Meitner DCC2

Henryhk,

I'm posting to this only because I don't want to look for this thread at a later date. I listened to the DCC2 late last week for about an hour. It was only a couple of days old and since it needs 400 or more hours for break in I'll give you my unbiased opinion later after a real A/B comparsion. My first reaction was that it is incredibly smooth. I tried very hard to do critical listening but found I was just carried away by the music. If that's any indication of what this piece will be like after break in it will be world class. Hopefully the owner, Vetterone, will provide you with his opinion when all is sorted out.

I'll continue to follow this thread and urge him to post his findings at the appropriate time. Maybe a couple of weeks from now? I'll also give you my personal observations then too.

Henryhk:

I have about 200 hours on my DCC2, and while I haven't done an A-B with an external preamp, I really haven't felt any need to. As Lugnut mentioned above, the unit is incredibly SMOOTH and involving, but with none of the blurring of detail that those terms sometimes imply. I've had some fine preamps in my system--most recently the First Sound Presence Deluxe--but with the DCC2 I'm literally hearing things in recordings I haven't heard before. And the music is more enjoyable and listenable than it's ever been. I'm not sure how much of that is attributable to the preamp section, but I'm guessing a pretty decent chunk.

Is it a world class pre-amp???.....this I cannot tell you. I will say that I am fairly confident that it equals or betters anything I have used in the past. Take a look at my virtual system which lists just about all of the equipment I have owned. I have used the unit as a pre-amp a few times now, but honestly, not with equipment I am greatly familiar with. I warn you though that it is extremely neutral and reminds me of my placette audio pre-amps (passive and active). Unless you greatly prefer a big tubey sound, I don't think you can go wrong with using it as a pre-amp.

I would love to know why EMM Labs won't make a one-box cdp. Given their excellent dac technology, it would surely be superb, and perhaps even a bit cheaper than their current trans/dac 2-box approach that many of us (me included) can't currently afford- just a thought...

Just to add another datapoint to this thread, I am using an Accuphase DP75V as a transport into my DCC2 (via coax digital cable) and it is so astounding I am questioning the need for a Meitnerized transport with EMM Optilink Fiber. It is absorbing and un-abrasive and spacious, far less tizzy or boomy (thru Kharma 3.2s) than the Accuphase on its own. Even lousy old popular 1980's CDs have been magically transformed from unlistenable to relaxing and involving. I use the preamp outputs of the DCC2 into an Edge NL12 amp. If you have a DP75V, I would really consider this configuration. I'm just a user whose been searching for good sound for 20+ years. The only negative about the DCC2 is that I wish it had a few more volume steps like my former ML 32 preamp (~700 steps, vs. 100 for the DCC2), but this is a minor quibble. It also makes some unseemly noises thru the speakers if you press the wrong combination of buttons, but I've learned how to avoid this.
I guess these things may be corrected in a future version, but IMHO this is a breakthrough product.