Emotiva RMC-1 AV Processor Review

[Tks]

So Emotiva conceive, design, market and sell a product they openly admit to not having the in house expertise to deliver.

Mind you audio companies delivering products with dodgy software is not that unusual. Even the fabled Dutch&Dutch 8c has as long history of bad firmware and endless missed deadlines for promised features ( as I understand it). Devialet is another audio company with high technology ambition and some questionable integrated software.

If your planning on offering a device that needs firmware, get some software people onboard. Don't treat it as a aside.

Saying all that Emotiva seems to of messed up the bit they are ment to be good at too.

Oh my.

People really need to start contracting folks like RME to handle their on-device software at least. Everyone in audio is relatively back in the stone age compared to the rest of the technological industry. We have credit card sized computers that run Linux desktop distributions for goodness sake. These companies either have no brain, or are simply complacent with the no-brain customers that still give them business.

this will be good..
https://emotivalounge.proboards.com/thread/53933/official-rmc-1-owners-thread?page=343

https://i.giphy.com/media/x5rqM6KWJ07sc/giphy.webp

 

[anmpr1]

PS: It just occurred to me from reading the article again that the price, five thousand dollars, is factory direct. Thus, if this was a retail unit you'd expect to pay 8 thousand dollars or more, given the usual retail audio salon markup.

 

[ex audiophile]

Send yours man. A week without AV for the greater good - don't be so selfish - dooooo iiiit.

Lol. I just couldn’t handle it if results were anything like this POS from Emo. Yes, I’m a useless cowardly Pandora subscribing slime ball

 

[Koeitje]

After reading that thread and replies from Emotiva people, I made a decision to never buy Emotiva product again.

Its the same as every single other audio forum. These type of people don't care about buying a good product, if it sounds ok its good enough for them. They just want to flaunt their gear and don't care about high fidelity.

The worst part is they don't know what the APX555 actually is.

 

[ck42]

Lol. I just couldn’t handle it if results were anything like this POS from Emo. Yes, I’m a useless cowardly slime ball

Dude...I completely get that. I think I'd seriously just want to stick my fingers in my ears and chant...nah, nah, nah, nah....not listening.....don't care.

 

[Dj7675]

Lol. I just couldn’t handle it if results were anything like this POS from Emo. Yes, I’m a useless cowardly Pandora subscribing slime ball

This would be so useful if you could send it in. We really need something from Arcam tested. Hopefully someone who has one can send it in. If we could just find someone who had one

 

[Koeitje]

This would be so useful if you could send it in. We really need something from Arcam tested. Hopefully someone who has one can send it in. If we could just find someone who had one

Arcam is part of Harman (and thus Samsung) right? Hopefully they adhere to the same standards as Harman.

 

[spacevector]

Lol. I just couldn’t handle it if results were anything like this POS from Emo. Yes, I’m a useless cowardly Pandora subscribing slime ball

Brother - the results are going to be public one day, whether you send it or not. So take a deeeep breath, man up and send it. I will lobby amirm to not be his brutal self for this one, ok?

 

[spacevector]

Arcam is part of Harman (and thus Samsung) right? Hopefully they adhere to the same standards as Harman.

Interesting - they are indeed. I did not know it till you mentioned it so thanks for that.

 

[Dj7675]

@Lonnie
From this quote from the Emotiva lounge it appears you are implying that @amirm is not adhering to industry standards.

"With all due respect, measurements are only consistant if run under the same conditions. Change any of the external variables and the end results change. That is why there are industry standard test with defined procedures."

If I have misunderstood, or have taken you out of context, I apologize. However, if that is what you are saying, can you explain?

Thanks

 

[Newk Yuler]

Once again ASR is showing everybody how free speech in a free market is suppose to work. Proof of quality in products is displayed so consumers can accurately judge and have real, justifiable confidence in their purchases which causes manufacturers to excel or suffer reduced sales. Thank you Amir and ASR for showing the world how this system is suppose to protect consumers and promote better quality in products.

How many hifi manufacturers can you see changing for the better because of ASR's influence? One great example is Schiit slowly but progressively improving and displaying their own contestable proof in improved measurements. Also the many smaller savvy Asian manufacturers that are introducing hardware that will measure great and passes through ASR. Emotiva has a lot to protect so you can bet this thread will be taken to heart.

Keep watching ASR and you'll keep seeing its influence and growth. Show your appreciation by contributing to the panthers.

 

[database]

So are you going to including this graph for future tests of AV receivers and processors?

And, by the way the ranking chart (below) can be misleading if the voltage used for the measurements are not the same. For example, it shows the AV7705 and AV8805 have the same 92 dB SINAD but in fact the AV7705 was only at 92 dB if measured at 2.4 V, otherwise it dropped to about 75 dB at 4 V right?

View attachment 51679

I'm not sure how much work it is but it would be great to see output voltage vs SINAD going forward for all reviews where they apply -- beyond receivers/processors to include desktop DACs, so that it would be possible to make more valid comparisons across the board.

That would mean these simple static charts might not be possible anymore, but it may be better that way since they can be misleading as you have shown.

 

[Casey Leedom]

@amirm, another issue I’m interested in is if the XLR “Analog Pass Through” (“Stereo Direct” I think?) works without distorting the XLR signal. If so, I presume that one could at least have something like a Topping D90 set up for stereo listening on the XLR input.

Casey

 

[amirm]

So are you going to including this graph for future tests of AV receivers and processors?

I am. I already made a template out of it.

By the way, a version of it has been there from start in IMD vs level. The presentation shows input digital value there but you can easily use it to compute the output voltage.

 

[amirm]

@amirm, another issue I’m interested in is if the XLR “Analog Pass Through” (“Stereo Direct” I think?) works without distorting the XLR signal. If so, I presume that one could at least have something like a Topping D90 set up for stereo listening on the XLR input.

Casey

I have not tested analog input if that is what you are asking.

 

[amirm]

this will be good..
https://emotivalounge.proboards.com/thread/53933/official-rmc-1-owners-thread?page=343

Thanks. Addressing the first comment on that page:

The signal is digital in nature as it is fed to AES input of the RMC-1. It is generated by the Audio Precision analyzer and NOT my computer. It would not be an issue for the PC to send it the same signal though as long as you bypass the Windows audio stack. I have done this countless times and results are identical. As it should be for digital data.

That same signal when fed to a quality DAC produces performance that if far, far better than RMC-1. So no matter which way you look at it, the signal or the setup is not an issue.

 

[Sancus]

Copy protection makes this complicated. Any protected video over HDMI must comply with HDCP rules with stipulates no unprotected digital audio link can carry audio over 16 bits or 48 kHz sampling (section 3.3.1.1). Since there is a lot of content with higher resolution than this, from marketing point of view at least, this would be a tough sell.

There are some processors with digital outputs at very high prices, like the Stormaudio ISP line, but if I'm reading their spec sheet right they still fall within this restriction by resampling everything to 48khz during post-processing.

Not that this seems like it would be much of a real issue. I suppose the JBL SDP-55 must do the same for Dante outputs, then.

 

[Dj7675]

I assume you were using the 1.8 Beta.

Just last night they finally released the official 1.8.
www.dropbox.com/s/41cim9og2x5sqr4/EmotivaUpdate-1_8-2020_02_24.dat?dl=0

If you still have the unit please do the following if you are willing.


Do a factory reset under Setup/Advanced
Turn off the unit
Unplug the unit and all HDMI
wait 1 min
plug the unit back in, no HDMI yet
install the official 1.8
Do a factory reset under Setup/Advanced
Turn off the unit
Unplug the unit with all HDMI still unplugged
wait 1 min
plug the unit back in, no HDMI yet
Turn the unit on
Make the changes you need in the setup menu
turn off the unit
Unplug the unit with all HDMI still unplugged
plug the unit back in, and the HDMI.
Retest with working HDMI Audio.


I know you think it is electronic design, but you might not know how truly incompetent their software team is!

I would seriously be shocked if the results don't change drastically.


And yes... I know the above process seems unreasonable, and it is. But its the only way to get the unit to work accurately.

Even something as simple as changing modes from Auto to Stereo and Direct can screw up the unit to start doing weird things and possibly have it start to measure differently.

So if you are going to test a particular mode, say Stereo reference you might want to do a full power cycle or reboot after each mode change.

Do you have any measurements showing the above fixes anything?

 

[timg]

I would love to see more audio components come with birth certificates confirming the fundamental measurements for your particular unit and whether it passed/failed. Zapco used to do this for all of their car audio amplifiers. Pump, compressor, motor, and transmitter manufacturers do it for their products. You can even get it for $100 pressure transmitters...

Tim

 

[pavuol]

Maybe if they just removed terms like "reference / state-of-the-art /audiophile" from its webpage, everything would be fine, I mean folks would be less emotive about emotiva...
And the price will still be justified by "designed & assembled in USA".

PS: ok, "audiophile" can stay