I finally decided to pull the trigger on the ERC-1 CD Player over the holidays....at $319 I couldn't say no. Got to spend some time with it last night side by side with my Arcam CD72t. That's the best player I've owned and retailed around $800-$850 in 2003-04.

I've only spent maybe 3-4 hrs on it in total - I've been splitting time with the Arcam. But I've sampled a lot of different music - I tried to play them back to back on each player for a fast comparison...

Some notes I jotted down during my camparisons:

The two player are similar in some aspects - pace and timing is quite good and comes across as effortless from both for most types of music...By comparison I have an older Marantz Cd67 and a yamaha changer that both sound a bit strained at times.

The Arcam is noticeably darker (and might actually mate better with excessively bright gear) and I notice just a slight extra amount of mid-bass in the Arcam...just a bit. The Arcam isn't what I'd call "warm", nor does it have that exaggerated bass some NAD players have that people like. I'd say both playes are close to neutral, with the ERC-1 being a bit brighter. Different.

For midrange, once you focus, there's quite a difference in the two...female voices especially - and there's more detail and sparkle from instruments shining through on the ERC-1. The decay of some instruments is noticeably longer than my other players. When I say detail, I don't mean high frequency or treble, but rather discrete elements of sound are revealed a bit more on the ERC-1 than my Arcam. The ERC-1 is "airy"...I'm guessing the "24-bit, 384-times oversampling Analog Devices 1955 DAC" has something to do with this. I'm sure some people out there will find it too bright - but wow. I feel like I'm hearing a triangle shine through where before it was drowned out, brushes on cymbals sound more real, and I've never heard a vibrophone's unique decay captured and played back quite the same (Milt Jackson on Cannonball Adderley's "Things Are Getting Better" album specifically if you like jazz). For some reason the vibes really bring out the difference between these 2 players.

The separation of instruments and the size of the soundstage is noticeably better in the ERC-1. That's an understatement. Wide, enveloping, all those other buzzwords could be used here. This is an area the ERC-1 has the Arcam beat. It just does it better When I close my eyes, I can hear the instrument's sound originating further to the outside of my speakers. And vocals are more clearly separated from the music.

On the Arcam, I do find vocals seem a wee bit recessed, in particular male vocals. Sometimes this leads to a sense of depth in the recording, sometimes I just feel there's not as much body in the singing...I'd describe the ERC-1 as presenting male vocals with a bit more body or tone. A little more natural. The ERC-1 has a fuller sound in the midrange, and is airier at the same time.

I find the Arcam has a slightly more exaggeration in the mid bass - this is pleasant for some music. I would say it's not as controlled or defined as the ERC-1's mid-bass, it's a bit punchier...not a huge difference either way - I could see on some types of music how I might prefer the bass on the Arcam, but on others the Emotiva.

Up to this point, most of the music I had played was unamplified/acoustic stuff. I threw on some Opeth after the wife left - the Arcam was definitely bested on Blackwater Park! There's a lot of tone in the heavily distored music that weaker players like my DVD player lose some how The sound smears and collapses and all just starts to sound like loud noise instead of loud music. Not so on the ERC-1. The Arcam does ok, but this might be one area in particular where the ERC-1 excels. I really want to use the word 'brutal" in a positve manner, but feel it would be misconstrued somehow. I have to admit this really surprised me - I've always thought heavily distorted music was less fussy about gear - not so apparently. The ERC-1 delivers Impact and dynamics without losing its added detail. It's something else.

I'll throw on some Rush, Porcupine Tree, Albert King, Rachmoninoff and Zappa tonight...Maybe some Birth of the Cool and Wayne Shorter too. Gotta wait for the wife to leave before the Mastodon or Children of Bodom comes out.

So far the ERC-1 is out dueling the CD72 in detail, resolution, and soundstage in particular...it sounds like a much better player.

I also bought a few pairs of their Ultra and X-Series Cables. I only have Blue Jeans Cables and Monster to compare to in that system but I'll try swapping some in and out to see what I hear. They seem well constructed. At some point I know I'll be tempted to have the shootout in my other rig, but that's just too much work for now.

I'll have to decide which player is going where. Mr. P might laugh - he told me I might be surprised which player ends up in my second system.