Audiophilepure

https://www.audiopursuit.com/2021/02/kef-q950-floorstanding-speakers.html

The Q950’s fleshes out the warm tones of Bonnie Raitt’s “Nick of Time”. This quality stays present whether amplified by tubes, solid state, or class D amplification. On the Q950’s, tubes sprinkle an extra bit of midrange magic, solid-state maintains excellent grip over bass frequencies, and class D detailed articulation. Pairing the Q950’s with the Peachtree nova150 provides enjoyable listening and makes for a fine starting point for a system.

Switching over to the jazz of Dave Grusin, the Q950’s dual ABR passive radiators in unison with the LF driver recreate the jabs of funky electric bass-led music in “Punta Del Soul”. The impact of this closed design places the entire Migration album in regular rotation during the review. Delving into the second and third tracks “Southwest Passage” and ‘First-Time Love”, the smooth decay of top piano keys and the natural tight ring of the triangle demonstrates the engineering and quality of the Uni-Q design.

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1042-magico-a5-loudspeakers#most-read-equipment-reviews

They only began to describe what I heard. I started with “Avratz,” from Israeli trance duo Infected Mushroom’s Converting Vegetarians (16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC, Hommega/Qobuz). This 2003 release is, um, infectious from the very first hearing. The bass line enters 40 seconds in, and I was absolutely mesmerized by it. The A5s’ bass was deep, articulate, and soooo easy to hear into. I’ve heard this track through other speakers, but the A5s nailed it best. Yes, the bass was deep and weighty, but it was also more tuneful than I’d heard before—not a hint of one-note, homogenized bass. Audiophiles are often forced to choose between weighty bass or tuneful bass, but the A5s in my room gave me both simultaneously—a treat indeed. At 1:50 into “Avratz,” the A5s delivered physical impact to my chest, and made me want to turn up the volume a bit more to hear if they’d reached their limit. Instead, they delivered even more impact, the sound and the music scaling perfectly with increasing volume level. Bass drives this song, and the A5s’ bass left me wanting nothing

Bowers & Wilkins 702 Signature floorstanding loudspeaker

This source proved highly engaging with a variety of records, the less smooth among them were not masked but neither were their shortcomings emphasised. For a contrast I swapped amplifiers for a Rega Elex-R integrated, a musically inspiring few days ensued with what turned out to be a surprisingly well-matched combination. The bass wasn’t as solid but it still went down low with adequate control and the mid and treble provided a spark that was hard to put down. It proved to be highly enjoyable with everything from Nick Drake to Blind Faith (the live version of ‘Can’t Find My Way Home’ is a blinder) and Terry Callier to name a few. All had three dimensionality, pace and good projection when the recordings allowed it.