should everyone just order emm?

Yes you should jump into the lake. But don't forget to tie the Levinson gear to your ankle.

French_fries: Service on the EMM Labs gear is done in the US. EMM Labs equipment has been around for quite sometime. This is actually going into the 5th generation of the technology and Ed Meitner is considered to be THE leader in the industry. The same question can be asked of any company in terms of future products. What I can tell you is there are absolutely no plans for a one box player. The build quality is excellent. All EMM Labs gear must answer to the rigorous demands of the pro industry which gets much more use out of equipment than we Audiophiles will ever utilize.

>>what if emm labs comes out with a one-box cdp in a year or two?<<

A one box cdp? Is the number of boxes an issue? Would you *prefer* a one box CDP and fear buyer's remorse if you bought separates? Me? Unless simply reducing the number of boxes to one somehow represented a step up in sound quality, which doesn't seem likely, I would still be quite satisfied with separates.

>>how is the build quality?<<

Excellent.

>>what if you have service issues?<<

Had a service issue -- service was thorough and prompt.

>>what if emm labs disappears in a year or two?<<

Emm Labs has been around for awhile and looks to be here to stay. But, I have Proceed Gear, which was made by Levinson -- Proceed is long gone. It happens. Unless you go with a behemoth like Sony, you should always factor in the risk that the company you buy from *could* someday fold up -- that's the risk at this end of the biz. You either take that risk to get great sound or you avoid it by buying from a behemoth.

>>what if someone mods a sony dvd player and it sounds astonishingly close to a meitner?<<

Many have tried and failed. Again, in this hobby, progress happens. Someday, something is going to best the Meitner gear, or at least someone will claim it does. That's life. There's nothing you can buy in audio that is guaranteed to stay on the top of the pile forever.

>>j.atkinson of stereophile has heard a ton of systems, but still relaxes to his ml-30.6/31.5 cdp, which he cheerily admits is not the cat's meow anymore.<<

Perfect example. Others have come along to best his ML gear, some of it for far less money, but he's still happy with his gear. That's a sane attitude in this hobby.

>>oh, and i am certainly less than thrilled with buying "pre-production or 1st generation" audio.<<

Is someone pressuring you to buy Meitner gear? If you want to wait until it goes through several production runs, that's your perogative -- BUT -- you can say that about just about anything in audio. If you're worried about these types of issues, you can alleviate them by buying from large established companies like Sony, but which of their CDP's would you buy? Their new flagship is the first incarnation of that particular model and you might want to read up on their service issues, but you can be sure they will be around. Frankly, it sounds like the price of the Meitner gear is freaking you out a little and this is causing you to want a lot of assurance for your money. My experience has been that when buying audio gear at this level, some risk is involved, but I took that risk when buying my Meitner gear and I would take it again in a heartbeat to get sound quality at this level. I'm confident Meitner
will be around, I'm impressed with their service -- best I've had -- and I'm not willing to wait to see if someone can top it, who knows how long that will take? How long will *that* company have been around? What assurance will I have that it will be around forever? How long will it stay on top of the pile? How many production runs should I wait? Etc. etc. etc. I'd rather be enjoying my Meitner gear in the present. The sound quality is amazing. I never thought I could be this happy with redbook CD's and the SACD playback is just a great bonus.

The DCC2 is pretty expensive, but if replacing a very good CDP, the cost is not so outrageous, but add the EMM Transport and we are talking a lot of $$$.
Anybody who has tried the modified Phillips compatible transport, please comment on
1) availability
2) comparitive sonic virtues
3) price difference

Ironically option 4 is your best bet in terms of bypassing the issue of technological obsolence.

While EMM enjoys a very good reputation, there are other options out there as well. My Audio Synthesis DAX Discrete, placed on a slightly tweaked Machina Dynamica Promethean Base, matches the resolution of my analog system, and provides nearly as much enjoyment.

FWIW, the DAX Discrete is more popular in Europe than here in the US.

Audio Synthesis Website