I read the review on the Emo preamp and it seems to be one heck of a unit for the money. In fact the only thing that they seen that would separate this unit from a much higher priced "high end" piece was a slight raise in frequency response in the upper treble range and that the built in phono preamp did not have the adjust ability of the outboard unit. But these are small factors for the price of the unit. In fact seeing the equipment he was using to test it, and the reviewer being that impressed with the Emo I would say its a winner in my book. And to boot I loved the HT bypass so you can use your home theater receiver or processor with it and it will not get in the way of the signal but when you want the pure sound of a stand alone preamp you have it there as well. Very cool option and one I think was well thought out. Mr. Peabody I would give it a shot from what I can tell you might be surprised at what your 400 bucks bought you. enjoy