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Emotiva ERC-3 or Music Hall C-DAC15.3 / connections?

Hi,
first time post. Not an 'audiophile' per say, just a guy who appreciates good sound.

I'm looking at buying a new CD player and the Emotiva ERC-3 is on my short list. I've read good reviews and the 5 year warranty is a big plus.
I'll be hooking it up to an Anthem MRX 710 AVR. The Anthem doesn't have balanced inputs and from what I've read the ERC-3 sounds best using balanced connections.  So, would there be any advantage in using an XLR to RCA cable? Or am I going to get the same sound using RCA-RCA?

The Music Hall C-DAC15.3 player is also under consideration.  My speakers are Paradigm Studio 100's v2 
With the Anthem , which would be a better bet, the Emotiva or Music Hall?

Thanks!
kfoxian
213runnin
914 posts
 
gdhal, are you saying that Emotiva is not sure whether the ERC-3 is fully balanced?  That's what it appears you are saying.

I bought one of their early dacs, the XDA-1, and Emotiva was sure that it had lossless volume and could do 192 hz over USB.  They were wrong on both counts, and had to recant, after many customers complained.

The ERC-2 was noisy too, and to hear that they haven't made any headway in that regard is disappointing.  The cd player has to do several things well, including the DAC process, and if the manufacturer can't even decide if the cd player that they designed is fully balanced, well that's a red flag, the price be damned.

I had the ERC-1 as well as the XDA-1, and it had issues too. 
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
gdhal, are you saying that Emotiva is not sure whether the ERC-3 is fully balanced? That's what it appears you are saying.

No. I meant thought not to be balanced by myself, based on some readings on this forum, the Emotiva forum, and the fact their website is a little ambiguous in this regard. I have not posed the question to Emotiva. 

Have you come across any literature from Emotiva or forum posts indicating it is truly/fully balanced?
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
@213runnin

Incidentally, the ambiguity I was speaking of was also cited by @almarg in this thread https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/balanced-but-not-fully-balanced

Further, note the Emotiva website, which indicates a S/N for balanced out is 110db, is correct. However, prior to 11/30/15 the spec listed was lower than the 104db S/N output for unbalanced. After calling this to Lonnie's attention, he had their website corrected. As proof of that, if you PM me your persoanl email address, I'd be happy to forward his correspondence.
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213runnin
914 posts
 
gdhal, so you don't think it's fully balanced, but Emotiva does?

I am fully aware of the possible compromises in design that can occur when a component comes with XLR jacks though it is not fully balanced.  

Thank you for the offer, but I trust your memory of your communication with Lonnie, I don't need to see it.  I just went to the Emotiva product page for the ERC-3, and they seem pretty confident that the ERC-3 is indeed a balanced design.  Has an independent party found some sort of proof that it is not?
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