Emotiva XDA-1 DAC?

i think a reviewer in stereophile gave it a thumbnail sketch review as a best new product. but you are right in observing it is new and there are some questions/issues so far.

saw the reference in stereophile but it seemed to be referring mainly to the array of features offered (rather than SQ) & in fact, it wasn't clear whether the guy had actually heard one.

as with many of the more complicated Emotiva products it does seem as if there are initial bugs. i hope they resolve them more effectively than they did with their ht processor!

yeah they had many customers unhappy over that. i fortunately only go stereo and didn,t try that product. i am very happy with their amp, pre and cd though. but if i was going to spend some big dolllars there are other ways i would have gone.

Wondered if there was any user experience - or reviews - available (from sources other than the Emotiva Lounge) on this DAC yet?

I was an early adaptor and ended up sending it back after 2 weeks

The XDA has a very rich feature set for the money but I found it was lacking compared to the competition in that price range. I have a very revealing setup, and with that being said I found the highs where rolled off and the bass was overly boomy. My Monica2 (NOS) DAC fit nicely in that price range and out performed it all around. While the Monica2 doesn’t go as low as the XDA, it doesn’t make things sound like mud either. Monica also had better control of the high-end, and was far more musical.

The XDA is OK but you can do a lot better.