OK, so almost 4 months after my initial post, asking for help, it's done. So that you dont have to read the whole 9 yards again, I wanted to achieve sonic "parity" with the EMM set-up on vinyl, starting from scratch. The set up is Kharma 3.2s, Atma-Sphere MP-1, A-S MA 2.2, EMM DCC2, EMM CDSD, PAD Dominus and Stealth Indra i'cs, s/cs and Electraglide UK II PCs - vinyl is Sota Cosmos III with vacuum pump, EAR 324, Shelter 901, OL Illustrious arm.
It now works - all screws found, reattached.
Result: Worth months of chaos, fussing, cursing, fiddling?
Yes. Difference: Vinyl more organic, palpable, visceral, real. The digital is just that few % more sterile - marginal, but factual (to my ears and psyche) Sound as good as EMM? Yes. Better? Yes. Worth the hassle? To me, yes, to my wife (who has an excellent ear)- No, because she doesnt mind listening to music in another room or through a slight, sanitizing, cleaning, but marginally eviscerating filter because of the convenience factor.
So, to those of you wondering whether to go this route if you already have a superb digital set-up (as the EMM undoubtedly is), the answer is: Be prepared to be frustrated, annoyed, irritated and pay 200% attention to tweaks and fiddling, design quirks that need you to be of an engineering mindset, to clean every speck of dust and go through an absurd tedium of adjusting, inspection and manipulation. But if the real thing is what you want - if you want to feel that the music is in your room, do it - if you dont mind the slight filter factor - that's how I can best describe the difference - then don't.
This final follow-up is to thank you all for your input. You are an incredibly helpful lot and I really appreciate the encouragement to pursue this "totally illogical journey" as a normal person like my wife would put it.
But we're not "normal", as anyone who is of a non-audiophile mindset would agree, looking just at the price-tag of a 1 meter set of cable............
