Emotiva RMC-1 AV Processor Review

[amirm]

So does this explain why streaming devices such as Roku and Firestick limit streaming audio to 16/48?

No, that is likely because it saves bandwidth that they preciously need for video. Streaming data rate is far lower than physical discs so to keep quality up, they need to decimate the source rate as much as they can. Since most likely what is above 16 bit is all noise, it also doesn't compress well.

 

[HSamwel]

Very slow pace to fix things and looks like it's almost hopeless to ask for changes/tweaks to current features or new features. You may get "we'll look into it" and that's it. Meanwhile, Monoprice with HTP-1 is showing an example how things should be done.

I would certainly agree. Monoprice listen to their customers, makes changes if possible.

Other than speed of fixes, this is one of the things I dislike with Emotiva. They seem set in their ways.
They make RMC-1 for themselves, not their customers. Any suggestions is told to be not possible,
unnecessary or not the way RMC works.

I have made several suggestions to the UI to make it faster and easier to use.
But they seem to just want it slow and complicated.
IMO the UI/GUI is one of the most important features. This is the first things users see and
makes them build an opinion of the device.

The live update of the UI, while nice in the channel volume settings and like it where you
change sound directly, is really unnecessary in most places of the settings and slows it down considerably.
I have asked to have this removed in the places where it’s not needed to speed things up.
”Why, most like it this way” and ” Can’t be changed” is what answers I’ve got.

I asked for a time setting (and press again to close) for the info/status window.. Can’t be changed I got..
Even though it is shown for about three seconds then automatically disappears. How this is not a less than
30 minutes job for an experienced coder is beyond me. The time shown must be a hardcoded value.

I also asked for a active speaker list, like Denon/Marantz have. So you can see which speakers are in use
with especially Atmos/DSU and DTS:X/Neural:X. Can’t be done I got.
How many times have I not had to go the speakers and put my ears to them to see if they’re active.
Even with my previous Pioneer SC-LX801..

A real GUI for speaker settings would be nice, no answer..

But I really like the sound quality. It has without doubt the best sound I have heard from any AVP/AVR.
Even the 2ch sounds really good. It’s nice to have one unit to do all playback instead of a separate
stereo preamp which I used to have.

 

[DonH56]

Well, I haven’t been a Emotiva customer for that long to ”remember” failed promises of yesteryears..
I don’t feel like they have promised that much since I bought my RMC-1 (june 2019). They have hoped to
have Dirac ready last year though, and had alot of excuses why they failed. Mostly blaming Dirac for not
delivering the full code and/or working code. Yes, they got it late about june last year, yes it seems the
code had to be recoded alot, especially memory allocation I heard. But..
It felt a little strange, a company only blaming other companies for their own failures. This was a new for me.
Acting a little bit unprofessional IMO.

But is Emotiva the only company to ”promise” what they want to do? I rather have a company telling
me what they want to do and what they are working on than not.
The only thing that’s bad is their time scale.. Everything takes ages. Even minor fixes. Other than the
1.9 ASR fix because that hit them hard.
Although, since I bought my RMC-1 I have had 6 official firmwares and 2 betas. Compared to others
that’s quite alot in less than a year. Not many new features though, mostly catch-up for their bad
stability.
But I have almost never seen or heard these issues myself. The unit has been quite stable for me.
Never had any firmware update issues, never done those crazy steps SOWK writes about.
Just update, restart and use, every time. Never even backed up my settings until I first installed
a beta I got from them.
But it has been slooow.. I have mentioned this alot both to Emotiva and at the Emo lounge, but
most seem happy with the speed now.

The big boys (Denon/Marantz, Yamaha, Onkyo/Pioneer) almost never upgrade their stuff. You get what
you paid for the year you bought it. Next year they mostly add some feature to to make you ”need” to
upgrade. Don’t know if these silent ”promises” are better.
I got pissed of several times when they added a feature I know can be added by firmware but chose
not to just to sell the new year model.

Sorry for my ranting..

The problem is the many fixes in a year are for pretty major failures, if not for you, then for others. Customers (I am one but do not have an RMC-1, still sitting on my XMC-1) have had the RMC-1 for a year or so now and still have no Dirac Live, buggy interfaces, feature failures, etc. Many folk have been down this path before, always with the hope for change, but the insanity continues... Nobody doubts they are working hard, and they will answer the phone or an email pretty quickly, but at the end of the day you and many others have effectively been beta testers for a year. Some people are fine with that, but others were just hoping for a working product and have been disappointed.

 

[HSamwel]

The problem is the many fixes in a year are for pretty major failures, if not for you, then for others. Customers (I am one but do not have an RMC-1, still sitting on my XMC-1) have had the RMC-1 for a year or so now and still have no Dirac Live, buggy interfaces, feature failures, etc. Many folk have been down this path before, always with the hope for change, but the insanity continues... Nobody doubts they are working hard, and they will answer the phone or an email pretty quickly, but at the end of the day you and many others have effectively been beta testers for a year. Some people are fine with that, but others were just hoping for a working product and have been disappointed.

Yes, probably true. I’m not against doing some beta testing. But it depends on how buggy the testing is.
As I said, I have not had any major problems. Actually very small issues.
Mostly the slow UI has bugged me. Not much more issues than I had with my Pioneer or Marantz
I had before.

I thinks what have been worse than the actual bugs for most has been Emotivas behaviour. Telling
customers that it’s the sat box, the cable or whatever and saying they follow standards and every
one else don’t. Instead of just trying to fix the bugs. This kept going on for a while until late last year.

I do feel there have been improvements last 5-6 months though. But still the occasional blurp
on the emo lounge from them.

 

[RichB]

Yes, probably true. I’m not against doing some beta testing. But it depends on how buggy the testing is.
As I said, I have not had any major problems. Actually very small issues.
Mostly the slow UI has bugged me. Not much more issues than I had with my Pioneer or Marantz
I had before.

I thinks what have been worse than the actual bugs for most has been Emotivas behaviour. Telling
customers that it’s the sat box, the cable or whatever and saying they follow standards and every
one else don’t. Instead of just trying to fix the bugs. This kept going on for a while until late last year.

I do feel there have been improvements last 5-6 months though. But still the occasional blurp
on the emo lounge from them.

I cannot speak to Emotiva but Oppo beta group was fairly comprehensive team with a private forum to allow for teamwork.
All reported issues were gratefully received.

After the private beta, there was a public beta, followed by general release.

IMO, Emotiva would benefit from a public beta phase. This might also calm fears of the 30-day return clock starting on Dirac release.
The clock could start on general release, after the public beta.

- Rich

 

[DonH56]

Just calling the initial release cycle a "beta" would have saved a lot of customer angst. Tell it like it is...

 

[RichB]

Just calling the initial release cycle a "beta" would have saved a lot of customer angst. Tell it like it is...

A public beta release limits the pool to risk takers and sets expectations.

- Rich

 

[Martin]

Just calling the initial release cycle a "beta" would have saved a lot of customer angst. Tell it like it is...

And give beta testers a discounted price.

Martin

 

[Bghead8che]

I'm also hearing that Monoprice is looking into the HTP1 measurements raised by ASR and will be implementing their update accordingly as well.

Where did you hear this? Did Monoprice post this somewhere?

 

[KimbaWLion]

Funny thing, while NOT even close to the latest and greatest processor, my used CX5000 Yamaha from a buddy who upgraded with the pre-outs from my ancient Sony ES5300 from AGES ago because of lack of fundage to upgrade. Other than NOT having EARC and just ARC for my LG C9 I am super happy! I am running 7.1 for the moment...

I come from the school do one thing right and everything else falls into place. I want one of their 11 Channel Amps but I DO worry after reading this... Though Amps tend to have one Job and SHOULD be easier to get right! I am rather disappointed in Emotiva after reading all this... I still LOVE my Airmotive 4S though, GREAT for my PC etc.

 

[kernelpanic]

I have a new question on these results. When comparing these to the XMC-1 below, which is NOT differential on any channels, did @amirm just objectively prove that differential mono DAC's on each channel don't really make a difference?

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...urements-of-emotiva-xmc-1-gen-2-pre-pro.9225/

 

[RichB]

I have a new question on these results. When comparing these to the XMC-1 below, which is NOT differential on any channels, did @amirm just objectively prove that differential mono DAC's on each channel don't really make a difference?

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...urements-of-emotiva-xmc-1-gen-2-pre-pro.9225/

I believe the XMC-1 is differential on the Front channels, so in this regard, similar to the RMC-1.

- Rich

 

[kernelpanic]

I believe the XMC-1 is differential on the Front channels, so in this regard, similar to the RMC-1.

- Rich

Not according to this comparison sheet from the Emotiva forums:

 

[RichB]

Not according to this comparison sheet from the Emotiva forums:

View attachment 54717

That specification is for the AKM4490 in mono mode. The XMC-1 is front L/R channels are full balanced using the Burr Brown DSD1796 DAC.

- Rich

 

[kernelpanic]

That specification is for the AKM4490 in mono mode. The XMC-1 is front L/R channels are full balanced using the Burr Brown DSD1796 DAC.

- Rich

Ahhh, I see. Thanks, I stand corrected. Wishful thinking I guess. Was hoping for some clear data on differential vs. non-differential DAC implementations. It seems like all the non-differential pre/pro's on ASR have measured poorly, but likely due to different reasons like subpar manufacturing and design from the big name companies and not just solely differential vs. non-differential.

 

[JT4]

I am in the market for a high end AVP. I was seriously looking at the Emotiva RMC-1. As a side comment, I love OSR reviews. Very helpful! Emotiva's response has firmly changed my mind about purchasing their product. Lonnie is an as@@$ who can't engage when challenged. Emotiva's response make it clear that their design, development, and implementation is based on arrogance, not a desire to meet the customer's need. I have worked in the development world for 20 years. When you encounter Emotive's attitude, you encountered someone who makes accuses for their short comings! Big boys put on their big boy pants and fix their mistakes. Sorry for being crass, but I would expect more from a company that wants me to give them $5K. Amirm, keep up the great work!

 

[Mocs123]

Emotiva processors have a reputation of being buggy, and it appears this one is no different. It is the lowest cost 16 channel processor available so that's commendable. Currently my theater is 7.4.4 as there wern't any affordable processors that could do more, and apparantly there still aren't. I did pre-wire for 9.6.6 though and have the drivers and amp for two more subs if I ever get around to building them. Whether or not I ever go to the full 9.6.6 is yet to be seen. One of the problems we have is in order to get real Atmos audio, we need physical disks, which I don't think will fully die out for some time, but is quickly becoming a niche market.

Processors and Home Theater receivers are subject to obsolescence issues, therefore I tend to think, it's either best, to buy used and stay a generation or two behind, or buy a more moderatly priced processor or A/V reciever so it doesn't hurt that bad when you need to upgrade.

Again, thanks for testing, and thanks to someone for loaning equipment to test.

 

[Billy Budapest]

I cannot speak to Emotiva but Oppo beta group was fairly comprehensive team with a private forum to allow for teamwork.
All reported issues were gratefully received.

After the private beta, there was a public beta, followed by general release.

IMO, Emotiva would benefit from a public beta phase. This might also calm fears of the 30-day return clock starting on Dirac release.
The clock could start on general release, after the public beta.

- Rich

The Oppo beta testing wasn’t traditional beta testing, in that the beta testers were involved with the actual development of the products. This was especially true for the headphone and personal audio lines. But you know this!

 

[SirMaster]

"One of the problems we have is in order to get real Atmos audio, we need physical disks, which I don't think will fully die out for some time, but is quickly becoming a niche market."

Does this mean we don't get full on Atmos through streaming such as with Netflix? What compromises are made? TX

What do you consider real Atmos?

Atmos on steaming is the same audio, same channels, same objects. It’s just lossy compressed rather than lossless. Like MP3 compared to FLAC.

There shouldn’t be that much difference.

 

[BFerr]

What do you consider real Atmos?

Atmos on steaming is the same audio, same channels, same objects. It’s just lossy compressed rather than lossless. Like MP3 compared to FLAC.

There shouldn’t be that much difference.

Thanks, didn't know that...with all the browsing on audio that hasn't come up. I'll have to upgrade my 2012 Sony blu-ray player I guess? It does have Dolby True HD but I'm not sure how it deals with Atmos.