I'm running mine single ended with wonderful results. Collapsed soundstage?!? In my system the EMC-1UP has yielded the most impressive soundstage I've heard from a cdp. I would say that soundstaging is one of its greatest strengths. My only caveat concerning the EMC-1 has to do with ultimate focus. Not that it's bad, just not state of the art in that respect. I'm hoping the Spider Clamp will improve focus to some degree.