Reimyo CDP vs EMM Labs/Meitner

I recently spoke to someone that is running the Emm
setup into a tubed pre amp and loves the standard cd
performance. That said, I wish there was a Reimyo in
the Midwest to audition.

I've bought numerous hybrid SACD's to use on my Reimyo. To me it's all about the quality of the recording because some SACD's sound absoluting amazing (Matt Haimovitz:Please Welcome.../Jeremy Monteiro Trio:A Song For You Karen/ Colin Linden:Big Mouth) while others are very mediocre at best. I find redbook to be the same: some good, some okay and some bad. For me, the majority (by far) of my software is redbook. Buying a player for superior SACD and redbook that is "okay" (at that price point) did not make sense for me and I love my preamp so no need for that extra. I opted for a redbook player that I felt was superior on redbook and in build quality. Again, personal needs and taste reign and are unique to each of us.

Brianmgrarcom,
I am reposting part of my response for you, "The EMM is fabulous on SACD. I find it OK on CD. The Reimyo is fabulous on CD". That is how I find each within their own strengths. I only listened briefly so I never was able to really go into full detail. I own the EMM so I know it very well. I think the mastering arguement or comment might be true but it might be more than that as well.

Twopippis,
I agree with you but boy do I love the EMM on SACD.

Saxman 2,

VTL 7.5 preamp coming into my system within a month as many people have said the same in another thread.

I am experimenting a lot this year. Luckily getting great prices on everything. What I did learn is that CD players have flavors. I am at the point of diminishing returns & software is more important than equipment.

I still want to hear if anyone compared the EMM on SACD to the Reimyo on CD.

I follow you now Dgad. My question arose from this statement, "The Reimyo on the CD layer of my hybrid SACD sounded good but not great. The EMM on the CD layer also sounded good not great. But on the SACD layer it did sound great."

fascinating thread, though the comparison between SACD on the EMM to redbook on the Reimyo is not valid.

If SACD is super important to you, then EMM or DCS separates would be the way to go. If you dont need/want SACD, then the Reimyo, DCS separates, the top Linn, and some would add the Audio Aero Capitole MK II SE (which i own) in the top group of players. Obviously a perfect world would have a single system capable of excelling in both. There are many 'fine sounding' SACD playback systems that suck at redbook. I think everyone would agree that DCS or EMM separates are fabulous redbook players, so as usual, it boils down not to 'better/best' but system and ear-dependent personal preference.

Aside from the extrodinary cost of the dcs and emm separates, I chose my AA player because for me, SACD is just not important enough. I wish i could have acquired the Reimyo for the same price - just not possible, so i went with the AA, and have not regretted it (much better than my Levinson 390S, even though it does not do HDCD)