Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click here.
In today’s overcrowded hi-fi market, quality products can sometimes be difficult to identify among the many run-of-the-mill offerings. Every so often, though, an audio component is of such exceptional quality that it stands out. A few such outstanding performers can be found in digital audio, from brands such as Chord Electronics, dCS, MSB Technology, and EMM Labs, which eschew off-the-shelf DAC chips, choosing instead to develop their own DACs. The result? Some of the finest digital playback available today.
While some audiophiles insist that, generally, digital sound is inferior to analog sound, my experience has taught me otherwise. I have found that when done right, digital sound reproduction is completely on par with analog sound reproduction and is undeniably more convenient. Granted, digital systems capable of top-flight performance are rare and expensive, but they do exist. In fact, it’s the same companies, year after year, that release the very best DACs and other digital components.
Analog die-hards tend to underestimate the importance of DAC performance on sound quality and how different it can be with different DACs. The EMM Labs DV2i streaming DAC-preamplifier I am about to introduce is of such startling audio quality, however, that those who give it a chance and listen to it may well be induced to reconsider digital sound altogether.
The EMM Labs difference
A family-owned company, EMM Labs is based in Calgary, in the Canadian province of Alberta. The company’s proprietor, Ed Manfred Meitner (hence EMM), has been designing DACs since the late 1980s and was instrumental in the development of SACD and DSD. Less well known is his work on amplifiers and his current interest in phono preamps for optical cartridges. With the insight he gained from developing EMM’s preamps and MTRS and MTRX2 power amps, Meitner was set to design an improved analog section in the new DA2i and DV2i Reference DACs.
EMM products are designed and manufactured in the company’s Calgary facility. They feature heavy, precision-machined aluminum chassis, tight-tolerance components, aerospace-grade ceramic circuit boards, proprietary power supplies, and fully discrete circuit topologies. These products are expensive to build and are priced accordingly—the DV2i DAC costs $35,000 (all prices USD). A sublabel of EMM Labs, the Meitner line, offers a streaming integrated DAC of nearly the same quality for under one-third of the DV2i’s price, the Meitner MA3i ($11,500). Having auditioned its predecessor, the MA3, this must be a stone-cold bargain in the world of high-end DACs.
Evolution of the DA2 and DV2 lines
The DV2i’s original progenitor was the DA2, released in 2016. A new version, the DA2 V2, arrived in 2022 with an improved version of the company’s MDAC2 converter, an upgraded MDAT2 signal-processing system, a refined analog stage, an enhanced power supply, and improved clocking and jitter reduction.
Owners of a DA2 or DA2 V2 DAC can have it upgraded by EMM to the DA2 V3 level or to be equivalent to the new DA2i. The V3 upgrade includes most of the improvements provided by the DA2i upgrade, but the latter adds a Roon Ready streamer and a new organic LED display, as well as a new digital input stage with improved source isolation on ethernet and USB and a new FPGA architecture (field-programmable gate array, a type of reprogrammable IC).
Like the DA2 DAC, EMM’s DV2 DAC-preamplifier, which was released in 2019, has also undergone significant revision. The new DV2i, like its predecessor, has a large 100-step volume control on the front panel. When you set the volume to 100 on the DV2i, however, the volume control is taken out of circuit and you get the performance of the DA2i’s fixed output. Both the DA2i and DV2i have a switch to raise the maximum output voltage (from 2V to 3.5V unbalanced and from 4V to 7V balanced).
Even if you intend to use a separate preamp, I recommend that you still choose the DV2i over the DA2i—same price. It would give you the option to forgo the use of a separate preamp should you decide to later. I see no downside to choosing the DV2i.
The DV2 has been serving as my reference DAC and preamplifier for several years. (I no longer use analog sources.) Soon after acquiring the DV2 I tested its digital volume control by first connecting it to my power amp directly and then through an EMM PRE preamplifier ($25,000). As I couldn’t tell the difference, I saw little reason to have a separate preamplifier in my system. I spared myself the expense of the component and associated interconnects and saved some valuable real estate on my audio rack.
Key changes
To find out what’s new in the DV2i, I arranged a call with Ed Meitner, his son Amadeus, who now runs the company, and Mariusz Pawlicki, EMM’s R&D manager. I learned that the most important revision was that made to the DV2i’s analog section, which has been implemented with a simpler, higher-performance design based on a single-stage, folded-cascode, fully balanced circuit. This is a known circuit design that has been adopted in DACs from Chord Electronics, PS Audio, Mytek, Audio Research, and Benchmark Media Systems. Meitner has employed it in amplifiers, but this is the first time he used it in a DAC. It consumes more power than the conventional telescopic-cascode circuit, but it achieves higher gain and swing and expanded bandwidth, which Meitner was determined to obtain as it strongly affects audio quality.
Other significant improvements include greater galvanic isolation of the USB and network interfaces and reduced jitter on all inputs.
A key element of any DAC is the master clock that governs the timing of the conversion process. The DV2i features an upgraded asynchronous clock designed for minimal jitter and high accuracy. Meitner believes strongly that the clock and DAC circuits should be situated as close as possible to each other. The idea of pairing a DAC with an external clock for better performance, an expensive option some manufacturers offer, seems absurd to him. Nothing beats a highly accurate clock right next to the converter, he maintains.
EMM DACs acquire the frequency of the input signal using a proprietary enhanced-frequency-acquisition protocol (trademarked as MFAST) and convert all incoming digital signals to DSD1024 using a proprietary DSP technology (MDAT2). At the output, the DSD stream is converted to analog by dual differential DACs. Some companies convert all signals to PCM before the analog conversion. Others, such as Germany’s T+A Elektroakustic, employ different paths for DSD and PCM, each with its own D-to-A conversion. EMM has always prioritized direct DSD conversion for its simplicity and superior audio fidelity. This is the one area where no changes were made—the method of D-to-A conversion is the same across all versions of the DA2 and DV2 DACs.
Improvements to MFAST and the increased processing power of the MDAT2 DSP engine allow the DV2i to detect and respond to transients more rapidly and accurately. Unlike other DACs, EMM DACs do not offer a user-selectable range of digital filters. Instead, MDAT2 switches filters on the fly according to the nature of the signal. It senses transients in real time and switches to the most appropriate filter for the program content. The aim is to maintain the full power of transients without softening the edges or making them sound brittle.
EMM’s VControl, a volume-control system, is largely unchanged from the DV2 V2. It offers 100 levels of attenuation, mostly in 0.5dB increments, and operates in the digital domain at DSD1024. This allows it to maintain high resolution down to low volume levels, unlike many competing digital volume controls.
Streaming capability
Unlike its predecessors, the DV2i is equipped with a Roon Ready streamer that also supports Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, and UPnP/DLNA. EMM recommends using the mConnect Control app with the DV2i, which adds support for Qobuz, Deezer, and vTuner internet radio.
To accommodate the DV2i’s streaming section, EMM had to redesign its switched-mode power supply. This major upgrade to the power supply, the first in about 20 years, aimed to eliminate physical noise, maximize isolation of the power-supply electronics from other circuits, and improve the regulation of each voltage feed.
On the rear panel, you will find an input for an ethernet port and immediately below it a USB Type-A port for attaching a Wi-Fi dongle. Next to it, another USB Type-A input allows connection to an external drive with digital source material, which you can access through the mConnect Control app.
During my call with EMM, I asked which input would provide the highest audio quality. Most companies would have no problem answering that question since typically one or two inputs receive particular attention during design and development. EMM’s approach, however, is that bits are bits, and the same performance should be expected regardless of the type of input used, and so it proved.
While DSD64 and PCM up to 24-bit/192kHz are supported by all inputs, DSD128, DXD, and MQA are supported only on the network and USB inputs. For many years I’ve had an exaSound Delta music server connected to the USB input on my DV2, controlled by the Roon app. With the DV2i, I can still see my music on the Delta server through the network input but also stream from Qobuz. Furthermore, I can control the DV2i’s volume setting or mute it through the Roon app on my phone.
At some point during my audition, I unhooked the ethernet cable from the DV2i and connected a $15 XVZ USB Wi-Fi dongle to the USB port. Amadeus, who recommended this specific adapter, walked me through the network setup using the mConnect Control app. Damned if I could hear a difference. With the DV2i, it’s possible to use the mControl app as a no-cost alternative to Roon.
Physical properties and other connections
The DV2i measures 17.2″W × 15.7″D × 6.3″H and weighs 35 pounds. It is available in black or silver. A Kimber Kable power cable is included.
Up front a small button on the left toggles between on and standby. A large, nicely weighted volume control is on the right. At the center, an OLED display indicates the active input and bitrate. This new display has higher contrast and deeper blacks than the one on earlier models, but some of the displayed information is quite small and hard to read at a distance. I found the previous display easier to read, though its background was never completely black, and it could look washed out in bright daylight.
Five touch-sensitive buttons are spread across the bottom of the display, labeled Mute, Units (for setting volume level indication as 0–100 or dBs), Menu (for controlling brightness, screen saver, maximum output, network reset, and polarity), and Left and Right (for menu navigation and scrolling through the inputs). When Menu is selected, the top part of the display changes to allow navigating to and selecting the desired function.
At the rear, in addition to the streaming inputs mentioned, you will find digital inputs for AES-EBU (XLR), coaxial S/PDIF (RCA), optical S/PDIF (TosLink), USB Audio, and EMM OptiLink, which accepts DSD and PCM streams from an EMM SACD/CD transport or player. Balanced (XLR) and unbalanced (RCA) outputs are provided. An RS232 serial port is provided for factory support, and two small buttons for network reset. A power switch sits next to the IEC power inlet.
The infrared remote control is a substantial piece of brushed aluminum with a well-thought-out layout and nice metal buttons that return a satisfying click when depressed. Six function buttons are offered, for setting the output polarity and display brightness, adjusting the volume, and toggling mute. A row of three buttons is available for setting and recalling volume presets, and an array of six buttons for direct selection of input.
Listening impressions
Throughout this audition, the DV2i was feeding my Soulution 511 Stereo power amplifier ($39,975) directly. I listened through my YG Acoustics Hailey 2.2 speakers ($55,800/pair) as well as a pair of Audiovector Trapeze Reimagined speakers ($19,950/pair) that I have in for review. I used an EMM XDS1 as a digital transport when I wasn’t streaming. Interconnects and speaker cables were Nordost Valhalla 2. From time to time, I substituted the DV2i with its predecessor, the DV2 V2, for comparison.
Within seconds of playing my first music selection, one word flashed in my mind: amazing. What I heard was concert-hall sound, particularly with percussion, brass, piano, violins, and plucked bass. And this impression only strengthened in subsequent listening sessions.
While writing this review, I heard Vikingur Ólafsson play J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations in Toronto’s Koerner Hall. A short while later, with that wonderful performance still fresh in my mind, I streamed Ólafsson’s Grammy-winning recording of this work (24-bit/192kHz FLAC, Deutsche Grammophon / Qobuz). Soundwise, I found this recording as rewarding as the live performance. Very seldom do I find reproduced music comparable to its live performance, but the DV2i’s ability to recreate the scale, depth, and transient attack of live instruments was truly uncanny. Ólafsson’s piano notes had just the right edge, the tonal richness of his instrument was fully preserved, and its dynamic range was undiminished. Given how difficult it is to reproduce the scale and timbre of a Steinway in full flight, this was astonishing. The DV2 V2 came close, but the DV2i bettered it in revealing finer detail in the upper registers.
My customary audition playlist includes challenging tracks of mostly acoustic instrumental music, from solo recitals to symphonic performances. The DV2i exhibited its stellar sonic traits consistently with this playlist: a wide soundstage with well-defined images, perfect tonal balance across the audioband, fine detail, and a clear depiction of each instrument even in a complex mix.
The bass lines in “My Baby Just Cares for Me” from Girl Talk by the Holly Cole Trio (DSD download, 2xHD 2XHDAR1001) and in Charles Mingus’s “Fables of Faubus,” from his album Mingus Ah Um (24/192 FLAC, Columbia Records / Qobuz), emerged tight and well resolved, with the kind of definition you would expect in a midrange, not in the bass. The fine percussion detail and rich saxophone harmonics on Sonny Rollins’s “St. Thomas,” from his Saxophone Colossus (SACD, Analog Productions CAJP 7079SA), were extraordinary.
Unlike with some other DACs, where each note takes a brief moment to grow into its full tonal form, with the DV2i, notes sprang up with full force right at the start. The background was darker on some tracks than on others, a reflection on the quality of the recordings. I found no inherent shortcomings or limitations to this DAC. I did learn a great deal about the recording quality in my playlist, though.
On Quatuor Mosaïques’s 1990 album Joseph Haydn: Trois Quatuors (CD, Astrée Auvidis E 8786), the gut-string tone of the group’s period instruments was just fabulous. In most other cases, CDs did not sound as refined, relaxed, or spacious as the equivalent high-resolution digital release.
On a recording of Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet, Op. 57, by the Borodin String Quartet with pianist Alexei Volodin (16/44.1 FLAC, Decca Music / Qobuz), the deep bass notes of the piano had tremendous power, and the strings had a masculine tone to match.
Also impressive was Bernard Haitink’s magnificent live recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, with the Bavarian Radio Symphony and Chorus (24/48 FLAC, BR-Klassik / Qobuz). This massive work came to life with the DV2i across a broad soundstage with awesome power, full of detail and instrumental color.
Billy Stewart’s outrageous vocal gymnastics on “Summertime,” from The Best of Billy Stewart (CD, MCA Chess 088112369-2), had exciting power and drive, but the recording lacked depth and exhibited the exaggerated left-right separation typical of early stereo recordings.
It was hi-rez recordings, though, that allowed the DV2i to shine. Among the many recordings I played were Jordi Savall’s 2023 period-instruments recording of Mozart’s Requiem with Le Concert des Nations (24/88.2 FLAC, Alia Vox / Qobuz), the Holly Cole Trio’s hugely atmospheric Don’t Smoke in Bed (SACD, Analog Productions CAPP 049), and Beethoven’s Piano Trio No. 10, played by the Weiss Kaplan Stumpf Trio on their 2023 album Beethoven: Complete Piano Trios (24/96 FLAC, Bridge Records / Qobuz). The Beethoven recording, in particular, was rendered with such precise imaging, full dynamics, and rich instrumental tone it was easy to imagine the three musicians in the room with me.
The DV2i pulled me into the music completely. I lost track of time and found myself compelled to replay tracks just to experience them again. That’s the hallmark of a component that is truly special.
The march of technology
Speaker technology has progressively improved over time. Modern speakers have better magnets and driver materials, stiffer cabinets, and more accurate phase alignment. Amplifiers have also improved over time but less linearly. Many early transistor designs measured better than tube amps, but most sounded worse. Even today, some audiophiles believe that the performance of top-level tube amps is beyond the reach of transistor amps. I, for one, don’t subscribe to this notion. Class-D amps have shown great promise recently and may come to dominate in the future. Turntables, too, have undergone considerable, albeit slow, improvement, as have moving-magnet and moving-coil cartridges. Recent advances in optical cartridges may very well lead to still higher performance.
DAC technology has been progressing at a faster rate. The performance of early DACs was mediocre at best, which impeded CDs from attaining their promoters’ heavily touted promise of “pure, perfect sound—forever.” Much has been learned since about how best to power DAC circuits and how to reduce jitter and its impact, and today’s off-the-shelf DAC chips, found in most streaming components and at the core of most separate DAC units, sound appreciably better than early DACs and DAC chips. (The DA2i and DV2i, as mentioned, are based on EMM’s own DAC technology.) With the advent of DSD and high-resolution PCM, DACs’ sound quality has improved even further.
At the leading edge of the technology, DAC developers forge ahead with unique designs and incremental advancements. User-updatable firmware is an example of such an advancement that was adopted widely, one that EMM implemented in both the DA2i and DV2i.
Should you buy this DAC?
The DV2i, at $35,000, is undeniably expensive. But I believe that for a DAC of this caliber it is priced competitively. Of course, the rest of your system must match the DV2i’s capabilities, or you won’t get your money’s worth—this DAC demands a high-performance setup to realize its potential. If you find the cost of such a system prohibitive, as many would, consider the significantly cheaper Meitner MA3i instead. It offers many of the important features of the DV2i and shares much of its circuitry, including the same D-to-A converter and analog section. And if you have an earlier DV2, first explore available factory upgrades before jumping to the DV2i.
So, who is the EMM DV2i for? Anyone blessed with deep pockets who possesses a quality system and a desire for the closest thing to a live concert-hall sound right at home. In his review of the DV2 for SoundStage! Ultra in 2020, Aron Garecht wrote that it set a new standard for what can be expected from a world-class DAC. The new DV2i is a major leap forward over the DV2.
Products as significant as this do not come along often. It’s a milestone, not only within the world of digital audio, but for audio in general. With high-quality recordings, it rivals even live music. You’ll find mention of the DV2i in my future reviews, as my new reference DAC.
. . . Phil Gold
philgold@soundstage.com
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click here.
Associated Equipment
- Digital sources: exaSound Delta streaming server, EMM Labs XDS1 SACD player
- DAC: EMM Labs DV2 V2
- Power amplifier: Soulution 511 Stereo
- Loudspeakers: YG Acoustics Hailey 2.2, Audiovector Trapeze Reimagined
- Power, interconnect, and speaker cables: Nordost Valhalla 2
- USB link: Nordost Tyr 2
EMM Labs DV2i streaming DAC-preamplifier
Price: $35,000
Warranty: Three years parts and labor.
EMM Labs
5065 13 St. SE
Calgary, Alberta T2G 5M8
Canada
Phone: (604) 761-2593
Email: info@emmlabs.com
Website: emmlabs-meitner.com
