Welcome to Small Room Audio. We hope to provide entertaining HiFi audio reviews for stereo listening, bookshelf speakers, amplifiers, DACs, streamers and lots of other audio equipment that sounds great in a small room.
From Bowers and Wilkins to Sonos, KEF to Harbeth, Klipsch to Sonus Faber, we've got you covered and look forward to having you along for the ride!
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I think that should be labeled as a signal distributor more so than a pre-amplifier.
What stand mount height is good for these?
the sorec of my dac are the CD-player, so no streamer, and quality stremers cost atleast 1000$.
Have you listened to the chord qutest? If so comparing the qutest to the Venus ii is there a big improvement?
Pointless waste of money.
Tannoy 💎
Cyrus cdi-XR vs atoll CD200?
And i still dont know how the hell they sound like….
Excellent Review :) Of the two, what would you recommend for Western classical music?
Tannoy forever❤
A quality LPS is the biggest single upgrade to my sound( having already spent thousands on the rest) but I would recommend against American products for two reasons 1.£50-60 of your money goes on import tax not in the product. 2. We in the UK not to mention Europe have amongst the most respected manufacturers on Earth. Although I don't have the Chord myself almost all LP come with interchangeable connectors or supply Qutest specific models . PS I chose the Sbooster mk 2 and it is wonderful and runs utterly cold to the touch.
I’d buy these on looks alone!
Great review. I am considering a set of these versus a set of similarly sized Blumenhofer minis. Have you had the chance to hear those? Any comparison?
Haven’t heard those, sorry. These neats are absolutely fab though, I highly recommend them.
@smallroomaudio, thank you very much for your review. I’ve been looking forward for your Nilai review. Could you please share which preamp you used here with the NAD power amplifier? Thank you. Cheers
Thanks for the message and thumbs up! Unfortunately personal circumstances have meant the channel is paused at the moment - but hopefully back when things calm down! My advice for the Nilai is that nothing touches it at the price (assuming you need that much power). Purifi is better if you want to go the home theatre route simply because the bass has more punch. The M23 is the refined version of purifi and I’d take that over the base Nilai, but only if they were the same price! The Nilai is more natural sounding to my ears, dead quiet and undoubtedly the future of class D. I would use a nice preamplifier to tweak the sound to taste. I’ve tried it with a few, and do like a chunkier meatier tube pre like a Prima Luna, audio note - however - it also sounds fabulous with a passive pre such as my Kosmo, then it’s utterly pure and clean. A great bit of kit and I highly recommend it.
The preamps for this review (from memory) using my Luxman 595 pre-outs, Kosmo passive, Schiit freya+, various dacs and streamers direct into it, including bluesound etc. I really liked the two extreme ends of the scale - either passive for purity, or tube for meat on the bones and lushness. Your speakers and taste will dictate which way to go. Hope that helps!
@@SmallRoomAudio thank you ver much for thaking the time to getting back to me. I’ve recently acquired a pair of Harbeth 30.2 XD and am now on the hunt for an amplifier and class D comes to mind but the prejudice concerning it sound signature is a concern. Thank you for sharing your passion with us. Cheers
@@SmallRoomAudio again, thank you for sharing this. I’m in fact seeking a solution for audio only. If going down the power amplification lane I will start by using it with a passive pre or direct into Eversolo A6 Master Edition. In the future I think tubes pre will be my way to go as I lean towards a more “romantic” sound instead of the analytical path, hence my questions on the class D sound signature. Enjoy your time off. Thank you. Cheers
Anxiously awaiting you’re impressions of the Nilai! Not much out there about it. With the exception of Alpha Audio’s findings 🙏🏼👍🏼
Thanks for the message and thumbs up! Unfortunately personal circumstances have meant the channel is paused at the moment - but hopefully back when things calm down! My advice for the Nilai is that nothing touches it at the price (assuming you need that much power). Purifi is better if you want to go the home theatre route simply because the bass has more punch. The Nilai is more natural sounding to my ears, dead quiet and undoubtedly the future of class D. I would use a nice preamplifier to tweak the sound to taste. I’ve tried it with a few, and do like a chunkier meatier tube pre like a Prima Luna, audio note - however - it also sounds fabulous with a passive pre such as my Kosmo, then it’s utterly pure and clean. A great bit of kit and I highly recommend it.
@@SmallRoomAudio Very, very good to know. Thank you for this detailed response! Only have my little Spendor 4/5’s but they seem to respond better and with more tonal balance with greater power/headroom. Using an SPL Elector pre. The curiosity may kill this cat 🐱But best wishes and hope to have you back soon 🙏🏼👍🏼
I am so disappointed one can present 2 speakers for 20 minutes without letting us earring the difference between them. Because at the end, only my ears dictate my choices.
Here’s a thought then…Go to a HiFi shop and audition them…
@@SmallRoomAudio ... or find an other KZread Chanel.
Just ad a PD creative module with an Aliexpress ultra lineair power supply and this Node turns into a hi end dac/streamer. No kidding
How can a subwoofer be connected to these speakers 🔊 ?
Wish they make this kind of a system in a slightly more modern design. This is better than Contour 20i by a huge margin.
Great video and astute approach to good sound. By the way, would I be able to connect my laptop to it? I don’t seem to locate a usb behind?
Never judge the cover... Listen to it with your own ears then voice on it.
i have listened and had tannoy dual concentrics for over 40 years there is no audable phase errors that make the sound go brhind the speakers what do you think happends does the sound bend 180 degrees dedrees go back a few feet5 and bend 180 degrees and go forward to you again? harbeth yes because there are lots of phase errors in there as in all seperated drive units. but it does go a long way forward. you might be hearing lower bass as you cannot tell where below 400Hz comes from or a little bass boom from your room
Definitely just reading off a script he's paid to say, couldn't even be bothered pretending like he actually plugged it in to test
these speakers shoud have a height of 60cm
they dont go deep enough
I have a pair for my rears for a 5.1 but decided to go for a 7.1 so bought another pair. I decided to just try them as the front pair as never listened to a full range play though and was blown away. I'm thinking now of moving the new pair to my other lounge and making them my main fronts in there!! 🙂
Useful video 💯
Thank you 🙏 😊
Need help choosing between this and R1700BTS due to the aptx HD. Help!
To be fair, R2R dacs can be chip based.
If you want more dynamics you could have ordered the Preamp with an active stage which you can switch in or out of the signal path.
How many square meters do your listening room have?
do you think that they sound good for other applications other than painting and cleaning? 😅
Sanding….baby changing….
I’ve had Eaton’s for a while now. The ‘slightly metallic twang’ to vocals as pointed out in this vid is more than slight to my ears, it’s a problem. Looking on the net others have noticed this and have sold them on for this reason. A lot of old favourite albums have become a little or very painful to listen to, Bowie’s vocals on Hunky Dory, Ziggy, Diamond Dogs now make me wince for example. Iggy Pop’s vocals on Lust For Life sound really bad and early Queen is unbearable. This is not on all albums I should add, there must be a certain frequency or frequencies that sets this off. Or possibly some distortion that sets this off. I have a McIntosh MA5300 amp driving them with vinyl and digital sources. I wish I could do something about this uncomfortable treble as I love everything else about the Tannoys and this vid describes them really well (apart from the smoothing over poor recordings comment I can’t personally agree with that). I wonder if it’s the design of the Tannoys or if my system is now highlighting flaws in recordings.. too much ? Or if the Tannoys are highlighting the etchy grainy sound some say is a quality of all solid state amps ? The treble controls have been up and down countless times. The speakers have been moved around my room endlessly, the grills have been on and off.. and that metallic treble will not go away.
6 months since last video 😅
Yup - life and a small child, no time for HiFi at the moment. I’ll be back as the Terminator says!
@@SmallRoomAudio I might move into a big room…:-)
@@SmallRoomAudio congratulations
That's alot of money for just a power supply.
The Dynaudio Heritage Specials are a superb sounding speaker, once you listen to them with decent equipment, there midrange just sucks you in!
Absolutely agree! 👍
What decent equipment for example?
The seem to prefer transistor amplifiers over valve, you need to listen to them with amplifiers with good current capability, I am driving mine with Hegel H590 wish has very good synergy with the Dynaudio’s also recommend Pass Labs. Not saying they wouldn’t work with a high powered Valve amp, but you will need something that drives them with a bit of power.
We need another 10 years. Seems none do everything well
Because there Chinese now. Not Scottish.
Superb presentation, thank you!
Thank you, that’s very kind 🙏
Would a simaudio 600 be a good match for these speakers
I want the clarity. I add richness via my Cardas Parsec RCA interconnect cables. I bought the C298 because 1) it's less $ 2) it has more features like adjustable knob gain, RCA loopout for 2 subwoofers, trigger output to my 2 subwoofers I upgraded from Parasound 2125v2 to NAD C298. Apple Music I've also own another Class D amp: Parasound Zonemaster 2 and it sounds great!
As much as I love my Parasound 2125v2 for my GoldenEar BRX, I've upgraded to NAD C298. My Parasound will be moved to powering the surround L/R speakers in a mixed use music/movies 7.4.4 setup. My requirements (<50 lbs and <16 in deep, trigger input/output, gain adjustment, RCA loopout for subwoofer). It's 2024, and I'm shocked how many amps don't have at least a trigger input, much less a gain adjustment. Apple Music I've also own another Class D amp: Parasound Zonemaster 2 and it sounds great!
I love Dual concentric Tannoys, always have. I still use 12" reds from the 60's in wardrobe sized cabinets. There's a tactile quality to Tannoy's and they image like no other. Tannoy's are addictive. Anyone who says " it's all about the music" is kidding themselves. I always answer " well go and buy a Roberts radio then and save your money" We love gear and audio goodies and it's a harmless hobby. Love the channel, very good review of both.
Thank you 🙏 😊
It`s plastic
This review helped me in my decision to get the Ares 12-1 and have been loving it. Now, I'm also very clear it isn't the greatest of all DACs in the market. But watching the video again, I was quite surprised with the comment that the soundstage is so narrowly restricted to the close surroundings of the loudspeakers because in my setting, which includes the Wharfedale Denton 85th anniversary loudspeakers, the soundstage extends to both side past the distance between the speakers which is near 3 m. To the back there is about 1.5 m to the wall and to the front the wall is about 4.5 m from the tweeters and myself sitting at about 3.5 m from the tweeters. If a track is well recorded and has good holographic properties, then the Ares 12-1 fills the space with a wonderful image and super wide, deep and high soundstage. The broad holographic nature of this DAC, plus the rich fullness of its a organic and natural sound are the features that I value the most about it. So I don't know if it is because of the space, the loudspeakers or their placement (not that my setting is better than that in the review, I doubt it), but I just want to let others know that the Ares 12-1 is perfectly capable of breath taking, wide, holographic soundstage. 😊
I agree it can fill the space well, and everyone’s acoustics will be different. I guess my comment in the video is specifically in comparison to other dacs I’ve tried and the R26. I do love the dac for its value for money though, it’s truly excellent!
Sad that s channel ceased to produce
I’ll be back one day, just have real life to contend with. Each video takes 6-20 hours to plan, record, edit and upload. With a small child and a new job there isn’t any time for KZread at the moment. It earns me on average $20 per video, so that’s about $1 an hour for my time.
@@SmallRoomAudio thanks man, hope to see you post again when you get some space!
That/s good to hear, I enjoy your video's a great deal but nothing is more important than your family, especially kids. I wish you all the best my friend!@@SmallRoomAudio
Thank you 🙏
Thank you for the vide
Very welcome! 😃 👍
Will it drive the power demanding Magnepan LRS?
Go with the Vidar instead. You need more power at 4 ohms.
Nearly bought one today but then noticed that there is a minimum 50msec delay to account for grouping in a multi room setup, but that includes the eArc input for watching video, which is undefeatable even if you are not using groups/multiroom. Not sure anyone needs multiroom audio when watching a movie. Customer/technical support seemed to be unreasonably stubborn and evasive judging by the messages dating back 4 years on the support forums.
If you want to know how these speakers sound, just listen to them in our own space with your own set up. You never ever can tell how speakers sound by listening to a man speaking about them.