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Emotiva XPS-1: the next great budget phono stage?

R

rolltide

Super Member
I've always been a fan of Emotiva, and have owned a few of their products over the years. Checking their website a couple of days before Christmas I noticed they'd come out with the XPS-1 phono stage, which is the stand-alone version of the phono stage from their reference stereo preamp.

It has great specs, four MC loading options (47,100,470,1000), and costs $129 including shipping.

I was originally looking for a new phono stage for my 1200MK2 as I often switch between MC and MM carts and was tired of having to switch the wires from the MM input to the MC input and other various fiddling of the sort. There weren't any reviews of the Emotiva yet, but it fit the above as there's one set of inputs and an easy toggle between MM and MC.

Before I connected it to the Technics I got it for, I figured just for fun I'd try it on my Clearaudio Concept with the Concept MC in place of the CA Nano I'd been using with that setup It's the next day, its still there, and it's not leaving. I'm going to have to buy a second one for the Technics. I'm not especially great at putting why I like one audio product over another in words, but I GREATLY prefer the sound from the $129 Emotiva over the $450 Clearaudio Nano. It's not minor or subtle. Detail, soundstage, and positioning of instruments is all improved. I used to think this cart just didn't have much bass, now its not only there in spades but excellent.

At any rate, I just wanted to let people know about a new great cheap phono stage. I think its rare to get a MC phono stage for under $200 period, but an adjustable one with great specs that sounds incredible for $129 shipped with a 30 day no questions asked return policy is pretty unheard of.
 

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I bought one and it should be here on the 2nd of January. For the price, I couldn't resist. With this unit, I can now move in a fifth table into my vinyl room, and not have to move anything around or do cable swapping. I also ordered another pair of their interconnects, which I fancy, as the price is right and the build quality is right up there with the rest of them. I too, think Emotiva does lots of things right.

Wayner
 
Are you getting decent volume ? I am curious to see how this might compare to others like the artdj. I am currently using a tube stage and was thinking of trying one of these to get rid of some noise the tube stage is putting into my system. Is your other setup mc or mm? I'd like to know how it does with mm.
 
Great write up and pics. I just got mine in and hooked up yesterday and I'm very pleased with it as well. I don't use a lot of gear with wall warts and have experienced hum in the past with other external phono stages, but I'm happy to report there is zero power supply hum with the XPS-1. I have a Pyramid regulated 12V PS I had planned to use in place of the wall wart but I don't think I'm going to bother at this point.

I haven't done a ton of listening yet as I didn't get it installed until very late last night, but side one of my Anaologue Productions pressing of J.J. Cale - Troubadour sounded incredible. Very precise, zero noise floor from the pre at the levels I listen at (hiss comes in if you really really push the volume but it would damage your hearing honestly at these levels so I consider it a non-issue). Quiet passages and the deadwax between tracks etc, are very, very quiet. This album does not really have too much in the way of bass, so I'll reserve my judgement on the low freq performance until later however J.J.'s voice and guitar were incredibly crystal clear, did not break up or distort at all, were transparent and lively, and they were super super detailed (I could hear him fretting the strings, it was wild).

I haven't done enough listening yet to comment on too much else, so I'll reserve judgement on soundstage/image etc for now.
 
Last edited:
rolltide said:
I've always been a fan of Emotiva, and have owned a few of their products over the years. Checking their website a couple of days before Christmas I noticed they'd come out with the XPS-1 phono stage, which is the stand-alone version of the phono stage from their reference stereo preamp.

It has great specs, four MC loading options (47,100,470,1000), and costs $129 including shipping.

I was originally looking for a new phono stage for my 1200MK2 as I often switch between MC and MM carts and was tired of having to switch the wires from the MM input to the MC input and other various fiddling of the sort. There weren't any reviews of the Emotiva yet, but it fit the above as there's one set of inputs and an easy toggle between MM and MC.

Before I connected it to the Technics I got it for, I figured just for fun I'd try it on my Clearaudio Concept with the Concept MC in place of the CA Nano I'd been using with that setup It's the next day, its still there, and it's not leaving. I'm going to have to buy a second one for the Technics. I'm not especially great at putting why I like one audio product over another in words, but I GREATLY prefer the sound from the $129 Emotiva over the $450 Clearaudio Nano. It's not minor or subtle. Detail, soundstage, and positioning of instruments is all improved. I used to think this cart just didn't have much bass, now its not only there in spades but excellent.

At any rate, I just wanted to let people know about a new great cheap phono stage. I think its rare to get a MC phono stage for under $200 period, but an adjustable one with great specs that sounds incredible for $129 shipped with a 30 day no questions asked return policy is pretty unheard of.
Click to expand...

Interesting.....is the Emotiva that good and under priced or is the CA Nano not good and over priced? I am only asking a question I don't mean to start any bad discussions. I have looked at the Emotiva and you just gotta ask yourself how they do it? I understand the Emotiva business plan but $129 shipped is excellent price.

Maybe you can come back to this thread after a few weeks and let us know your thoughts after some play and "breakin" time.

Thanks for the post and initial thoughts!
 
I skimmed the specs and 26 page test results but didn't see any mm input capacitance specified. Did anyone catch it or know what it is?
 
I should specify this was with the volume cranked and the tonearm in it's rest. I would never have the volume at that level for listening.
 
Catcher10 said:
Interesting.....is the Emotiva that good and under priced or is the CA Nano not good and over priced? I am only asking a question I don't mean to start any bad discussions. I have looked at the Emotiva and you just gotta ask yourself how they do it? I understand the Emotiva business plan but $129 shipped is excellent price.

Maybe you can come back to this thread after a few weeks and let us know your thoughts after some play and "breakin" time.

Thanks for the post and initial thoughts!
Click to expand...

I read plenty of positive reviews of the Nano before buying it, but I don't think any of the reviewers were using a Clearaudio cartridge. The Concept MC is rated for 100 ohms and the Nano's closest setting is 200 ohms. I asked Clearaudio about this and they said it was a fine pairing, as you'd expect of products seemingly designed to work together, but it seems worth noting.

In general though, I never really found a pairing with the Nano that blew me away or justified its high price tag.
 
ScaleAutoArt said:
Are you getting decent volume ? I am curious to see how this might compare to others like the artdj. I am currently using a tube stage and was thinking of trying one of these to get rid of some noise the tube stage is putting into my system. Is your other setup mc or mm? I'd like to know how it does with mm.
Click to expand...

I've had one of these (but only two days, so still experimenting). I gave it a run with a Shure V15 type iii on a Dual 1229. Plenty of gain and no noise. I don't know what the capacitance is on the phono stage but it sounds very good to me - better than the Art DJ pre and every bit as good, if not a bit better than the Cambridge 651P for moving magnet.

Am still playing around with the settings for moving coil on another turntable but first impressions are good.
 
Well...I went ahead and pulled the trigger on one. My ARTDJ is going to my son along with his Orbit plus and I can see how this performs against my semi DIY tube stage. My main amp is integrated tube and the DJ was fine but a bit low on gain...will see.
 
ScaleAutoArt said:
Well...I went ahead and pulled the trigger on one. My ARTDJ is going to my son along with his Orbit plus and I can see how this performs against my semi DIY tube stage. My main amp is integrated tube and the DJ was fine but a bit low on gain...will see.
Click to expand...

I've been watching the Little Bear Tube Phono thread with great interest, looks like you guys are having fun with them, I've been tempted to jump in more than once. I'm interested to see how you think the XPS-1 stacks up.
 
Noticed this while checking out the new 2014 line up, kinda surprised me, I have the UPA200 amp that I love, I might give this one a shot against my VLPS-II, I like the MC loading options, something my MF does not have, what a great price :)
 
Per my e-mails with Emotiva, the capacitance on the MM side is a rather high 220pf. So while it will be fine with the Shures, Empires, Ortofons and others from the 70-80's, current AT's and the 2M series might have a problem. The Grado's on the other hand won't care nor will the HOMC cartridges. I am waiting on Wayner's evaluation before I buy one to try.
 
c-eling said:
Noticed this while checking out the new 2014 line up, kinda surprised me, I have the UPA200 amp that I love, I might give this one a shot against my VLPS-II, I like the MC loading options, something my MF does not have, what a great price :)
Click to expand...

I just switched the XPS-1 over to my Technics 1200MK2/Audio Technica OC9/ii, where I normally use a VLPS, and I think its a step up especially in the bass department. I'm a big fan of the V-LPS as a $200 phono stage, but I think the Emotiva has a lower noise floor and a more effortless sort of musical quality to it and costs less.

Going to try a MM cart next.
 
Bootbox said:
I've been watching the Little Bear Tube Phono thread with great interest, looks like you guys are having fun with them, I've been tempted to jump in more than once. I'm interested to see how you think the XPS-1 stacks up.
Click to expand...

I like the LB a lot except for the noise factor...tons of gain. I am using a DL 110 which is high output and also found a good deal on a used Dynavector which is also high output MC. I can now see if this stage will perform as well as the LB without the noise and if it doesn't they will take it back no questions. If it does perform well I will also have LOMC for the future. I can report back next week with my findings.
 
Catcher10 said:
Interesting.....is the Emotiva that good and under priced or is the CA Nano not good and over priced? I am only asking a question I don't mean to start any bad discussions. I have looked at the Emotiva and you just gotta ask yourself how they do it? I understand the Emotiva business plan but $129 shipped is excellent price.

Maybe you can come back to this thread after a few weeks and let us know your thoughts after some play and "breakin" time.

Thanks for the post and initial thoughts!
Click to expand...

Emotiva is part of a large company that includes Sherbourne (sp?) and maybe more, so they have more resources than many smaller companies and are able to offer aggressive pricing on audio gear. They've done an especially good job at marketing and branding as evidenced by their very vocal and loyal customer base. A lot of niche audio gear IS overpriced and I think Emotiva balances out the benefits of Made in China cost effectiveness, unique but not expensive enclosure design, and above average component parts.

There was a huge thread on diyaudio a couple years ago where they were modding the XPA-1 and found it was basically a Jungson amp (almost exactly, but compromised) and with some work was made into a giant-killer. I don't remember why it was so similar to a Jungson.

Anyhoos, they focused on a particular market and over the years have cemented a strong rep.
 
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