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

OB my friend;

sorry if my comment is not clear enough. i will try to expand on it.

when i say "vinyl continues to reveal more and more as the system gets more out of the way" i am describing my audio philosophy......which is......as one's system improves there is less and less between the content of the software (the music) and your listening experience.

in the last year i have changed everything in my system except my sources. when i first moved into my new room there were components that made their character and limitations known; you were here to listen at that time.

the speakers simply could not energize the room and low bass (under 40hz) was not evidant.

the new room was much more 'live'......as opposed to the slightly over-damped character of the old room. the Kharma Exquisites were still slightly soft on top and the tonal balance was not bad. but, the new VR9 speakers added even more high frequency energy. the additional bass energy of the new speakers combined with the additional high frequency energy really took the whole system out of balance. combine all that with my learning curve on all the adjustability of the speakers and i had taken 2 steps forward but one step back.

i was hearing way more information from my system but this additional info was causing problems.

my 3 year reference phono cartridge, the vdH Colibri, is the most explosive and life-like piece of audio gear i have ever heard. in my old room and old system; the Colibri was happy with the system. the 'old' system 'hid' the problems the new system exposed.

for a few months i was not sure what was causing what. did the Colibri have a problem? was it my phono stage or preamp? maybe the amps? i was not sure. maybe the room was too live......or i didn't have the speakers adjusted properly.

as i lived with the new speakers and tried to get the Colibri to blend into the new room and system i started to make some progress.

first, a friend brought over the Grand Prix amp stands.....WOW......everything got more natural, more detail, better more solid and articulate bass. i bought GP amp stands and racks......big improvement.

next, i bought some Jena Labs Fundamental 1 power cords for the subwoofer amps...WOW......the bass improved a ton in every way....tighter, deeper, and more articulate. in addition, the whole frequency range cleaned up.

i had been using both the Tenors and darTZeel amps with the Placette passive. i was still getting some edge with the Colibri. i finally assumed the issue was the Colibri and bought a Dynavector XV-1s to try. the edge went away but so did the vividness and dynamic explosiveness. i liked the XV-1s but missed the Colibri.

all along the digital had been 'happy'......there was no problem and i had felt that the emmlabs had somehow crept closer to the vinyl performance......especially with the XV-1s.

then the new battery powered darTZeel preamp arrived. this turned out to be the 'missing link'. to make a long story short; i was able to get the Colibri back into the system and now all that information that the Colibri had been killing me with became 'music'......the vinyl performance has leapt to a few levels beyond anything i have yet heard.

yes, the digital was also improved but not nearly to the degree. the potential of the vinyl format simply allows a much larger upside. if your vinyl system is capable of exposing enough information the comparison is no contest.

but to live at that level of information all must be right. when the rest of your system gets the hell out of the way......in other words......your speakers, amps, racks, cables, and room are synergistic, neutral and not limiting......then the most revealing vinyl components will reveal more musical information and deliver more musical satisfaction than any digital i have heard.

the improvements to my system did improve the digital; but the degree was considerably less and the final performance level was also less.

if you play around with vinyl for awhile at a fairly high level you will soon come to the conclusion that anything you do makes large differences.....sometimes amazingly large differences. why? IMHO it's because there simply is so much info in those grooves.

take 5 digital players at $5000 increments from $1000 to $26,000......the best one's at each price point. compare.

tweak them all. listen again.

do the same for vinyl.

at each commitment level for vinyl there will be clear improvements. and if you continue up the scale past $26k for vinyl there will continue to be clear improvements on up for awhile.

much past $10k all digital will be similar....and it will be more issues of difference as opposed to improvement. this is not a bad thing but speaks to limits of resolution.

as you continue to lower the noise floor of vinyl playback with more and more sophisticated gear more and more info is exposed. i don't think we are thru yet in this direction.

my digital and vinyl experience of the last 10 years is exactly that comparison.

i rest my case.

sorry to go on but the answer to your question is not simple.

ok lets fix your misunderstanding ,with a book of the misunderstanding of life....only in hi-fi...

You guys should charge, for this is priceless

Well I had assumed that when you say "get out of the way of the music" you were referring to the invisibility of your speakers. Anything else to me is a reflection on the improvement of a system as well set up speakers are indeed invisible and to me get out of the way of the music as you term it

How do you know that the new stands, new cables,new cartridge etc are not creating some sort of sonic signature that "is" in the way of the music and creating a coloration that is partial to "your" ears. I am just uncertain as to why you suggest that the additions you made have created a state of musical neutrality. How can you be so certain?

I feel this is a reasonable question that we all must ask of ourselves. I have said time and again that with any new piece of equipment one must ask himself whether he is hearing something better OR is he merely hearing something different.

"Well I had assumed that when you say "get out of the way of the music" you were referring to the invisibility of your speakers."

it is not possible to isolate issues to one factor.....and more than a few speakers 'disappear'. in addition there is more than one version of 'getting out of the way of the music'.....i'm sure many systems do that.

i'm referring to an overall ability of a 'system' to 'meld' together and allow the source and speakers to be optimized.....maximum info from the source....and the listener then recieves the 'whole'.

i am most definitly referring to more, better and closer......as opposed to different.

that is the beauty of my Colibri cartridge......it tells you so much that if the delivery system for that info is not 'just right' it sounds like garbage. there is no different...there is only right and wrong.

which is not to say that my or anyone's system is totally without colorations......but that they are fairly insignificant IMHO to my ears.

MikeL, Thank you for the invitation! I've never heard your vinyl setup, but I am sure it is really great.

I am sorry to say, but it would be impossible to visit you before the CES show in January, so please accept my invitation and visit us at T.H.E Show.

Do you have any type of stand alone CD Recorder (Pioneer for example?) If you don't, I can send you mine and some black CD-R discs. Would you mind to record your best sounding vinyl directly from your phono stage to the CD Recorder and bring the CD-R to my room at T.H.E Show?

Regards,
Alex