Coincidently, I was just curious as to when to expect the ERC since I ordered it Saturday, so this morning I checked Fedex's website and saw it would be delivered today, I go upstairs to leave for work and guess who rings the door bell. I haven't spent much time with the machine but had to make time to hook it up. I can't remember when a product has had me so curious.

I know now why everyone mentions look and build. The only other brand I've owned to provide an aluminum remote was Primare. The unit was boxed first class, double boxed, then the unit was tucked between two custom foam pieces with carboard shell. It has the weight and feel of a high end machine, including detachable power cord.

For a quick listen I put it in the main rack with my CJ gear. It wasn't my T+A but let me tell you the ERC was not embarrassed. I hate to compare to a $3k machine but what the heck. The ERC-1 held it's own and better than any player at it's price should. My T+A had more bass response and tonal quality, richer. After a couple discs back and forth I just threw in a couple discs I was very familiar with and quit going back and forth. It soon became apparent the ERC is in fact a good player. It won't be for every one as it lacks emotion, I can't say it any other way. For instance, there's a song on the Paula Cole CD I really like but when playng it through the ERC I didn't get the same feeling for the song. However, the Paula Cole is a HDCD and I wonder if any other players I had before truly played the HDCD track because the ERC had a bit different interpretation and unloaded a lot of detail. In fact, the ERC was detailed on everything I played so far, it just lacked the micro and macro aspects, for instance, on acoustic guitar the tones and variations between strings wasn't as apparent as on the more expensive machine. I've heard Eric Clapton, Slow Hand on so many high end systems I had to throw it in. On Wonderful Tonight the ERC had the female singers right where they were supposed to be, off to the left at times, off to the right at times and most importantly, spaced away from Clapton's voice. On All The Way the ERC even revealed Clapton's slight slurr in spots of his vocals, like he let the word slide between his teeth. Now on Old Frisco there should have been like an emphasis on the bass string where the pluck sort of gave it a prolonged sound, kind of tubby, it's that type of detail the ERC lacked which led me to say it lacks emotion. I liked how the ERC sort of has a live sound to it, the snare and certain other areas seem to be emphasized more. The ERC-1 excels in a couple areas, the sound stage is huge and envelopes the room, even more so than my T+A, It also has an effortless presentation, notes are quick, vocals are nice and airy with no restraint what so ever.

If I was handed this unit and told nothing about it my thought after a short visit with it is that it's a high end unit with it's own presentation or style. I personally would say the ERC is on the analytical side of neutral but the sound stage is good enough it could still captivate the other side. Also, if one holds to break in for electronics these thoughts are based on right out of the box.

Tomorrow I will hook it to my Krell amp via XLR, do some comparing against the CJ DAC and see how the ERC does at high volume. This weekend I will do some listening with my X-can and headphones and still want to borrow a c545 for a comparison.

RR-6, I know you're going to read this I'd like to know what those on the other forums were trashing about the ERC. I can perhaps point out differences and personal preference but I found nothing that would warrant "trashing".