This is a review and detailed measurements of the RMC-1+ 16 channel Audio/Video Processor for home theater applications. It was kindly drop shipped by a member and costs US $5,499.
The design language follows previous generation. I like all the bits/bytes info on the left and large volume display. The center control is actually a fancy, 4-way joystick -- something I figured out after reading the manual (and not being able to navigate the menus without). I guess it was too expensive to redo the labeling on the front panel to indicate it is the "1+" instead of the previous generation. Fortunately the back panel states it so:
This is a lot of channels. I like the high quality RCA outputs even though they likely will never get used. What is with that tuner section? Who would listen to radio in a home theater? There is even a phono stage with programmable loading (which I forgot to test).
Speaking of testing, my Intel GPU connected fine to the RMC and produced video and seemingly sound. But it would not gen up an audio interface in Windows as it normally does. After much struggle, I gave up and used Toslink for testing. I am pretty sure it produces near or identical performance to HDMI.
I left the unit in standby mode and was surprised to feel that it was fairly warm with a number of green LEDs on in the back board. Even the back panel was warm when I tried to remove the XLR cables! It is not hot mind you but I expect standby to be a low power state. I suspect they are keeping a lot of systems on for faster turn on.
Emotiva RMC-1+ AVP Measurements
I configured the unit to be in Reference Stereo. The manual says practically everything other than volume control is bypassed. This as you will see later, was not correct. Here is our dashboard with Volume set to 0 dBFS for front left and right channels:
That sharply rising low frequency noise was a puzzle. I looked at past Emotiva reviews and found one unit that showed the same behavior. So I continued testing until I got to frequency response. To my surprise, there was a high pass filter in effect! Turns out the default speaker setting is "Small" and setting that, will turn on a crossover, contrary to what the manual says for Reference Stereo. I turned that off and went back and re-ran the dashboard:
That hump is gone. But question remains: why would bass management cause that sharp increase in low frequency noise? Seeing how most people would use the unit in that manner, the first measurement is more relevant to its usage. Still, let's give it the benefit of doubt and rank it based on the second measurement:
Very disappointing. The issue is rising noise and distortion starting at just 10 kHz.
I thought I ran the dynamic range test but now can't find it. You can see it implicitly in this very poor showing in IMD test:
I don't think I have ever tested any DAC with such high level of noise in IMD test!
Here is the output vs distortion:
So best not to crank up the volume past 0 dB unless you really need it. You get a couple more volts but give up even more noise performance.
Linearity is not good but this happens in fair number of AV products:
Frequency response is fine:
But filter attenuation is not:
Wideband THD+N vs frequency is horrid:
Digging in, we see that the cause is not just ultrasonic, but also in-band as we detected earlier:
I tested noise on power on/off and only the former produced such (standby on/off was used):
Conclusions
The RMC-1+ is priced well and feels like a substantial unit with good functionality. Alas, when it comes to measured performance it disappoints in almost every department. It seems no care whatsoever was put in to control and reduce noise. We could argue about audibility of distortion but noise, when wailing from 16 channels, could become bothersome. I know the company has measurement gear and has origins in high performance audio. Shame it has lost its roots this way.
I can't recommend the Emotiva RMC-1+.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The design language follows previous generation. I like all the bits/bytes info on the left and large volume display. The center control is actually a fancy, 4-way joystick -- something I figured out after reading the manual (and not being able to navigate the menus without). I guess it was too expensive to redo the labeling on the front panel to indicate it is the "1+" instead of the previous generation. Fortunately the back panel states it so:
This is a lot of channels. I like the high quality RCA outputs even though they likely will never get used. What is with that tuner section? Who would listen to radio in a home theater? There is even a phono stage with programmable loading (which I forgot to test).
Speaking of testing, my Intel GPU connected fine to the RMC and produced video and seemingly sound. But it would not gen up an audio interface in Windows as it normally does. After much struggle, I gave up and used Toslink for testing. I am pretty sure it produces near or identical performance to HDMI.
I left the unit in standby mode and was surprised to feel that it was fairly warm with a number of green LEDs on in the back board. Even the back panel was warm when I tried to remove the XLR cables! It is not hot mind you but I expect standby to be a low power state. I suspect they are keeping a lot of systems on for faster turn on.
Emotiva RMC-1+ AVP Measurements
I configured the unit to be in Reference Stereo. The manual says practically everything other than volume control is bypassed. This as you will see later, was not correct. Here is our dashboard with Volume set to 0 dBFS for front left and right channels:
That sharply rising low frequency noise was a puzzle. I looked at past Emotiva reviews and found one unit that showed the same behavior. So I continued testing until I got to frequency response. To my surprise, there was a high pass filter in effect! Turns out the default speaker setting is "Small" and setting that, will turn on a crossover, contrary to what the manual says for Reference Stereo. I turned that off and went back and re-ran the dashboard:
That hump is gone. But question remains: why would bass management cause that sharp increase in low frequency noise? Seeing how most people would use the unit in that manner, the first measurement is more relevant to its usage. Still, let's give it the benefit of doubt and rank it based on the second measurement:
Very disappointing. The issue is rising noise and distortion starting at just 10 kHz.
I thought I ran the dynamic range test but now can't find it. You can see it implicitly in this very poor showing in IMD test:
I don't think I have ever tested any DAC with such high level of noise in IMD test!
Here is the output vs distortion:
So best not to crank up the volume past 0 dB unless you really need it. You get a couple more volts but give up even more noise performance.
Linearity is not good but this happens in fair number of AV products:
Frequency response is fine:
But filter attenuation is not:
Wideband THD+N vs frequency is horrid:
Digging in, we see that the cause is not just ultrasonic, but also in-band as we detected earlier:
I tested noise on power on/off and only the former produced such (standby on/off was used):
Conclusions
The RMC-1+ is priced well and feels like a substantial unit with good functionality. Alas, when it comes to measured performance it disappoints in almost every department. It seems no care whatsoever was put in to control and reduce noise. We could argue about audibility of distortion but noise, when wailing from 16 channels, could become bothersome. I know the company has measurement gear and has origins in high performance audio. Shame it has lost its roots this way.
I can't recommend the Emotiva RMC-1+.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
This is telling:
