Audiophilepure

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1214-tad-compact-evolution-one-tx-loudspeaker

While listening to Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” from her second album, 21 (16/44.1 AIFF, Columbia Records), I reveled in the CE1TX loudspeakers’ soundstaging prowess. From the plucks of Ben Thomas’s acoustic guitar that open the track to the Tottenham-born songstress’s powerful opening verses—presented front and center in vivid detail—and the backing drums behind her that resound with ample reverbed spatial cues, each component of the track was laid out before me with assiduous precision. This exactness did nothing to rob Adele of her vocal power as the TADs propelled her into my listening room in all her soulful glory. The backing tambourine lent a touch of trebly splash that punctuated my deep enjoyment of the CE1TXes’ efforts. I would have enjoyed a touch more shove in the mid-bass, as the hearty kick drum on the track felt a bit lightweight, but it’s also worth noting that my basement listening room—a space measuring roughly 16.5′W × 14′L × 9′H—is part of a larger, L-shaped space measuring 29′ at its longest and 37′ at its widest. Put plainly, my room tends to swallow bass energy at certain frequencies, and I suspect that was a partial contributor here.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/estelon-aura-loudspeaker

The instruments and their aural environments are remarkably similar to each other, but I detect a bit more focus in the BIS recording. And, although Zhang was recorded in a film/recording studio in Munich and Piemontesi in a small, modern concert hall in Lugano, neither recording offered much information about the acoustics of the recording sites. The contrast is in the playing. Zhang clearly relishes articulating individual notes, which he does with almost superhuman precision. Piemontesi leans toward a more legato expression, although the Estelons still let me hear each of the notes when I attended to them. Zhang’s delineations were thrilling in the “big” pieces, such as No.4, “Mazeppa,” and No.8, “Wilde Jagd,” but also surprisingly touching in the more delicate No.7, “Vision”; he kept me hanging on every note, with bated breath. Strangely, Piemontesi’s more fluid playing achieved more momentum in the big pieces and provided a much-appreciated grace in the delicate pieces. I listened to both performances several times via the AURAs. The experience was informative, enjoyable, and totally nonfatiguing.