Recently bought the Electrocompaniet, upgraded to 1Up SE status. My prior experience was with $1,000 priced CD players like the Rega, Arcam, Linn and Naim. I got a good deal on this player used and bought it with the intention that it would be my last CD player. After listening to this player for dozens of hours, I'm confident I've bought my last CD player. To me this player gets you all of the aspects of a high end CD player in terms of soundstage depth, channel separation, dynamics and detail. It does this without any drawbacks of the high end like being too laid back (Rega) or fatiguing (Arcam). Very happy with my purchase.

Similar Products Used:

Rega, Arcam, Naim, Linn

A very good transport/chassis design that provides much of the analogue sound quality that is popular with this product. Good sound stage and imaging.

Sonically: The DAC is a bit polite, lacking in dynamics. Lacks a bit of weight in bass. Build quality is suspect. The Biggest Weakness: Lack of customer support for this product in the U.S. Not eveyone will agree with my assessment of the sound, but you cannot dispute the poor customer service experience. As audiophiles, we pay a LOT money for our high end audio products. There is no excuse for this. It is for this reason alone, that I cannot recommend this product.

If you you considering buying this CD Player, then you should probably read my story. I've had a less than optimal experience with my EMC-1. Your mileage may vary. Purchased as one an original EMC-1 24/96, but I purchased the DAC upgrade to 24/192. My dealer in Port Orchard, WA arranged to have someone install the upgrade. I think I paid $1,000 for the DAC upgrade and another $150 for the install. During the installation, the dealer mentioned that I would lose about 10 dB of gain - which surprised me. They asked the power of my amp, which was 60 WPC, and said I'd be fine. I found it odd, but went ahead with the install. Buyer beware. I found the upgrade did not improve my sound. The player didn't sound bad, but it lacked life and dynamics. Ultimately, I was disappointed. About 1.5 years later, I purchased an MSB Platinum DAC II and found it to be a substantial improvement. I would eventually learn why my EMC-1 didn't sound right, but it wouldn't be until my transport went out. My player stopped working altogether, so I contacted Jason Scott Distributing. They thought it sounded like a transport problem, and they are the only authorized repair facility. So, I shipped them my machine. Here is what they found: They checked my DAC and told me that the DAC upgrade was installed improperly. I think Jason Scott Distributing was emabarrassed as they fixed the DAC at no charge. My dealer, however, didn't even apologize for his screw up. I don't do business there anymore. Still, this is not the end of my story. Please keep reading. The DAC was not the only problem. The transport still needed to be replaced. It took Jason Scott Distributing 3 months to get a new transport. I transport was about $250 + installation, which is less than a day. But my machine sat there for months waiting for the part. Jason Scott Distributing could not tell me when they could expect to receive a part. They weren't even sure if the problem was with the transport. There is no diagnostic test to determine if the transport has failed other than to put a new one in and see if the player works. Neato huh? Eventually, they replaced the transport. The repair was not expensive. They shipped it back to me. The icing on the cake is the top drawer does not close properly any more. I can make the drawer close and get the machine to work, but at the $$ we audiophiles pay, we should have to put up with having to 'jimmy' the drawer to get it to close. I would have difficulty selling this player used to someone and remain in good conscious. OK...enough of my complaining...Here's what I can tell you about this machine. I think it has an excellent transport. While I my machine was on the disabled list waiting for parts, I had the oppotunity to try other transports. I substituted in a Marantz CD Player and a Sony DVD player. I wish I could have tried more, but I learned the transport matters. I think the analogue sound that we all love about the EMC-1 comes from the transport and not the DAC. The other thing I've learned since having the EMC-1 back in service with the DAC properly installed is that the MSB Platinum still sounds better. I would expect this Preamp/DAC combo to sound better given the price. But I also found some far less expensive MSB products to provide, what I feel, is superior sound. Regardless, I'm keeping the EMC-1, but using it as a transport only. OK, this is not a bad product overall. I think it has a subductive sound. However, I think it's distortions are substractive in nature. In other words, I think the philosophy of the company is not to distort with colorations, but rather chooses not to include those colorations even at the expense of loss of information, i.e., somewhat polite. I do think the transport is well designed. You can read about the details on their website. I think it is the transport and chassis design that provides the analogue-like sound. Overall, I would have a hard time recommending this product based on my experience alone. But like I said, your mileage may vary.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz, Sony, MSB, Phillips

It is like a magnet,it draws you in .

Yes the remote is cheap looking.Yes the Emc1 is heavy,a small sacrifice for the musical pleasure it provides you with.

It doesn't matter how you decribe or disect the performance of any component.If that component compells you to listen to it,then you have something special.That is what the emc1 does for me as soon as I walk in the door.It looks beautiful and provides me with the most remarkable sound I have heard yet(besides live music).I could not ask for anymore than that!

Similar Products Used:

Denon,Krell,Classe.

As close to analog as I've gotten with digital

Please see my previous post

This is a follow-up to my previous review of July 2002 and addresses the latest passives mod. to the DAC and analog power supply PCBs. All I can say is if you have the 24/192 DAC and don't have the passives upgrade, you are aren't getting the most out of your player. In my opinion, upgrading the DAC in an older player from the original 24/96, as I did, or having a 24/192 DAC without the latest mod gives only about a 20% improvement compared to the performance after the passive upgrade. From the very first note after the passives mod, I knew there was something special going on. I can only assume that the new ultra fast diodes and HUGE caps cleaned up whatever noise was present before and allowed nothing but the music to burst through! The lower noise floor revealed all sorts of detail I hadn't heard on recordings listened to hundreds of times. Instruments and subtle sounds were reproduced with startling accuracy. At times I felt as though I was hearing inside the recording studio. To be fair, I must admit that the CD player was not the only piece of gear that was upgraded at the time. A new Bryston 14B-SST was now driving my Thiel CS6s and may have broken in around the same time. To make a fair assessment, I dragged the EMC1 over to a friend's house for a listen and let me tell you, we were blown away! I was able to listen to the EMC1 through my old amp, an Air Tight ATM-2, with more efficient Tannoy speakers. That's when I knew this improvement had more to do with the EMC1 than the new Bryston amp. That's not to say that the 115 dB S/N of the Bryston amp isn't contributing a bit to the great sound I'm getting at home. In short, I am very satisfied with this CD player. If you don't own the latest version of this player, the EMC1-UP, and you are looking for a very musical CD player that rivals SACD playback, then you should put this on your short list. If you do have an older version of the EMC1 that hasn't been upgraded, then you should seriously consider the new DAC and passives upgrade.

Similar Products Used:

Please see my previous post

analogue delivery, detail recovery

none yet

This review follows on the review (and rather short one at that) that I put up here some year or so ago. I've been using my ECM1 on a daily basis for well over a year and thought a more considered review was in order. It is clear a year or so in the ECM1 is one hell of a CD player. The marvellous smoothness of its delivery into my Krell KV300i / B&W CDM7NT set up constantly astounds me. I've not heard anything this "analogue" for years and never in the digital domain! Frequency response is flat flat flat and allows the music to really come through. The level of detail the ECM can retreive from a disk is absolutely breathtaking and old disks will sound like new disks - requiring repeat plays to the point where it become annoying! Madonna's Ray of Light and Bela Fleck's Greates Hits of the 20th Century being cases in point! I am sure the new DAC makes it all sound even better but until I have £500 kicking around looking for a home I'll stick with the native version! TO summarize again - buy this CD player - you will NEVER regret it!

IMHO very musical. Timbre of instruments is very accurate. Plenty of resolution without the fatigue of some other high end CD players.

Too large to fit in a standard rack, VERY heavy.

One of the best CD players out there that got even better with the 24/192 upgrade. Demo'd the new Meridian 588 prior to the upgrade and the Meridian left the EMC1 at the starting gate. Thankfully, this was not so after the upgrade! Two words of caution if you upgrade: 1) Do not attempt to DIY if you have an older player and lack soldering skills. The rework is extensive and the instructions are poorly written. 2) Reserve judgement until the unit has broken in for at least 25 hours. It just keeps getting better after that! You will notice an immediate improvement in the bass, but the real magic is in the midrange. Both female and male vocals are slendid. Acoustic bass tones are outstanding. The increase in dynamic range over the 24/96 DAC improves pace and rhythm. Bass, piano and drums are more articulated and not drowned out by the soloist. The EMC1 makes recordings sound like real music! Forget about SACD - this is the real deal.

Similar Products Used:

Meridian, Ayre, Mark Levinson, Wadia, Sony, Cal Audio, Arcam

- Transparent, good imaging, deep sounstage and very musical. - value for money

- DAC cannot be used as a stand alone unit. - El Cheapo remote control(does no go with my Plinius M-16 Remote Control). - Bad documentation of manual (I have two set of different instructions in the box - one says remove the transport fixing screw whereas the other says loosen the screw and leave it there -> the latter is the correct procedure). - The magentic puck is too strong, so you have to use the el cheapo felt that comes with the player in order not to leave any scrathes on the casing of the player.

My unit is the 24/192 version and all I can say is the EMC-1 has everything that I am looking for; smooth, transparent, deep & wide sounstage, and very, very analogue! I compare this unit to Audio Research''s latest CD3 side by side and my conclusion is I like the performance of both units, but not the price. CD3 is double the price of EMC-1 (and very ugly, too)...so I end up with the EMC-1. BTW, please use the XLR outputs to achieve a better sonic performance than the unbalance outputs. I could not believe my ears when I switched to the balanced output.

Similar Products Used:

Sony XA7ES, Sony XA5ES, Marantz CD6000, Rega Jupiter 2000 and

Bass extension, detail. Smooth and silky highs. Detailed, not etched at all. Transparent. Extremenly musical and non digital sounding.

Cheapo remote for the cost of the player

See review I posted below for the original EMC 1. I did the 24/192 upgrade in mid January, 2002. I was quite hesitant to upgrade the EMC 1 (which I loved just as it was) due to a prior upgrade experience on another manufact''s model: (I had a Cal Audio Alpha upgraded to 24/96. To me it made the unit more detailed, but at the expense of less musicality so I sold it.) I was put in contact with Clement Perry from Stereo Times to discuss the upgrade and also spoke with Grant Samuelson, now with Shunyata, and each encouraged me to jump for the upgrade as a "no-brainer." Just too true! Better defined and clearly more extended bass, more extended and cleaner, silkier highs with better midrange transparency. The unit seems paradoxically more dynamic, yet more relaxed. I couldn''t be more impressed at the improvements. One problem arose, however. I had been using a King Cobra V.1 on the player, but it was now too dark. Tried my KC v.2, with some improvement, but I am now looking for the cord to perfectly compliment the upgraded player.

Similar Products Used:

CAL ALPHA/DELTA BelCanto DAC 1.1 w/ Pioneer DVD 525 Meridian 508.24

Smooth, very detailed. Huge soundstage and image. Very musical.

Remote is weak looking, works fine. Charge a little more for the unit and give us all the remote we want and the unit deserves!!

I purchased this ECM-1 mk2 about six months ago with the upgrade already done. Using with a BAT-VK75SE amp and a BAT-VK50SE. In the right combination this could be the very best single box cd player! I won''t go on about what has already been said about this player except to say you owe it to yourself to listen to it in your own system. Let it speak for itself, and it will. Just be ready, because you will want to own it after you listen to it.

Similar Products Used:

Accuphase 65v,Wadia 830,Cary 303/200

With recent super-processed CDs A big leap ahead in moderate cost CD playback.

Cannot cure digital laryngitis of older, badly mastered CDs

An EMC-1 won¡¯t perform miracles by making EVERY CD sound like analog. Digital edge is already infused into the musical signal on older CDs, through bad mastering and inadequate Analog to Digital conversion. Nothing in the Digital to Analog stage can remove that hardness. That is why more than one reviewer has commented that it does flatter bad recordings, just reveals their harshness.

But just put on a recent super processed CD, like those from Linn, DMP DSD, or Chesky 96/24. Music from the EMC-1 comes ALIVE in the same way LPs do on my Linn record player, but in a cleaner way, with less noise & more dynamics. With CDs mastered with the most recent technology, the performance of the EMC-1 is as engaging as that of analog LPs.

If there is still a tiny distance for the EMC-1 to traverse before absolutely matching my Linn LP deck, that miniscule crack is fully compensated for by a lack of the surface noise, compressed dynamics & distortion intrinsic to LPs.

My old ARC CD2 is now a faint, distant memory.

Similar Products Used:

ARC CD2