It's been a while since I've updated my progression in my man cave. Since I exchanged my Integra 70.2 last Winter, I've been focusing my efforts on amplification and my 2-channel set up. This week, my Wife purchased me the last piece to my stereo set up; the ERC-3 by Emotiva.

Capabilities wise, the ERC-3 is a standard CD player. It doesn't do SACD, DVD-Audio, 3-channel stereo, etc. What it does do is CD playback with the skill and singular focus of an Olympic athlete. At 21 pounds, this unit is a beast. With top notch build quality and near mil spec construction (by appearance), this player looks like It can take a licking and keep on ticking! The front panel and tray loader are lit by blue lights. The brightness is adjustable and matches the XSP-1 preamp very well.

With balanced, analog connections and a host of digital connection options, you should be able to hook this player up in just about any system. Unlike the Oppos, there is no volume control, so you will need an AVR or pre/pro to hook this up and feed your speakers. The additional bonus for me is the differential design that helps eliminate noise from the system when used with all differential equipment feeding your speakers.

My ERC-3 is connected to Emotiva's XSP-1 preamp with 6' XLR cables. This takes advantage of the onboard DAC, which is the AD1955. By all accounts, this is a widely well regarded chip and contends well with the ESS Sabre DACs. Utilizing the balanced connections and differential design provides me with dead silent, inky black backgrounds. I believe this helps with dynamics and resolution.

When I initially hooked up the ERC-3, the bass was a little lean and the disc drive was quite loud. After only a few hours, the bass is tighter and punchier than I previously had with my Oppo 103. The disc drive is very similar to a CD ROM drive in it's noise. When you first insert a disc, it is a bit loud. In less than a minute, most disks are quiet enough to not be heard spinning at 3 feet in a silent room. Some disks remain a bit noisy and I have not isolated what may drive this issue. The noisier disks can be heard faintly in a silent room at up to 6 feet. With music playing, I don't believe this would be much of an issue. It's even less of a factor for me since my electronics are in an adjoining room, except for the amps running my T1s.

Besides the bass improvement and better dynamics, the biggest differences I've noticed over my Oppo is the quieter background, better resolution, improved clarity, and better defined imaging. I can sit a bit off center now and vocals are still locked in the center of my Tritons. The clarity really is other worldly and while it does expose poor recordings, it does make everything sound better. As I stated in another thread, there is still no place for bad recordings to hide. Everything is wide open and fully exposed.

All of these improvements in sound are clearly perceptible with the T1s. In fact, the components compliment each other very well since they have many similar strengths. In short, there is a synergy I find very rewarding. It's like the T1s can finally breath without restrictions.

While I may still play with positioning and various cables, I don't feel any other improvements are necessary for digital playback. Most importantly, I feel like I'm finally in a place where I can sit back and just enjoy the music without worrying if I'm missing something. It's a GREAT feeling!

There you have it, a lot of rambling about an archaic device that is fading into anonymity. CD players seem to be a thing of the past but if you're like me and still enjoy spinning disks, I highly recommend this unit. I think you would have to look long and hard for this feature set and when you find it, it won't be anywhere near this price. The Oppo 105 is probably the best competition and though it is more expensive, it has many more capabilities. To me, the advantage of the ERC-3 is build quality and simplicity. While HDMI and copyright standards change, basic CD playback does not. I anticipate this player performing stereo playback of my large and growing CD collection for years to come.

Cheers,

T Cobe

I got a message that T. Cobe wrote:
It's been a while since I've updated my progression in in my man cave. Since I exchanged my Integra 70.2 laser Winter, I've been focusing my efforts on amplification and my 2-channel set up. This week, my Wife purchased me the last piece to my stereo set up; the ERC-3 by Emotiva.

Capabilities wise, the ERC-3 is a standard CD player. It doesn't do SACD, DVD-Audio, 3-channel stereo, etc. What it does do is CD playback with the skill and singular focus of an Olympic athlete. At 21 pounds, this unit is a beast. With top notch build quality and near mil spec construction (by appearance), this player looks like It can take a licking and keep on ticking! The front panel and tray loader are lit by blue lights. The brightness is adjustable and matches the XSP-1 preamp very well.

With balanced, analog connections and a host of digital options, you should be able to hook this player up in just about any system. Unlike the Oppos, there is no volume control, so you will need an AVR or pre/pro to hook this up and feed your speakers. The additional bonus for me is the differential design that helps eliminate noise from the system when used with all differential equipment feeding your speakers.

My ERC-3 is connected to Emotiva's XSP-1 preamp with 6' XLR cables. This takes advantage of the onboard DAC, which is the AD1955. By all accounts, this is a widely well regarded chip and contends well with the ESS Sabre DACs. utilizing the balanced connections and differential design provides me with dead silent, inky black backgrounds. I believe this helps with dynamics and resolution.

When I initially hooked up the ERC-3, the bass was a little lean and the disc drive was quite loud. After only a few hours, the bass is tighter and punchier than I previously had with my Oppo 103. The disc drive is very similar to a CD ROM drive in it's noise. When you first insert a disc, it is a bit loud. In less than a minute, most disks are quiet enough to not be heard spinning at 3 feet in a silent room. Some disks remain a bit noisy and I have not isolated what may drive this issue. The noisier disks can be heard faintly in a silent room at a up to 6 feet. With music playing, I don't believe this would be much of an issue. It's even less of a factor for me since my electronics are in an adjoining room, except for the amps running my T1s.

Besides th bass improvement and better dynamics, the biggest differences I've noticed over my Oppo is the quieter background, better resolution, improved clarity, and better defined imaging. I can sit a bit off center now and vocals are still locked in the center of my Tritons. The clarity really is other worldly and while it does expose poor recordings, it does make everything sound better. As I stated in another thread, there is still no place for bad recordings to hide. Everything is wide open and fully exposed.

All of these improvements in sound are clearly perceptible with the T1s. In fact, the components compliment each other very well since they have many similar strengths. In short, there is a synergy I find very rewarding. It's like the T1s can finally breath without restrictions.

While I may still play with positioning and various cables, I don't feel any other improvements are necessary for digital playback. Most importantly, I feel like I'm finally Ina place where I can sit back and just enjoy the music without worrying if I'm missing something. It's a GREAT feeling!

There you have it, a lot of rambling about an archaic device that is fading into anonymity. CD players seem to be a thing of the past but if you're like me and still enjoy spinning disks, I highly recommend this unit. I think you would have to look long and hard for this feature set and when you find it, it won't be anywhere near this price. The Oppo 105 is probably the best competition and though it is more expensive, it has many more capabilities. To me, the advantage of the ERC-3 is build quality and simplicity. While HDMI and copyright standards change, basic CD playback does not. I anticipate this player performing stereo playback of my large and growing CD collection for years to come.

Cheers,

T Cobe

Hi T. Cobe and all,
The link it gave me does not go to that message and I cannot find it.
But that is a good report.
In this day of files and mo files, I agree, I like to play discs too.
But have to admit that files are handy, and portable.
Your new Christmas present sounds great and well made.
Enjoy!!!!!
Sorry it is noisy, is it in the other room, did you say? That should be OK.
Balanced is the way to go, and especially when the runs are long.
Have fun with it, God Bless,
Wayne

Great report, T Cobe!

So many ways to get great audio... It sounds like you have created a fantastic system for enjoying your growing CD collection, tailored to exactly what you're looking for! Congratulations!!!!

Happy listening!

Rick

Now that I have the Anthem AVM 60, I'm using all balanced connections and have moved my 2-channel setup to its intended location. It's nice to have everything in place, except for my turntable. The stereo music signal path is now much shorter and I will eventually upgrade my XLRs from the ERC-3, to the XSP-1, and on to the twin XPA-1Ls. That upgrade will have to wait. My next purchase will be another pair of Aon 3s to round out all of my surround channels.

Cheers,

T Cobe

It's been a while since I've updated my progress here. Seems like I've added a Pioneer PLX-1000 turntable, some acoustic treatments, and have started upgrading my XLR connectors for my fron end. We've talked a bit elsewhere about CD versus LP, si I won't get into the Pioneer, but I'm glad to have it in my setup and enjoy finding high quality recordings on LP.

I chose GIK acoustics for my room treat,mets after reading positive reviews about their customer service and custom room design. Let's start with the good. GIK fulfills orders very quickly. From the time I placed each order, I had my product on my front porch within 5 business days. The acoustic panels are decent quality and work very well. There's definite value here.

GIK offers great value and a large product line. You should be able to find the solutions you need with a bit of patience and research. I ended up with 3 of their 244 Bass Traps on each side wall, Tri-Trap Corner BassTraps from floor to ceiling in my front corners, and Evolution PolyFusor Diffusor/Absorbers behind each of my Triton Ones. I had the 244 Bass Traps behind my Tritons but the results were a little too much. The PolyFusor diffusion were just the ticket to liven up stereo playback.

Now the bad. To call what GIK offers a custom room design is a stretch. They didn't take any measurements from me and got my room mostly wrong. They didn't ask for my listening preferences so I had to wing it a bit. In the end, you get what you pay for. If I had to do it again, I would do it the same.

I've started upgrading my cables for my 2-channel setup. After a significant amount of debating, researching, and listening tests, I have decided on Nordost Red Dawn cables. Having a background in electronics ages ago, I initially felt audio cables were a bit of a gimmick. I'm sure on my old Kenwood receiver and MTX speakers, expensive cables would have absolutely been a waste. The Triton Ones are another story. I now have XLR cables from Monoprice, Mogami, and Nordost. I had read good things about the Monoprice and Mogami Gold cables, so I started there hoping they would do the trick but I felt like my system was missing something.

The Mogami cables had good detail and imaging but the soundstage and bass were greatly lacking. The Monoprice cables were dynamic, had a big soundstage, and plenty of bass but lacked in depth and imaging. To form an objective decision, I took my cables to my local GET dealer to see how these cables would stack up against the pricier options.

We first played the Mogami Golds and they sounded similar to what I was experiencing at home. We then switched to some mid-priced AudioQuest XLRs and the bass and dynamics were immediately noticeable. It was a big improvement but the sound was still grainy and a bit rough. We then worked our way up the Nordost line and with each upgrade, the sound improved. The bass had more punch, imaging and depth improved and the sound stage opened up quite a bit. By the time we got to the Red Dawn and Heimdall, I couldn't hear as big a difference. It was still there but certainly no commensurate with the price. Additionally, we were listening to RedDawn RCAs versus Heimdall XLRs. I figured the XLR version of the Red Dawns would sound a little closer to the Heimdalls as they are usually a bit louder: I think they are typically 3dB louder.

My first set of Red Dawn cables have arrived and I have a second pair on order. I've done a bit of experimenting and have found significant improvements with them between my CD player and pre-amp, as well as between my pre-amp and amps. Between my CD player and pre-amp, I noticed better bass, a bigger sound stage, better imaging, and most of all a significant improvement in depth. This is probably due, in part, to the lower noise floor. Between my pre-amp and amps, the sound was a bit more dynamic, more bass, a slightly bigger soundstage, but most of all it added a smooth quality to the sound. I'm looking forward to my second set of XLRs to see how everything sounds with all these benefits present simultaneously.

Today, I've been building a new equipment rack for my front end. In order to keep my XLRs shorter and accommodate all my gear, I'm building a rack that is 6' wide and 22" deep. This will get all of my gear within 1 meter of each other and clean things up a bit. The trade off will be longer speaker wires, but I shouldn't need more than 2 meter cables. I plan on an in home audition before I make any decisions on those. In the meantime, my front end is torn up and I have no music today...

Cheers,

T Cobe

Great report, T Cobe!!!

I continue to admire the organized way you approach upgrades.

I know some next steps for me include trying room acoustic treatments (without burning my WFA).

Good for you! Well done.

Rick