Great review. Been waiting a while for the A700 review, but I already have them. I agree with everything you said. Well except for the looks. I actually like the understated looks as that is the Danish styling of clean, less clutter. I like being able to take the bottom two covers off to have a different look, something the Kef can’t really do. Can choose to cover or uncover the tweeter or mid drivers for slightly diff sound. I have tried many speakers that are 3 or 10 times the price connected to very nice components, after receiving my A700 due to the 45 day return policy. But I could not return them as no other speaker could match it. To me it has true full dynamic range. Even for music that tends to have less bass like 60s and 70s, orchestral. They are very impactful, and can cater to both bass heads or treble heads. I don’t think it can match treble sparkle like bowers and Wilkins, but I find those are very ear piercing and I personally don’t want to hear a firecracker sound if there is dust on a record. A700 treble is a fine mist that goes everywhere. I like being able to walk around and the full range, especially the treble, is still there. I also tested with a tube preamp, a super cheap one from Amazon, and the A700 still gave that lush tube sound. I live in a condo, and one day got a small paper under the door that said someone between floors 2 to 8 has been playing music too loud at night. Oops! I now use a master tuning that cuts bass at 60hz but yet the sound still seems full. I also compared against Totem Element Fire V2 with components, which I think costs same or more than A700, but the totems did not give full sound even though on paper they went lower than my A700 due to my 60hz master tuning. It wasn’t even close. Mind you, the totems did have great treble but I found they accentuated it way too much where it interrupted my listening. For example, in Neil Young’s Harvest Moon, there is an acoustic harmonic sound. On totems it is so loud and upfront that it seems out of place with the rest of the music. But with A700 it’s balanced. I sold the Totems
I have the A500SE and to me they're the ideal minimalistic audio system. No speaker/audio cables, just two speakers and a plastic box and (when you're only streaming) you're good to go. In small or mid-size rooms the A500SE is far enough for my needs. a) With the three EQ settings in the Buchardt app I can quickly season the sound to taste. b) I can take these with me on vacation in cottages in Scotland and easily adapt them to the new room's acoustics: play pink noise from spotify, launch an RTA app on my phone, identify the room's bass resonances, apply a filter in the buchardt app (also runs on Android) and I'm done with setup. c) Yes, you could achieve similar things with a $2k+ speaker pair, a $2k+ streaming amp, lots of cables and a 1k+ subwoofer. But what an inconvenience to handle and place all that. -> To me the active Buchards are easy, very deep bass, versatile and good value.
Fun fact: Both Dynaudio and Buchardt comes from the same town of Skanderborg, near Aarhus in Denmark. I believe Mads from Buchardt used to work at Dynaudio.
What I liked about this video and most of your videos to be honest, is that you start off by defining what it is you will be reviewing, then telling us the price and how you will be reviewing them. Many other RUclips reviewers don't do that. Some even go through a whole review and forget to tell us how much it costs! Thanks for being respectful of your viewers' time!
Owned these for a couple years now. It’s been quite a journey as the ecosystem matured and the Platin Hub settled. Lots of other owners with stories about connectivity issues from the Hub… but anecdotally I have to say my setup has been pretty solid. Especially on latest software. What I can say is that I generally agree with the sentiment of John’s review. I didn’t want the hassle of building a separates system. I trust and believe in the value of expertise when it comes to matching components, making measurements, listening and writing DSP code. The end product has been a great sounding, encapsulated active system with tons of tweak-ability adding longevity when I’m in the mood to tinker with the sound. Hopefully one day there will be a more robust replacement for the Platin, also offering room correction, and then you’ll have a truly best-in-class system (Tidal Connect please). But even with the janky Hub, there’s not much out there that compares.
The Primare SC15 Prisma MK2 now can now do what the Platin does including the room correction in a much more refined package. Although, for me it’s still lacking the HDMI input, Tidal Connect, and pending Roon readiness.
I own a pair of the S400 MKII's in white and they are sublime. During a music session not long ago in a friend's listening room, I brought the S400's over to compare. His setup was a pair of dynaudio confidence C1's. The soundstage, midrange and vocal depth and clarity of the S400's were in another galaxy. I couldn't be happier. Another friend who attended promptly bought a pair of S400's. My point is that I could and likely will own a pair of these A700's. Great review. Thanks
Great review, John. Thank you for that. I have a pair of A700's since October 2021 and my biggest gripe I have with them is the mastertunings being on a separate USB-stick and not manageable through the app. It's fine when you want to listen to a certain kind of music for an evening or so, but changing music styles could mean you're switching mastertunings after each song and that's a problem the way it's designed now. Furthermore I think the hub is a pain in the ... It can be improved in many ways, something Buchardt is working on. They have their own pre-amp/streamer in the pipeline and I can't wait for it. According to them the sound will noticeably improve and it will include Tidel Connect and Room Correction. All in all great speakers that give my lots of joy. And it doesn't stop here: there's more to come. :-)
I have to say I absolutely love the Buchardt design language and definitely prefer how they look vs the Kef or Dynaudio (which I’m really not keen on). Of course completely subjective.
Thank you for the video, John. You communicate difficult matters concerning such difficult subjects as "taste" in listening in a great way with appropriate respect for those differences in opinion.
Nice to hear Bedrock mentioned here. I used to be resident DJ at the club in London back in the early '00s :) Jimmy remains one of my fave DJs of all time. His Balance CD is actually sat on my desk right now. Wish I could listen to it on those KEFs!
I love how you transform into a lover from what you're reviewing and focus on the strength of what you like of that product. Is like hearing a friend telling me about his new speakers he had bought last week with a little comparison with the previous one, and talking about electronic music no body else does. Thanks for it and for your time Darko.
From the perspective of hifi as furniture, it would be nice if there was a choice between tall/skinny and short/wide floor standers. The short/wide format (like a JBL L100 or Klipsch Heresy) is great because it is usually around the same height as a console (low board as you say) and maintains a nice visual line from a design perspective. They are usually angled up so the tweeters point at your ears. I wish KEF, Buchardt or JBL would make an active streaming loudspeaker in the short boxy floor stander format to compliment the tower and stand mount options. Seriously though, an active, streaming L100 or Heresy would seriously kick ass.
I wonder how I missed this review for 8 months. This speaker I guess will be my end game. I have only one wish and that is they add a small memory, retain the master-tuning once loaded into the memory, and add a toggle button to switch through the saved profiles. I can then choose the tuning depending on my mood and the music I am listening to.
“The greatest album of all time.” 20:56 Thanks for that. Made me laugh out loud but there was a time in my life when I would have agreed wholeheartedly! Still, I revisited this album on my new A500s and was blown away by how good it sounds. Which is really why I am commenting. I became too impatient waiting for your A700 review and ordered the A500s on the strength of your enthusiasm in your earlier review. My love of listening to whole albums start to finish has been reborn and I could not be happier. And just when I thought you might give me buyers remorse you make the controversial but true statement regarding how important looks are. The A500s look a perfect match in our room whereas I believe I would have been self conscious regards the dominating look the A700s. Thank you so much for the work you put out, it is a real service.
Omg maybe the very first A700 review and that too by Darko. Hope Mads makes it easy to load master tunings from the app itself. And store it in the internal memory for quick toggle or for AB testing.
Some advice from 1 year A500 owner: if you have a flat or listing room without heigh ceilings, consider A500 first, as A700 is overkill if you’re limited on cubic meters. Secondly about the Platin hub: I use it for master tuning, room correction (via iPhone SE2) and digital in from TV. All the rest goes via Hifirose RS150B which gives a better sound quality.
I had the A500s for the trial period. The bass on these are hilariously good. I guess the A700 would have more punch and impact….but IMO, the A500 would be absolutely perfect for 90% of people.
Nice review 👏 when i changed my very good but big and run hot amplifiers Krell mono 450 to the Devialet that looks like a MacBook and sound amazing was a game changer and its nice to see that things keep moving foreword making possible to listen music with quality with less equipments and more cheap
John, I think I agree with you on pretty much most of the major points that you made. I am going to have to differ in reference to the ADC quality on the hub. I found initially when using the analog input on the hub that I wasn't getting what I needed out of my vinyl setup. On a whim, I utilized the ADC on my RME, and am now missing that device in my studio Setup. The difference is undeniable. The ADC in the platin hub is...meh.
Great year John! Fantastic content. Looking forward to next year in what ever shape and form this channel will be in! Hope you get a great new year celebration!
Actives are the future. You will never match amplification as well as the manufacturer can. For those who want to tweak often by swapping out gear and such, not for you. I'm at the point in my journey (40 years) where I want the best possible audio with the minimum matching of gear, wires, etc. I have had a big interest in actives and they are in my future.
Actives with built in software will always become obsolete. I like dumb powered speakers because I want to choose my own streamer. 6g's is far too expensive for a system like this to ever be the future.
@@TheLWebb100 you are missing the point for the A700z The streaming sits within the hub. You can use any wisa streamer and also xlr. Actives are used for many years in pro studios… it’s only now finally trickling down to home use.
"If you think you can build all of that...for 6K, yourself...all the best to you!" HAHAHAHAHA!! Thank you so much for your beautiful video reviews (combining all the important info with humor), it's always a pleasure to watch. Warmest wishes for a healthy, care-free, happy new year with a lot of music!!
This was really informative with both your comparisons and the music you listened to for your take on sonic differences. The A700s have addressed all my concerns about potential for "obsolescence" of active speakers given the replaceable amplifiers and the fantastic range of DSP tweaks. If they can get room correction to function successfully, this will be hard to beat. McClusky! Yes! Discovered them several years ago, I forget how I stumbled upon them, but I agree that they are fun. Best wishes for the new year and, as always, thank you ever so much for posting!
Well, I think I do pretty well with the Kef LS60. Surely I also would have been satisfied with Buchard A700. Anyway listening to Anna Meredith is a joy with these amplified speakers.
Hi John - from memory you also received a Primare SC15 with your A700s. Any reason you didn’t include it in this review? How does it compare to the Platin Hub?
Well Buchardts master tunings could be compared to fujifilm digital camera film simulation modes. I mean I like that manufacturer gives you some controlled way of adjusting the final result a little bit more to your own taste or requirement of certain situation. Also Lyngdorf amplifiers have something similar and really intrigued by that.
6k for a really good full range active floor standing speaker is a steel of deal. I have not heard them so can't say on how they sound, but actives are the future no doubt.
Maybe I missed it in the video but I don’t recall what John said about how the A700s compare to the Kef in terms of bass (power and precision). The LS60s have more watt power and a push pull design like the KC62, how does it compare to the multiple drivers from A700s ? I listened to the LS60s in a shop, not in the best conditions, and I have A500s at home. I was actually underwhelmed by the Kefs, but it might have been because of listening conditions (noisy environment and speakers didn’t have room to breathe..).
Do you expect to review the Dutch and Dutch 8c next year, I recall you tried before but it never quite came together. There are similarities between them and the 3 speakers compared here, although they are not floorstanders of course.
Great video as always John. This active vs passive systems seems to be the way forward, I recently added LS50 Metas, KC62 Sub & Rotel RA-1572 to my small listening area and stayed away from the active LS50’s for the reasons you mentioned (perceived tweak ability) I really think the LS60’s may be a better choice in my limited space (I love their design). Thank you for all the information you bring to the table to help ? With these choices. All the best from the west of Canada.
Too bad that you don't have a friend with another iphone... I think that the room correction is one of the most interesting feature of this speaker...one thing for sure, Buckardt should include a mic (that can be plugged in iphone for exemple). Onkyo do it with a 1000$ receiver and it work perfectly for everybody!
Me 💘 Sprinkles N Sparkle Though 😆 Thanks John Having an all in one HiFi system can be less streesful vs 'Equipment matching' Espically for Someone new into Audio .. You also made a great point about Factory Direct Bang 4 the Buck - Thanks John !!!
John... Watch every vid you release. Would love to see a review from you on the IFI Neo Streamer. Once I get back to work from vacation at the first of the year you will have a new Patreon.
I love the idea of master tunings. One thing that really gets my panties in a bunch is looking at my tone controls set at +6dB and treble at -3dB or whatever(!). It bugs me that I can’t get a speaker that sounds right out of the box and I really get exhausted from trying to. The beauty of this sort of system is that I don’t have to see the adjustments I’ve made - out of sight, out of mind/Ignorance is bliss/(insert cliche here). Add Fletcher and Munson and room correction for near infinite tweaking. How could you possibly return these in “good faith”? The only reason I could foresee is product failure. Mads has a winner here and it’s failsafe as well. Kudos. Great, thorough review (again), John.
Hi John & Olaf. Found Your Channel a few months ago . Your reviews are really well done, engaging and interesting even to a non audiophile ( whatever an audiophile is? ) like myself . I use a MacBook with a Mojo 2 and a 1/2 decent pair of IEM's , works for me! This month , Dec 22 I released some music ,3 tracks , which is on pretty much all the platforms ( artist = REG MEX) I have no idea what they sound like on high end, or for that matter any end hifi . If you have a couple of minutes have a listen. Anyway ,Thanks for all your work and the entertainment in 22. I 'll continue to tune in to your videos rather like I would any TV show in 23 which really points to the quality of your output .
Most music lovers will have both speakers and headphones. Speakers do what is known as crossfeed where the left ear hears a bit of what the right speaker is doing, and vice versa for right ear. It helps present a soundstage in front of you and is more natural sounding. When in a concert or even people talking to you in person, there is always crossfeed. Headphones and iem don’t create this unless the mix builds in sounds that go into one ear more and leak a little into the other ear
The Master Tunings sound similar to the preset Voicings on my Lyngdorf TDAI-1120 integrate amp that John reviewed. While the Lyngdorf's Room Perfect is great for room correction, with the Voicings I can choose a preset for different sources (TV, radio, Tidal) or compensate for recording quality. Plus, I can adjust a Voicing by .1db increments at any frequency for even more fine tuning. OK, John, I guess I'm a tweaker. But I agree how the Buchardts tuning flexibility can be a really great advantage. Interesting that both these brands are from Denmark.
Thanks for the review. In my experience connecting a preamp to the xlr input might alter the sound but it will never improve it. The ADC will eventually be the limiting factor on the signal. I have been using the Schiit Freya+ and another preamp with the Buchardts. All I've gained by upgradring the different components in the chain is a sound which is closer to the Platin Hub. First I upgraded the chinese preamp to the Freya+, then the DAC in the Bluesound Node 2 N130 to the Ares II and lastly some cheap XLR cables to better OCC-cables. The tube "magic" seem to get stripped away by the ADC on the Buchardts. When I connect the Freya+ to my active B&O Beolab 20's the change in sound is much more apparent and I can hear the tube overtones. I assume this is because the Beolabs being older speakers, do not have an ADC. If you have time, try to compare the Platin Hub to the Edge NQ and you will realize that even though you may hear a difference between different preamps - you will likely not hear much difference if the Edge NQ is as good as I assume it is....
I suppose us Android users could buy an old iPhone just for calibration purposes (and it sounds like it would perform better than the latest iPhones) - it would be interesting to find out which iPhone model/year has the best microphone).
All-in-one speakers provide many benefits, like sound ratios to price, and if your only stream your music, it may be an easy choice. If you hook up a preamp and a turntable, along with a cd player, you will end up with the same amount of clutter minus one or two boxes. If you already have some gear that you like, I think you keep tweaking and learn to hide the clutter.
Another great review thank you. Whilst I like the idea of Master Tunings they seem destined to be under-utilised. My experience with this sort of tuning concept is with the MSB DAC filters that can be selected to change the ‘tuning’ or sound flavour of the DAC. I tried a few different ones and always went back to the MSB ‘house’ filter. I couldn’t really discern any meaningful difference so just went back to trusting that MSB had the best one out of the box!
I purchased the A500 on your recommendation. When they worked, they were great - amazing woofer range. However I eventually got my money back after returning after various software problems. I felt like a beta tester for their software. From others I have spoken too, I am not the only one.
After using the Buchardt A500 and the hub I found 1) home networks can be unreliable with this technology at the moment and it won’t connect sometimes, only solution i found that worked was to disconnect all devices on the network and recycle the router connecting the hub and speakers early on before other devices, not really within Buchardt’s control I think 2) I was not able to use the master tunings to get vocals to my satisfaction, perhaps my fault. Despite that I loved the speaker and system.
You are probably experiencing wifi-interference. I have the platin hub far from the router - but having even a Bluesound Node 2 close to the Platin Hub - can also cause radio interference. You may want to play around with the channel settings in your wifi router. Regarding the master tunings, I've struggled with vocals as well - especially female vocals can get a bit sharp/shouty. This is fairly typical of Buchardt speakers which seem to have a peak around 3000 khz. You can avoid this peak by using one of the "Theoretical" master tunings. Since I've started using Theoretical Allround - I have finally become fully happy with the A500.
Hi Darko, thanks for all the reviews. Always interesting and very informative and I learn a lot from your content. I wonder why you never reviewed the Devialet phantom 1 as you are an advocate for active speakers. I have a Naim muso 2 and I love it. Im about to upgrade to a 2 speaker setup and I really like to see how phantom 1 stacks up against the LS60's as these two are on my wish list. I would really like to hear your thoughts on the phantom 1 one day. please keep up the great work. Thanks,
I was hoping you would pay more attention to its cardioid dispersion mode, particularly in terms of placing speakers in inadequate hifi rooms. That feature alone would make me buy the speakers. Unfortunately (except for in your case), I have yet to see a living room that's ideally suited for hifi gear. Hence, there's always a significant problem in low frequency reproduction - bass 'holes', standing waves, too much bass ... Eliminating rear bass waves might completely resolve the problem. Any more info on that?? Very interesting video, by the way 🙂
Hi John great review, does the analogue input improve through the XLR direct connection over the hub connection. Oh will it require a left and right analogue input or does it ping to the other speaker via the hub. Best Regards for the new year 😎👍
Awesome review. Listening to this review I can’t help but wonder how the Polk Legend L600’s compare. The L800s got lots of press but no one ever reviewed the L600. I have both and my buddy has the L600 as fronts.
In all honesty I think I'd still take a Lyngdorf streaming amp and add speakers of choice. You get all the functionality plus full room correction. Ok so for the £6k you'd be a bit limited to speaker choice. We're spoilt for choice these days.
Another excellent and entertaining job, thanks. With regard to a potential alternative 'separates' system (1 box, two speakers) for similar money: Lyngdorf TDAi3400 + your fave speakers Would give you power, streaming, RoomPerfect, voicings, Roon, Airplay etc etc? (You've had the '3400 lurking for ages, mentioned it occasionally, reviewed its smaller brother - waiting for your review per-leaseeeeee)
I own the Lyngdorf tdai 3400, 2 Svs sb 3000 subs and the revel 226be speakers, total cost 17k. Hopefully my setup would sound better but it’s not guaranteed. I’ve heard the kef ls60s with 2 kef subs with Dirac applied through a minidsp shd it it was ever bit as good as my system for substantially less.
@@matthewfrazee3352 Interesting, thanks. I was proposing a system in response to John's 6k, 3 box 'challenge'. Your system is clearly in another league, plus the LS60, 2 KEF subs + a Dirac processor in is the 10k range? (But really what I'm asking for is a '3400 review 😀)
@@stonemanty I doubt he reviews something that came out in 2018. I tried the lower lyngdorf before purchasing the 3400. It was very similar in functionality but lacked the power to drive my speakers to sufficient volumes. The room correction was superb though. I thought I could use my old amp and use the lyngdorf 2400 as a pre amp but you then lose subwoofer integration because the subwoofer outs also function as the pre outs. I do prefer roomperfect to Dirac for its ease of use though.
@@matthewfrazee3352 Fair point re 2018 If you still have the '2400, have you tried it as the bass channel amp from the '3400? I actually use a '2200 for my bass channel (into W210 corner bass speakers), I send a digital out from the '3400 and use the digital crossover/slopes, distance delay etc etc and it's a full 4 channel RP sweep. My mate does the same but he uses some AE subs - but he bypassed the internal amps
Only halfway through and yet again coming to the conclusion that there aren't many (any?) who can explain what something sounds like better than John! Dacs, amps, all-in-ones...darko's your guy! 🙂 Still, health comes first, so John, please take care!! 🙏
I really enjoy your videos as you cover things I'm interested in, have a balanced perspective and dive into some details. I'm a little confused by this video even though I find it super interesting. You just made dynaudio focus 30s your favourite product of the year but within a week and still in 2022 you seem to suggest you prefer a700. Is that your new favourite?
That could be because the criteria for the favorite product of the year includes that it has to be something that was released during 2022 - I believe the A700's were released prior to 2022. If nothing else, it strengthens the review of the A700's; John's favorite product of the year is the Focus 30's, but he still likes the A700's better compared head to head.
I tried the room calibration using my iPhone 11. It also did not work!! It also kept showing that I had very little bass, where I know I have way too much. I’m experienced at using REW and Dirac.
Great review. Been waiting a while for the A700 review, but I already have them. I agree with everything you said. Well except for the looks. I actually like the understated looks as that is the Danish styling of clean, less clutter. I like being able to take the bottom two covers off to have a different look, something the Kef can’t really do. Can choose to cover or uncover the tweeter or mid drivers for slightly diff sound. I have tried many speakers that are 3 or 10 times the price connected to very nice components, after receiving my A700 due to the 45 day return policy. But I could not return them as no other speaker could match it. To me it has true full dynamic range. Even for music that tends to have less bass like 60s and 70s, orchestral. They are very impactful, and can cater to both bass heads or treble heads. I don’t think it can match treble sparkle like bowers and Wilkins, but I find those are very ear piercing and I personally don’t want to hear a firecracker sound if there is dust on a record. A700 treble is a fine mist that goes everywhere. I like being able to walk around and the full range, especially the treble, is still there. I also tested with a tube preamp, a super cheap one from Amazon, and the A700 still gave that lush tube sound. I live in a condo, and one day got a small paper under the door that said someone between floors 2 to 8 has been playing music too loud at night. Oops! I now use a master tuning that cuts bass at 60hz but yet the sound still seems full. I also compared against Totem Element Fire V2 with components, which I think costs same or more than A700, but the totems did not give full sound even though on paper they went lower than my A700 due to my 60hz master tuning. It wasn’t even close. Mind you, the totems did have great treble but I found they accentuated it way too much where it interrupted my listening. For example, in Neil Young’s Harvest Moon, there is an acoustic harmonic sound. On totems it is so loud and upfront that it seems out of place with the rest of the music. But with A700 it’s balanced. I sold the Totems
I have the A500SE and to me they're the ideal minimalistic audio system. No speaker/audio cables, just two speakers and a plastic box and (when you're only streaming) you're good to go. In small or mid-size rooms the A500SE is far enough for my needs.
a) With the three EQ settings in the Buchardt app I can quickly season the sound to taste.
b) I can take these with me on vacation in cottages in Scotland and easily adapt them to the new room's acoustics: play pink noise from spotify, launch an RTA app on my phone, identify the room's bass resonances, apply a filter in the buchardt app (also runs on Android) and I'm done with setup.
c) Yes, you could achieve similar things with a $2k+ speaker pair, a $2k+ streaming amp, lots of cables and a 1k+ subwoofer. But what an inconvenience to handle and place all that.
-> To me the active Buchards are easy, very deep bass, versatile and good value.
yay finally! thank you! personally love the look of the A700's above the other two.
When he said, I'll compare them with Kef and Dynaudio I hit the like button immediately 👍
Like all Hi Fi it depends what equipment is partnered with & what music individuals listen too & in what environment 🙂
Appreciate your Total Recall of these speakers. Also glad to hear that Buchardt allows you to audition the speakers for longer than two weeks!
As a Sonos user I suspect that the sound of any of these three would blow my mind.
Cheers for all of the great content you have provided in 2022 - you've certainly given me a lot to think about this year!
Fun fact:
Both Dynaudio and Buchardt comes from the same town of Skanderborg, near Aarhus in Denmark.
I believe Mads from Buchardt used to work at Dynaudio.
What I liked about this video and most of your videos to be honest, is that you start off by defining what it is you will be reviewing, then telling us the price and how you will be reviewing them. Many other RUclips reviewers don't do that. Some even go through a whole review and forget to tell us how much it costs! Thanks for being respectful of your viewers' time!
Thanks John. I have been waiting for this video. Have a happy and healthy new year!
Owned these for a couple years now. It’s been quite a journey as the ecosystem matured and the Platin Hub settled.
Lots of other owners with stories about connectivity issues from the Hub… but anecdotally I have to say my setup has been pretty solid. Especially on latest software.
What I can say is that I generally agree with the sentiment of John’s review. I didn’t want the hassle of building a separates system. I trust and believe in the value of expertise when it comes to matching components, making measurements, listening and writing DSP code. The end product has been a great sounding, encapsulated active system with tons of tweak-ability adding longevity when I’m in the mood to tinker with the sound.
Hopefully one day there will be a more robust replacement for the Platin, also offering room correction, and then you’ll have a truly best-in-class system (Tidal Connect please). But even with the janky Hub, there’s not much out there that compares.
The Primare SC15 Prisma MK2 now can now do what the Platin does including the room correction in a much more refined package. Although, for me it’s still lacking the HDMI input, Tidal Connect, and pending Roon readiness.
I own a pair of the S400 MKII's in white and they are sublime. During a music session not long ago in a friend's listening room, I brought the S400's over to compare. His setup was a pair of dynaudio confidence C1's. The soundstage, midrange and vocal depth and clarity of the S400's were in another galaxy. I couldn't be happier. Another friend who attended promptly bought a pair of S400's. My point is that I could and likely will own a pair of these A700's. Great review. Thanks
Great review, John. Thank you for that. I have a pair of A700's since October 2021 and my biggest gripe I have with them is the mastertunings being on a separate USB-stick and not manageable through the app. It's fine when you want to listen to a certain kind of music for an evening or so, but changing music styles could mean you're switching mastertunings after each song and that's a problem the way it's designed now.
Furthermore I think the hub is a pain in the ... It can be improved in many ways, something Buchardt is working on. They have their own pre-amp/streamer in the pipeline and I can't wait for it. According to them the sound will noticeably improve and it will include Tidel Connect and Room Correction.
All in all great speakers that give my lots of joy. And it doesn't stop here: there's more to come. :-)
Glad to hear that. The technology is already there. It can be refined.
I have to say I absolutely love the Buchardt design language and definitely prefer how they look vs the Kef or Dynaudio (which I’m really not keen on). Of course completely subjective.
John, you are getting better and better at this. You've climbed the ladder to the top. Take care, and the best 2023 to you. Cheers!
Thank you for the video, John. You communicate difficult matters concerning such difficult subjects as "taste" in listening in a great way with appropriate respect for those differences in opinion.
Those tunings should be all be able to be stored in the speakers and selectable in the app.
Nice to hear Bedrock mentioned here. I used to be resident DJ at the club in London back in the early '00s :) Jimmy remains one of my fave DJs of all time. His Balance CD is actually sat on my desk right now. Wish I could listen to it on those KEFs!
Never wrote a comment here but wanted to say I LOVE to know what speakers better portray which instruments. PLEASE to more of this ❤
Please please pleaseeee review the Buchardt A10!
I love how you transform into a lover from what you're reviewing and focus on the strength of what you like of that product. Is like hearing a friend telling me about his new speakers he had bought last week with a little comparison with the previous one, and talking about electronic music no body else does.
Thanks for it and for your time Darko.
The review we've all been waiting for! Take a bow, Darko!
As an owner of the KEF LS50s, I don't think I'd go back to single setups now.
Buchardt offering user replaceable parts is a win
From the perspective of hifi as furniture, it would be nice if there was a choice between tall/skinny and short/wide floor standers. The short/wide format (like a JBL L100 or Klipsch Heresy) is great because it is usually around the same height as a console (low board as you say) and maintains a nice visual line from a design perspective. They are usually angled up so the tweeters point at your ears. I wish KEF, Buchardt or JBL would make an active streaming loudspeaker in the short boxy floor stander format to compliment the tower and stand mount options. Seriously though, an active, streaming L100 or Heresy would seriously kick ass.
I wonder how I missed this review for 8 months. This speaker I guess will be my end game. I have only one wish and that is they add a small memory, retain the master-tuning once loaded into the memory, and add a toggle button to switch through the saved profiles. I can then choose the tuning depending on my mood and the music I am listening to.
I read a company brochure on these - it read like an info sheet from Bose in the late 1960's.... fun stuff. ( I'm 73 )
Wishing you a Happy , Healty New Year . Thanks for all the advice .
“The greatest album of all time.” 20:56 Thanks for that. Made me laugh out loud but there was a time in my life when I would have agreed wholeheartedly! Still, I revisited this album on my new A500s and was blown away by how good it sounds. Which is really why I am commenting. I became too impatient waiting for your A700 review and ordered the A500s on the strength of your enthusiasm in your earlier review. My love of listening to whole albums start to finish has been reborn and I could not be happier. And just when I thought you might give me buyers remorse you make the controversial but true statement regarding how important looks are. The A500s look a perfect match in our room whereas I believe I would have been self conscious regards the dominating look the A700s. Thank you so much for the work you put out, it is a real service.
I really have fun listening to your reviews. Good job!
Enjoyable and informative! Great episode. Makes one think about one box solutions differently. Thanks!
I’ve been lukewarm on Buchardt but this speaker speaks to me.
Omg maybe the very first A700 review and that too by Darko. Hope Mads makes it easy to load master tunings from the app itself. And store it in the internal memory for quick toggle or for AB testing.
Sean covered the A500 a while back.
Some advice from 1 year A500 owner: if you have a flat or listing room without heigh ceilings, consider A500 first, as A700 is overkill if you’re limited on cubic meters. Secondly about the Platin hub: I use it for master tuning, room correction (via iPhone SE2) and digital in from TV. All the rest goes via Hifirose RS150B which gives a better sound quality.
No overkill with the A700 and room correction - promised 😉
I had the A500s for the trial period. The bass on these are hilariously good. I guess the A700 would have more punch and impact….but IMO, the A500 would be absolutely perfect for 90% of people.
Nice review 👏 when i changed my very good but big and run hot amplifiers Krell mono 450 to the Devialet that looks like a MacBook and sound amazing was a game changer and its nice to see that things keep moving foreword making possible to listen music with quality with less equipments and more cheap
Finally, my dreamt speakers on Darko channel...
Now I just need a bigger living room :)
John, I think I agree with you on pretty much most of the major points that you made. I am going to have to differ in reference to the ADC quality on the hub. I found initially when using the analog input on the hub that I wasn't getting what I needed out of my vinyl setup. On a whim, I utilized the ADC on my RME, and am now missing that device in my studio Setup. The difference is undeniable. The ADC in the platin hub is...meh.
mclusky = good call, John. What a great band; both live & on vinyl/cd. Have a happy & healthy New Year - best wishes from Japan, (orig. Scotland), G.
John Darko, you are one of my favorites, great humor and info. Carry on Bro. RevG
Great year John! Fantastic content. Looking forward to next year in what ever shape and form this channel will be in! Hope you get a great new year celebration!
The editing and music choice for the video is just....chef's kiss.
Thank you Mr. Darko. Very entertaining and informative. And a great tease at the end. I am on pins and needles for the next video. See you in 2023.
Actives are the future. You will never match amplification as well as the manufacturer can. For those who want to tweak often by swapping out gear and such, not for you. I'm at the point in my journey (40 years) where I want the best possible audio with the minimum matching of gear, wires, etc. I have had a big interest in actives and they are in my future.
You have a point. OTOH I like what my Naim amp does with music..
Actives with built in software will always become obsolete. I like dumb powered speakers because I want to choose my own streamer. 6g's is far too expensive for a system like this to ever be the future.
I would never swap my mark levinson amp and audio research power and pre
At the price point. Did Mads short the amp budget? You'll never know. It's a tradeoff.
@@TheLWebb100 you are missing the point for the A700z The streaming sits within the hub. You can use any wisa streamer and also xlr. Actives are used for many years in pro studios… it’s only now finally trickling down to home use.
"If you think you can build all of that...for 6K, yourself...all the best to you!" HAHAHAHAHA!!
Thank you so much for your beautiful video reviews (combining all the important info with humor), it's always a pleasure to watch.
Warmest wishes for a healthy, care-free, happy new year with a lot of music!!
Looking forward to one day owning the A500! Thanks for all the work on this channel. Happy new year 🎉🎉
This was really informative with both your comparisons and the music you listened to for your take on sonic differences. The A700s have addressed all my concerns about potential for "obsolescence" of active speakers given the replaceable amplifiers and the fantastic range of DSP tweaks. If they can get room correction to function successfully, this will be hard to beat. McClusky! Yes! Discovered them several years ago, I forget how I stumbled upon them, but I agree that they are fun. Best wishes for the new year and, as always, thank you ever so much for posting!
And we bloody love you John. Happy new year.
Well, I think I do pretty well with the Kef LS60. Surely I also would have been satisfied with Buchard A700. Anyway listening to Anna Meredith is a joy with these amplified speakers.
Hi John - from memory you also received a Primare SC15 with your A700s. Any reason you didn’t include it in this review? How does it compare to the Platin Hub?
Well Buchardts master tunings could be compared to fujifilm digital camera film simulation modes. I mean I like that manufacturer gives you some controlled way of adjusting the final result a little bit more to your own taste or requirement of certain situation. Also Lyngdorf amplifiers have something similar and really intrigued by that.
Yes, finally here!
6k for a really good full range active floor standing speaker is a steel of deal. I have not heard them so can't say on how they sound, but actives are the future no doubt.
You didn't give enough comparison with the ls60 and concentrated on the Dynaudio.
Thanks for a great review of these three speaker systems. I always love to hear your reviews as I really respect you opinion! Thanks again!
THANKS JOHN, FOR THE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS 🤗and your music 🎶 recommendations 😎
And I noticed that many audiophiles love ❤️ Lava lamps 😁💚💚💚
Woa… Mcklusky… damnit John, this is amazing. Thanks for the reco! 🤯
to hell with good intensions was in an earlier episode
Maybe I missed it in the video but I don’t recall what John said about how the A700s compare to the Kef in terms of bass (power and precision). The LS60s have more watt power and a push pull design like the KC62, how does it compare to the multiple drivers from A700s ?
I listened to the LS60s in a shop, not in the best conditions, and I have A500s at home. I was actually underwhelmed by the Kefs, but it might have been because of listening conditions (noisy environment and speakers didn’t have room to breathe..).
Do you expect to review the Dutch and Dutch 8c next year, I recall you tried before but it never quite came together. There are similarities between them and the 3 speakers compared here, although they are not floorstanders of course.
Agree. I would love to hear more about the D&D 8c
Great video as always John.
This active vs passive systems seems to be the way forward, I recently added LS50 Metas, KC62 Sub & Rotel RA-1572 to my small listening area and stayed away from the active LS50’s for the reasons you mentioned (perceived tweak ability) I really think the LS60’s may be a better choice in my limited space (I love their design).
Thank you for all the information you bring to the table to help ? With these choices.
All the best from the west of Canada.
Very cool. Love your approach a dissection 🤘🏼💪🏼
Wow. Best show ever!
Happy New Year!
For me one of biggest things is you will be able to upgrade parts in the future with out sending the speakers into Buchardt.
Shout out for McLusky - one of the best records you've never heard of. Everyone should own it!
Yes, John: informable and enjoyable. Thank you. 👍
There's actually a plus having the streamer tucked away somewhere in that you don't have the cable vomit coming out of your speakers anymore.
holy SHIT does do dallas *slap*
by far your best recommendation to date, impeccable taste as per usual
Thanks for sending me down a delightful Cody High rabbit hole!
Omg i need these . Thank you for a great review!
Making videos about audio is kind of like dancing about architecture, but you make it work.
Joan is that you?😉
Too bad that you don't have a friend with another iphone... I think that the room correction is one of the most interesting feature of this speaker...one thing for sure, Buckardt should include a mic (that can be plugged in iphone for exemple). Onkyo do it with a 1000$ receiver and it work perfectly for everybody!
Me 💘 Sprinkles N Sparkle
Though 😆 Thanks John Having an all in one HiFi system can be less streesful vs 'Equipment matching' Espically for Someone new into Audio ..
You also made a great point about Factory Direct Bang 4 the Buck -
Thanks John !!!
Thank you John I like your rambling about HIFi gear Happy New Year.
Thanks, great that you compare alternatives, it's informative
John... Watch every vid you release. Would love to see a review from you on the IFI Neo Streamer.
Once I get back to work from vacation at the first of the year you will have a new Patreon.
I love the idea of master tunings. One thing that really gets my panties in a bunch is looking at my tone controls set at +6dB and treble at -3dB or whatever(!). It bugs me that I can’t get a speaker that sounds right out of the box and I really get exhausted from trying to. The beauty of this sort of system is that I don’t have to see the adjustments I’ve made - out of sight, out of mind/Ignorance is bliss/(insert cliche here). Add Fletcher and Munson and room correction for near infinite tweaking. How could you possibly return these in “good faith”? The only reason I could foresee is product failure. Mads has a winner here and it’s failsafe as well. Kudos.
Great, thorough review (again), John.
Hi John & Olaf. Found Your Channel a few months ago . Your reviews are really well done, engaging and interesting even to a non audiophile ( whatever an audiophile is? ) like myself . I use a MacBook with a Mojo 2 and a 1/2 decent pair of IEM's , works for me! This month , Dec 22 I released some music ,3 tracks , which is on pretty much all the platforms ( artist = REG MEX) I have no idea what they sound like on high end, or for that matter any end hifi . If you have a couple of minutes have a listen. Anyway ,Thanks for all your work and the entertainment in 22. I 'll continue to tune in to your videos rather like I would any TV show in 23 which really points to the quality of your output .
Most music lovers will have both speakers and headphones. Speakers do what is known as crossfeed where the left ear hears a bit of what the right speaker is doing, and vice versa for right ear. It helps present a soundstage in front of you and is more natural sounding. When in a concert or even people talking to you in person, there is always crossfeed. Headphones and iem don’t create this unless the mix builds in sounds that go into one ear more and leak a little into the other ear
The Master Tunings sound similar to the preset Voicings on my Lyngdorf TDAI-1120 integrate amp that John reviewed. While the Lyngdorf's Room Perfect is great for room correction, with the Voicings I can choose a preset for different sources (TV, radio, Tidal) or compensate for recording quality. Plus, I can adjust a Voicing by .1db increments at any frequency for even more fine tuning. OK, John, I guess I'm a tweaker. But I agree how the Buchardts tuning flexibility can be a really great advantage. Interesting that both these brands are from Denmark.
Thanks for the review. In my experience connecting a preamp to the xlr input might alter the sound but it will never improve it. The ADC will eventually be the limiting factor on the signal. I have been using the Schiit Freya+ and another preamp with the Buchardts. All I've gained by upgradring the different components in the chain is a sound which is closer to the Platin Hub. First I upgraded the chinese preamp to the Freya+, then the DAC in the Bluesound Node 2 N130 to the Ares II and lastly some cheap XLR cables to better OCC-cables.
The tube "magic" seem to get stripped away by the ADC on the Buchardts. When I connect the Freya+ to my active B&O Beolab 20's the change in sound is much more apparent and I can hear the tube overtones. I assume this is because the Beolabs being older speakers, do not have an ADC.
If you have time, try to compare the Platin Hub to the Edge NQ and you will realize that even though you may hear a difference between different preamps - you will likely not hear much difference if the Edge NQ is as good as I assume it is....
I suppose us Android users could buy an old iPhone just for calibration purposes (and it sounds like it would perform better than the latest iPhones) - it would be interesting to find out which iPhone model/year has the best microphone).
Happy New Year Darko !
Another great review. Thanks for sharing.
All-in-one speakers provide many benefits, like sound ratios to price, and if your only stream your music, it may be an easy choice. If you hook up a preamp and a turntable, along with a cd player, you will end up with the same amount of clutter minus one or two boxes. If you already have some gear that you like, I think you keep tweaking and learn to hide the clutter.
Another great review thank you. Whilst I like the idea of Master Tunings they seem destined to be under-utilised. My experience with this sort of tuning concept is with the MSB DAC filters that can be selected to change the ‘tuning’ or sound flavour of the DAC. I tried a few different ones and always went back to the MSB ‘house’ filter. I couldn’t really discern any meaningful difference so just went back to trusting that MSB had the best one out of the box!
I purchased the A500 on your recommendation. When they worked, they were great - amazing woofer range. However I eventually got my money back after returning after various software problems. I felt like a beta tester for their software. From others I have spoken too, I am not the only one.
It’s stable now with the newest software.
After using the Buchardt A500 and the hub I found 1) home networks can be unreliable with this technology at the moment and it won’t connect sometimes, only solution i found that worked was to disconnect all devices on the network and recycle the router connecting the hub and speakers early on before other devices, not really within Buchardt’s control I think 2) I was not able to use the master tunings to get vocals to my satisfaction, perhaps my fault. Despite that I loved the speaker and system.
You might try to go into your router settings and give your hub priority. It can help when you have a lot of devices on your wifi all at once.
You are probably experiencing wifi-interference. I have the platin hub far from the router - but having even a Bluesound Node 2 close to the Platin Hub - can also cause radio interference. You may want to play around with the channel settings in your wifi router.
Regarding the master tunings, I've struggled with vocals as well - especially female vocals can get a bit sharp/shouty. This is fairly typical of Buchardt speakers which seem to have a peak around 3000 khz. You can avoid this peak by using one of the "Theoretical" master tunings. Since I've started using Theoretical Allround - I have finally become fully happy with the A500.
Hi Darko, thanks for all the reviews. Always interesting and very informative and I learn a lot from your content. I wonder why you never reviewed the Devialet phantom 1 as you are an advocate for active speakers. I have a Naim muso 2 and I love it. Im about to upgrade to a 2 speaker setup and I really like to see how phantom 1 stacks up against the LS60's as these two are on my wish list. I would really like to hear your thoughts on the phantom 1 one day. please keep up the great work.
Thanks,
I'd like to hear that too.
Are you planning to review the source point 10?
Love it John, thank you sincerely for an incredible year of content mate.
I was hoping you would pay more attention to its cardioid dispersion mode, particularly in terms of placing speakers in inadequate hifi rooms. That feature alone would make me buy the speakers.
Unfortunately (except for in your case), I have yet to see a living room that's ideally suited for hifi gear. Hence, there's always a significant problem in low frequency reproduction - bass 'holes', standing waves, too much bass ... Eliminating rear bass waves might completely resolve the problem.
Any more info on that??
Very interesting video, by the way 🙂
Hi John great review, does the analogue input improve through the XLR direct connection over the hub connection. Oh will it require a left and right analogue input or does it ping to the other speaker via the hub. Best Regards for the new year 😎👍
Awesome review.
Listening to this review I can’t help but wonder how the Polk Legend L600’s compare.
The L800s got lots of press but no one ever reviewed the L600. I have both and my buddy has the L600 as fronts.
In all honesty I think I'd still take a Lyngdorf streaming amp and add speakers of choice.
You get all the functionality plus full room correction. Ok so for the £6k you'd be a bit limited to speaker choice.
We're spoilt for choice these days.
Or the NAD M10. I’ve got that plus the Polk R600s. Would be lots of fun to compare them in my room
nice to have these videos even when out of my budget. Walk a lot, eat only what you barely need and listen to podcasts or music meanwhile.
Another excellent and entertaining job, thanks.
With regard to a potential alternative 'separates' system (1 box, two speakers) for similar money: Lyngdorf TDAi3400 + your fave speakers
Would give you power, streaming, RoomPerfect, voicings, Roon, Airplay etc etc?
(You've had the '3400 lurking for ages, mentioned it occasionally, reviewed its smaller brother - waiting for your review per-leaseeeeee)
I own the Lyngdorf tdai 3400, 2 Svs sb 3000 subs and the revel 226be speakers, total cost 17k. Hopefully my setup would sound better but it’s not guaranteed. I’ve heard the kef ls60s with 2 kef subs with Dirac applied through a minidsp shd it it was ever bit as good as my system for substantially less.
Exactly my thought. I went NAD M33 and Buchardt S400mk2 and it is an amazing level of ‘tweakability’
@@matthewfrazee3352
Interesting, thanks.
I was proposing a system in response to John's 6k, 3 box 'challenge'.
Your system is clearly in another league, plus the LS60, 2 KEF subs + a Dirac processor in is the 10k range?
(But really what I'm asking for is a '3400 review 😀)
@@stonemanty I doubt he reviews something that came out in 2018. I tried the lower lyngdorf before purchasing the 3400. It was very similar in functionality but lacked the power to drive my speakers to sufficient volumes. The room correction was superb though. I thought I could use my old amp and use the lyngdorf 2400 as a pre amp but you then lose subwoofer integration because the subwoofer outs also function as the pre outs. I do prefer roomperfect to Dirac for its ease of use though.
@@matthewfrazee3352
Fair point re 2018
If you still have the '2400, have you tried it as the bass channel amp from the '3400?
I actually use a '2200 for my bass channel (into W210 corner bass speakers), I send a digital out from the '3400 and use the digital crossover/slopes, distance delay etc etc and it's a full 4 channel RP sweep. My mate does the same but he uses some AE subs - but he bypassed the internal amps
Only halfway through and yet again coming to the conclusion that there aren't many (any?) who can explain what something sounds like better than John! Dacs, amps, all-in-ones...darko's your guy! 🙂 Still, health comes first, so John, please take care!! 🙏
Darko Audio Thanks Much !
I really enjoy your videos as you cover things I'm interested in, have a balanced perspective and dive into some details. I'm a little confused by this video even though I find it super interesting. You just made dynaudio focus 30s your favourite product of the year but within a week and still in 2022 you seem to suggest you prefer a700. Is that your new favourite?
That could be because the criteria for the favorite product of the year includes that it has to be something that was released during 2022 - I believe the A700's were released prior to 2022. If nothing else, it strengthens the review of the A700's; John's favorite product of the year is the Focus 30's, but he still likes the A700's better compared head to head.
I tried the room calibration using my iPhone 11. It also did not work!!
It also kept showing that I had very little bass, where I know I have way too much. I’m experienced at using REW and Dirac.
In term of imaging and impulse response which is the best ? Buchardt or KEF ?
Hey Darko Audio - awesome video. Are you planning to review the EdgeNQ?
The Buchardt's physicality sounds ideal for us headphone audiophiles that miss that (we can always turn to headphones when macro-dynamics is needed).