Emotiva XDA-1 DAC?

saw the reference in stereophile but it seemed to be referring mainly to the array of features offered (rather than SQ) & in fact, it wasn't clear whether the guy had actually heard one.

as with many of the more complicated Emotiva products it does seem as if there are initial bugs. i hope they resolve them more effectively than they did with their ht processor!

yeah they had many customers unhappy over that. i fortunately only go stereo and didn,t try that product. i am very happy with their amp, pre and cd though. but if i was going to spend some big dolllars there are other ways i would have gone.

Wondered if there was any user experience - or reviews - available (from sources other than the Emotiva Lounge) on this DAC yet?

I was an early adaptor and ended up sending it back after 2 weeks

The XDA has a very rich feature set for the money but I found it was lacking compared to the competition in that price range. I have a very revealing setup, and with that being said I found the highs where rolled off and the bass was overly boomy. My Monica2 (NOS) DAC fit nicely in that price range and out performed it all around. While the Monica2 doesn’t go as low as the XDA, it doesn’t make things sound like mud either. Monica also had better control of the high-end, and was far more musical.

The XDA is OK but you can do a lot better.

I also had owned an XDA-1 and had return it dissatisfied. The volume control was an issue but apparently has been addressed since but sound quality isn't anything to write about.

Just as Ts0711 wrote, the bass is bloated and doesn't show much pitch or definition. The midbass and midrange dynamics while is an improvement over the Mac Mini, falls quite short of my Marantz SA-11S1. The treble range recessed and doesn't take any air or space of any kind.

Is it worth its dollar? Well, yes. It does improve the sound compared to my Mac Mini analog. It can not on the other hand be considered a high end killer. I didn't keep it as I knew it wouldn't meet my expectations in the long term.