These Sapphires are incredible!! They bring it......thick bodied and simply musical beyond most of the competition's capabilities. I've been using Aguilar DB 115 ( 15 inch driver) and Aguilar 112 ( 12 inch driver) bass cabs for years. There's nothing slow or bloated about them. If I want to, and it serves a song: I can dial down the treble/ high / mid frequencies ( on my bass and bass head; to pump out some fat bloated tone. The thing about these 15" drivers, is their gorgeous full bodied , deep sound presentation and tone. So full, so thick and juicy. Which is the reason I switched to the larger drivers leaving the 10" driver cabs behind, years ago. I wish more guitar players would go with 15 drivers. Time to start saving for the Sapphires, lol. Thank you for the fun video!! Love these speakers!!
Very well done, Ron. You guided me to the original M3s from Spatial Audio, which I enjoyed for years. I'm now at the point of choosing my end-game speaker, and it looks like these may well be the ticket. Fortunately for me, I live only 30 minutes away from Spatial Audio's headquarters, so I'll soon be setting up an audition with Clayton. I can hardly wait to hear them. Keep up the great work!
Flight..? I think I toasted some speakers on that recording. It was like I couldn't believe how great the bass was, so I had to play it again, louder, 2 or 3 times. Went to bed after that, but the next day, oh those poor speakers, they sounded like kazoos! Did some kind of bad juju on those voice coils/formers. I forget what track it was..🤔.
So I ordered my Sapphires and am eagerly waiting for then to arrive and spending my time now listening to your demos to tide me over until they arrive. By the way I can hear your stomach grumbling in the recording. 😂 Also the speakers are playing just a tad too loud for the recording level of the mic. It’s causing the mic to distort a bit in the midrange. song request: Led Zepplin Bonzo’s Montreaux for the video you can’t monatize!
dude the second song was awesome.. the bass sounds so deep, ominous, and looming but it's also very direct and compliments the breathing sounds with absolutely no muddiness. it's like... I can almost see the bass.. I don't even know how to describe it. Kind of sounds like a whale is about to start an earthquake right in your room! and with the airy nature sounds and the woodwind tones and breathing, wow, that is just nice lol
Great work Ron. Have to declare that I have a set of these speakers. Agree with everything you say here. For me though the most startling results have not been with rock, Gatton or Vaughan, (though 1st class) but have been with solo piano. Stunningly realistic results. This even (especially?) from 70's analogue recordings of Brendel playing Beethoven. Thanks Ron - greetings to one and All. BTW : looking forward to part 2, 3, ... ;¬D
This answers my email to Ron: what's the h390 like driving the Sapphires...wow. I have the h590 and am considering Sapphires and Tekton, but this is the best sounding youtube audio demo I've ever heard...normally I think these audio youtube demos are useless.
@MAC MAN Check out the "Live Test" in-room recordings on TheAlphaAudio RUclips channel...both the speaker tests and amplifier tests. As good as "Fritz" is (the original name for the Neumann KU-100 Binaural Head microphone), it alone is not the best technique for capturing the most realistic representation of the speakers in the room.
Love your reviews, especially with your friend Ron. Like you, I hope the manufacturer leaves him in place on your site, as he is a major contribution to this hobby. I bought the Sapphires based on your recommendation and haven’t looked back. You nailed it when you said “one and done” and got me off that expensive merry go round. Thank you!
I've been doing binaural recordings simce the mid 1970s - I had a prototype KEMAR for my dissertation and continued from there. You've done an excellent job here and allowed we listeners to here the points you've made. Keep on doing them. This is a demo for good earphjones and NOT IRMs (tired both ways). Yes, the Saphires do sound extremely realistic. You've got to move a lot of air to get the kinds of bass that these have. If the low=end sounds realiistic, so will the rest of the recording.
I love the Spatial Audio speakers and really enjoyed listening to the sound clips thru the head mic. I would like to hear more sound clips in this manner.
WOW!! Your voice is so life like. I can even hear the crunch of the carpet under your feet. If most of the songs are meant to sound "tinny" or "hollow" then this recording is a very good representation of those speakers through my ATH-30x headphones. Hearing the pick on the guitar strings says - detail. I wish I could be there. If must be so much fun.
I was really happy with a pair of speakers I had. They imaged well and the soundstage was phenomenal. The sound felt like it was in the room. But then I got another set and I heard more of the air/timing/decay as Ron mentioned. It is extracting more detail but now the sound is more accurate and sounds more like the recording room or "live" as appropriate to where the sound was recorded. But one downside is it doesn't make me get that impression I got with the earlier speakers that the music is "in the room". Even in this video it's easy to pickup more of the sound created in the room. It just feels more realistic
Thank you Ron for the nice sound demo with commentary. I hope you get to keep Randy around for awhile and show the realistic sound presence of the speakers.
John Atkinson did this very thing over at PS Audio with the IRS V's some time ago. It was a revolutionary idea! The recording world JUST lost renound engineer Michael Bishop of Telarc and 4/5 productions. He is pictured with that Binaural head!! My first time ever hearing Binaural was in the mid 70ies. Local Mac dealer had a NAK portable cassette recorder and the JVC Binaural phones. He walked around me while talking, then played it back, and it was UNcanny, it was live AGAIN ((O: Enjoyed THIS presentation, thank YOU !
Just watched the clip just with B&W PX5 wireless headphones and the base and texture was now already very impressive. Thanks for the clip and the mic head (randy) seems to work very good. Hope you can keep it for a while. Would be nice to have some A&B comperions so that we get a better impression how big the leap is between for example speakers for 1.5k $ and ones for 5k like these. Thanks for the nice reviews and entertainment
When I think of a speaker’s time domain performance, I think of its step response and how well the arrival of each driver blends with the others. You may well be right that the spatial cues we get from a speaker that performs well in the time domain are found in the higher frequencies.
Sounds amazing, thanks for another great video! I hope to see your review of Barefoot Sound MM45 or MicroMain27. Also, if I may, I think that the Earthworks QTC microphones are superior to these mics. It is possible record binaural with them using something like Jecklin disk BUT it will add first reflections which I don't think are beneficial for this recordings.. Anyway sounds great, thanks :)
This is amazing. I was listening with Audeze LCD-i4 on my couch in a very dark room and got a little spooked when you switched seating from left to right. I "saw" you walk across the room and sit next to me (couch sounds and all) 😄
The problem that isn’t discussed about the open baffle speakers is room demands. These type of speakers require a room that has room to get the speakers away from the rear wall and equal distance from side walls. If you have a room that has an open side wall, or is long and narrow will tend to compromise the sound. You’re fortunate Ron, to have the right type of room to accommodate these fine speakers. I do like the head though .
Really enjoyed this sound demo Ron. Lots of good commentary. I am considering a new amp for my M3 Sapphires. That Hegel 390 is sounding pretty good. Lots of research to do.
Hey Ron, congrats on finding speakers you enjoy! I would like to address a couple issues with your video, though. 12:15 What happens when you have a wideband tweeter... and what you don't have is a crossover at 1500, 2K, 2 1/2K? The correct answer is, when you put a cap on it, it rotates the phase 90°. 2. You're right about the benefits of open baffle speakers. 3. No matter the quality of microphone you use, we're still listening to a recording of a playback of another recording. It'll never be anything like CD quality. As directed, I'm wearing a pair of headphones -- a pair of Dan Clark's Aeon Flow Open, with a neutral response curve shaped by a miniDSP HA-DSP, then further driven by a Fiio A5. Sublime stack. But your recording still sounds like a recording of your room. You might as well be listening to a pair of garage sale speakers. 4. I bet the artists of the songs you're demoing would appreciate some recognition of their efforts without being subject to a Patreon paywall. Gotta say, I know you gotta make a living, but shafting music artists to do so is a phallic move. Regardless, I'm always glad to see someone enjoying a state of enraptured audiophilia. Keep the hobby going, my fiend.
what does hifi sound like? Speakers ago, I had polks and I took my s.o. hifi shopping she heard the tannoy, wilsons, linn and came home said my polks were crap. I have the ml 60xt now but I got an amazing deal on them so I couldn't pass them up but now I want the sopras 2.
I really like the sound from the head mic. I'm listening through a pair of Sennheiser HD598 headphones and the music sounds awesome! Keep up the good work and I hope you get to keep the head mic a little while longer...like permanently.
After listening through this offering, I am truely impressed by these unique speakers. Good friend of mine over in the Klipsch forum has a pair of modded La Scala's, he also has a pair of Spactials which are his main listen ! Myself? Went from Klipschorns to Martin Logan estats. Talk about a 180 turnabout. But, like the Spatials, very similar / dipolar thing going on. ONE crossover at 380Hz. not missing much ((O: Again, great work on this production!
So glad you finally did something about that room resonance chamber, aka the chimney. I hope you tackle all that glass on your front wall next. Keep it up. Surprisingly I'm getting a good effect listening to this on my Floorstanders or Magnepan .7's.
These are actually really very good sounding spkrs considering it's crossed to dome mid/tweeter. From what I read on Sapphire website, this is very innovative driver. Most paper cones have something added to the slur, some carbon fiber, or other fibers. For me most of the time the efficiency of the larger cone and good motor makes them sound fast, dynamic and clean if their distortions are low , + well behaved cone and suspension, comparing to most dinky 6-8" 85dB/W efficiency. There's openness to the sound. To make loudspeakers that throw good depth, image well and don't scream, well it's no f... easy. Very interesting design.
Hmm. The bass seems so strong. It must be some weird combo of my in ear monitors, the tips, the mic and your room acoustics. I’m gonna try some plannar headphones.
@@johnnixon2504 Yes, bass is potent but varied depending on the headphones I listened to it on; Focal Elegia, Audeze LCD-X and Periodic Audio Be IEM thru a RME ADI-2 DAC. Loved the format of this video!
There might be some bass boost in the design it self, but possible that the position of the spkrs and the mics in the room can excite the low frequencies as well. Still it sounds quite nicely.
Please please consider to review the X3 or X5. I live in Denmark and have no chance to return the speaker when I have bought it. So I need to make the right decision. I have the LM 845 Premium and this will be the amp I am going to use with the Spatial Audio I am buying
Hey Ron... you do so much hard work however the music tracks are at times overly esoteric or too “audiophile”. Maybe run a variety of music. You can get good music at Artlist.io. I have no relationship with them except I use their service for production use.
Ron. Killer stuff. But can you please include some classical music next time? A string quartet is really good for judging tonality. Pardon. No offense. I love your stuff. Just some other reference music would be good. Thanks !
Randy makes things sound like he (she?) "pre-bakes" what I hear with headphones in general. Hard to articulate just what that is exactly, but it's unmistakable when compared to in-room listening.
Great presentation! You're by far my favorite audio channel. I appreciate how you present your commentary, combined with the proper conveyance of music using that new Binaural recording head that you're using. It sets your site apart from the others and I hope that you get to keep them. I agree that open baffle is the way to go. I currently have a pair of original open baffle, just refurbished Carver Amazings with the original high Q honeycomb 12" drivers combined with retrofitted upgraded 60" ribbons. I've owned several other top end speakers but these are my favorites. My next set will be Spatial Audio X5 thanks to your reviews.
I'd love to hear your opinion on the Pure Audio Project Trio with horn. You could compare them with the Sapphires. Looks like Spatial is only selling the 4s now.
Love the new setup...every time you start talking after a music segment, I jump and look to the left or right. How does the open baffle mid and bass vs point source tweeter impact sound stage?
Ron, I am with you on the tweeter covering down into the midrange. I bought a pair of Linaeum LT1000 speakers made in about 1990, that have a TLS tweeter (true line source) that is crossed at about 480Hz. The LT1000 has a 5' long transmission line cabinet, that is my first long term experience with a transmission line cabinet. The bass clarity and detail and power and extension is amazing. But, they have some narrow, but significant response dips. So, I decided to use Hornresp and see if I could design a *mass* *loaded* transmission line cabinets that don't have the response dips. And I built them, and they play deeper than the stock, and they have remarkably even response. Question: about what sound pressure levels are you playing at?
While truly impressive sounding I am just quietly wondering if the speakers are missing just a touch of true midrange and upper (lower) mids to create a slightly meatier sound tonally. Also while terrific bass obviously they don't seem quite as authoritative as the deepest biggest box speakers (think Definitive Techs and Polk Audio's Lsi etc.) Just my 2 cents. Great channel, awesome mic.
How does the "fire" seem to you? for example, can you easily place a singer in the center of the stage? or does it all seem "smeared" on the back wall? Although you find dipoles very interesting, I only have some doubts about the "spatial resolution". Adding so much in the way of indirect sound should make it harder to perceive the correct position of the virtual sources. Thanks.
Ron, what's the chances of getting this video with the NX-Oticas while you still have the binaural recording setup? Your reviews are great, but this would be an awesome and maybe closest way to compare the two without physically having them.
@@Newrecordday2013 Must admit i love track 7 i'm listening on T1 2nd Gen's through a Modi - Multibit and a Rupert Neve headphone amp no complaints on your setup sound this end ...
Great review as always. It might not sound like this in person but it usually seems like the higher Fidelity the speaker the more it sounds like the sound is coming out of the Grand Canyon. If that's called open soundstage, I guess I don't like open soundstage. Again, it might be just the limitations of RUclips but I do pick up on that all the time. 🙄🤔🤯 And you couldn't be any more right about paper woofers so maybe it's just listening through RUclips that I'm missing the shock and awe of this type of ultra high-fidelity speaker.
@@Newrecordday2013 Don't tempted me Ron!🤔😉😇🤫 We're considering moving down there as it is from New Jersey due to my wife's psoriatic arthritis flare-ups during the fall and winter months.🙄😎
@@Newrecordday2013 Ron, I'm back from living in Greece for the last eight years without a stereo...Apartments arg... . Now in Scottsdale. I've owned Acoustat electrostatics, Maggies and early Martin Logans. Would love to hear these, looking for my one and done.
Listening through ksc75s via btr3k. This sounds like audio nirvana! Please suggest an affordable alternative with similar characteristics. Im considering the unify 2.0
I don't go against your tastes or experience but soundstage it's not realistic in real life imagine is the one dominant this is why lots of music don't have this soundstage second when JBL revel and infinity made speakers must go blind test until it not superior to the competition never see market and third JBL and JBL pro goes hand to hand bro.
The sound of open baffle is very different. Not really in your face just kind've present and filling the whole room. I can see how that would be desirable in a lot of situations.
Hey Ron, I've been A/B-ing these and the HD 3600 for over an hour now between your 2 videos and I have a question. Let's take the intro on the last song for instance. To me these go lower and higher than the HD3600 but it feels like something in the middle is more natural to me on the JBLs. I'm listening to the snare hits on that song and I cannot really dstinghuish too much attack or tone on the Saphires while it is a lot more present on the JBLs. Is it the forward nature of the presentaiton on the JBLs or dynamics or lower mids that give me that impression ? Is that something you could tell in situe ?
You can have audiophile gear and not be an audiophile. You have non-audiophile gear and be an audiophile. Confusing times. For me, I consider myself an audiophile because of the level of effort I have put in to making what I have sound as good as it possibly can so I can then make good decisions about the next hardware upgrade.
Heard through ALO PanAm with nos mullard cv4010 and HD580. Of course they sounded great, lifelike. My only problem is that imho most 'audiophile grade' recordings are, well boring. On the other hand, most vinyls and CDs that I like that came from the 70s, 80s, 90s were recorded like, well you know. Btw, thanks for the demo
I VOTE LET YOU KEEP THE HEAD! I dont care how accurate it may or may not be, it sounds amazing even through the crappy YT compression!
The best sound reproduced from a room I have ever heard on RUclips. I love the Newman!!! Excellent work and yes, the Sapphires are beyond amazing!
These Sapphires are incredible!! They bring it......thick bodied and simply musical beyond most of the competition's capabilities.
I've been using Aguilar DB 115 ( 15 inch driver) and Aguilar 112 ( 12 inch driver) bass cabs for years.
There's nothing slow or bloated about them. If I want to, and it serves a song: I can dial down the treble/ high / mid frequencies ( on my bass and bass head; to pump out some fat bloated tone.
The thing about these 15" drivers, is their gorgeous full bodied , deep sound presentation and tone. So full, so thick and juicy.
Which is the reason I switched to the larger drivers leaving the 10" driver cabs behind, years ago.
I wish more guitar players would go with 15 drivers.
Time to start saving for the Sapphires, lol.
Thank you for the fun video!! Love these speakers!!
Very well done, Ron. You guided me to the original M3s from Spatial Audio, which I enjoyed for years. I'm now at the point of choosing my end-game speaker, and it looks like these may well be the ticket. Fortunately for me, I live only 30 minutes away from Spatial Audio's headquarters, so I'll soon be setting up an audition with Clayton. I can hardly wait to hear them. Keep up the great work!
That mic is crazy! I'm hearing things I didn't think possible with my headphones.
Please let RON Keeps the Binaural Mic. You Just take it to another level.. i really really wish to hear the fly of the cosmic hippo on the spatials.
Flight..? I think I toasted some speakers on that recording. It was like I couldn't believe how great the bass was, so I had to play it again, louder, 2 or 3 times. Went to bed after that, but the next day, oh those poor speakers, they sounded like kazoos! Did some kind of bad juju on those voice coils/formers. I forget what track it was..🤔.
So I ordered my Sapphires and am eagerly waiting for then to arrive and spending my time now listening to your demos to tide me over until they arrive. By the way I can hear your stomach grumbling in the recording. 😂 Also the speakers are playing just a tad too loud for the recording level of the mic. It’s causing the mic to distort a bit in the midrange. song request: Led Zepplin Bonzo’s Montreaux for the video you can’t monatize!
Brent LeVasseur so do you like them after 5 months ?
dude the second song was awesome.. the bass sounds so deep, ominous, and looming but it's also very direct and compliments the breathing sounds with absolutely no muddiness. it's like... I can almost see the bass.. I don't even know how to describe it. Kind of sounds like a whale is about to start an earthquake right in your room! and with the airy nature sounds and the woodwind tones and breathing, wow, that is just nice lol
Great work Ron. Have to declare that I have a set of these speakers. Agree with everything you say here. For me though the most startling results have not been with rock, Gatton or Vaughan, (though 1st class) but have been with solo piano. Stunningly realistic results. This even (especially?) from 70's analogue recordings of Brendel playing Beethoven. Thanks Ron - greetings to one and All. BTW : looking forward to part 2, 3, ... ;¬D
I always say it's the space between the music that defines a speaker! That's why I love my old magnapan MGlls... that space! Those sapphires do it!
This answers my email to Ron: what's the h390 like driving the Sapphires...wow. I have the h590 and am considering Sapphires and Tekton, but this is the best sounding youtube audio demo I've ever heard...normally I think these audio youtube demos are useless.
Normally, they are.
@MAC MAN
Check out the "Live Test" in-room recordings on TheAlphaAudio RUclips channel...both the speaker tests and amplifier tests.
As good as "Fritz" is (the original name for the Neumann KU-100 Binaural Head microphone), it alone is not the best technique for capturing the most realistic representation of the speakers in the room.
Love your reviews, especially with your friend Ron. Like you, I hope the manufacturer leaves him in place on your site, as he is a major contribution to this hobby. I bought the Sapphires based on your recommendation and haven’t looked back. You nailed it when you said “one and done” and got me off that expensive merry go round. Thank you!
Love to have a go at these speakers personally. Makes you want to grab your entire music collection and experience it all over again.
I've been doing binaural recordings simce the mid 1970s - I had a prototype KEMAR for my dissertation and continued from there. You've done an excellent job here and allowed we listeners to here the points you've made. Keep on doing them. This is a demo for good earphjones and NOT IRMs (tired both ways). Yes, the Saphires do sound extremely realistic. You've got to move a lot of air to get the kinds of bass that these have. If the low=end sounds realiistic, so will the rest of the recording.
I love the Spatial Audio speakers and really enjoyed listening to the sound clips thru the head mic. I would like to hear more sound clips in this manner.
This is so awesome every time you clap I was looking around my room😂 Awesomeness, Pure Awesomeness
WOW!! Your voice is so life like. I can even hear the crunch of the carpet under your feet. If most of the songs are meant to sound "tinny" or "hollow" then this recording is a very good representation of those speakers through my ATH-30x headphones. Hearing the pick on the guitar strings says - detail. I wish I could be there. If must be so much fun.
Thanks Kevin!
@@Newrecordday2013 Thank you sir! Keep having a blast with gear few can afford and sharing it with us.
That. Was. Magnificent.
Yikes. Really very well done. The bottom end concerned me, then you fixed that little problem. Wow. Let's do this again!
Make a 24 hour video before you return back the mic! ❤️
The songs haven't begun yet and I'm loving the video already! ❤️
I was really happy with a pair of speakers I had. They imaged well and the soundstage was phenomenal. The sound felt like it was in the room. But then I got another set and I heard more of the air/timing/decay as Ron mentioned. It is extracting more detail but now the sound is more accurate and sounds more like the recording room or "live" as appropriate to where the sound was recorded. But one downside is it doesn't make me get that impression I got with the earlier speakers that the music is "in the room".
Even in this video it's easy to pickup more of the sound created in the room. It just feels more realistic
Good concept to make these binaural recordings. 👏👏👏
Hey let Ron hold on to Randy. Randy brings us into Ron's room. Love Ron's work. He will demo the speaker I will buy one day.
Thank you Ron for the nice sound demo with commentary. I hope you get to keep Randy around for awhile and show the realistic sound presence of the speakers.
Zero who? Amir who? Audioholics who? Everyone else who? Your video and audio skills are top notch there amigo...
That was pretty cool as you walked around the room - especially when you walked behind the couch. It was like you were standing behind me 😁
John Atkinson did this very thing over at PS Audio with the IRS V's some time ago. It was a revolutionary idea! The recording world JUST lost renound engineer Michael Bishop of Telarc and 4/5 productions. He is pictured with that Binaural head!!
My first time ever hearing Binaural was in the mid 70ies. Local Mac dealer had a NAK portable cassette recorder and the JVC Binaural phones. He walked around me while talking, then played it back, and it was UNcanny, it was live AGAIN ((O: Enjoyed THIS presentation, thank YOU !
Randy has a good life.
I can't tell you how badly I want one of those microphones. Kudos.
Just watched the clip just with B&W PX5 wireless headphones and the base and texture was now already very impressive. Thanks for the clip and the mic head (randy) seems to work very good. Hope you can keep it for a while. Would be nice to have some A&B comperions so that we get a better impression how big the leap is between for example speakers for 1.5k $ and ones for 5k like these. Thanks for the nice reviews and entertainment
When I think of a speaker’s time domain performance, I think of its step response and how well the arrival of each driver blends with the others. You may well be right that the spatial cues we get from a speaker that performs well in the time domain are found in the higher frequencies.
Thanks for this video, and your commentary 👍 It’s a great education in listening!!
That was ear drum candy brother. Awesome stuff, great demo
Sounds amazing, thanks for another great video!
I hope to see your review of Barefoot Sound MM45 or MicroMain27.
Also, if I may, I think that the Earthworks QTC microphones are superior to these mics. It is possible record binaural with them using something like Jecklin disk BUT it will add first reflections which I don't think are beneficial for this recordings..
Anyway sounds great, thanks :)
This is amazing. I was listening with Audeze LCD-i4 on my couch in a very dark room and got a little spooked when you switched seating from left to right. I "saw" you walk across the room and sit next to me (couch sounds and all) 😄
OH! Randomly YT plays this Video again... I must say, the Sapphires are a true example of german craftsmanship "made in Bavaria!".....
The problem that isn’t discussed about the open baffle speakers is room demands. These type of speakers require a room that has room to get the speakers away from the rear wall and equal distance from side walls. If you have a room that has an open side wall, or is long and narrow will tend to compromise the sound. You’re fortunate Ron, to have the right type of room to accommodate these fine speakers. I do like the head though .
* It sounded so clear, I thought it was My belly, until replay. Still can't believe it was you !
Really enjoyed this sound demo Ron. Lots of good commentary. I am considering a new amp for my M3 Sapphires. That Hegel 390 is sounding pretty good. Lots of research to do.
Hey Ron, congrats on finding speakers you enjoy! I would like to address a couple issues with your video, though.
12:15 What happens when you have a wideband tweeter... and what you don't have is a crossover at 1500, 2K, 2 1/2K? The correct answer is, when you put a cap on it, it rotates the phase 90°.
2. You're right about the benefits of open baffle speakers.
3. No matter the quality of microphone you use, we're still listening to a recording of a playback of another recording. It'll never be anything like CD quality. As directed, I'm wearing a pair of headphones -- a pair of Dan Clark's Aeon Flow Open, with a neutral response curve shaped by a miniDSP HA-DSP, then further driven by a Fiio A5. Sublime stack. But your recording still sounds like a recording of your room. You might as well be listening to a pair of garage sale speakers.
4. I bet the artists of the songs you're demoing would appreciate some recognition of their efforts without being subject to a Patreon paywall. Gotta say, I know you gotta make a living, but shafting music artists to do so is a phallic move.
Regardless, I'm always glad to see someone enjoying a state of enraptured audiophilia. Keep the hobby going, my fiend.
what does hifi sound like? Speakers ago, I had polks and I took my s.o. hifi shopping she heard the tannoy, wilsons, linn and came home said my polks were crap. I have the ml 60xt now but I got an amazing deal on them so I couldn't pass them up but now I want the sopras 2.
I really like the sound from the head mic. I'm listening through a pair of Sennheiser HD598 headphones and the music sounds awesome! Keep up the good work and I hope you get to keep the head mic a little while longer...like permanently.
After listening through this offering, I am truely impressed by these unique speakers. Good friend of mine over in the Klipsch forum has a pair of modded La Scala's, he also has a pair of Spactials which are his main listen ! Myself? Went from Klipschorns to Martin Logan estats. Talk about a 180 turnabout. But, like the Spatials, very similar / dipolar thing going on. ONE crossover at 380Hz. not missing much ((O: Again, great work on this production!
So glad you finally did something about that room resonance chamber, aka the chimney. I hope you tackle all that glass on your front wall next. Keep it up. Surprisingly I'm getting a good effect listening to this on my Floorstanders or Magnepan .7's.
WOW - sounds incredible... love it.
Can't wait to play this on my Cornwalls!
These are actually really very good sounding spkrs considering it's crossed to dome mid/tweeter. From what I read on Sapphire website, this is very innovative driver. Most paper cones have something added to the slur, some carbon fiber, or other fibers. For me most of the time the efficiency of the larger cone and good motor makes them sound fast, dynamic and clean if their distortions are low , + well behaved cone and suspension, comparing to most dinky 6-8" 85dB/W efficiency. There's openness to the sound.
To make loudspeakers that throw good depth, image well and don't scream, well it's no f... easy. Very interesting design.
Very nice demo!
Hmm. The bass seems so strong. It must be some weird combo of my in ear monitors, the tips, the mic and your room acoustics. I’m gonna try some plannar headphones.
Ok. Yeah it was the monitors. Sounds much better on the audezee headphones.
@@johnnixon2504 Yes, bass is potent but varied depending on the headphones I listened to it on; Focal Elegia, Audeze LCD-X and Periodic Audio Be IEM thru a RME ADI-2 DAC. Loved the format of this video!
Yes I notice might be too much bass might get fatigue after wards
There might be some bass boost in the design it self, but possible that the position of the spkrs and the mics in the room can excite the low frequencies as well. Still it sounds quite nicely.
Please please consider to review the X3 or X5. I live in Denmark and have no chance to return the speaker when I have bought it. So I need to make the right decision.
I have the LM 845 Premium and this will be the amp I am going to use with the Spatial Audio I am buying
I'm also thinking about it, located in Vienna/Austria. Have to add 20% of Speakers+shipping for customs
Hey Ron... you do so much hard work however the music tracks are at times overly esoteric or too “audiophile”. Maybe run a variety of music. You can get good music at Artlist.io. I have no relationship with them except I use their service for production use.
How about putting, "This head sponsored by Neumann & Adorama" on the back of it.
Bro amazing work here - nice work.
Wow that is uncanny. Listening through some Tin Audio T4 and this is pretty amazing.
Ron. Killer stuff. But can you please include some classical music next time? A string quartet is really good for judging tonality.
Pardon. No offense. I love your stuff. Just some other reference music would be good.
Thanks !
Randy makes things sound like he (she?) "pre-bakes" what I hear with headphones in general. Hard to articulate just what that is exactly, but it's unmistakable when compared to in-room listening.
Great presentation! You're by far my favorite audio channel. I appreciate how you present your commentary, combined with the proper conveyance of music using that new Binaural recording head that you're using. It sets your site apart from the others and I hope that you get to keep them.
I agree that open baffle is the way to go. I currently have a pair of original open baffle, just refurbished Carver Amazings with the original high Q honeycomb 12" drivers combined with retrofitted upgraded 60" ribbons. I've owned several other top end speakers but these are my favorites. My next set will be Spatial Audio X5 thanks to your reviews.
Great Demo Sir! Paul C.
I'd love to hear your opinion on the Pure Audio Project Trio with horn. You could compare them with the Sapphires. Looks like Spatial is only selling the 4s now.
So who listened to each song all the way through?
Not me. Not the kind of music I like to listen to.
Rythmik F12G subwoofer uses GR research 12" paper cone. People swear it's the most natural sub around. Though, there is few reviews online about it.
Today listening through Focal Clears. The recording through the dummy head is great. Expensive but worthwhile investment.
Love the new setup...every time you start talking after a music segment, I jump and look to the left or right. How does the open baffle mid and bass vs point source tweeter impact sound stage?
Glad you’re using a head mic. Thanks for the hard work.
Much better sound, we got a winner
Spooky to here you move around in the room. The clapping is just so real. Also the guitar at 38min sounds sooo good
You should do headphone reviews with this microphone
Great demo video helped no end by using the Neumann dummy head binaural microphones. Cheers Ron, and Thanks Neumann
Very nice sound 👍
Let Ron keep a while longer please!!!
Ron, I am with you on the tweeter covering down into the midrange. I bought a pair of Linaeum LT1000 speakers made in about 1990, that have a TLS tweeter (true line source) that is crossed at about 480Hz. The LT1000 has a 5' long transmission line cabinet, that is my first long term experience with a transmission line cabinet. The bass clarity and detail and power and extension is amazing. But, they have some narrow, but significant response dips.
So, I decided to use Hornresp and see if I could design a *mass* *loaded* transmission line cabinets that don't have the response dips. And I built them, and they play deeper than the stock, and they have remarkably even response.
Question: about what sound pressure levels are you playing at?
He said he listens up to 85db. Do not know if he records at 85 too though.
Great vid, sound over YT is a s good as it can get with the Newmans.
Peerless corundum tweeters. I’m building some mini towers with them.
While truly impressive sounding I am just quietly wondering if the speakers are missing just a touch of true midrange and upper (lower) mids to create a slightly meatier sound tonally. Also while terrific bass obviously they don't seem quite as authoritative as the deepest biggest box speakers (think Definitive Techs and Polk Audio's Lsi etc.) Just my 2 cents. Great channel, awesome mic.
How does the "fire" seem to you? for example, can you easily place a singer in the center of the stage? or does it all seem "smeared" on the back wall? Although you find dipoles very interesting, I only have some doubts about the "spatial resolution". Adding so much in the way of indirect sound should make it harder to perceive the correct position of the virtual sources. Thanks.
Excellent. Very lifelike with IEMs, preferable to the 2-mic by quite a stretch.
Ron, what's the chances of getting this video with the NX-Oticas while you still have the binaural recording setup? Your reviews are great, but this would be an awesome and maybe closest way to compare the two without physically having them.
On it, Captain!
Listening on my Hifiman Arya, sounds great.
Nice headphones! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!
@@Newrecordday2013 Must admit i love track 7 i'm listening on T1 2nd Gen's
through a Modi - Multibit and a Rupert Neve headphone amp no complaints
on your setup sound this end ...
Very nice. I just redid some JSE Infinite Slope Model 2's. Giant, heavy speakers. I love them.
Why are the speakers placed so far from the back wall? They seem to be close to the sofa than they are apart too.
Great review as always. It might not sound like this in person but it usually seems like the higher Fidelity the speaker the more it sounds like the sound is coming out of the Grand Canyon. If that's called open soundstage, I guess I don't like open soundstage. Again, it might be just the limitations of RUclips but I do pick up on that all the time. 🙄🤔🤯 And you couldn't be any more right about paper woofers so maybe it's just listening through RUclips that I'm missing the shock and awe of this type of ultra high-fidelity speaker.
Right on my man! Come on down to AZ and we will let you hear the real deal!
@@Newrecordday2013
Don't tempted me Ron!🤔😉😇🤫 We're considering moving down there as it is from New Jersey due to my wife's psoriatic arthritis flare-ups during the fall and winter months.🙄😎
@@Newrecordday2013 Ron, I'm back from living in Greece for the last eight years without a stereo...Apartments arg... . Now in Scottsdale. I've owned Acoustat electrostatics, Maggies and early Martin Logans. Would love to hear these, looking for my one and done.
This is a must
What are the frequency responsibilities of the woofers? Are they producing full range or a specific range? Thank you
Nice recording technique, this sounds really good!
Can you make a sound clip with the NX-Otica's?
Compliments very good recordings
Please let me know, where as a patreon I can find the tracklist…
The patreon link doesn’t work. I am interested in the track list…
I just don't understand how you can have a crossoverless Tweeter. Is this like a 2-in dome midrange or something?
Hi, is there a jbl 530 version of this?
Do audiophiles enjoy listening to creative music or just any sounds coming out of the speakers?
Listening through ksc75s via btr3k. This sounds like audio nirvana!
Please suggest an affordable alternative with similar characteristics.
Im considering the unify 2.0
I don't go against your tastes or experience but soundstage it's not realistic in real life imagine is the one dominant this is why lots of music don't have this soundstage second when JBL revel and infinity made speakers must go blind test until it not superior to the competition never see market and third JBL and JBL pro goes hand to hand bro.
The sound of open baffle is very different. Not really in your face just kind've present and filling the whole room. I can see how that would be desirable in a lot of situations.
Hey Ron, I've been A/B-ing these and the HD 3600 for over an hour now between your 2 videos and I have a question. Let's take the intro on the last song for instance. To me these go lower and higher than the HD3600 but it feels like something in the middle is more natural to me on the JBLs. I'm listening to the snare hits on that song and I cannot really dstinghuish too much attack or tone on the Saphires while it is a lot more present on the JBLs. Is it the forward nature of the presentaiton on the JBLs or dynamics or lower mids that give me that impression ? Is that something you could tell in situe ?
The word audiophile seems to be some kind of gatekeeping term... it is subjective.
It is subjective for sure
Someone who is creepingly passionate about their audio equipment,
You can have audiophile gear and not be an audiophile. You have non-audiophile gear and be an audiophile. Confusing times. For me, I consider myself an audiophile because of the level of effort I have put in to making what I have sound as good as it possibly can so I can then make good decisions about the next hardware upgrade.
"problematic" ...yes....also Fun!
Heard through ALO PanAm with nos mullard cv4010 and HD580. Of course they sounded great, lifelike. My only problem is that imho most 'audiophile grade' recordings are, well boring. On the other hand, most vinyls and CDs that I like that came from the 70s, 80s, 90s were recorded like, well you know. Btw, thanks for the demo
Dummy head is unbelievable. Really great mic.
I agree!
The second song with the wonky bass son's like the bottom wooden pipe stop in a pipe organ.
That acoustic track 7 is amazing who is it playing
also tracks 8 and 9 are great as well ...
I love them, I want them, but is it me or are they a little lacking in the midrqnge?
🔥