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Emotiva XMC-2

westyjeff

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I am really tempted to get the Pre/Pro for use in 2 channel and surround in my favorite family room. I have a Yamaha DSP A1 that has served me well for many years and I still feel it is better than most other options out there currently. I like all of the XLR outputs for connections to different amplifiers, I also like all of the HDMI inputs (although Amirm's recent paper has shown HDMI to be less than stellar). I also want to do room correction and this would solve that without additional items to buy. My question to the group, does anyone have any experience with this or the bigger RMC-1?
 

DonH56

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I have an XMC-1. It had a few bugs originally that were fairly quickly fixed, but the last HDMI board upgrade was a mess. It took them months to get it working for most folk, and the ones who still have issues have essentially been abandoned as far as I can tell. They are offering a very generous upgrade, but the whole experience soured me on the line. Sound quality should be good. No Auro, no DTS:X yet, if those matter to you. Still cogitating, but Dirac Live is not available yet, so I'd wait a bit if that is important.

The RMC-1 one is now less buggy since the last FW update but there are still issues, and again Dirac Live has not been released for it yet (months after it was "soon").

So my advice would be to wait since you do want room correction, or look at one of the other processors already available or coming soon, and monitor the Emotiva Forum to get an idea of where it's at and what people are finding.

I'm looking at a Harman SDP-75, their version of Trinnov. Way more money but would be my end-game processor.

FWIWFM - Don
 

Dj7675

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I am interested in the XMC-2 possibly as well. I joined the Emotiva Lounge because no detailed specs are listed like the XMC-1. To my surprise I got a response which is great. We shall see:
Hey everyone,

“I'm going to work to get that level of spec information up for the new processors as well as dedicated AP reports for the main core of XPA amplifiers.
“Hair" Nick Mandara
Emotiva Content Manager
 

DonH56

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Yah, they've been rather woefully behind in getting specs up, and there have been a lot of posts about that already. You used to be able to get detailed AP reports for their amplifiers but that went away a few years ago much to our dismay.

Customer response has always been good for me, but their ability to actually deliver on their processor promises, meh. So far it seems like they've managed to deliver most of the goods about the time they phase out the processor (UMC, XMC-1, guess we'll see about the XMC-2 and RMC-1 lines). And the attitude of many posters plus that of some of the company spokesman is sometimes vexing (can do no wrong, problem is due to the other guy not getting it right, etc.) But you do get a "small company" relationship with them. As is probably obvious I have very mixed feelings; I really like the company for the most part, but at this stage in life (and with crazy work hours to boot) I just want something that works and not something I am going to have to debug and wait for months before key features are released. It is coming up on a year since the RMC-1 was shipped and there are still bugs and no Dirac Live.

I hate the thought of paying for a Trinnov or SDP-75, but five-year old units are still going strong, have been updated to handle all the latest formats, and continue to get rave reviews for sound and flexibility. I am waffling big-time right now as I have the chance at a great deal on a B-stock SDP-75 vs. waiting for the XMC-2 or RMC-1 upgrade program to kick in which would provide a much (much!) lower price on a potentially great unit -- if and when they get it fully functional.
 

Dj7675

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Appreciate sharing your experience with Emotiva and your XMC-1. I just purchased a used XMC-1 and it is being sent to Amir to test. I may then take advantage of the Emotiva upgrade program to upgrade to the XMC-2 for $1000. It will depend on the release of Dirac and stability. I don't want to be having to wait on fixes etc either or deal with ongoing glitches.
 

DonH56

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My XMC-1 had a few bugs when I got it that were quickly fixed. It was very stable for me after that. The new 4K HDMI board was said to be out within about 2-3 months IIRC. It was over a year later and was a mess that took maybe 3 months to get reasonably functional and ~6 months before I could count on getting through a week without having to cold-boot the thing. It is working for me now but some of the UI stuff, like looong delays switching inputs, are vexing. Emotiva basically says they are focused on sound first and foremost so things like speed of input changes and menu access is not their priority nor should it be something I should care about. To some extent that is true, but... I have followed the RMC-1 threads for several years now, from before it earned "best of show" way before it was released, to the present situation where it is mostly working but still without Dirac Live. I assume they are close. The trade-up program is supposed to start in October; we'll see.

If they get Dirac Live running it appears to be a much better value than something like Storm or Trinnov and perhaps better performance. Time will tell -- or maybe not; I've yet to see much in the way of subjective reviews and specs on Trinnov. Still torn...

Curious to see how your XMC-1 performs on Amir's bench! Does it have the v3 HDMI board or is it an earlier version?
 

Dj7675

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It does not have the v3 board unfortunately. Would the V3 HDMI board change the test results (besides hdmi audio)? It will be interesting to see how it does and also interesting when they post the specs from their internal AP tests for the XMC-2.
 
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NicS

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I'm waiting on the XMC-2 reviews also.

A few things I've learned:
I use the balanced XLR inputs on my XMC-1 for a Musical Fidelity MX-VNYL feeding a fully balanced signal from my TT. Sounds pretty good in Reference Stereo Mode, which is purportedly a fully analogue path to my ATC SCM-100 active speakers with no bass management.
For 2 channel digital sources I switch to the Direct signal path, which allows for bass management, bringing a pair of SVS subs into play in Stereo Sub Mode. 2 channel SACD stay in DSD mode with no bass management.
For SACD multichannel and movies, I'm in 5.1.

The XMC-2 will not allow for Stereo Sub Mode in Direct mode. I called and asked Emotiva about this and they said that they are only going to allow the subs to be used in Dual Mono Mode, which is a bit of a disappointment for me. They said that they MIGHT reintroduce the configuration of the Stereo Sub Mode as they do with the XMC-1. But currently, it's not configured that way.

The XMC-2 will only be fully differential across the LCR channels (and perhaps the subs). Whereas the RMC-1L will be differential across all 16 channels. Not sure if this will make any difference at all to me. Talking to the rep at Emotiva, he suggested the XMC-2 will be better suited to me. Though I'd be very keen to see comparative tests between the XMC-2 and the RMC-1L to be able to make an educated choice.

Overall the XMC-1 has performed well. My ATC's are extremely revealing and have high SPL levels. The XMC-1's drive them well, though I think the output of the XMC-1 could be a little higher.
 
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