Is the EMM DAC6e or DCC2 /CDSD the best out there?


Is this the best digital front end ever?

What about

Reiymo CDP 777?
dCS gear?
Audio Aero Prestige?

Any other contenders?
iujona
Guidocorona, I must admit I do not know for sure how long the break in was but I suspect well enough given I had loaned a the demo model from a dealer. I am more of a jazz, blues, rock person though I do love Bach for some reason. I generally agree with what you are saying but my own personal exp with X-01 was very good, I do think it lacked what I described before: it had "hard" character if you know what I mean though I must stress this was only to a minor degree and in relation to Meitner. At least that was my own experience: I also listened to it over 3 hours or so as the dealer had to take it away: perhaps more time with it would have chnaged my mind. At any rate, I personally just think the capability of best of what digital has offer has sigificantly improved over very recent years including Esoteric, Meitner, Ayre, and the likes. At this level, its not about better and that was why I said I "prefer". I did think after all Esoteric was better at retrieving inner detail at times, though I may be mistaken. I believe JA at Sterophile's measurements showed the Estoeric gear rolled of high frequencies on SACD playback rather quickly: I wonder that has anything to do with it, though I am no measurement freak either. My old players were ML and Camelot Techonology stuff before the upgrade to Meitner and for that I am absolutely sure there was huge improvement! Its matter of preference and system matching.
Henryhk, it is quite possible that the X-01 may have either more treble energy or a more extended treble than the EMM.
It is also possible that the X-01 may generate by itself some treble distortion. Yet I have at least some indication that treble harshness or distortion in the X-01 may be caused by some ICs mismatch instead. . . e.g. I have experienced it with both AWQ Panther and Cardas neutral reference.
In either situations the treble distortion has largely gone away by replacing the front-end to linestage length of Panther with an AudioQuest Sky.
I am qualifying with 'largely, because in both situations there was occasional residual harshness, but the 2nd length of IC had not been replaced by a higher quality one.
Oddly enough with the insertion of the single length of Sky, not only distortions were largely removed, but the treble became more extended. It would have been very interesting to audition also an EMM under identical circumstances.
HenryHK, I forgot to mention that during the Panther/Sky X-01 audition the X-01 was powered through an AudioQuest NRG5, which in itself accentuates treble response. In the Cardas Neutral Ref vs AQ Sky situation I have had the X-01 equipped with its own stock powerchord, which puts it at a relative soundstage, imaging resolution, and sweetness disadvantage if compared against players equipped with an aftermarket chord. In either case, I have been concentrating on RedBook performance, as I own but one single SACD. I am not in a position to offer any meaningful findings on SACD performance of X-01 yet.
IUJONA, I have had several occasions to audition equipment at SoundBySinger in NYC and always been delighted by their professionalism. My first exposure to X-01 was in fact at Andy Singer's shop in NYC as well.