Emotiva RMC-1 AV Processor Review

[rvsixer]

...that's y'all .

 

[Sal1950]

...that's y'all .

Depends on your drawlllll. LOL

 

[rvsixer]

True, but only one correct way to spell them. Dang I miss Texas.

 

[DonH56]

For all y'all it is short for "you all". Bye yawl...

 

[jdhiro]

Do you use CEC and what is your experience?

RMC-1L owner here.

CEC is a weak point of the RMC1 line right now. Volume control and input switching seem especially problematic on many devices. I'm unable to use these features with my AppleTV at all, however on/off does work well. Fortunately the RMC lets you specific which CEC signals to pay attention to. For me:

On/Off -> CEC
Input -> Emotiva Remote (I don't change sources often anyways)
Volume -> Apple Remote IR

ARC is also problematic to me, but I also don't have much of a reason for ARC. (Although I'm looking forward to an eARC future.)

Emotiva has acknowledged that they will be working on improving CEC in future firmware updates, but those certainly don't come out fast.

---

The RMC-1L sounds excellent to my ears. I ran the Topping D90 and ADI RME-2 on my mains in the same setup (B&W 804 D3s, Emotiva XPA-DR2), and while they sounded very clean, I was never quite happy with the presentation. The RMC-1L on the other hand is alluring. For 2-channel I usually prefer to listen to Reference Stereo (no Dirac).

 

[Jbrunwa]

After reading the test results and improvements I decided to take a leap of faith and bought the XMC-2, since I have a 5.1 setup and do a lot of stereo listening, and learning that the XMC-2 uses the same DAC configuration and code base for the LCR channels. I doubt I would have taken a chance on Emotiva before joining ASR and seeing test and Emotiva eventual response.

I’ve also been using a Denon X3700 as a pre pro and with all settings at baseline the XMC-2 sounds fuller to my ears at similar volumes as best I can tell without having a real time A/B switch. So a subtle difference.

But using Audyssey on the Denon vs Dirac Live on the Emotiva, the XMC-2 with Dirac wins by a mile on my room and system. I know these are supposed to be comparable but after 20 or so different tries with Multi EQ I can’t get close to the clarity and detail that I’m hearing with XMC-2 and Dirac in my environment. Of course this could just all be user error or imagination, but so far the XMC-2 is a winner for me.

 

[Dj7675]

After reading the test results and improvements I decided to take a leap of faith and bought the XMC-2, since I have a 5.1 setup and do a lot of stereo listening, and learning that the XMC-2 uses the same DAC configuration and code base for the LCR channels. I doubt I would have taken a chance on Emotiva before joining ASR and seeing test and Emotiva eventual response.

I’ve also been using a Denon X3700 as a pre pro and with all settings at baseline the XMC-2 sounds fuller to my ears at similar volumes as best I can tell without having a real time A/B switch. So a subtle difference.

But using Audyssey on the Denon vs Dirac Live on the Emotiva, the XMC-2 with Dirac wins by a mile on my room and system. I know these are supposed to be comparable but after 20 or so different tries with Multi EQ I can’t get close to the clarity and detail that I’m hearing with XMC-2 and Dirac in my environment. Of course this could just all be user error or imagination, but so far the XMC-2 is a winner for me.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I almost went with Emotiva (I originally sent in the XMC-1 to Amir to review) for the XMC-2 but decided not to for various reasons. Couple of questions:
1-In your setup, how has stability been? Reboots required, etc
2-When comparing Audyssey and Dirac... do you use full range correction or just below say 300-500hz? I've had both Audyssey and Dirac in multiple systems but never set up at the same time. I just don't think I could tell the difference if EQing below 300-500hz. Just wondering if you had done any comparisons with limited correction.

 

[Jbrunwa]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I almost went with Emotiva (I originally sent in the XMC-1 to Amir to review) for the XMC-2 but decided not to for various reasons. Couple of questions:
1-In your setup, how has stability been? Reboots required, etc
2-When comparing Audyssey and Dirac... do you use full range correction or just below say 300-500hz? I've had both Audyssey and Dirac in multiple systems but never set up at the same time. I just don't think I could tell the difference if EQing below 300-500hz. Just wondering if you had done any comparisons with limited correction.

I have only had it a couple weeks but haven’t had to reboot other than when attaching new cables out of caution. Understand I have a simple config, only 1 sub and I am not using HDMI ARC/CEC. My inputs are Roku ultra, xfinity cable, Arcam Dvd and Sony Blu ray, output to Samsung Q90t. Once I cycled through surround modes too quickly and it went silent, but switching inputs and back again fixed it. So It’s been solid for me so far.

Because of my aging hearing and my speakers roll off the HF a little too soon in my room I need to apply a gentle rise above 4K. Maybe a result of playing in a band when I was a young lad and just plain aging. So reducing the correction window doesn’t seem to work for me, as i wouldn’t be able to adjust the higher frequencies. I do have a pair of Revel M106 on the way so will see if I still need the HF EQ when I try them.

But somehow Dirac did a little better compensation for a couple room nulls at 36 and 68 Hz that I can’t physically correct without a major room redesign. I think it might be setting the crossovers lower for LCR and since they are in different locations it partially corrects the subwoofer room null? So I could try to match that with Audyssey to see what happens. The other aspect of the sound though seems to be more clarity so I think Dirac might be doing something different with timing or phasing? Granted my room is far from ideal with 30 wide by 20 deep and 20 ft vaulted ceiling, open on one side, So I think it gives the room correction software a run for its money, so to speak.

 

[StuartC]

@amirm so now that the RMC-1 has working Dirac does that mean it's on the recommended list?

 

[MASKINEN]

Interesting that performance can be improved with a “simple” FW update. Thanks for your reviews!

 

[Sal1950]

Interesting that performance can be improved with a “simple” FW update

The scary part is that performance could be just as easily be destroyed.

 

[MASKINEN]

The scary part is that performance could be just as easily be destroyed.

Yes I agree, you would hope that they test every new FW to ensure that it doesn't make anything worse or broken. Although that has been an issue in the past with electronics and firmware updates. What can we do...

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I almost went with Emotiva (I originally sent in the XMC-1 to Amir to review) for the XMC-2 but decided not to for various reasons. Couple of questions:
1-In your setup, how has stability been? Reboots required, etc
2-When comparing Audyssey and Dirac... do you use full range correction or just below say 300-500hz? I've had both Audyssey and Dirac in multiple systems but never set up at the same time. I just don't think I could tell the difference if EQing below 300-500hz. Just wondering if you had done any comparisons with limited correction.

I've been using the RMC-1L for going on a year now. I'm using Dirac full-range, which seems to work well with nearly all content. On the 2.2 firmware, HDMI sync is still slow, but issues requiring a power-cycle are uncommon (sources include Nvidia Shield TV Pro, Intel Core i5 NUC, and Amazon FireTV 4k). Two or three times over the past 6+ months, the RMC-1L has not responded well to my source going into sleep mode, requiring a power-cycle. Otherwise, the RMC-1L has been fairly reliable (for an Emotiva device).

I owned the XMC-1 gen2 (which I upgraded to the HDMI 2.0 board). Cost of the upgrade to RMC-1L, less trade-in value of my old unit, was $1.6k, which seemed okay. But I don't think I'd ever pay $4k for this unit. The quality, overall, is just not there. For example, polarity between left/right channels of the headphone jack is swapped. To fix, Emotiva sent me a ribbon cable with a pair of the wires swapped and a few photos showing me how to take the thing apart and replace the cable. That's pretty poor service for a $4k unit with an inexcusable design flaw.

While I could not do an A/B comparison of the XMC-1 and RMC-1L, I feel that the new unit is a significant step up in sound quality. Still, if I was starting from scratch, I'd happily pay up to $8k for a unit without the Emotiva firmware rollercoaster and occasionally flakey behavior. Hope this helps.

 

[psf1]

Hello. @amirm Amir, thank you. My gosh, what an asset you are! I will be donating. I was about to buy the RMC-1. I need a pro for my ATMOS HT upgrade. I listen to 2 channel a lot in addition to quite a bit of HT (one room). I really want a great GUI AND Dirac implementation. To my ears, Dirac did wonders in my car and the proof was in before and after REW measurements at my (very narrow) listening position. I imagine going from no correction in my HT (I was running a Denon 3808) to something like Dirac will help a lot. But I don't want to deal with the horrible interface I see on the Emotiva. I like the company, but not their software. Does anyone have any suggestions for a Dirac solution that can do the newest audio/video processing all in one box?

It's nice to be here and I quite enjoyed reading the real and meaningful impact your contribution had to the improvement of this aspect of the RMC-1. My fear, however, is that you're correct and that folks in AVR production are relying on naive "audiophiles" and marketing to maintain the stream of upgrades. What attracted me to Emotiva was my experience with their amps and their customer service whenever I have had a question about the same.

I was also looking at the Marantz 8805A. Have you measured this new version? It has a new HDMI board it seems? At least something in order to pass 8k/4k120hz.

 

[mant]

If you're looking for something reliable, I would recommend HTP-1.

 

[tparm]

The RMC-1L sounds excellent to my ears. I ran the Topping D90 and ADI RME-2 on my mains in the same setup (B&W 804 D3s, Emotiva XPA-DR2), and while they sounded very clean, I was never quite happy with the presentation. The RMC-1L on the other hand is alluring. For 2-channel I usually prefer to listen to Reference Stereo (no Dirac).

@jdhiro I hope you are still here. I received my RMC-1L yesterday and will get my rack mounts and cables tomorrow, looking forward to setting up my system. Currently I run my Node and plan to run my ERC-4 through a Gustard X16 which then I connect (balanced on the 1L) analog to my processor. I too listen in direct modes without room correction. If I understand you correctly, you prefer the DACs in the 1L to the D90? Obviously I'll play with this too (running CD balanced directly to the 1L and Node via coax to 1L) but I expect I'll still prefer these two sources through the Gustard to the 1L and maintaining an analog path.

I'm not sure if there is much of a question in there, haha. Maybe I am just processing this for myself verbally, but I'd be interested in your comments nonetheless.

Thanks

 

[Jbrunwa]

@jdhiro I hope you are still here. I received my RMC-1L yesterday and will get my rack mounts and cables tomorrow, looking forward to setting up my system. Currently I run my Node and plan to run my ERC-4 through a Gustard X16 which then I connect (balanced on the 1L) analog to my processor. I too listen in direct modes without room correction. If I understand you correctly, you prefer the DACs in the 1L to the D90? Obviously I'll play with this too (running CD balanced directly to the 1L and Node via coax to 1L) but I expect I'll still prefer these two sources through the Gustard to the 1L and maintaining an analog path.

I'm not sure if there is much of a question in there, haha. Maybe I am just processing this for myself verbally, but I'd be interested in your comments nonetheless.

Thanks

I don’t use an external DAC, just Node to XMC-2 that in theory is identical to RMC-1 for front 3 channels in Direct or Stereo mode sounds fantastic

 

[tparm]

I don’t use an external DAC, just Node to XMC-2 that in theory is identical to RMC-1 for front 3 channels in Direct or Stereo mode sounds fantastic

Thank you. I’m wondering if my X16 won’t be redundant with this set up.

 

[HSamwel]

Some value increase..
Lonnie informed us on the Emotiva forum that DTS:X Pro as well as IMAX Enhanced
will arrive later this year for the gen3 series.
He also apologised for the instability of the latest firmware due to some changes to
the backbone code. This because of the new Atmos, DTS and IMAX code.

Emotiva has also announced the first expansion modules for RMC-1.
The first two out this summer, Phono output and balanced inputs, followed by
the channel expansion card later this year.

 

[tparm]

Noticed this evening when playing 2CH hi-res files that no matter the resolution the display on my 1L always says 48/24 when my Gustard DAC varies from 48 to 96 and currently 352.8 MQA. My set up is Node coax to X16 balanced out to RMC-1L. While I am not complaining about the sound (Reference Stereo) I am curious why this may be. Will switch to CD soon just to make sure it indeed goes to 44/16 and isn't just stuck.

EDIT: Appears to be stuck. Using my ERC-4 for CD playback it still says 48/24.