Test Setup:
Source/Pre: HTPC with RME 9632 soundcard/ASIO/flac.
Amp 1: McIntosh MA6800 (used as amp)
Amp 2: Emotiva XPA-5
* All sources switched by matrix switch to prevent less than a second of a gap in the music
**Levels were adjusted one the RME soundcard so that both amps have even dB levels.
Let's start...
Well... I'm very very impressed with Emotiva. There were a lot of things on my mind before I even began this comparison. I was thinking that I will finally see if Emo amps are all hype, or if they really have something special here. I was thinking that I WANT the McIntosh to out-perform the Emo amp in every way. I was thinking that I want the Emotiva to be excellent "for the money" because it's soooooo cheap. I was wanting to mention something negative about Emotiva so that some people *cough* DOUGIE *cough* can come to Emotiva's rescue ha ha :B :B :B . (it's all fun) Before today, there were days where I was already set on McIntosh winning. On other days, I was set on wanting the Emotiva to be just as good as these amps.
Background:
As some of you remember, I recently discovered (in March) what McIntosh was able to do for my 805's... I love the sound! McIntosh really made these speakers come to life. It made a huge difference compared to the Nuforce D-class amp or the Marantz receiver. So I picked up this 2-channel MA6800 this summer. First reason was.. I wanted Mac before I purchased a MC205. Second reason was plans of comparing it to Emotiva before I made my purchase for a MC205.
And let's be fair about this... one could say that Emotiva's 200watts vs McIntosh's 150watts is not fair for McIntosh. Another would say that the XPA-5 is not Emotiva's flagship so it's not fair on that side. But I've seen that quantity does not always mean quality. And I shouldn't have to use a flagship model to compare against this non-flagship model from McIntosh either. So it's a fair fight. :^x
Setting up the room:
I setup up my room as fair as possible to give both amps their best chance to shine. Speakers are about 3 feet from the wall. Both amps are on their own circuit breaker. No large objections in the middle. Both have same and equal length cables, etc, etc. I was very careful to set up everything as fair and perfectly as possible. So if there is anything anyone would like to recommend, please do.
Testing: pretty lengthy
So what I did was picked a BUNCH of albums on my HTPC, grabbed some delicious chocolates, a tasty drink, sat down and relaxed on the couch with my switch on my lap, and randomly switched back and forth as I just listened to music for hours. Sometimes (mostly with R&B or Rap), I got up, walked around, switched, walked around... to get a feel of how their sounds differ in general and not just "in that sweet spot".
I played a lot of music. From George Gershwin, to Bob Marley, Artie Shaw, Norah Jones, Faye Wong, Carrie Underwood, Evanescence... it was a LOT. But to be honest... the majority of the songs sounded SO similar between the Emotiva and McIntosh, that the differences are not even worth mentioning. I'm talking about differences that one would have to listen VERY closely to catch. Like... "did you hear that? right THERE!" That kind. And honestly, if I have to pay THAT much attention to the music, I'm probably not enjoying the music. That's not what I'm about.
But I do want to mention some songs where I did hear a difference. And some where I didn't hear anything at all. I started off with some slow music from Miwa Yoshida (Japanese). Her voice is sweet, elegant, and then very powerful. Acapela, then a full jazz band. In the beginning, my biggest concern with the Emotiva is that it wouldn't be as smooth as the McIntosh. I love that about McIntosh. I asked Glenee that a few months ago when he mentioned Emotiva. A women's voice is the end-all for me in audio equipment. So that portion is really important to me. So... while listening to Miwa's voice, switching between the Emo and Mac sounded basically the same. The only difference that I heard was that her position changed. With the Emo, she sounded like she was right in front of me. With the Mac, her voice seemed to move back just a a bit. But everything else sounded the same. Just as clear, just as smooth. Excellent.
Later I played Erykah Badu's first album... and on the first track, the bass had a noticeable difference. With the Emo, the bass seemed to extend to lower frequencies, but on McIntosh it pushed those low notes harder. It seemed more defined on the McIntosh.
So next I played some Evanescence to hear more deep bass and see if it had the same effect... but every song sounded the same on the Emo and Mac.
Next was Faye Wong (Chinese). She is one of my favorite singers. And her CD's are very well recorded. With one album, the music seemed to have a wider soundstage with the Emotiva (by like 2 sq.ft). The Mac did sound smoother though. Another difference I noticed was with McIntosh's bass. The chello in a few songs sounded more precise. It sounded almost perfectly real on the McIntosh. The same held true for piano solos. Not that the Emotiva sounded bad at all, but it was almost life-like on the McIntosh. Kinda like comparing the background images on a blu-ray vs a dvd. On a DVD you may be able to see that man, but on the blu-ray you can see his wringles and such. The chello and piano were that clear and defined with the Mac.
When I started to play some Fort Minor and Linkin Park, I noticed that the Emotiva had a bit too much sibilance. It was probably the biggest difference I heard all day between the two amps. I didn't like it.
Then I played some GEROGE MICHAEL! ...yeah! ha ha. I found a lot of difference with his songs. In Careless Whisper, the drums sounded more real with the McIntosh. Again, it was like the better resolution example of blu-ray vs dvd. Then with Faith, the snaps and claps sounded much better on the Emotiva. Not over emphasized, but clearer. I didn't quite get this song though. Snaps, claps... Emotiva wins. Nut then when the tambourines played, the tambourines sound soooooo real on the Mac. It sounded like I could hear when they slapped the tambourine, and when they flicked their wrist. (I love this RME soundcard! It's awesome!!!) . The Emotiva didn't have that same clarity. Kinda strange how these differene have an almost double-standard.
Continuing on... we get to Gloria Esteban's Mi Tierra album. The last song, Tradicion, is a great test for separation and soundstage. Both amps sounded identical. However, I did notice that the Emotiva made Gloria's voice just a bit too rapsy. A bit over-emphasized COMPARED to the McIntosh.
Jill Scott. (I just gotta talk about this soundcard again. I love this card! This is one of my favorite albums. I've listened to this album with every speaker that I've ever owned. This soundcard displays so much detail in every song. I never even knew that "Gettin' In The Way" even had any baritone singers before!)
Mongol800 (Japanese punk)
There's a song that I played that had some REALLY fast double bass guitar plucks. I found that the plucks were tighter and more precise on Emotiva. The Emotiva had excellent Excellent control with the double bass guitar.
Going on... Mariah Carey, Norah Jones, Marc Anthony, Whitney Houston... I could not hear any difference. (Man, this Emotiva amp is nice!)
Squirrel Nut Zippers... (I love this stuff). I noticed with their music that the Emotiva had a slightly wider soundstange. Male voices sounded identical, but the maracas sounded more realistic on the McIntosh. The same was true with the saxophones. It seems that somewhere in the midrange, the McIntosh has better "resolution". I don't know how, but it does.
One thing about the Emotiva amp was that on most songs the symbols sounded a bit too emphasized. But then when I played Louis Prima's Sing, Sing, Sing (from Swing Kids soundtrack), I could not here any difference with the symbols at all. Strange. I was expecting it since it did with a lot of other songs.
Conclusion:
The Emotiva amp is nice. Soundstage, separation, clarity... I'll guess that 95% of the time it sounded the same like the McIntosh to me. I know some may not want to hear that (like I didn't before), but it's true. This is a killer deal for an amp this good. One thing I did notice was that at low volumes, the bass is not as clear as the McIntosh. I blasted a note on both amps. No distortion at max levels on either. No ugly noise or buzz. Both have top notch build quality. The biggest difference I found between the two was that sometimes the Emotiva sounded a bit more forward compared to the McIntosh. And yes, there were difference, but all the differences I mentioned were EVER SO SLIGHT. The BIGGEST noticeable difference was that in rock or rap, the Emotiva's high seemed a bit too emphasized compared to the McIntosh. But it was not harsh or anything like that AT ALL, just compared to the McIntosh.
This is not an excellent amp FOR THE MONEY. This is an awesome amp PERIOD. I said it at the beginning, and I'll say it again, I am very very impressed. I was the one that was blown away by what McIntosh did for my 805's a few months ago. And now I know the Emotiva can bring life to my 805's just like McIntosh does. I'm definitely going to keep this one. Great job Emotiva. :T
****************************
If anyone has any specific request on what you'd like me to compare between these two, please let me know.
Tomorrow I will see how they differ with movies.
****************************
Source/Pre: HTPC with RME 9632 soundcard/ASIO/flac.
Amp 1: McIntosh MA6800 (used as amp)
Amp 2: Emotiva XPA-5
* All sources switched by matrix switch to prevent less than a second of a gap in the music
**Levels were adjusted one the RME soundcard so that both amps have even dB levels.
Let's start...
Well... I'm very very impressed with Emotiva. There were a lot of things on my mind before I even began this comparison. I was thinking that I will finally see if Emo amps are all hype, or if they really have something special here. I was thinking that I WANT the McIntosh to out-perform the Emo amp in every way. I was thinking that I want the Emotiva to be excellent "for the money" because it's soooooo cheap. I was wanting to mention something negative about Emotiva so that some people *cough* DOUGIE *cough* can come to Emotiva's rescue ha ha :B :B :B . (it's all fun) Before today, there were days where I was already set on McIntosh winning. On other days, I was set on wanting the Emotiva to be just as good as these amps.
Background:
As some of you remember, I recently discovered (in March) what McIntosh was able to do for my 805's... I love the sound! McIntosh really made these speakers come to life. It made a huge difference compared to the Nuforce D-class amp or the Marantz receiver. So I picked up this 2-channel MA6800 this summer. First reason was.. I wanted Mac before I purchased a MC205. Second reason was plans of comparing it to Emotiva before I made my purchase for a MC205.
And let's be fair about this... one could say that Emotiva's 200watts vs McIntosh's 150watts is not fair for McIntosh. Another would say that the XPA-5 is not Emotiva's flagship so it's not fair on that side. But I've seen that quantity does not always mean quality. And I shouldn't have to use a flagship model to compare against this non-flagship model from McIntosh either. So it's a fair fight. :^x
Setting up the room:
I setup up my room as fair as possible to give both amps their best chance to shine. Speakers are about 3 feet from the wall. Both amps are on their own circuit breaker. No large objections in the middle. Both have same and equal length cables, etc, etc. I was very careful to set up everything as fair and perfectly as possible. So if there is anything anyone would like to recommend, please do.
Testing: pretty lengthy
So what I did was picked a BUNCH of albums on my HTPC, grabbed some delicious chocolates, a tasty drink, sat down and relaxed on the couch with my switch on my lap, and randomly switched back and forth as I just listened to music for hours. Sometimes (mostly with R&B or Rap), I got up, walked around, switched, walked around... to get a feel of how their sounds differ in general and not just "in that sweet spot".
I played a lot of music. From George Gershwin, to Bob Marley, Artie Shaw, Norah Jones, Faye Wong, Carrie Underwood, Evanescence... it was a LOT. But to be honest... the majority of the songs sounded SO similar between the Emotiva and McIntosh, that the differences are not even worth mentioning. I'm talking about differences that one would have to listen VERY closely to catch. Like... "did you hear that? right THERE!" That kind. And honestly, if I have to pay THAT much attention to the music, I'm probably not enjoying the music. That's not what I'm about.
But I do want to mention some songs where I did hear a difference. And some where I didn't hear anything at all. I started off with some slow music from Miwa Yoshida (Japanese). Her voice is sweet, elegant, and then very powerful. Acapela, then a full jazz band. In the beginning, my biggest concern with the Emotiva is that it wouldn't be as smooth as the McIntosh. I love that about McIntosh. I asked Glenee that a few months ago when he mentioned Emotiva. A women's voice is the end-all for me in audio equipment. So that portion is really important to me. So... while listening to Miwa's voice, switching between the Emo and Mac sounded basically the same. The only difference that I heard was that her position changed. With the Emo, she sounded like she was right in front of me. With the Mac, her voice seemed to move back just a a bit. But everything else sounded the same. Just as clear, just as smooth. Excellent.
Later I played Erykah Badu's first album... and on the first track, the bass had a noticeable difference. With the Emo, the bass seemed to extend to lower frequencies, but on McIntosh it pushed those low notes harder. It seemed more defined on the McIntosh.
So next I played some Evanescence to hear more deep bass and see if it had the same effect... but every song sounded the same on the Emo and Mac.
Next was Faye Wong (Chinese). She is one of my favorite singers. And her CD's are very well recorded. With one album, the music seemed to have a wider soundstage with the Emotiva (by like 2 sq.ft). The Mac did sound smoother though. Another difference I noticed was with McIntosh's bass. The chello in a few songs sounded more precise. It sounded almost perfectly real on the McIntosh. The same held true for piano solos. Not that the Emotiva sounded bad at all, but it was almost life-like on the McIntosh. Kinda like comparing the background images on a blu-ray vs a dvd. On a DVD you may be able to see that man, but on the blu-ray you can see his wringles and such. The chello and piano were that clear and defined with the Mac.
When I started to play some Fort Minor and Linkin Park, I noticed that the Emotiva had a bit too much sibilance. It was probably the biggest difference I heard all day between the two amps. I didn't like it.
Then I played some GEROGE MICHAEL! ...yeah! ha ha. I found a lot of difference with his songs. In Careless Whisper, the drums sounded more real with the McIntosh. Again, it was like the better resolution example of blu-ray vs dvd. Then with Faith, the snaps and claps sounded much better on the Emotiva. Not over emphasized, but clearer. I didn't quite get this song though. Snaps, claps... Emotiva wins. Nut then when the tambourines played, the tambourines sound soooooo real on the Mac. It sounded like I could hear when they slapped the tambourine, and when they flicked their wrist. (I love this RME soundcard! It's awesome!!!) . The Emotiva didn't have that same clarity. Kinda strange how these differene have an almost double-standard.
Continuing on... we get to Gloria Esteban's Mi Tierra album. The last song, Tradicion, is a great test for separation and soundstage. Both amps sounded identical. However, I did notice that the Emotiva made Gloria's voice just a bit too rapsy. A bit over-emphasized COMPARED to the McIntosh.
Jill Scott. (I just gotta talk about this soundcard again. I love this card! This is one of my favorite albums. I've listened to this album with every speaker that I've ever owned. This soundcard displays so much detail in every song. I never even knew that "Gettin' In The Way" even had any baritone singers before!)
Mongol800 (Japanese punk)
There's a song that I played that had some REALLY fast double bass guitar plucks. I found that the plucks were tighter and more precise on Emotiva. The Emotiva had excellent Excellent control with the double bass guitar.
Going on... Mariah Carey, Norah Jones, Marc Anthony, Whitney Houston... I could not hear any difference. (Man, this Emotiva amp is nice!)
Squirrel Nut Zippers... (I love this stuff). I noticed with their music that the Emotiva had a slightly wider soundstange. Male voices sounded identical, but the maracas sounded more realistic on the McIntosh. The same was true with the saxophones. It seems that somewhere in the midrange, the McIntosh has better "resolution". I don't know how, but it does.
One thing about the Emotiva amp was that on most songs the symbols sounded a bit too emphasized. But then when I played Louis Prima's Sing, Sing, Sing (from Swing Kids soundtrack), I could not here any difference with the symbols at all. Strange. I was expecting it since it did with a lot of other songs.
Conclusion:
The Emotiva amp is nice. Soundstage, separation, clarity... I'll guess that 95% of the time it sounded the same like the McIntosh to me. I know some may not want to hear that (like I didn't before), but it's true. This is a killer deal for an amp this good. One thing I did notice was that at low volumes, the bass is not as clear as the McIntosh. I blasted a note on both amps. No distortion at max levels on either. No ugly noise or buzz. Both have top notch build quality. The biggest difference I found between the two was that sometimes the Emotiva sounded a bit more forward compared to the McIntosh. And yes, there were difference, but all the differences I mentioned were EVER SO SLIGHT. The BIGGEST noticeable difference was that in rock or rap, the Emotiva's high seemed a bit too emphasized compared to the McIntosh. But it was not harsh or anything like that AT ALL, just compared to the McIntosh.
This is not an excellent amp FOR THE MONEY. This is an awesome amp PERIOD. I said it at the beginning, and I'll say it again, I am very very impressed. I was the one that was blown away by what McIntosh did for my 805's a few months ago. And now I know the Emotiva can bring life to my 805's just like McIntosh does. I'm definitely going to keep this one. Great job Emotiva. :T
****************************
If anyone has any specific request on what you'd like me to compare between these two, please let me know.
Tomorrow I will see how they differ with movies.
****************************
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