Hi guys, this is HIFI Daydreaming, and let's daydream together on my journey to listen to as much HIFI gear and goodies as I can and share my thoughts with you guys.
It is incredible to me how a company, which is young, and I am saying young in HIFI terms, is able to produce such ripples and waves in the audiophile scene. I personally have a soft spot for this company as one of my first speakers was theirs. You can even check one of my first reviews; I think my second ever on this channel was for their Q Acoustics 3020i speakers, which are really great budget speakers for their price.
But now Q Acoustics has a new 5 lineup with 10, 20, 40, and 50.
This is a sort of middle child of the lineup, which is always my favorite in HIFI terms. But this is a sonic step up from the 3000 series and is supposed to be a notch lower than their concept series of speakers.
And I think all this should be taken into consideration. How do these speakers perform compared to those and others in this price level?
Design and Features
First, let's get rudimentary stuff out of the way. I don’t like the new design. I honestly prefer a more minimalistic approach, like the 3000 series and kind of their propositions as well. It's not that they are ugly; it is only that they feel too bland to me and lack a bit of character.
One thing that has returned from the 3000 series is the P2P bracing, making the new enclosures exceptionally rigid, improving the focus of the stereo image and giving the soundstage more accuracy than ever before. We will touch on that later.
And there's something new called C3 Continuous Curved Cone™. By creating a single, smooth, continuous curve profile, the advantages are clear. Its excellent dispersion, alongside its well-controlled frequency response and reduced harmonic distortion, enables smoother integration with the tweeter. Deep bass dynamics are also superior, with this and tighter, damped low-end sound allowing more flexibility in the placement of speakers near the wall boundaries of the listening room. We will also talk about this later, as it is important that sometimes the marketing spiel does not coincide with reality.
To me, an always interesting aspect of Q Acoustic bookshelves is that they are exceptionally deep, so you always have to worry about matching stands for them. They are much deeper than far bigger speakers in their range. This, in my opinion, while uncomfortable at first, does bring great results with bass. I spoke at length about how 3030i has great, astonishing bass.
Sound Quality
So a lot of the formula from the 3000 series is back, but do I like these speakers as much as I loved my brown walnut 3020 and 3030i?
Well, the answer is yes... and no at some points.
And that is such a cheap answer, I know. But this is a higher class than the 3000 series, and as such, it should be taken with bigger considerations. Plus, the sonic character has been changed. I strongly believe that Q Acoustics looked at Bowers and Wilkins' winning formula and said to themselves... well, I want that.
The sound is less balanced and warm, more expressive, upped, and detailed. That is something it right away blows at you. How much more these speakers are able to resolve details in midrange and treble.
They are amazing in that regard. They are lively and punchy, and those hi-hats and cymbals are in your room, firmly dictating that tempo and making a very live feeling to your songs. That is all done because these speakers are able to separate instruments with great precision, and with that clarity, there is also great timing to instruments.
Separation helps with the layering of multi-instrumentation, as placement of instruments and vocals have their firm place in the soundstage. In width and height, you need to feel and hear every instrument clearly. And it does a great job of placing them on the soundstage and giving them details and texture.
And truly there are plenty of details here, as that helps instruments be more rounded with shape and presence. It creates that what we call upped treble or rolled off treble, as it just gives a more forward presentation, and off the scale in dynamic range, they are able to extract information more. Therefore, the rhythm section is entrancing and charming. I really love that in every type of similar speaker. It just makes listening to music a fun experience, even though limited in its longevity. But really nice. Soundstage is also good, but maybe it does not throw the widest dispersion in this price range.
Also, I cannot end this segment without giving props to the bass reproduction. It is not that it is the widest experience, but it is full, rich bass. This complements the sound of Q Acoustics really well. It gives it a great foundation, and it is a really detailed experience, therefore making it commanding. You know that pulse that feels like it is full of rush and presence, yeah, these speakers push out that bass like that. And it is good, it will not overthrow your tower speakers or subwoofers, but it is a great addition to these bookshelf speakers.
Placement of these speakers was without hassle. If you follow just some typical HIFI rules of placing these speakers in the room, I think there should not be any big problems. This speaker will not muddy the sound if there is not too much room to breathe. Of course, treatment of the room is always great for crispness and cleanliness of sound. But these speakers are good with playing with your room, whatever it is and however it is treated.
Real Life Examples - Listening Experience
One album that blew me away while listening with these speakers is something maybe not too audiophile friendly, and especially not something you will ever see a comparison of besides here. And that is Negura Bunget Om.
Negura Bunget is a black metal band, and to add more flavor to it, it is a progressive black metal band infused with Romanian folk. Now, metal in general is not that much good with audiophile gear, as production can a lot of the time feel stale. But as I said earlier, there is a lot of folk instrumentation here, and it is played in various ways, with a lot of electronic details and percussions added. Those instruments are played live, so they have real weight to them. But they are also very real, with deep textures to them. These speakers helped me distinguish them really well, as what is it metal, is it wood, are it strings… But also in this complex, multilayered instrumentation, it created lanes and space for every instrument. And not just doing so, but also making them more present and upfront to me. So those almighty percussions are driving me so much to just listen to them entranced. And the power of these speakers comes to mind right away. They are incredibly live and upbeat speakers that enhance your treble in these amazing hooks, rhythms, and tensions. But it also shows a bit of its ugly face with how it resolves distortion. It sometimes can become fatiguing and bright too much.
If that might be too abrasive for you, why not go and listen to some classics? Like new Abbey Road half-speed masters of Dire Straits, especially Love Over Gold. My favorite record of theirs and this new remaster is miles better than the 1996/1997 one. I think the magnum opus is Telegraph Road, which is a great way to test all the speakers, as it has slow parts, fast parts, complex parts, acoustics, silence, etc. The reason I went for this is because it is mixed generally bright. And it exposes bright speakers. And it was a fine experience here, a bit used up, but nothing too dramatic. It controlled those unshaved highs really well. You think the reason for that is drums and guitars are quite clinical, and very clean. So therefore they pierce through the dynamic range, and through these speakers, you feel their presence and their body. A bit bright still and with some grain and attack, but yet it did provide a clean experience with well-separated and defined mids. Only it kind of lacked a bit more texture, and sort of how can I say this, audiophile magic, for it to truly expand like some other speakers.
Problems with Imaging and Synergy
You must ask yourself, why have I not touched at all on how this speaker reproduces vocals? As I have to list now the problems I have with these speakers. As like every speaker, these are not perfect, they might be for some very specific listeners who cherish upped treble over everything. And there are a few issues I have with these speakers.
First off is imaging, no matter what amp I paired this with. And I paired this with Denon, Music Fidelity, Arcam, and Cambridge Audio. I was never fully satisfied with the imaging; the focus of the speakers is always a bit loose. There is never a firm presence of the vocalist in the center of my room. And vocals are generally clean, but somewhat there was never a full presence that I wanted. I cannot fault the separation, as I could easily pick up the singers with ease, but it felt a little lacking in the shape and size of vocals to fully immerse me. They were not bad, it is just some different speakers in this price range give me more pleasure with timbre and decay and presence of vocalists. And color of tonality, I kind of prefer it in some other speakers to this one, just it lacked that a bit more finesse and elegance.
Secondly is synergy. These speakers can go bright really fast, really soon. As with every speaker that is treble-rich, brightness can be an issue, especially if they are not broken in enough. It can be a problem for longer listening sessions, especially with a wrong gear.
For example, if you have at your home Rega, or Cambridge Audio, result is going to be punchy and live, but hell of a bright. You need something to tame them, some Denons, some Arcams, some warmer amps, otherwise this goes too wild.
It took me some time to fully acclimate this speakers, that I can listen to them on longer period of time. And I almost did not like them, until I found them a good match, and realized how good they are, but need really care in partnering equipment. None of this are deal brakers, but could be a deciding factor if you are weigh between different speakers.
And how is you affinity towards one sonic characteristics and others.
What you weigh is most important to you. And as such I think I should compare this with some interesting alternatives to this speaker just to paint even fuller picture oof this speakers.
Bowers and Wilkins 607 S3
Bowers and Wilkins 607 s3 are constantly falling to my attention while listening to this speakers. They are very detailed oriented speakers, with great extension of details and resolving power. Bowers are even more bright, as they resolve more details in treble and mids to Q Acoustics. Does that makes them better speakers? No. As Q Acoustics are far more easier to listen, and have far more better bass. There is something about, and let me put this in quotes “balanced” sound of Q acoustics compared to Bowers as it makes it for more pleasured and longer experience of listening music.
Soundstage depth and width Is similar, Treble is more rich in Bowers, including a tad bit more separation… etc. but if I could choose maybe I would go with Q Acoustics, even thou it is all preference and depending for what I listen. But I would also not mind Bowers and Wilkins in this comparison as it could get even more fun than Q acoustics
Monitor Audio Silver 50
Monitor Audio Silver 50 is a alternative to Q Acoustics in sense that it does also provide this upped experience. But in more balanced manner. But in a lot of senses it does everything that Q Acoustics do, maybe a notch less on bass and treble details. But if you love what you heard in this review so far, and want more balanced approach this might be for you.
And what thing more they used to cost similarly, but now I can find Monitor Audio Silver 50 on discounts in a lot of places so it could be best value out of this two.
But if I could choose I would go with Q acoustics. Maybe a great point is that they are more easier to pair than Q acoustics.
Dali Oberon 3
Now lets go to Oberon which are sort of benchmark in this price point. I personally like little bit more Oberons, but for reasons it might not appeal to everyone. Q Acoustics are more detailed, and some might say even more fun speakers. But to me Oberons are just more mature audiophile device. They have bigger reach, and far better imaging than Q acoustics.
Even thou that richness in treble, details and textures are better in Q Acoustics. I just liked how Oberon feels more musical, and how vocals are more firmly placed in center of soundstage with more clarity and great color tonality. Bass is great in both drivers, I don’t think anybody would mind nether Q acoustics nor Dali in that sense. But than again some people might prefer more Q Acoustics, and I completely understand that, it is just that I find more pleasure and especially in long listening sessions in Oberon 3.
Conclusion
So here we are at the end of review. This review might send mixed signals, do I like, do I dislike them. Well answer is that I do, I think they are great speakers. But I also think that this speakers should be far more, if they could have more audiophile finesse rather than raw power of resolving. I believe you can like something even it has flaws and problems.
Because we are humans, and we are attracted to things that are exceptional in one area or other, and we are willing in order to experience that, in this price range, to look past some flaws and problems. I don’t like reviews that are flat, going in bad or good territory, as I believe there are many colors in between and many thoughts and tensions,
and it all paints this beautiful audiophile picture.
If you like your speakers to be great resolvers, with a lot of details and textures, with really decent bass you certainly can not go wrong with this one. Just be warry of lack of imaging, length of soundstage and bad pairings, as it can create really bad synergy which is going to sound really bright.
Thank you for watching this video, if you like this content please like, subscribe, or if you can donate via Patreon. Keep daydreaming, and see you soon. Bye.
Comments