The setup of...
Maas
New Zealand
Which device model did you choose?
Emerson ANALOG
Why did you make this choice and what were your expectations?
I read about the Emerson DIGITAL on Fairaudio, and thought that the ANALOG would actually tick more of my boxes, seeing that I suspected the built in DAC of my AVM integrated as a bottleneck for the sound for some time. I went on the Wattson Audio website, and it happened to be on time for the 2021 Christmas give away... And now I have the first Emerson in New Zealand!
What setup did you organize around our product?
AVM A5.2 Integrated amp. This has the DAC card installed, but I only use this now for TV and CDs played back from my OPPO 203, as the streaming solution and the DAC of the Emerson are much more solid and fluid in their presentation. We recently upgraded to Theophany Psuche SE towers from previous Naim Credo speakers. Cabling is HiDiamond between the DAC and AVM, with Phonosophie LS cables. I've upgraded the PS of the DAC to Ifi IpowerX, although I'm not sure this made a big difference. The analog front end is a Thorens 125 rebuilt by Schopper Audio, from back when we also lived in Switzerland, with an SME 3009 arm and an Ortofon 2M blue cartridge into the Trigon Vanguard Phono Pre-amp.
What are the results?
Like mentioned above: much improved solidity and fluidity over the previous digital front end. The biggest gains are probably around the bass and mids, with also clearly improved PRAT (Pace, Rythm and Timing) - music sounds more solid AND faster, which came as a bit of a surprise. Interestingly increasing the gain on the input at the amp makes things better still.
What else?
For me the Qobuz integration in the app doesn't work on the iPhone, although it's rock solid on the iPad. Playing back directly from the Wattson app is slightly better sounding than Audirvana from my MacBook pro via UPnP, although this adds gapless playback...