Audiophilepure

One of Devialet’s clever innovations from the Expert Pro line that easily crosses over to the Phantom is SAM, or ‘Speaker Active Matching’. In the traditional audio world, this meant Devialet had to assess the performance of a range of different loudspeakers from hundreds of manufacturers to create an optimum amplifier profile (in the digital domain). This number crunching is baked into the Phantom models, allowing a very high degree of interaction and control between amplifier and loudspeaker. This has three direct benefits: the amplifier is running at its most optimal for any steady-state or musical signal; the amp has better drive-unit control even in deep bass, and the Phantom is pretty much ‘unburstable’ unless you consciously try to destroy it. It’s not fully ‘party proof’ as those pulsating side drivers are something of a drunk-magnet and the rated 108dB peak SPL is a bit of a limit, but in real-world terms unless you are using the Phantom as a weekend-long PA system pumping out square waves at full throttle, the Phantom remains unfazed when you are in the mood to party hard.

https://www.hifichoice.com/content/mission-zx-3

That said, the bass extension it does have is detailed and commendably quick and, given the choice between a floorstander with a little bit less bass that keeps up with the music or one that has great lumps of the stuff half a beat after it’s needed, I’ll always choose the former.

When faced with the wonderfully overblown marathon of Welcome To The Pleasuredome by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, the ZX-3 wades in with genuine enthusiasm, managing to provoke a response that is as much emotional as cerebral.

Comparing it with Mission speakers of old, I’d say that while it doesn’t feel quite as fast and energetic as some of its predecessors, it certainly knows a thing or two about tonality, soundstage and sheer realism. These are valuable developments and it’s a sure sign of the brand’s new-found maturity that the ballistic edge of past offerings has been reined in a little.

Like Schiit, he explained, they offer great value for the money (as the owner of a Schiit Audio Yggdrasil Analog 2 DAC, I agree— read more HERE). He’d recently purchased my Mini Dancer 2s, and has since been outspoken about their performance up and down the sound spectrum. Bottom line, he wants a pair of speakers that reveal everything when he’s mixing music recordings. However, for me, this sale opened a window of opportunity.

The ML-801 and 802s they were designed to bridge the gap between Usher’s Dancer series and their flagship TD lines. Boasting more refined internal components and crossovers, better bracing and a deeper cabinet than my Mini Dancers, they piqued my curiosity. Already impressed with the Usher house sound, I was fascinated with the idea of experiencing these first hand. Hence, when the opportunity finally arrived, I pounced. 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/genelec-g-three-active-loudspeaker

My first impressions of Genelec’s G Three remained true throughout my audition: pure and precise with a surprising amount of well-articulated bass for such a small speaker. In its tweeter region (above 3kHz), the G Threes preserved more air, atmosphere, and dimensionality than my in-house KEF LS50s, GoldenEar BRXs, or Falcon LS3/5a Gold Badges. They didn’t go as low or move as much air, but, in terms of bass tone and tactility, the G Three was like a smaller, tighter version of GoldenEar’s BRX standmount. In its tweeter region the G Three was distinctly more detailed than the BRX. On both sides of its 3kHz crossover region, the G Three was quieter and more seamless than my LS3/5a. I needed only a few tracks to realize that the G Threes play more clearly and more open than any speaker I had on hand to compare them to.

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/features-menu/opinion-menu/1122-the-curious-case-of-avalon-acoustics

valon is by no means the only company where this lack of coverage is caused by a simple lack of contact. There could be any number of reasons for that. Perhaps the company simply doesn’t need a review. Or it doesn’t want a review. Or whatever. That’s fair, of course. And if that’s the case, and you let us know, at least we can more accurately answer correspondence asking “Why haven’t you reviewed these specific products?”

Driven by the mighty HUMBOLDT, one might mistakenly walk away with the impression that the ESE offers plenty of cacophonous thrills, dynamic fireworks, and crushing bass, but little in the way of nuance, delicacy, and overall refinement. This would be a mistake. For starters, the ESE speaks with a superbly coherent voice, this despite its use of five (5) drivers per side composed of different materials. When a speaker designer can blend the outputs of drivers fabricated from beryllium, anodized aluminum, and Kevlar into a coherent wavefront, much of that success owes to a simple factor: the use of a high-quality, well-designed crossover network.

The core VSA crossover technologies (VSA prefer to call their crossovers “networks”) devised so many years ago by AVS and here tweaked, refined, and reimagined so skillfully by Damon and Leif, also yield a sound of remarkable transparency, image and staging solidity, and overall cohesion, along with plenty of low-end slam. Whatever the musical genre, the ESE allows the listener to focus his or her attention on each aspect of the transducer’s considerable performance envelope while never losing sight of the sonic whole. Let’s start with the “image and staging” portion of the equation. From the “almost” entry-level E-3 Mk II up to the earth-shaking U11, all VSA models stage and image “out of box” as impressively as any dynamic driver system that I have encountered.

Acora SRC-1 Speakers

Practicality aside, the SRC-1s are beautiful. Not entirely as black as the Spinal Tap album cover, they still have some detail in the black, looking absolutely beautiful when light hits them. They are austere enough that they should work within any décor, though they probably lend themselves to a more modern room. As does everything black. The amount of time and precision to cut granite to this level of accuracy should not be overlooked either. The cabinet joints and driver cutouts are perfectly executed.