Audiophilepure

Even with the improvements from plugging the ports, the treble was still harsh right out of the box, and I correctly sussed that they’d need some break-in to really sing. Mark had told me in advance that it would probably take a minimum of fifty hours for a baseline break-in, and they’d only get better beyond that mark. Despite the treble harshness, they seem to be responding to the PrimaLuna tube amplification well, and no clipping occurred even during demanding passages. The Scout is fairly inefficient at 84.5 dB/watt, but the EL 34-based PrimaLuna (42-wpc in Ultralinear mode) still seems to be a good match with the Scout attached to the 8 ohm taps. The Scout produces a scale of sound and stereo image that’s quite large considering their diminutive size. After getting them into position, I also connected my Yamaha BD-A1060 universal player to assist with the burn-in process. I then loaded the compact disc of Jim Anderson’s recording of Cyrus Chestnut’s Revelations and set it to repeat play. It’s a great jazz album that’s very naturally recorded, and is one of my references for well-recorded acoustic bass. The Scout loudspeakers had arrived very late in the day; I came back four hours later around midnight to take another listen, and to my surprise, they sounded absolutely horrible! The treble was just grating—I shut the PrimaLuna amp down; it was late, and I crashed out disappointed that the Scout might not live up to my expectations after all.

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1225-dali-epikore-11-loudspeaker

The Epikore 11 is near-as-dammit the same price as the Estelon, but these are wildly different speakers. Both are wonderful in their own way, and visually it’s no contest—the Estelon is a Jaguar E-type while the Epikore 11 is an AMG G-Class wagon. You want to sit and stare at it? The Estelon melts the soul. But if you need to get stuff done, call on the DALI.

I loved the Epikore 11s and was very sad to see them go.

Here’s my hope: Given that DALI has leveraged the Kore’s technologies into a smaller, more affordable package, and given that the Epikore has a suffix of 11, I’m thinking that there may be more Epikore speakers yet to come down the pike. If there’s gonna be, say, an Epikore 7 that has two 8″ woofers per speaker, and employs the same midrange, tweeter, and ancillary infrastructure, I think it would make an honest man of me.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/bw-805-d4-signature-loudspeaker

Through the 805 D4 Signatures, the well-recorded (and blissfully short) jazz/blues fusion songs of Dominique Fils-Aimé’s new Our Roots Run Deep release [Ensoul Records; 44.1kHz/16-bit download] appeared grandiose but lost none of their authenticity. Layering Fils-Aimé’s smooth voice with background vocals during the title track, the speakers proved adept at handling complex compositions, keeping the trumpet clean and non-sibilant when it appeared. Furthermore, as with the Zelmani and Anna B Savage pieces, ‘Just Let Me Go’ really demonstrated that Bowers & Wilkins has mastered the art of uncovering the finest sonic detail without losing track of the musical picture as a whole.

If this Signature upgrade of the company’s 805 D4 does something well, it’s getting you closer than ever to the artist’s intent.