The DAC6e SE had a unique advantage bestowed upon it from the moment of its creation. It is directly derived from the world’s standard-bearer of PCM and DSD sound quality: the EMM Labs DAC8.

Like the DAC8, and quite unlike any other converter brand in the world, the EMM Labs DAC6e SE takes the PCM inputs and immediately upsamples them to 5.6448MHz DSD. The sonic benefits of which were abundantly clear to David Robinson of Positive Feedback when he categorically stated:

"Let's keep this simple:

  1. The Meitner makes CDs sound better than I've ever heard them.
  2. The Meitner makes SACDs sound better than I've ever heard them... which means that they have a notable tendency to embarrass Red Book playback of the same title."

The DAC6e SE is also notably immune to jitter thanks to Ed Meitner's unique, patented jitter reduction circuitry. Further, connecting our CDSD transport confers yet another technological advantage upon the DAC6e—the ability to work in the master clock mode, eliminating jitter completely. A fact which, perhaps, contributed to the inclusion of the DAC6e on Jonathan Valin's list of the ten most influential audio products of the last thirty years. Says The Absolute Sound's Valin, "and, if contemporary products are allowable, the EMM Labs DAC6e, which certainly will set the standard for all future high-rez digital playback devices."

Jonathan Valin, The Absolute Sound
Dec/2003-Jan/2004, Issue 145

The SE Advantage

Several important developments distinguish the new Signature Edition components from their much heralded and award-winning predecessors. The most revolutionary of which is the world’s first and only discrete dual differential D-to-A conversion circuit.

Rather than depend on mass-market, off-the-shelf converter chips—with all their inherent compromises and limitations—EMM Labs decided to take a different approach. We developed our own proprietary conversion circuitry for the Signature Edition products.

This is a monumental technical achievement. The sonic results are no less impressive. Our new conversion circuitry is utterly free from the differential non-linearities present in every multibit D/A chip created to date.

The DAC6e SE also features our new composite laminate circuit boards. These provide several performance advantages over conventional boards:

  • Copper traces are microscopically smooth on top and bottom, significantly reducing skin effect issues
  • Naturally damped sandwich construction offers superior strength and vibration resistance
  • Lower dielectric losses and superior heat conduction ensure a more uniform temperature gradient across the circuitry, increasing stability and longevity

David Robinson concludes his review of the Signature Edition products this way, “So once again, for a whole new generation of equipment, my answer for SACD and CD playback is a simple recommendation: Get thee to a Meitner!”