"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." -- Albert Einstein

While Albert Einstein may not have been an audiophile, he did have a pretty good head on his shoulders. So when it came time for EMM Labs to create a statement digital product, it seemed only logical to keep Einstein’s statement in mind.

Our goal, after all, was nothing less than a quantum leap in performance. And that’s just what we achieved with EMM Labs’ new XDS1 V3 CD/SACD Player. Inside its sculpted, brushed aluminum chassis is a silky smooth Esoteric™ drive mated to the industry’s most sophisticated digital and analog electronics.

How did we make the XDS1 V2 the best player we’ve ever created? In general terms, by simplifying. We decreased complexity. Shortened critical signal paths. Reduced parts count while increasing parts quality. Now let’s get specific.

BETTER DIGITAL STARTS WITH BETTER ANALOG

We started by simplifying our analog circuitry. Instead of the two to three gain stages typical of most player output sections, the XDS1 V2 features just one active gain stage from DAC to output. The circuitry is discrete (no op-amps) and operates in pure Class A.

MDAT2™: YOU CAN ACTUALLY SEE WHY IT SOUNDS BETTER

The XDS1 V2 features our most refined Meitner Digital Audio Translator (MDAT2™) circuitry yet. But it’s what the updated MDAT2™ does that makes it so amazing. Conventional digital players convert a digital signal (the ones and zeroes) to analog by processing it through a reconstruction filter that uses interpolation (oversampling) to smooth the analog waveform. The process works beautifully in the frequency domain, but in the time domain, errors are introduced in the form of pre and post ringing.

With MDAT2™ processing, there is no pre and post ringing. Which is why MDAT2™—quite unlike any other processing technology extant—is unique in its ability to preserve the phase, frequency and dynamic integrity of the waveform. Once you've heard this level of improvement in terms of resolution, nuance and dynamic shading, there's no going back.

NEW DAC + NEW CLOCK= NEW PARADIGM

At EMM Labs, we develop and manufacture our own proprietary conversion circuitry in house. For the XDS1 V3, we created something truly extraordinary—the MDAC™ module, which contains our most exquisitely refined conversion circuitry ever. Unlike off-the-shelf DAC chips in competing products, the MDAC™:

• Is a cost-no-object (rather than inexpensive) solution

• Is a discrete dual differential (rather than integrated) circuit

• Is free from differential nonlinearities

• Gives us complete control of the digital and analog data streams

In tandem with our new clock—one that establishes new benchmarks in jitter performance, temperature stability and vibration resistance—the result is astonishing. It’s as if the noise floor has dropped through the proverbial basement, leaving behind live, flesh and blood performers carved out of a precisely defined three-dimensional soundstage. The gains in transparency, image density, tonal color and realism are substantial.

HELLO MFAST™, GOODBYE JITTER

Most converters utilize PLL (Phase Lock Loop) circuits to lock onto the incoming data stream. For the V2, we developed a better solution: MFAST™ (Meitner Frequency Acquisition System) technology.

MFAST™ has two distinct advantages over PLLs. It’s a high-speed asynchronous system that acquires any data stream almost instantaneously. Further, unlike PLLs that merely attenuate jitter, MFAST™ strips it out of the audio stream completely.

Hook a digital audio or video source to the XDS1 V3—computer, music server, MP3 player or whatever you like—and it becomes a standalone converter. MFAST™ ensures that you’ll enjoy pristine sonic clarity, whether the incoming data stream is pure or anything but.

THE POWER OF A SUPERIOR POWER SUPPLY

Not only is our new high-isolation resonant mode power supply the greenest we’ve ever developed, it’s also the quietest—significantly outperforming typical switchers and linear power supplies in this regard.

Proprietary to both EMM Labs and the XDS1 V3, this power supply synchronizes its operating frequency (or resonant mode) to that of every other system within XDS1 V2—reducing digital noise to the vanishing point. It also offers ultra-tight regulation and virtually complete isolation from power-line impurities and fluctuations.

The EMM Labs XDS1 V3 CD/SACD Player. Everything about it is better than everything that has come before it.

It’s just that simple.

Black in color. This has the V3 upgrade

Retail $29500 Sold