Review: Emotiva XSP-1 Preamplifier

Emotiva has been cranking out the products lately. The company’s latest is the XSP-1 Differential Reference Preamp — and our friends over at Audioholics got to take a look at it.

After working on the product for about two years, Emotiva delivers the XSP-1 as a combination of audiophile topology with an advanced, digital control system. However, it does all of that at a very gimme-worthy price of $899.

It also has a ton of drool-worthy features, including a balanced home theater bypass mode, instrumentation grade relays with silver clad contacts, and phono preamplifier options with inputs for both moving magnet and moving coil cartridges. It even has a balanced home theater bypass mode for ease of use with high-end surround sound systems, as well as contour controls to tailor the high- and low-frequency responses.

“As you’d expect from Emotiva, they’ve put together a very solid offering in the XSP-1 Differential Reference Preamp,” says Audioholics writer Andrew Gash. “What you won’t expect is the $900 price tag for a fully balanced stereo preamp with top of the line construction and parts. With every single aspect of the XSP-1 well planned and thought out, we can think of nothing they forgot.”

There’s also an in-depth video review, if you want to get a closer peek. To watch the video or read the entire review on Audioholics.com, go here. You can also share your thoughts on the product and the review in the Audioholics forum.