The BEST New 3-way Studio Monitors? (Footprint03 "Affordable High End" Speakers from Barefoot)
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- Опубликовано: 29 июн 2024
- Barefoot Sound has released the new Footprint 03-their most affordable studio monitor yet. How does this 3-way speaker compare to the competition?
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Justin Colletti takes a look at the latest studio monitor for Barefoot Sound the Footprint 03. It's high end monitor at an affordable price, that offers a very different sound and look from other monitors in this price bracket by the likes of ADAM, Dynaudio, Genelec, Neumann and Kali.
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Have you heard Barefoot speakers? What do you think?
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Big thanks to Barefoot Sound for supporting this channel! Check them out at barefootsound.com
Finally a good in depth review. I'm super curious about these and I'm hoping to see a few more reviews before pulling the trigger
Glad to be of service!
-Justin
Thank you so much for all the content that you’ve made! I love your channel! ❤
Thanks for watching! 🙂
Thank you, Justin, for the thorough review. We love your channel.
Awesome to hear! Thanks for making great speakers :-)
-Justin
Thank you for this review, it's very interesting. What would you say about the transient response in the high end compared to focal speakers ?
I’ve owned the MM27’s gen 2, footprint 01, focal twin 6be, these footprint 03 are by far my favorite and most impressive.especially for its size
Wow, that’s saying a lot as they are the least expensive by far! But I see what you mean. I did have the immediate reaction of “wow, these shouldn’t sound THIS good” based on the price and size alone.
-Justin
Love my Barefoots! I’m sure the 03s sound wonderful
These speakers are looking great! I love my CLA10as and Eve Audio SC2070s combo so much that I think I wouldn't benefit that much from them but I consider PDP MUM8s or ATCs SCM25a pro mk2 in the future :)
Gonna catch this later , I invested in the kali in8’s 🔊 this is of massive interest to me ✌️
Those are great speakers for the money! These are like those if they felt like high end speakers and had an overall prettier and more inspiring sonic and physical presentation.
-Justin
Considering these vs the Barefoot 02. Will be a treated room but it’s a small one (7’ x 8’
56.58 sq ft) and I mix trailer music which is …. Amped up full frequency sound. And you didn’t touch on the other barefoot line up. Would you recommend the 03’s or the 02’s or something else? Price range is like 3-4K or less lol. Subscribed! Great review and thanks in advance
I have a pair of Kali IN-5's strapped to their amazing WS-6.5 subwoofer in my mixing room and with ARC 4 finishing it off it sounds wonderful. That's a quality 4-way system with sound correction for about £1,800! 😎
I've got myself some Dynaudio 48s. They are 2k as well.
8", 4" and 1" drivers. Closed box design as well
I even got an open box discount. Only payed 1.5k
Great review. Was wondering if you have heard the fp-02’s and how the differ sound wise from the fp-03’s??
The 02 are more of a “2 way with a sub” kind of vibe.
Also very great speakers. If you prefer the sound of two ways with a sub, and want speakers that go really deep, they could be a great way to go.
Personally, I tend to prefer the more forward midrange of 3-way designs because I think they steer me to making better decisions for mixing or mastering applications.
But adding a sub improves the midrange of two-ways, and allows them to go DEEP, and are especially useful in a closed box design like the Barefoot 01 and 02, as closed backs are harder to get bass extension out of without a sub.
If you want even more extended lows with even better transient handling in the lows, the 01 and 02 design is pretty ideal for that!
I hope that helps!
-Justin
I was waiting for a review of the 03s! Thanks for this video. I’m currently using a cheap jbl speaker with a Yamaha sub. Pretty shitty setup to be honest, I feel like my mixes sound better when I mix with my headphones (athm50x). So I thinks it’s time to make the switch to something more in the mid-high end. I’m bout to pull the trigger on the Dynaudio Lyd 48, especially because of the low end extension.
How would you compare the 48s and the Barefoot 03s?
And which one would you pick?
I’m mainly into music production and mixing, but also some mastering every now and then
Man, they are both great. ADAM, Dynaudio and Barefoot are the top choices in this range.
Out of all of them, the most fun and inspiring to listen to are the Barefoot for my tastes, no question.
That said, for the way I mix, I could sometimes benefit from the slightly less pretty sounding ADAMs. Some people are also going to prefer the Dynaudio, which I think of as being "punchy".
The Barefoot are a little brighter, the ADAM a little darker, the Dynaudio a little "punchier". The Dynaudio are also forward, but in a way that's a little less glossy and controlled than the Barefoot. (The ADAMs and Dynaudio will also go a little deeper, but whether or not that’s useful depends on your room.)
The ADAM could steer you in the direction of a slightly brighter and less boxy mix, the Dynaudio might encourage you to add a little more "control" in the mix, while the Barefoot might steer you in the direction of a slightly smoother mix, as mixes will tend to sound like the inverse of the speakers they were mixed on to a degree.
Ideally, you'll be able to listen to each of the three brands on reference material you know and pick what you think will make you put out the best sounding work.
That said, if this was impossible, and you randomly threw darts blindfolded at pictures of all 3 and picked that way, you probably wouldn't be disappointed! They're all great.
I hope that helps!
-Justin
Thanks. For mastering only Electronic Music, in a small (2.6 mts x 3 mts ) treated room, this or Adam A8H. I am happy with my mixing monitors plus Headphone ). I want 3 way for mastering. thanks
I’ve had the krks for as long as I could remember but I’m thinking about switching brands to upgrade. These 03s are ported right? I might go with the 01s or 02s
Yes, the 03 are ported, while the 01 and 02 are sealed box with subs built in.
-Justin
Can this speakers use a vertical position?
Ok shootout time, which one is the better of these: the Adam A77H vs these footprint 3’s? Same price point same quality & sound and lowend?
The ADAM A77x are much substantially larger, so that’s a difference that will be meaningful for most users right there.
If you are in a smaller room or looking for a nearfield monitor, the HEDD would win on that factor alone.
If you are in a substantially larger room and have a greater listening distance, the more “mid-field” kind of design of the ADAM could be more approachable.
Aside from that, the comments I have about the sound profile of ADAM vs Barefoot still apply.
The Barefoot are a little brighter, the ADAM a little darker. (The ADAMs will also go a little deeper, but whether or not that’s useful depends on your room.)
The ADAM could steer you in the direction of a slightly brighter and less boxy mix, while the Barefoot might steer you in the direction of a slightly smoother mix, as mixes will tend to sound like the inverse of the speakers they were mixed on to a degree.
I hope that helps!
-Justin
Thx for this extensive reply, the room is in fact small, 3 x 4 meters 2,4m high. Currently i have my first krk RP6 3rd gen with a krk 10s sub. And i want a serious bump up to 3 way. I hear the Barefoot could have a whitenoise hiss. I sent a pair of KRK rokit 7’s back due to the awfull hiss. I did read the adam a77h are for nearfield to, so is that not correct? is a room like mentioned above too small for a pair of a77h? I love the fact the adams can be adjusted to the room. I also read that the barefoots sound a bit too polished too good iso flat, not sure about that. What i do know is that i want to go 3-way. Which brand and type would be the best for the roo mentioned and by hedd you mean type7? But those are 2 way.. thanks for this video and answer.
Apparently there were a handful of defective units in the first production run that had more hiss than they should, but this was sorted out.
The Barefoot do sound prettier than the ADAMs to my ear, yes. Whether this is helpful to you depends a bit on your biases.
I do think they will likely give you far better translation than your current speakers. Whether they give you better or worse translation than ADAMs will depend on the way your mixes tend to lean.
If your mixes aren’t bright and detailed enough, the ADAMs may help a little more. And if your mixes aren’t smooth enough, the Barefoots may help more. But you can really learn either and do great work on them.
The A77 are intended to be a bit more of a midfield design, but they could be used as a nearfield. They are certainly larger, but they aren’t crazy huge. You could use them as a nearfield, and the minimum listening distance may be just slightly further than with a 5”.
Ultimately, your best bet is yo hear these for yourself with reference material you know. But if you blindly threw darts blindfolded to pick, it’s doubtful you’d be disappointed with either! I like both.
-Justin
Do you have any videos where comparisons are made of all these near field monitors against each other? These Barefoot monitors seem great, but I wouldn't make a purchase without more research and comparison...
Hi Jef, here's the closest I have to that. It's an article that involves a lot of the same brands, though at a slightly higher price point. It's also one I should update soon!
sonicscoop.com/best-main-monitors-for-the-serious-project-studio/
I'll make a point to do a video on the subject sometime soon.
-Justin
Member question - (for qna idk how this works) Hey sonic! How often do you practice imagination while mixing or mastering? Im starting to like imagining the artist with sunglasses 😎 or thinking about a girl I like and making it sound as adorable as her or maybe riding a bike while doing wheelies and donuts. Do you do this kinda things or im I too deep and emotional?
Interesting! I can't say I do that while mastering, but I could imagine it at earlier stages in production.
I'm not sure if I can do a lot of detail on this one, but I will think on it in advance of the Q&A livestream next week.
-Justin
Hi Justin, do you have the sponsor for jason chesse ? and the sponsor sennheiser?😮😮😮😮
Don't know and working on it! :-)
-Justin
BFoot 03 High noise floor in form of hiss noise🔊 is reported from many different sources 📢if u can check it with yr Pro ears 🦻would be helpful to all of us. Thnx
I'm testing the hiss on these against the same sized ADAM A7 and Dynaudio Core 5 right now, and they are essentially all the same in noise level. Holding an iPhone SPL meter directly in front of the tweeter so it's practically touching, they all register at right about 40dB SPL.
Depending on exactly how I hold and tilt the meter, I can get readings on each of them anywhere from 35-45 dB. Putting my ear up against them, the difference in noise level is practically indistinguishable.
At my listening position, they all measure at roughly 28dB SPL. The Barefoots don't strike my as being noisier than any of the others.
I don't know if there was an issue with some early release model, or if there were people testing who had other sources of noise, or if there are anonymous undercover reps from other brands throwing shade on forums (known to happen!). But I can say safely these are basically indistinguishable from the competition mentioned above as far as noise in my studio goes.
It's hard to get a perfectly exact measurement holding an iPhone SPL meter, but I'd wager they are all within a couple dB SPL of eachother when held right up against the tweeter.
I hope that helps!
-Justin
@@SonicScoop Thanks 4 good news.🙌
No undercover reps nor malicious shades reported. Message #280 from Thomas Barefoot himself posted on gearspace. States as follows : We have found that some of the early units within specific serial# ranges📈
exhibit a higher than normal noise floor ......🌀
Full content of Thomas message still available on page 10 #280 ✍
My question : what r serial last 4 digits if Not classified⛔ on units in yr possession currently tested
with positive results. 🔊🎶 Thnx 🙏
You’re right, I checked with the company and they did have a handful of defective units in the original production run, but that has since been sorted out.
I’m told the pair I have here are from that original production run, but they have no noise issue that I’ve encountered.
I’m not in the studio to check the serial number right now, but can have a look tomorrow if I remember!
-Justin
Is it worth it to upgrade from kali in8's?
They are both great speakers! I think the Barefoot would get you more detail, lower noise and a generally higher fidelity and more fun and exciting listening experience. They are in a different class.
That said, the Kali are amazingly good and useful speakers for the price and can get you great results. I can't recommend them enough for their price range.
The Barefoot Footprint03 have a smaller footprint than the IN-8 and go ALMOST as deep as them but not quite. But the bass that is there is slightly better in quality on the Barefoot I think.
If I had double the budget to spend over the Kalis, I would find the Barefoots more inspiring to listen to, with an improvement in transient response, feature set, and overall quality in sound, build quality, and look. The Footprint03 are just "prettier" and higher performance speakers in every way.
But, if you gave me the Kalis to use, I know I could get great results with them too and save a good chunk of change!
If you feel like you are missing some "detail", air and clarity out of your Kalis, or that your mixes could be a little smoother in upper midrange and high frequency areas that threaten to sound harsh, the Barefoot could be a welcome upgrade and help steer you in the right direction by giving you more insight there.
On the other hand, if your mixes skew a little too dark and midrangey, the Kalis can help with that as they have more relaxed and less forward upper mids and high end.
I hope that helps!
-Justin
@@SonicScoopthank you very much for your honesty! 🫶
I also think you have to take the dual concentric nature of the Kali's into consideration, the sound imaging on my IN-5's is excellent. 😎
Do these have a hiss when volume is set to silent?
Short answer: Not more than any other comprable studio monitors I have in my studio.
Long answer, copied and pasted from another reply:
I'm testing the noise on these against the same sized ADAM A7 and Dynaudio Core 5 right now, and they are essentially all the samel. Holding an iPhone SPL meter directly in front of the tweeter so it's practically touching, they all register at right about 40dB SPL.
Depending on exactly how I hold and tilt the meter, I can get readings on each of them anywhere from 35-45 dB. Putting my ear up near them, the difference in noise level is practically indistinguishable.
At my listening position, they all measure at roughly 28dB SPL. The Barefoots don't strike my as being noisier than any of the others.
I don't know if there was an issue with some early release model, or if there were people testing who had other sources of noise, or if there are anonymous undercover reps from other brands throwing shade on forums (known to happen!). But I can say safely these are basically indistinguishable from the competition mentioned above as far as noise in my studio goes.
It's hard to get a perfectly exact measurement holding an iPhone SPL meter, but I'd wager they are all within a couple dB SPL of eachother when held right up against the tweeter.
Hope that helps!
-Justin
I will give them a spin, the noisefloor of the krk rokit7’s was atrocious and so this fed my experience compared to my current rokit6’s, then one immediarely respects speakers with low noise floors 😉 thus making a new decision to buy a proper 3 way pair being fed with one primary box that needs to be ticked. If you know what i mean. Thanks i will give these a spin. Good review 👌
PS: I also considered the A8Hs
The A8H are also great monitors! Substantially larger though. And a bit of a different tone from the Barefoot. Ideally, you'd be able to compare two or three of your favorite options for yourself with reference material you know well. But I hope this helps narrow it down for you!
-Justin
@@SonicScoop thank you so much. This helped a lot! Unfortunately I don’t have the possibility to try them out before I buy them, due to were I live. But I think I will go for the Barefoots. They check most of the boxes for me. Thanks again, Justin! Greetings from Paraguay 🇵🇾✌️
$2000 being considered affordable is wild
For a brand that makes $8k-$10k and UP speakers historically? Absolutely it is!
For a serious project studio, where people are making releases they want the whole world to hear, $2k is definitely an appropriate “affordable” monitor budget.
Anyone who is really serious about their studio, who lives in a developed western country, will eventually be eyeing studio monitors from $1k-$3k at some point at the least.
Average salary in the US is around $60k, so $2k is 1/30th the average salary for an essential investment that will likely last you a couple decades.
Remember: Monitors are just about the most important piece of gear in the studio.
(SMH at people who will buy an assortment of $300-$800 hardware doodads for “flavor” in their studio without first getting good monitors to hear them on!)
-Justin
I mean Professional Speakers are made for people who make money with them. We have people driving Uber buying a $22000+ car to make money with it. So a $2000 speaker should equate to you at least making a 10th of that based on the investment, and yes you can pay it monthly with Sweetwater or Vintage King etc. Can you make $500 a month with it? I'm sure you can. Any business will require investment.
I was really disappointed in listening to these unfortunately, but obviously everything is personal taste. I found the Adam A8H, Hedd Type 20 or at a push the Neumann KH310 if you can find them used. The frequency response just wasnt there for me. At least these are compact i guess.
They definitely have a different sound than the ADAMs. It’s so important to try speakers for yourself as it’s so personal and some will just suit your tastes more than others.
-Justin
@@SonicScoop you're right it could be the Barefoot "sound" as in person I didn't like the footprint 01s either! As you say if you're spending a wad of cash on something valuable, best to go and listen. I'm glad I did!
ATC SCM45A
my all time favorite speakers.
Great speakers! But do they qualify as “affordable small 3-ways” ? 😄
-Justin
@@SonicScoop at 13k? Don’t think so lol 🤣
Hello sonic scoop
Howdy!
Nice try from the Barefoot team but I think I would go with Neumann KH310. But hey, different price point. It's maybe just me but I would never buy a speaker with A/D stages in them. You introduce a bit of latency. You never ever get to hear your analogue sources in true analogue if your speakers force a conversion every time (analogue synths, analogue whatever) etc etc. I know this isn't an issue for some people but for me I draw the line at conversion in speakers. But hey, Barefoot make cool stuff so I'm sure this is a speaker you can work with just fine.
Pretty much all modern high end speakers are going to have some type of DSP in them for time and phase alignment of drivers.
I doubt the Neumann would be an exception there! Are you sure they are?
The Barefoot at least give you the option of a digital input so you can avoid an extra conversion step in the process.
-Justin
@@SonicScoop Neumanns are completely analogue. We use PSI A25 and Geithain 901k over here as mains and mids respectively. Both are a master class in perfect phase and both are purely analogue. Like I said, Barefoot make good stuff but a/d in speakers is kind of a contentious subject. Especially since you can do phase in analogue. But to each their own. I don't think these speakers would be a bottleneck for anyone really. It's a preference thing for us. If you have a chance to demo either the PSI or Geithain I think you will never look back. Different price point though :).
Interesting! I didn’t realize that about the Neumanns! Increasingly uncommon these days.
I’d love to have a closer listen of the PSI and Gethain as well. Admittedly, I’m not as familiar with them as other brands.
-Justin
@@SonicScoop Yeah. Neumann have refused to go the DSP route for a long time, and where they have they only updated their smallest speakers. It's an experiment for them clearly. Their flagships are all analogue and this will remain so.
PSI will blow you away. It is hands down a remarkable speaker. Geithain is a bit of an unfair fight. It is a really big speaker. And it has coaxially arranged drivers so again, perfect phase. It also has something no other speaker has. Or at least they pioneered the idea. That is cardioid bass response. So it's -20dB behind the speaker compared to the front. Almost directional bass. That's a big advantage when it comes to placement in a room etc. And again, this is done in analogue. But hey, it is a 55kg speaker with a 16.5" bass driver. It is a big mains speaker. And the price point is a lot higher than the Barefoots here. Which I am sure are a great speaker that just about anyone can work with. Still, for my money, and because speakers are kind of everything if you think about it when you're doing production work I'd go big. It's worth it. It makes the day so much more enjoyable. But that's me :)
Cool stuff, would love to hear those two!
These speakers look like they were slapped together in a scrap yard. 👎
That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. These speakers are gorgeous!
If you can actually get in the same room with them, the physical build quality and visual presentation are generally miles ahead of other monitors in this price range.
I didn’t harp on that point, because I’m more interested in sound, but I’m that regard it’s practically no contest against other speakers in this range. They just “look” more high end.
-Justin
@@SonicScoop This person is a troll, probably can only afford KRK's or some off brand monitors so has to talk trash on high end stuff lmao.
@@SonicScoop No sorry. I mean looks are subjective but if you think these speakers look "gorgeous" then I don't know what word you would use to describe actual gorgeous looking speakers like Kef R3 or LS50.
OK, the Kef R3 are beautiful speakers! The LS50, not as much for my tastes. (I'm not a space alien.)
But the mistake you're making here is to compare Pro Audio speaker aesthetics to Hi-Fi speakers.
If you compare the Barefoots to other Pro Audio brands like ADAM and Dynaudio, the Barefoot are clearly the better looking monitors, especially if you find yourself in the same room with them.
They just have a more sporty, unique and hi-fi kind of vibe than the other monitors made for the Pro Audio market, which tend to skew far more utilitarian in appearance.
I hope that helps give you some context.
-Justin
@@SonicScoop "HiFi speakers", "pro audio" speakers etc, are just marketing terms. Speakers are speakers, the criteria that make them good or bad are the same, like transient response, dispersion etc. I suggest you research the HiFi side too, there's a lot of useful stuff to be learned there, just stay away from snake oil stuff. I've researched both sides and prefer passive speakers "bookshelf" with separate amp or amps, you get a lot more control and flexibility that way. It's also easier to do immersive setup with passive speakers (less cable work).