A notable Canadian high-end hi-fi company, EMM Labs is now better identified in some markets by its more affordable second brand, Meitner. Nevertheless, it continues to offer top-quality electronics, and this year proves that it too still believes in the CD format.
To its catalog of seven products – including two DA2i and DV2i DACs and a phono preamp dedicated to DS Audio- EMM Labs has added a pure CD transport. Named TXi Transport, it comes as a double surprise, proving that the brand still believes in this medium in the very high-end market, but offering to read only the CD format (44.1 kHz/16 bit) and therefore not SACD, even though one of the principal engineers in the development of this medium (and therefore of the 1-bit DSD digital format) is none other than Ed Meitner.
Dedicated to afficionados of the CD object, the TXi Transport is above all intended for EMM Labs customers in possession of one of the brand’s digital-to-analog converters. This is because, on the rear panel, there is only one connection to a DAC: the EMM Optilink, which sends a signal that is then resynchronized by the converters’ clocks. On the other side, there is only an RS232 socket for communicating with the brand’s other devices, and of course a mains socket, which supplies a current that is then carefully filtered by a power supply with a specific architecture, designed to reduce resonance and ripple noise.
Taken over from an unspecified OEM manufacturer, the playback mechanism has been totally reworked by EMM Labs and placed on a suspension system to drastically limit its reaction to vibrations. The ultra-rigid CNC-machined aluminum chassis brings the total weight of the device to 15 kg. Pricing is currently only available in US dollars: $12 500.
24/06/2025
