High End 2013

Meitner is the entry-level series from EMM Labs, the MA 2 its new CD player. At $11,000, it’s not exactly cheap as chips, but it does halve the cost of an EMM Labs XDS1 in a machine that, in addition to playing Red Book CD, is also a pretty serious D/A converter. The MA 2's dual-differential DAC can decode DSD and 24-bit/192kHz PCM over USB as well as accept digital feeds from AES/EBU and S/PDIF inputs. It incorporates MFAST asynchronous technology and MDAT processing, which double DSD’s sample rate to 5.6MHz. The only advantage the XDS1 has is the ability to play SACDs.

That player has not been standing still, however, and in V2 form it offers technology from EMM Labs' DAC2X, including USB and traditional digital inputs alongside the ability to convert DSD. Its price has yet to be finalized.