sensuous, lustrous, vibrant, sparkling, pure, open, spacious, sweet and introspective. His rapid string skittering is exhilarating. Listening to Ning Feng using the left hand pizzicato to accompany the theme, which is played at the same time using the bow, was an astonishing experience! The entire recording has the immediacy of the real thing.

 

[AndrewChen]

Thanks! Any impact on sound quality if you are using it?

I have no idea with respect to it's use with EMM Labs. In normal data communications use though, there is zero loss of signal integrity when using this type of optical switch.

 

[Audire]

This is the reply I got

What do you think?

Is this person who is replying on the behalf of his company an imbecile or what?

As to Polarity EMM writes,

“Polarity inversion is performed on the DA2 only. There is no reason to invert the polarity on the TX2 because you can do so on the DA2 in the digital domain. The TX2 will recognize the IR input from any toggle on the remote, but if it cannot do anything with the command it will not have any action. The TX2 stays in normal polarity and the DA2 can switch polarity via the remote or the front panel.”

 

[jeromelang]

As to Polarity EMM writes,

I received similar reply.

The EMM LABS TX2 transport is listed on their website as having polarity switching function. It is also mentioned in their owner's manual it has polarity switching function. The problem is - there is no polarity status indicator on the TX2 display screen.

When asked about this, Amadeus Meitner (supposedly) checked with their engineers and then replied that the TX2 doesn't actually have this feature, and they had erroneously included on their website and manual. (This product has been in the market since 2016!!!)

He further said that while the transport will recognised the infrared signal being received, it will not do anything.

However,...


....after having tried many discs, I can say I definitely heard differences in every case between the 2 settings.

What is happening here!???!?

That means the transport can actually switch polarity, but there is no status indicator so user will not know unless they take effort to listen and check carefully.

So now I am really pissed because I had listened to the wrong polarity for the whole of last 1 year....

I had never used the remote to change polarity until last week. I have always believe in not using remote controls because of the detrimental effects that can have subsequently on the audio quality (I recently mentioned about this in the soulnote s3v2 player thread. And after that I found that the TX2 and DA2 are actually much less susceptible to the detriment that remote controls can wrought.) Because of this, when I was pondering about the polarity issue on the emm transport, I was encouraged to use the remote to check polarity on the transport.

After each polarity presses aiming towards the transport, and covering the dac display panel to ensure not affecting it as well, I was shocked that I can hear distinct sound differences in imaging delineation, palpability, dynamic impact and detail resolution.

To ensure that what I'm hearing is not due to any additional effects brought on by the remote control infrared codes entering into the transport, possibly causing momentarily disruption to the transport's power supply, and subsequently it's sound quality, I used the following method of checking:

Cover DA2 display panel
Press polarity button and aim at the TX2
Check TX2 display panel for the momentary indicator at the bottom right hand corner that command codes have been received
Power off the DA2 (using rocker switch at the back panel)
Power off the TX2 (using rocker switch at the back panel. Power off at the mains switch)
Power up the TX2
Load a cd. Let it read TOC and settle
Power up the DA2
Press [PLAY] button on the TX2

Using the above methods i cue up music from different CDs to play. And between the 2 polarity presses, subsequently I heard changes in imaging delineation, palpability, dynamic impact and detail resolution. The sonic differences are so distinct I could easily identify which polarity status I had been listening for that last 1 year, and it had been the wrong one!!!

What this means is that despite what EMM Labs is claiming, the polarity button on their remote control does affect their TX2 transport, and that each polarity status carried on even after the transport has been switched off completely with the rocker switch at the back and from the mains switch.

I had not wanted to share my findings until I have gotten some measurements to certify my listening tests. I am the midst of getting a quote of the shipping cost from Amadeus Meitner for the TSDX remote and new simplified DA2 remote, and I know now he is probably monitoring this thread since yesterday, he just shared the photos of your setup from the Meitner power amp thread on their company Facebook page.

I am not sure whether there could be any disruption to our agreement after he reading this, but I think since you are testing their power amps for a limited time only, you need to ensure that your TX2 is set to the correct polarity, since, as you mentioned previously, you had also pressed the polarity button and aimed at the transport a few times.

As for measurements I was told that the best way to test this would be using a test CD with a sine wave signal. If the output is connected to an oscilloscope or similar test equipment that can display a time-varying signal (some PC software are said to be able to do this). I was told that i can then see the sine wave flip its polarity if inverted. According a speaker designer friend (He uses Playback Design MPT-8/MPD-8) there are hand held devices and software that can display this, in addition to traditional digital scopes and audio analyzers. I am now looking for a low cost pc-based kit on line.

 

[Audire]

It sounds like you did a lot of research. I’m my case the only way the polarity works using the TX2 remote is if I first press DAC on the same remote. Thus the polarity is changing on the DAC and not the TX2 SACD. So, my system works as EMM described above.

 

[dan31]

How long do you leave you leave equipment off in this on/off cycle you have detailed?

 

[Audire]

How long do you leave you leave equipment off in this on/off cycle you have detailed?

App 2 hours as I was playing vinyl.

 

[dan31]

App 2 hours as I was playing vinyl.

Sorry. I was looking at Jerome’s sequence. Please ignore.

 

[marty]

Hi folks,

For those who love the sound of a violin, this is the disc for you: Ning Feng, Violin, Hello Mr. Paganini (Channel of China SACD)

Via the EMM Labs DV2, Ning Feng's violin sounded so lively, sensuous, lustrous, vibrant, sparkling, pure, open, spacious, sweet and introspective. His rapid string skittering is exhilarating. Listening to Ning Feng using the left hand pizzicato to accompany the theme, which is played at the same time using the bow, was an astonishing experience! The entire recording has the immediacy of the real thing.

It's a lovely recording but I'm afraid I can't agree on the caliber of the playing. He misses so many notes in the first track that I could not play the rest of the album. For precision and. emotion, try Itzahk Perlman or Michael Rabin. Completely different level of playing. There's a reason Mr. Feng is not famous and they are legends. Their recordings, however are dated by comparison, especially Rabin's.

 

[jeromelang]

How long do you leave you leave equipment off in this on/off cycle you have detailed?

I usually count from 1 to 10

 

[jeromelang]

It sounds like you did a lot of research. I’m my case the only way the polarity works using the TX2 remote is if I first press DAC on the same remote. Thus the polarity is changing on the DAC and not the TX2 SACD. So, my system works as EMM described above.

Using the "complicated" remote i noticed that the TX2 and as well as the DA2, they both respond to the polarity change command - i see the momentary indicator at the TX2 display screen, and the grey box light up around the polarity word on the DA2 screen.

The 2 units sit on the same rack one above the other and facing the same way. Even with the remote control pointing downwards towards the transport at a distance of 10cm, I find that the dac still picked up the infrared command. That was why I had to cover the dac display screen with a cd jewel case.

 

[John T]

Respectfully, A switch is defeating what we are attempting to accomplish. I'm attempting to eliminate potential NOISE. I I have the NS1/DV2. Bottom line, Poor design having only one Opti-link input. However, DV2/NS1 is hard to beat, I also have the M12 Gold Switch before the NS1. I would put this combination up against many other streaming combos.

 

[jeromelang]

I got a bunch of these Sony CD test discs that I never had any use for, more than 10 years ago.

All brand new, never opened. There are a few tracks inside with sine wave signal at 0dB level: 1kHz, 100Hz, 10kHz, 20kHz.

Right, now for the digital scopes...

 

[jeromelang]

BTW, the DA2 keeps it's current polarity status even after powering down.

That was why I suspected that the TX2 would keep it's polarity status even after powering off.

 

[Audire]

Using the "complicated" remote i noticed that the TX2 and as well as the DA2, they both respond to the polarity change command - i see the momentary indicator at the TX2 display screen, and the grey box light up around the polarity word on the DA2 screen.

The 2 units sit on the same rack one above the other and facing the same way. Even with the remote control pointing downwards towards the transport at a distance of 10cm, I find that the dac still picked up the infrared command. That was why I had to cover the dac display screen with a cd jewel case.

Tomorrow I’ll turn off the DAC and then do a polarity check on the TX2. I’ll see if it changes polarity or not.

 

[Audire]

Respectfully, A switch is defeating what we are attempting to accomplish. I'm attempting to eliminate potential NOISE. I I have the NS1/DV2. Bottom line, Poor design having only one Opti-link input. However, DV2/NS1 is hard to beat, I also have the M12 Gold Switch before the NS1. I would put this combination up against many other streaming combos.

As stated before it just takes an optical cable splitter. They aren’t expensive.

I do agree with that The DA2V2 is awesome - it beat the MSB Select II in our tests. I don’t know what the NS1 sounds like with DA2V2 as I use an Aurender N30SA. The DA2V2 w/ Aurender N30SA is glorious. Too bad the N30 does not have an optical connection. It might even transcend over my present playback. I’ll have to investigate what an optical (EMM) to USB connection (N30) would sound like.

 

[Audire]

Using the "complicated" remote i noticed that the TX2 and as well as the DA2, they both respond to the polarity change command - i see the momentary indicator at the TX2 display screen, and the grey box light up around the polarity word on the DA2 screen.

The 2 units sit on the same rack one above the other and facing the same way. Even with the remote control pointing downwards towards the transport at a distance of 10cm, I find that the dac still picked up the infrared command. That was why I had to cover the dac display screen with a cd jewel case.

In my system, the TX2 remote won’t change the polarity UNLESS I first select the DAC option. And if I cover (w/album) up the DA2v2 then it still doesn’t change the polarity. So, from what I can tell the TX2 remote won’t change the polarity unless the DA2v2 is connected to it.

Ps: I don’t think the remote is complicated. It’s rather intuitive. … DAC on the TX2 remote clearly means a compatible EMM DAC. I doubt my EMM remotes are learning remotes, so I wouldn’t expect the remote to learn another brand name DAC (i.e. most likely another DAC won’t have a compatible polarity selection).

 

[Yuen A.]

It's a lovely recording but I'm afraid I can't agree on the caliber of the playing. He misses so many notes in the first track that I could not play the rest of the album. For precision and. emotion, try Itzahk Perlman or Michael Rabin. Completely different level of playing. There's a reason Mr. Feng is not famous and they are legends. Their recordings, however are dated by comparison, especially Rabin's.

Hi Marty,

Great to hear from you again. Gramophone (Feb 2008) says: "Performed with this degree of finesse, Paganini's music takes on a surreal quality … it's an enthralling, exciting recital." International Record Review likewise states: "An enthralling, exciting recital. Lets have some more Paganini, Mr. Feng!!"

 

[jeromelang]

Ps: I don’t think the remote is complicated. It’s rather intuitive. … DAC on the TX2 remote clearly means a compatible EMM DAC. I doubt my EMM remotes are learning remotes, so I wouldn’t expect the remote to learn another brand name DAC (i.e. most likely another DAC won’t have a compatible polarity selection).

I'm using Meitner's own word in describing this particular remote control

 

[Yuen A.]

Hi Marty,

Great to hear from you again. Gramophone (Feb 2008) says: "Performed with this degree of finesse, Paganini's music takes on a surreal quality … it's an enthralling, exciting recital." International Record Review likewise states: "An enthralling, exciting recital. Lets have some more Paganini, Mr. Feng!!"

Hi Marty,

I agree with you regarding track one. His interpretation was not really great. But listen especially to track two. I love his version of the Caprice no. 24 and track 3 God Save the King and the rest.