Emotiva finds itself in a unique situation with the BasX MC1. There are few, if any, immersive audio processors that just decode surround sound and pretty much nothing else. And certainly not many at this price. It is also a delight to set up a processor that doesn’t wield three or four rack heights. The UK market has been crying out for such a product. Yes, there are manufacturers in China which offer devices going head-to-head with the MC1, but our advice would be to move forward with caution. If I had to go back to square one and do it all again, snapping up an MC1 is the route I would take. Buy the processor, a selection of budget amplifiers and upgrade as and when the funds became available. It’s a no-brainer, really.

The overall form factor and functionality of the unit seems nice but is let down by well below average performance. There are a lot of noise and interference issues creeping into every measurement. And we have that situation with high resolution content being resampled.