The setup of...
Marc L.
Canada
Which device model did you choose?
Emerson DIGITAL
Why did you make this choice and what were your expectations?
Second audio system.
Precision, transparency, balance, rigor, high musical quality of sound reproduction.
For Hi-Res music streaming, with an intimate studio approach for the office.
What setup did you organize around our product?
[Musical streaming (bypass PC)]
Technicolor CGM4331COM router → Audio Ethernet cable cat. 7 → UpTone EtherREGEN Gen2 switch → Melco Ethernet cable cat.7 C1AE → Wattson Audio Emerson DIGITAL transport streamer with original power supply (+ ROON Core 2.0 “build 1182” on Samsung SSD PM9A1 NVMe 1TB + TIDAL HiFi Plus + Qobuz Studio) → Luna Cables Orange S/PDIF coaxial digital RCA to BNC → Chord Qutest DAC with Sbooster power supply BOTW P&P ECO MKII 5V → AudioQuest Red River Interconnect analog cables → Acoustic Energy AE1 active speakers*
With AC Power conditionner AudioQuest Niagara 1200 + AC Power cables AudioQuest NRG-Y3 for the AE1 loudspeakers.
[Video, movies and music (via PC)]
Dell XPS 8940 → iFi iSilencer + noise filter USB 3.0 A to A → AudioQuest Carbon digital cable USB A to B → Chord Qutest DAC with Sbooster power supply BOTW P&P ECO MKII 5V → AudioQuest Red River Interconnect analog cables → Acoustic Energy active speakers AE1*
* Fully bi-amped with two 50W class A/B amplifiers per speaker.
What are the results?
High quality, intimate studio sound.
Truly natural and 3D holographic sound, ideal for classical chamber music, vocal music of any genre and jazz in all its forms. No brilliance!!! Great precision and great musicality. Beauty of the tones. Micro-nuances clearly perceptible. Remarkable silence. Softness in the highs. Depth of the bass. Precision and good spatialization of the instruments (high/low, front/back, left/right). Good reactivity, crescendo, etc... Very, very few losses.
Only the physical limits (amplitude) of the smallness of the sound boxes (bookshelf speakers) are perceptible. But for a studio listening, of intimist type, we do not care...
Just musical happiness!
What else?
Approximately $15,000 CDN for the whole thing. Unbeatable value for money!