Audiophilepure

https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/reference-components/1861-recommended-reference-component-goldenear-t66-loudspeaker

Other musical selections Philip played demonstrated again the T66’s balanced sound and ability to reveal details. The sonic characteristics that Philip discerned in the T66 were also revealed in our measurements. The on- and off-axis frequency-response plots, from the bass through to the treble, are quite flat and consistent, which corresponds to that evenhandedness Philip heard—a neutral sound, in other words. The level of distortion the T66 induces across much of the audioband is laudably low even at a high output level (90dB, in our testing, at a distance of two meters under strict anechoic conditions, which is equivalent to more than 96dB at one meter in a room).

Comparing the T66 with his own reference loudspeakers, the Monitor Audio Gold 300 5G floorstanders ($9500/pair), which are also a three-way design with an AMT tweeter, Philip found that apart from their markedly different appearance, the two pairs had quite a different sound. Listening to “Hold On,” from the CD release of Tom Waits’s album Mule Variations, he noticed that the GoldenEar pair “delivered more weight from the upright bass, and their fuller, warmer demeanor made [the song] sound bigger.” But, as clean as the T66s were, the Gold 300s were a touch more revealing. Waits’s baritone is the focal point of his recordings. It is rough and well worn, and the Gold 300s better exposed its full hoarseness, delivering it “like a coarser-grit sandpaper,” Philip writes.

Still, the T66 and Gold 300 had a lot in common, which is unexpected given how different they look. In fact, listening to Tori Amos’s “Caught a Lite Sneeze,” from her Boys for Pele, on CD, Philip found the two pairs “incredibly similar” tonally, both being so well-balanced. “Where they differed was in the scale of presentation, which is where the GoldenEars distinguished themselves,” he writes. “This was particularly evident with the percussion, and was apparent from the opening drum sounds, which were more propulsive and powerful through the T66 speakers. They imparted a sense of impact that the Monitor Audios were unable to equal.” Philip’s main takeaway from this comparison is that the T66 offers a better value: “for $2300 less, the pair of T66s came close to matching the resolution of the Gold 300s, while producing far more bass.”

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