CDSA

About the CDSA

The EMM Labs CDSA is a single-box stereo CD/SACD player that uses Ed Meitner's proprietary Meitner Digital Audio Translator (MDAT) processing to convert standard 44.1kHz Red Book CD data into a DSD bitstream at 5.6448MHz (2x SACD rate) for significantly improved resolution and fidelity. This upconversion is dynamically adaptive to musical content, with MDAT designed to maintain phase accuracy, frequency response, and dynamic integrity for more natural, analog-like sound. The player incorporates EMM Labs' fully in-house discrete dual differential DAC circuit (not based on commercial DAC chips), together with custom PCB design optimized for signal purity. It plays Red Book CD, stereo SACD (including stereo tracks on multichannel discs), and MP3 discs. Connectivity includes balanced XLR and single-ended RCA analog outputs, each with two selectable output levels, allowing output up to approximately 7.2V from XLR and 4V from RCA to suit different preamplifiers and system gain structures. The CDSA is built in a heavy, rigid chassis engineered to minimize vibration, and is aimed squarely at audiophile and professional mastering environments, distilling much of EMM Labs' multi-box flagship SACD/CD systems into one chassis.