Jason; i got one of the first DAC6/modified Philips and prior to breakin slightly preferred the CD-12 (the CD-12 had a slightly lower noise floor, greater detail and more snap and micro-dynamics.....the emmlabs was more dynamic and had a larger soundstage).
after breakin i would call them a draw.....the emmlabs had come very close to the CD-12 on it's strengths but the emmlabs still had an advantage in dynamics and soundstage.
then i sent the modified Philips in for a change in chips (the original chip in the Philips would only recognize 15 of the 16 bits of redbook). now the emmlabs pulled clearly ahead of the CD-12 as the additional bit lowered the noise floor, improved detail and snap......there was not a huge difference but i clearly preferred the emmlabs on redbook and there was no performance area where the CD-12 was better.
then 18 months later i got the new CDSD transport.....now the performance had improved by a huge factor and now the CD-12 is definitely at a lower level of redbook performance. the emmlabs has much greater presence, lower noise-floor, greater dynamic micro and macro-dynamics and a more weighty and fleshed out soundstage.
the CD-12 remains in the ballpark of any other redbook player i have heard (i haven't heard everything).
the sacd performance of the emmlabs has always been considerably better than the redbook performance.
after breakin i would call them a draw.....the emmlabs had come very close to the CD-12 on it's strengths but the emmlabs still had an advantage in dynamics and soundstage.
then i sent the modified Philips in for a change in chips (the original chip in the Philips would only recognize 15 of the 16 bits of redbook). now the emmlabs pulled clearly ahead of the CD-12 as the additional bit lowered the noise floor, improved detail and snap......there was not a huge difference but i clearly preferred the emmlabs on redbook and there was no performance area where the CD-12 was better.
then 18 months later i got the new CDSD transport.....now the performance had improved by a huge factor and now the CD-12 is definitely at a lower level of redbook performance. the emmlabs has much greater presence, lower noise-floor, greater dynamic micro and macro-dynamics and a more weighty and fleshed out soundstage.
the CD-12 remains in the ballpark of any other redbook player i have heard (i haven't heard everything).
the sacd performance of the emmlabs has always been considerably better than the redbook performance.