The toe-in is quite severe but they image like crazy, no matter where you sit.
On Christmas Eve, one of my brothers came over with his Emotiva XPA DR-2 amp for me to try out in my system for a while, being able to directly compare it to my Emotiva XPA-2 Gen 2. He just purchased an integrated tube amp and also just ordered a Doge Audio tube preamp that he’s waiting on to be built. So in the meantime, he’s letting me run the DR-2 in my system. Plus this is a comparison I wanted to do anyway, just for fun.
And with either amp in the system, my kitties still enjoy hanging out in here chilling to old jazz, classical and old rock. Well, any music really. LOL
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Any comparison results to report…?
Bass:
One of the first things I noticed with the DR-2 is that it seems that the bass might be a touch more controlled, allowing a small amount of extra detail to come through. This also gives the slight impression of a little leaner bass, but it’s really not. And this is why I always strongly urge people to send high level signals to their subwoofers via the speaker outputs of their main amp rather than just sending a low-level preamp signal. If you have resolving, high quality subwoofers, you CAN and WILL hear the sound signature of the main amp come through the subs as well, allowing the subs to better match the main loudspeakers.
Midrange:
Midrange is detailed and open, though it seems as though the DR-2 lacks just a touch of “body” to vocals and some instruments. It’s not lean or lacking in anyway, and if I didn’t have another amp to compare it to, I probably wouldn’t even pick up on it. But since I have the XPA-2 Gen 2 sitting right here, there is definitely a little bit less lower midrange energy with vocals mostly.
Treble:
I would say that treble presence, accuracy and detail are pretty much on par with each amp. Both offer airy, detailed and refined treble extension throughout. Not bright, not edgy, not dry, certainly not fatiguing. Just clean, natural, pleasant and open.
Soundstage & Imaging:
From what I have heard thus far in the short amount of time over the past few crazy days, I would say both amps are pretty much identical, with possibly a slight edge going to the DR-2 with possibly slightly greater separation and space. As far as width, depth and height, I really can’t hear much of a difference between the two.
Dynamic Range - Headroom:
My Martin Logan SL3’s are 4 ohms nominal with a peak of around 15 ohms and a minimum of 1.5 ohms. The Gen 2 offers up 550 watts @ 4 ohms and the DR-2 offers up 800 watts @ 4 ohms. Both are more than enough for my SL3’s. Both sound equally powerful, effortless and have the same amount of slam and dynamics capability in my system/room. Both amps are dead silent, but here’s the weird thing about that… The DR-2 seems to have a little bit blacker blacks between quiet passages than the Gen 2, which I find odd. As I said, both amps are completely dead silent in operation, but the DR-2 for some reason gives the impression of being slightly more silent with music, vocals with both singing and speech. Weird.
Efficiency:
This last one is very obvious… The DR-2 pretty much remains cold, or at least room temperature during operation. The night we hooked up the DR-2, we had it blasting some pretty demanding much for about a solid hour, and it barely got warm to the touch whereas the Gen 2 gets decently warm, but never hot. No matter how hard I have ever pushed the Gen 2, even for 3 or 4 hours straight, you could always put your hand on the lid and keep it there without the fear of getting burnt. Heck, the Gen 2 never even got as hot as the Schiit Aegir amps I had while they sat at idle.
And speaking of efficiency, one thing I noticed right away while pushing the DR-2 that first night is how its power supply operates. It reminds me of the old Magnetic Field amplifiers from Carver. When there’s heavy loud bass and drums, the DR-2 makes the lights in the room dim with the power demands. The Gen 2 with its traditional PS and large bank of caps doesn’t do that at all.
So that’s my findings this far. Maybe if things start to slow down a bit in the next couple of weeks that allow me to sit and listen more, I’ll be able to do a bit more thorough review of these two amps. Right now however, I would be perfectly happy with either amp in my system. Though, where things stand at the moment with my current findings, I’m not exactly sure if the extra amount of gains/improvements/differences I’m getting from the DR-2 is worth the extra cash over say my Gen 2 or the current Gen 3 (which I have not heard at all).
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The Oracle Delphi V I’ve owned from new for the past two decades went back to the Mothership in early December. It returned a few days before Christmas as a Delphi VI Reference and almost 40 pounds heavier due to the new Reference granite plinth. The Delphi has been my absolutely favorite looking turntable for almost 4 decades. The refinished metalwork and new granite plinth took my breath away.
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I bought 40sqm of 10mm thick granite this summer for a new terrace. Helped to unload it from the lorry and boy is it heavy. I see the standard acrylic deck is still 16kg. The granite looks great. Stronger believer in turntables being for life, not just for Christmas.
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Just a wonderful turntable, aesthetically and performance-wise.
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A dream turntable. Congratulations.
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Nice, just the combination with the SME V I had very long ago with a Delphi Mk IV 
Just a hint: try to optimize azimuth with some beveled sheet between headshell and cartridge to compensate for the concave shape of the Delphi’s platter against the flat plane of the arm bearing.
If you don’t use an arm with twistable Headshell with the Delphi, you have noticeable deviation between arm and LP plane and as a result non matching azimuth and (independent of a twistable headshell) during playback of the record surface - changing SRA/VTA.
The first of those two you can correct with a twistable headshell or something placed between headshell and cartridge to bevel it just as the platter is. The second of the two effects is unfortunately systemic with turntables using concave platters, but not as relevant as correct azimuth.
But if you have no problems with sibilant sound, optimal imaging or clean tracking, you might want to ignore this.
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The updated table with granite plinth, complete with tonearm, cartridge, and BDR clamp comes in just over 70 pounds now @stevensegal.
Thanks for the details.
I have a pair of XPA-1 Gen 1’s. I think they are world beaters at their original MSRP.
Always interested in opportunities for improving the system and learning about other’s experiences with various kit.
Thanks again.
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Completed the latest system in my temporary location until we build a dedicated room. Not missing my BHK / DS stack as much as I thought I would. Biggest loss is in dynamics going from 300 watt mono blocks to a 200 wpc integrated. The Maramtz SA-10 SACD player is boss! It’s understandable PSA borrowed its transport and Galvanically isolated output stage for the new PST.
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You’re welcome, sir.
I went through the recent posts in this thread and split off the posts addressing subwoofers to their own thread. Please let me know if I missed anything.
Annoyingly, the posts did not move over in order of time stamp so the new thread is not as continuous as it should be. Bother.
Edit: I moved a number of posts around. The new thread is now a good deal tidier. I continue to learn . . .
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Those Tannoy’s are always welcome to show your wife “see what other wife’s have to look at”
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