It is a fantastic player on red book CDs. I have not heard a better player.

Plastic remote control.

Just repaired one, but of tin can, I have and old denon DCD-S1 which is superior in all ways, sound quality included of course

Price, build, sound, silly reputation, Philip's transport, lump of steel! If it was made in China it would be better built, and cost about £200, nothing internally has a high cost, unless Norwegian air is expensive, boutique nonsense yet again

A friend of mine lent me one of these to try for a while, I don't get all the crazy reviews, I have a pioneer pd95 used as a transport and a u.o5 dac pre, it's far more accurate and transparent than the electro, all very odd! I kept it in my system for months, mediocre at best was my end thoughts when my mate heard the two together he agreed, so we pulled it apart, wow!! No wonder it's not that good, a Philips transport on top of a block of steel, to give the unit a weighty feel, or an isolation system if you believe the hype, a Wolfson dac, a basic power supply, and load of fresh air, gutted for my friend, he got stitched again

Questo lettore di cd e' semplicemente strepitoso grande musicalita' basso potente dinamica vale molto di piu' del suo prezzo anche rispetto ai suoi concorrenti molto piu'
costosi .

I bought the EMC 1 UP to make it my last CD-player buy. And it will be. I just love to listen to music on it. Just bought the Kate Bush, 50 words for Snow and it is beautiful to listen to. And when I put on Nazarthes Hair of the Dog, I know that I will never sell this unit.

I bought ELECTROCOMPANIET EMC1 cd player new new at LinkAudio, Spain, in August 2001. I paid a bit less than 2500 $. It came with a 96/24 DAC. At that time I owned Dynaudio Contour 1.8 loudspeakers, an integrated German Restek Challenger amp and the biggest integrated Sony ES amp, (I used to compare both amps from time to time). I quickly trade restekfor a chic Gryphon Callisto 2200 integrated amp and a pair of classical Dynaudio Confidence 5 loudspekers (oh, my God!). I then improved a lot cables (gryphon + siltech), getting a much rewarding sound that I have enjoyed very much during 8 years, hearing all kind of music, (in a small room, alas!) coming from the EMC1 and also from analogue sources (Linn LP12 sondek with a decent Benz MC cartridge+Benz phono preamp and a top sony ES cassette desk). It must be pointed out that both Callisto and EMC 1 came down after their first year; being under guarantee, so they were repaired free by their Spanish distributors, sarte and lyric, returning in better shape. A year ago i bought ELECTROCOMPANIET ECD1 DAC and it has improved exponentially image, body tridimensinality an detail, being connected to the EMC 1 thru a cheapo AES/EBU German cable! Further, I got a second hand pair of ProAc Response 1SC monitors. With chamber music, folk, jazz, flamenco, and light rock, the EMC1+ECD 1+gryphon+Proac combo makes you reach heavens, no less. For hard or symphonic rock, big orchestral music opera etc, I switch my Little Big Proac's for my beloved pair of Dynaudio confidence 5's and I'm in heaven too..
So, reluctantly I decided to share my modest experience with people who could read this review, looking for a sincere (subjective?) advice
The EMC 1+ ECD 1 is a killing combination, able to place you in face of any kind of musicians, playng for you, if you close your eyes. They are cheap, compared to other hi-end stuff. Moreover, wisely combined with a decent amp (I own also a cheap but truly marvelous Pioneer A9 amp, which cannot drive the Dynaudio's but makes fly these ProAc's; it sings harmonically with ELECTROCOMPANIET). On the other hand, I think that two different sets of loudspeakers is a good solution if you get tired of one alone.
Other digital stuff experinced (not much really): tabu and mikado from gryphon, concret from restek, medium-end stuff from pioneer, denon, yamaha, musical fidelity, densen, arcam, cambridge and the marvelous opera consonance cd player

I actually bought the EMC1 (preowned) after reading the exemplary reviews here! And thanks folks! I was every bit satisfied with what I got as most of you have described here.
What a change from my earlier Accurus cdp! What a leap in the soundstage and detailing! A great improvement in the extent of detailing that I was able to hear. I always was a bit skeptical when people used to say that they heard things they had never heard before. Now I know exactly what they mean. The EMC1 was a revelation!
Rugged build, great styling, great sound.......truly what a reference player should sound like.
Musical, balanced, producing more out of a CD than anything else I have ever heard before!
Thanks all you guys for providing me the lead to buy this wonderful piece of equipment. Going to stick to this for a long time!
BTW: Need to thank Audioreview and its contributors for yet another purchase- Legacy Focus speakers. Read those reviews and went ahead and bought one unseen. What a stupendous purchase. Cant get over them yet although its now been about a year! Now with the EMC1 I just stepped further into Nirvana! Thank you Audio review and thanks, people.
ckn

Great detail without digital harshness. Very analog like. Outstanding transport design--one of the best if not the best. Extreamly musical with a great sense of aire and ease about it where it throws out a deep and very wide soundstage. Truely a keeper and of heirlom quality. It just may be your last CD player!

None really. Other than the remote is very cheesy. With a 6000.00 player you would think you would get a remote that matches the quality of the player. But, then a again, it is just a remote.

Wow! What an outstanding CD player. Right out of the box not even broken in, the EMC-1 UP SE defines what a reference player should do, great detail, sound staging, imaging, with a sense of ease about it that is..., dare I say, analog. This has to be one of the more musical players that is out there. WIth SACD all but dead, where it never really impressed me, and DVD-A, though outstanding, never really taking off, I didn't see a real need paying for a technology that I do not use. I have listened to several players to include: Mark Levinson model 37 transport and Dodson 218 DAC, Gamut CD-1, EAR acute tubed CD player, Arcam CD-192, Alpha 9, and both CD-33 and CD36, to name a few off the top of my head, and while thay are all good what stands out is the Electrocompaniet EMC-1 UP SE with the spider clamp. For better overall balance, detail, and the shear enjoyment lto isten to hours on end, I have to say I am glad I bought the EMC-1 UP SE. This player digs deeper into the music than the others while at the same time being very musical with little to no digital artifacts. They only other consideration would be the EAR acute. I do have to say that is a great player with its tubed output stage and Tim D'Paravinchi magic fingers upon what starts out as a basic Arcam player. Between the aCute and EMC-1 it is a close contest. However, I still have to go with the EMC-1 due to in my humble opinon it digs deeper into the recording on the disc--it is one of the best. Oh, one last comment. If you have an EMC-1 and you are not using the spider clamp, give Alan a call at Jasonscottdistributing it really makes a difference especially with the bass production of the unit---much deeper and more pronounced!

Customer Service

No issues with me for customer service. Alan at Jason Scott Distributing is the best where he completly supports his dealers completly. They also are responsible for many of the upgrades to the EMC-1.

Similar Products Used:

See review list.

Beautiful and detailed musical colors
Wide soundstage
Great dynamics and outstanding mids
Timeless design

None

I have bought my EMC 1 UP in June 2005. I do not write reviews often, but I guess somebody should say something about the changes regarding Service at Electrocompaniet. Many reviews of Electrocompaniet gear are quite enthusiast but often the service was critisized. Electrocompaniet went through ownership changes in Autumn 2004 and since then I can only report positive things about the service. For example all of my email questions regarding products have been answered within one or two days. I did an upgrade of my ECI 3 in August 2005 which was done in 5 days!

Now to the EMC-1 Up: I have searched for years for the right CD Player. With the EMC 1 Up I have found my last player and the search has come to an end. I own this player for one year now, I don't even have the reflex to listen or to compare it to other gear anymore. It fulfills all my wishes. This player is incredibly musical, it has outstandig dynamics, it reveals the colors of music and and it does this with all sorts of music. I listen to stuff from Death Cab for Cuties to Miles Davis or Mozart. Never this player leaves you dissappointed or emotionally uninvolved with what you hear. This player offers you an insight to the master recording quite anolog feeling.

Very musical with ordinary CD:s!

Does not play all hybrid CD:s

A high-priced CD, but I got a good deal on a demo-ex. I'm generally very satisfied with the sound and can agree with most positive inputs on this site. A major drawback is however that the EMC-1 does not play all hybrid CD:s. I have two Bob Dylan hybrid CD:s and the EMC refuses to play one of them and starts wery reluctantly and slowly on the other one. I contacted the manufacturer, and they replied in the vein of: "Hey, there are all kinds of music standards out there, we can't guarantee that the EMC will play all". A pathetic reply in my opinion, since my earlier CD (Unison Res Unico CD) played both discs without problem! And were talking about a 2000 euro player here vs. the 5000 euro EMC-1. Huh? Thus, only 3 stars for reading problems and no help whatsoever from Electrocompaniet.

Similar Products Used:

Unico, Audionet SAM.