Emotiva ERC-1 CD Player --- Review

[RoadRunner6]

My new Emotiva Reference ERC-1 CD player arrived yesterday two weeks after my new Oppo BDP-83 universal player. Emotiva had the ERC-1 out the door and shipped less than three hours after I placed my order. I have been curious to compare the two in standard Redbook CD playback performance. Some think I might be wasting my time because they presume the Emo would sound much better.

I have always been on the skeptical and objective side when it comes to other than speakers and cartridges sounding differently (amps do sound differently when driven to significant distortion or clipping). I have been very impressed with the specs and photos of the ERC-1. I can honestly say I'm not sure if I will hear a difference between the ERC-1 and Oppo 83. My presumption is that there will be either a very slight improvement from the ERC-1 or that I will hear no difference. I don't think it will be a significant difference. (these were my honest thoughts before I started this review)



Packing ..... The packing on the ERC-1 is the best I have every seen in an electronics product. Both of the double boxes are extremely thick, heavy and strong. The inner padding was excellent. The packing materials weigh 8 lbs!

Appearance ..... Aesthetics are always subject to personal observations. I think the ERC-1 and remote control are simpling stunning. I could not have designed a more attractive component for my tastes. The ERC-1 is handsome with its brushed satin black finish with silver highlights. The blue lights add the perfect glow. (I always loved the look of McIntosh equipment) The control buttons are the perfect size and color.

Build Quality ..... This is simply one well built machine. Every thing about this player sings high quality from the heavy outside panels, the front and rear controls and connections, to the inner circuitry. It appears to be constructed of top quality parts throughout. This is a very hefty player.

Functionality ..... I was very pleased with the organized and clearly written owner's manual. The specifications in the manual contain one small typo. The frequency response should read "20Hz - 20kHz (+/-0.1dB)" instead of (+0/-1dB).

The operation of the front panel controls are simple and precise. I found the display prompts just a little confusing at first. From turn on to loading a disk you see, .....EMOTIVA.....LOADING.....NO DISC.....READY...... Without reading the manual first I might have been tempted to try to load the disc when I saw LOADING instead of waiting for Ready. I feel maybe [i].....EMOTIVA.....WHUS UP BRO?.....WAIT.....NO DISC.....LOAD.....[i] might have been more clear. The back panel is perfectly designed and includes balanced outputs.

Loading a disc is a little different than the only other slot loading player I have used which is in my car. If you look carefully with a flash light there are two micro leprechauns inside that actually do the loading. The load slot is covered with a felt like cover with a slit in the middle. You can her this as you begin to slide the disc in. When the disc is in several inches the leprechauns grab it and load the disc. After several loads I became very comfortable with the process.

Remote Control ..... The remote control looks like a piece of metal art work you might see displayed in the Louvre. It is the classiest looking remote I have ever laid eyes on. It appears to be made from a very heavy (it weighs a ton!) and satin brushed aluminum with shiny silver buttons. Control operation is very precise. I found the buttons slightly small for my hands and would have preferred the buttons were the same satin appearance as the end caps.



Pre-Test Comments ..... Before I even inserted the first CD there was no doubt in my nit-picky/frugal mind that the ERC-1 was a permanent member of my Audio/Home Theater Club. In my opinion it is simply a beautiful piece of electronics design. I have been slightly nit-picky in some of my above comments. I had to look hard to find any suggestions for improvement. I don't hesitate for a second to send a piece of equipment back when I am not fully satisfied. This is probably the first component I ever knew was a keeper before I even tested its performance.

Comparison Test Setup ..... I hooked up both the ERC-1 and the Oppo 83 to my Sony STR-DA4ES (used until my new pre/pro arrives) with identical brand new IXOS .5 meter RCA cables from the player's analog outs. I used the "analog direct" mode (pure direct) on the Sony with side by side inputs on the function selector. Two channel stereo sound (sub was turned off) was played using a 5 channel Emotiva XPA-5 amp (2 channels driven: 275 watts/8 ohms and 450 watts/4 ohms) through two Axiom Audio model M2 bookshelf speakers (Freq Resp +/-3dB (Hz): 70 - 22kHz). This speaker uses the same 1" titanium tweeter as Axiom's top of the line M80 and is very neutral sounding with a 5.25" aluminum mid/bass driver. The M2's have excellent off axis response and were placed about 6" apart. My seat was about 7' away. Later I listened again to some tracks closer and farther away and came to the same conclusions.

I calibrated both players to the exact same volume level using the volume control on the Oppo. This was set with a Radio Shack analog sound meter on a tripod and two tracks from the Stryke's Bass Zone Test CD. Track one was a 1KHz tone and track two was pink noise. Both players output exactly 89dB's with track one and 81dB's with track two. I again checked the output after my tests and they were still identical. (One has to be very careful doing this so that the body does not interfere with the sound reflecting to the back to the meter).

Initially I wanted to do a blind test but found it too difficult with my equipment. Switching inputs from one player to the other caused a 2-3 second delay which made an instantaneous switch on the same music clip impossible. Instead I decided to use a 3 second additional delay for a total of approximately 6 seconds. This allowed me to listen to one player for about a 3 second clip and then switch inputs and listen to the same 3 seconds on the other player. I then reversed the lead player and the test CD's half way though the test. I first practiced many times so I had this down to a smooth process and I could just concentrate on the comparison of the music. I choose 3 second passages that allowed me to check for clarity and definition, imaging and sound stage. I choose passages containing acapella singing, closed and far miked instruments and solo vocals, choral singing, spread out instrument placements and delicate tones from cymbals and other percussion instruments.



Music Test Tracks ..... I made two identical test CD's on new Taiyo Yuden (high quality Japanese blanks) CD-R's. I switched test CD's in the two players half way thru the test.

R. Kelly ..... Gotham City ..... Jive Records (I did not make this up)
The Beatles ..... Because (acapella) ..... Capitol
Nora Jones ..... The Nearness Of You ..... Blue Note Records
The Gipsy Kings ..... Volare ..... Nonesuch
Diane Schuur ..... Funny (But I Still Love You) ..... GRP Records
Lyle Lovett ..... She makes Me Feel Good ..... MCA/Curb
Ambrosian Singers ..... O Tannenbaum ..... Columbia
Ben Webster/Ella Fitzgerald ..... In A Mellow Tone ..... Verve
Voices Of Ascension ..... Sicut Cervus ..... TDK
Pete Fountain ..... A Closer Walk ..... Decca
Sara K. ..... Oh Well ..... Chesky
Dave's True Story ..... Dear Miss Lucy ..... Chesky
Steve Porcaro and David Paich ..... She ..... Sheffield Lab
LA Chamber Orchestra ..... Water Music/Handel ..... Delos
Scott Hamilton ..... That's All ..... Concord Records
Jerry Hadley ..... All I Ask Of You ..... RCA Victor
Clark Terry ..... Pennies From Heaven ..... Chesky
Rahsaan Roland Kirk ..... In A Mellow Tone ..... Warner
Oscar Peterson ..... North York ..... Telarc

More Pre-Test Comments (man will this dude ever get to the good stuff?) ..... I spent a lot of time preparing for this listening test. I wanted whatever conclusions I found to be objective as possible. The listening was a very tiring and a concentration filled exercise as well as a lot of fun. There was approximately 72 minutes of music. I conducted a shortened version of the comparison last night at lower levels and then today the full test in which the music was usually in the 70-80 decibel level.

Conclusions ..... I choose passages to compare that were filled with very defined sound. I listened to passages with the trumpet on the right, the drums in the middle and the piano of the left ... or passages that had a soloist up front and the drums behind her ... and on and on ... to see if I could detect any difference in soundstage or imaging. I checked and checked to make sure the sound volume level was precisely matched. I took a long break half way though.

The Oppo machine has impressed me on BD, DVD, SACD/DVD-Audio and now CD playback. I don't think one could get better sound quality from a universal player in this range or even far more expensive. I simply have no negatives about the fine sound I heard from this player. The Oppo 83 is a very solid machine and a great bargain at $499.

In every way the Emotive ERC-1 is on a higher level compared to the Opp player including build quality, functionality and customer service. I feel the ERC-1 is simply a steel at the amazing price of $399. The sound of the Emo ERC-1 was simply superb, from definition to imaging to soundstage. I have listened to many high end CD players in our local dealers. I have never heard a player that sounded better than the ERC-1, period!.

I think this is a compliment to the CD performance of the Oppo. It is also a compliment to Emotiva who has produced an obviously great product that I have absolutely no hesitation recommending highly. The ERC-1 CD player is in a class by itself for price/performance.

I definitely will keep both players. They will only be able to pry my EMO ERC-1 from my cold dead hands.

RR6