Then I connected the empeg ( . . ) The quality of the sound was much worse,

It can't be the empeg; it doesn't do *that* much damage to recordings. In a direct comparison with a pretty-good high-end home sound system there are noticeable differences, but much more subtle than you seem to have experienced. This was using VBR MP3 on the empeg (AudioCatalyst; Normal/High setting) versus the original CD's played on a US$ 10,000+ CD-player with matching amps / speakers. Overall the empeg held up pretty nicely. There must be something wrong in your friends set-up. Empeg should do nicely, except for exceptional critical listening.

Henno
mk2 6 nr 6