I purchased an ERC-3 (gen 2) last August. I think the audio quality is excellent! And it's built like a tank. On my unit, the CD drive is not as quiet as I would like. I measure 52 dB right in front of the CD drawer; this compares with way too low to measure on my old Denon CDP and 60 dB right in front of the CD/DVD slot on my Mac computer. It seems that some of the ERC-3's have this mechanical noise issue, while others do not. I decided not to bother sending mine back, as I am so pleased with the audio quality. Another guy on the Emo forum reported that he returned his for replacement; the new unit was also noisy; he was offered a refund, but decided to keep the ERC-3 anyway.
Cheers, Jim