Anyone using the Emotiva Gear?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I have owned 4 pieces of Emotiva gear so far. Their customer service has been outstanding imo. I have been on the phone with them on different occasions and have used their warranty service. Nothing but top rate in my book. Sucks to here that not everyone is feeling the same way.
 
Just to be clear, my example of returning gear wasn't Emo. I'm 97% happy with my Emo XDA-1 DAC. The 3% not happy comes from not being able to fully dim the display as the manual indicates you can. Emo says the manual is wrong and the display never has been fully dimming. It will be when the warranty runs out. :)
 
I have owned 4 pieces of Emotiva gear so far. Their customer service has been outstanding imo. I have been on the phone with them on different occasions and have used their warranty service. Nothing but top rate in my book. Sucks to here that not everyone is feeling the same way.

I really was hoping my friend would have a similar exeperience. Some of your posts are why I steered him towards Emo to begin with. Now I feel kinda bad about it.

He was going to call and see if he could speak to someone higher up, so hopefully he gets somewhere.
 
I really was hoping my friend would have a similar exeperience. Some of your posts are why I steered him towards Emo to begin with. Now I feel kinda bad about it.

He was going to call and see if he could speak to someone higher up, so hopefully he gets somewhere.

I know what you mean. It sucks to recommend something to a friend or family member and it doesn't work out. I recommended a job to my son based on what a couple of co-workers said. He hates the job after only a couple of months of working there. I feel terrible about it but there is nothing I can do. I probably won't do that again. :no:
 
I have an XPA-2 and absolutely love it. I consider myself to be a die-hard audiophile.
The XPA-2 gives all the detail a person could want, and has tons of power in reserve.
The amp sounds smooth, detailed, and never runs out of power at any sensible, or wall rattling volume. I have also heard the XPA-1 amps and they are also fantastic. Slightly better sounding than the XPA-2, and so they should be!

I have heard much more expensive amps, and the XPA1 and 2 easily compete if not equal the more expensive brands. IMO the Emotiva amps have cheaper cases than the fancy audiophile brands and this saves on the cost. Internally the XPA-2 has some cheap capacitors in the power supply, but the sound quality is NOT compromised by this. I would recommend Emotiva XPA-1 or 2 amps to anyone, no matter their budget, even if they can afford the overpriced "audiophile" brands.
 
I never had any problems with Emotiva (knock on a wood!!!) - gear or their service and support. And can anyone name one company which never had bad day with their customers?
 
I never had any problems with Emotiva (knock on a wood!!!) - gear or their service and support. And can anyone name one company which never had bad day with their customers?

For every report like Marantzfan's, i've seen many dozens of responses like yours.
 
I would recommend Emotiva XPA-1 or 2 amps to anyone, no matter their budget, even if they can afford the overpriced "audiophile" brands.
Emotiva gear are an excellent value, that can't be denied. However, not all audiophile brands are "overpriced". By your own admission, the "XPA-2 has cheap capacitors in the power supply". This may be fine now, but these cheap caps could possibly need replacing sooner than say, better quality caps in a more expensive audiophile amp, where only the best quality parts are used throughout. You get what you pay for.
 
Emotiva gear are an excellent value, that can't be denied. However, not all audiophile brands are "overpriced". By your own admission, the "XPA-2 has cheap capacitors in the power supply". This may be fine now, but these cheap caps could possibly need replacing sooner than say, better quality caps in a more expensive audiophile amp, where only the best quality parts are used throughout. You get what you pay for.

they have even gotten them in country without being up to code

they are priced for what you get

they are not an excellent value at all
 
they are not an excellent value at all

We're all entitled to our opinions.

Name one company that has never had a bad customer experience. And show me proof of it.

Also, how does anyone know if Emotiva uses cheap capacitors? Is it because they don't have Nichicon, Elna or another popular makers name stamped on it? Is there a study or something that shows the brand(s) of capacitors they use are known to fail prematurely?
 
Last edited:
Emotiva gear are an excellent value, that can't be denied. However, not all audiophile brands are "overpriced". By your own admission, the "XPA-2 has cheap capacitors in the power supply". This may be fine now, but these cheap caps could possibly need replacing sooner than say, better quality caps in a more expensive audiophile amp, where only the best quality parts are used throughout. You get what you pay for.

You are right. Emotiva is an audiophile brand that is not overpriced.
Cheap capacitors may or may not need replacing earlier than more reputable brands. I'll tell you in 10 years time. Emotiva offers a 5 year warranty. If the amp was to break after 5 years. I'd just replace it with a new amp from Emotiva, or fix it. I'd still be thousands of dollars better off than if I had bought a traditional "audiophile" brand equivalently powered amplifier. With the overpriced brands, IMO you certainly pay a lot, but perhaps you dont get what you pay for? I have seen cheap capacitors in extremely highly priced amps and CD players.

Please tell me the price of an equivalent 300W into 8ohm 500W into 4 ohm per channel amp using only "the best quality parts throughout" I think you will find that such an amp costs 10x the price.
The Krell evolution 302e http://www.krellonline.com/evolution302e.html is the most closesly powered Krell offereng to the XPA-2. Krell costs about $10,000 new. The XPA-2 costs about $950.

On this page here there is a picture of the insides of a Krell 402e http://www.krellonline.com/evolution402e.html I don't see any fancy capacitors in there either!
 
Last edited:
I get a lot of the same crap about my Dussun...until they check out the build, parts, and sound, and find out it blows away their 4-5k amps.
 
I've cleaned up some name-calling here. This thread's on the edge anyway, but more of that will get it closed, and lead to some consequences for the posters.
 
Also, how does anyone know if Emotiva uses cheap capacitors? Is it because they don't have Nichicon, Elna or another popular makers name stamped on it? Is there a study or something that shows the brand(s) of capacitors they use are known to fail prematurely?

I know that Emotiva uses cheap tank caps in the power supply becuse I opened mine up to have a look. + photos of the caps are on the Emotiva website. The XPA-2 also has some caps made by Elna. so its not all bad. Anyway, like I said earlier, I don't believe that the cheap tank caps are having any negative effect on the sound.
Sure, I could replace them with a well known reputable brand of cap, but Id be spending about $150+ on replacing these caps, it might not make any difference to the sound.
 
I don't know how much if anything has changed over the last few years but I have to say that my RPA-1which I purchased in 2007 is built like a tank. It uses glass epoxy boards, 1% resistors and 105 degree caps. Chassis construction is very solid as well. This amp is dead silent with no input signal. No hiss, hum or other artifacts from its outputs.

The last thing I will say is that not everyone is happy with every brand of component for one reason or another. That's fine, but if I don't happen to like a particular brand I don't go around calling it junk. There are many, many happy Emotiva owners.

I own Carver, NAD, Pioneer, DBX, Marantz and Emotiva gear and like it all. They all have their own unique sonic characteristics. Variety is good in my book.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom