Audiophilepure

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“I do want to emphasize that the qualities described above were not evident when the S 300s were freshly unpacked—they needed 150–200 hours of playing music to come into their own. Before that, the speakers were quite “accurate” with loads of detail, yet provided only a very ordinary listening experience. With time, the preternatural clarity remained, joined by an organic ease and naturalness surely related to the tonal verisimilitude noted above. Loudspeakers under $20,000 are the class of products I cover at shows, and I’ve not heard ones better than the S 300s. Sonically, they hold their own with competing models from Wilson and Magico that cost thousands more, despite having to cross an ocean to get here, and the T+As will likely get higher marks for appearance than products from those other two fine manufacturers. Most importantly, the Talis S 300 can make you forget that you are listening to a recording. And that’s what it’s all about, right?”

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“Get closer to the raison d’être of the Callisto system with the Sound Hub, and the good news is that the wireless transmission doesn’t bring a deterioration of the sound, albeit there’s little it can do to iron out the problems of the balance here. True, things are a little softer when using the hub’s two analogue inputs than when connecting sources using the optical or coaxial digital inputs – as one might expect given the extra ADC stage involved – but in general the Sound Hub, and its 96kHz/24-bit wireless audio transmission, is relatively transparent.

Not that this system is a hugely persuasive argument for the benefits of ‘hi-res’ sound, as its sonic characteristics tend to emphasise the high frequency energy, but fail to make much of the enhanced detail, insight and dynamics on offer. Florence & The Machine’s 2015 set How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful [Island Records 602547236050; 96kHz/24-bit] was delivered with useful bass weight and definition, but still had that upper midband softness and excessive treble fizz, almost as though a loudness curve was being applied. The result was a temptation to back off a bit on the volume in order to calm things down.”

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“I’ve reviewed many Focal speakers over the years, and listened to more, and with all of them, two things have stood out: prominent highs and very punchy upper bass. This has resulted in what I call a Technicolor sound — not so far from strict neutrality to sound unnatural, but far livelier than what I typically hear from my reference speakers, Revel’s Ultima2 Salon2s ($21,998/pair), which exaggerate no frequencies, and which I and most listeners would describe as dead neutral.

Connected to the Constellation Revelation Taurus Monos or the JE Audio VM60s, the Kanta No1s sounded similar to but slightly different from other Focals I’ve heard. Yes, there was the same liveliness, but the highs weren’t quite as tipped up — and the upper bass, while punchy enough, didn’t seem as overemphasized. Granted, the lowest bass was missing — I heard nothing below 40Hz, which is only to be expected from a pair of two-way minimonitors. But low bass aside, the first thing I thought was: These are the most neutral-sounding Focal speakers I’ve heard.”

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“Later my mind was blown, again. I did some close-in-time comparisons between the Callistos running off their included (generic, 2-conductor 18AWG) power cords, and a pair of AudioQuest NRG-Z3 (3-conductor, thick) cords. I had no idea AC cables could make such a large difference in the sound. It wasn’t just emerging from a blacker background; everything was more crisp and exciting. The soundstage was better defined, and the music seemed louder. Instruments had more separation, and their individual characters stood out more. And voices seemed to be “flesh-and-blood present” in the room with me. The incredible realism, accuracy, and liveliness that I had been enjoying for one month with the Callistos went one step further in the right direction.

Do not even consider running your Callistos with the included power cords. Since you are running D/A processor, preamp, power amp, and speaker off a single cord, it needs to be a premium one. Is it crazy to spend $500 on a pair of AC cords for a sub-$5000 system? Not after hearing the sonic improvements they bring. You may be able to find less expensive AC cords that also work well, so experiment. I was a doubter before; I thought at most AC cords could filter some noise, but no more. With a complex unit like the Callisto, they can actually render across-the-board improvements that add up to a serious upgrade. On both solo and choral vocals, a real acid test for any system, the realism was uncanny. Every emotion and delicate touch the singers were putting in there came across clear as a bell. On Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Scarecrow” from the album Peepshow, the sound was so intimate I felt Siouxsie was trying to seduce me (though it’s not a love song). I never even realized how much she hams it up before; it’s on the border of overdone.”

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“It’s one of those speakers that lets you relax with the music and that’s clearly not a bad thing, I like the way that it is pretty well unflappable even at higher levels and that the bass is so fulsome. This could overawe smaller rooms but with only about 40cm behind them the balance was very even in my medium sized space. I tried a track that is notorious for its sibilants, another Patricia Barber number called ‘A Touch of Trash’ [Modern Cool, Premonition]. On this the vocals did seem a little cleaner than usual, the emphasis on S sounds didn’t disappear, but they were reduced enough to stop it being a distraction. Lou Reed’s classic ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ [Transformer, RCA Victor] sounded appealingly open and his voice projected well over the fabulous tone of the double bass. It lacked a little of its edge perhaps, but none of its innate charm. Another bass heavy track, Hadouk Trio’s ‘Vol De Nuit’ [Live à FIP, Mélodie], showed how well the Audiovector can produce deep clean lows while giving the ‘voice’ in the piece, an oud, the space to express itself in a clear fashion.”

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“This is also one of the Magico A3’s main advantages. With the most advanced technology in an era of proficient speaker manufacturing, Magico is capable of creating a speaker with the least amount of colouration; they impose no sonic signature of their own.

The Magico A3s are capable of portraying all kinds of music from various genres in their purest form. It delivers to the listener all the emotional triggers which are hidden within the compositions. This is only possible when the music’s message is being transmitted in an unaltered way. ”