To Doug Schneider,
I'm planning to upgrade from a receiver to separates, but I'm having a hard time deciding which of these two amps I'm going to get. Should it be the Anthem P5 or the Emotiva XPR-5?
The Anthem is more expensive than the Emotiva by more than half, but without consideration of the price, which of these two amps do you think sounds better? Any thoughts you can share would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Mitch
Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much about the Emotiva brand because the company doesn’t send us any products for review. Are they any good? I’m not sure because I know very little about them other than what I could glean from their website, which indicates that they sell factory direct and the bulk of their products are made in China. Those two things go a long way to explain the price difference.
Still, I’d look at the P5 amplifier despite its costing more. There are several reasons. Anthem does send us plenty of products for review, and, to date, all of them have at least been good while some of them have been outstanding. Suffice it to say that the company has an excellent track record. Anthem does have their lower-priced receivers built in China, but the P5, as well as the P2 and their processors, are built in their factory in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. I’ve seen those products go down their assembly line, so I know it to be true. If you take pride in having something built over here, that might sway you.
But the best reason to consider the P5 is the performance. We’ve never reviewed it or the P2, but I’ve had experience with both of those amps over the years and I’ve long considered them to be among the best amplifier values in high-end audio. On paper, the P5 is rated to deliver 325Wpc into 8 ohms, compared to the XPR-5’s 400Wpc into the same load, so on the surface the XPR-5 might seem a tiny bit more powerful. But what’s interesting is that Emotiva doesn’t recommend using the XPR-5 into loads under 4 ohms, while Anthem says that the P5 can deliver 675Wpc into a crushing 2-ohm load. To me, that indicates the P5’s power supply is better and that might be a significant thing if you're planning to use the amplifier with a lower-impedance speaker. The P5’s distortion and signal-to-noise specs are also quite a bit better than the XPR-5's, at least from the information the manufacturers provide. (You can’t always believe everything you’re told by the manufacturers, but nothing in either of their specs seems outlandish to the point of being unbelievable.) This kind of performance the P5 exhibits also justifies the higher price.
That said, seek out the P5 for an audition and see if it floats your boat. If it does, I think you’ll find your money well spent if you buy it. If not, check out the XPR-5. As you pointed out, it’s cheaper, and from what I learned from their website, they have a 30-day money-back guarantee should you not like it. In either case, it’s hard to see how you could go wrong. . . . Doug Schneider
