Gadgetory

one of the reasons why I would consider myself to be a headphone only type of user is because my ears have been graciously spoiled by the fantastics Anheuser HD 800 they are my daily driver for music editing and even gaming with a mod mic attachment and I didn't think that I'd be satisfied with any set of speakers until now what's up guys I'm Dimitri with hurricane axe and these are acclaimed world's best speakers the Fenix essence designed and produced in Switzerland the company is set out to create a harmonic cohesion between speaker design and audio properties so let's first start with the design it's available in a variety of color combinations and the entire exterior is metal with a matte front surface and glossy sides but the speaker form is quite unique in my opinion it is a fairly compact set while also having fairly large four and a half inch coaxial drivers Phoenix prides in delivering such a modern body language for this set while also being totally desk and small space friendly the main housing is elevated with a built in platform to create enough area for the base port to breathe which can also be seen here and this design helps to tremendously improve the base signature this is an active speaker set with a 24-bit 96k Hertz USB and post link DAC inside of it which means all the audio processing happens inside the speaker to guarantee best quality for the digital pass through all the main inputs and outputs are on the right speaker that house you power a mini XLR plug for the left channel with a two meter cable which tells you that the speakers are designed to be you know for smaller spaces not too far away but nobody said anything about jumping whoo anyway the speaker is also equipped with an auxilary input 3.5 millimeter subwoofer and headphone jacks a synchronous USB type B with a cable included then toast link optical input without the cable and finally we have two buttons to switch between input and mode which are color-coordinated beside the volume wheel on the top the light is submerged inside the body a little bit so it's hiding from being distracting and only visible when you intend to look at it nice touch the volume wheel has a precise amount of resistance allowing really fine adjustment the tie in this whole conversation about the fantastic build quality under the hood the essence speaker offers diverse usage scenarios as analog and digital signals work in parallel so if you're running an analog signal it is not converted to digital which is really cool for playback with turntables and stuff to give you your true analog playback you can also have your headphones plugged in and just leave them there and just switch between the inputs via the button in the back without needing to replug all the things and it seems that all the basics have been covered really well that sets the stage for a pleasant working experience with the speakers Auto a set lacks a remote control or a mute function so now let's set them up and I'll try my best to explain the sonic experience and to my surprise the speakers don't have to be too far apart to create fantastic stereo imaging having them a little over one meter apart is enough to create this audio projection that is right in front of you left and right channels beautifully merge to create this cohesive delivery from not just left and right but almost like a center channel you can almost visualize all the audio being right in front of you and not just coming from left and right sources and after that despite the speaker's not being angled towards you and firing into your midsection almost the sound feels to be elevated to be much higher thus eliminating the need to elevate or angle the speaker's to fire into your ears although they should be facing you for best projection so now let me give you a sound sample so you can at least hear the difference between sort of the built-in speakers on the macbook versus the speaker's themselves now as for sound properties I know based on that sound sample it's kind of difficult to tell because it's being recorded with a microphone but these have fantastic clarity throughout the entire range the way they handle volume increase reminds me very much of how the HD 800 headphones handle that extra amplification so you get louder output without any frequency distortions or disruptions the base region is wonderfully deep and controlled without any spill into the mid-range it's not booming in any way and the bass doesn't overpower either it's there when you need it to give power to the the sound to give the body and fullness to the sound but also scales out of the way when unnecessary we have a wonderful processing for vocals acoustic genres come through with such reality the high-end region is well controlled without harshness but with superb clarity so piano and classical were fantastic experiences I also listen to a good chunk of trance EDM and house and the very precise base hits resonated very well in my space that I feel would be totally fine in an even smaller room to create not only drool-worthy imaging but fill the room with enough volume for best clubbing experience but not in a club and I really enjoyed the essence more than the HD 800 s because both of them have fantastic control to the entire frequency range and they have fantastic clarity both of them but the essence speakers have a bit more body to the sound although they are not forgiving when you play some lower quality files the distortions start to occur and the harshness isn't there but the lower frequency stuff especially with bad files but that is to be expected and I've been so impressed by the sound output that I haven't been able to discover any flaws because the sound signature especially coming from my experience with the HD 800 is exactly where I like it with the Phoenix essence but one of the little rubber pads at the bottom fell off and I lost it somewhere and this slightly throws off the balance of one of the speakers and it's a little bit unfortunate because they are adhesive and you know if you don't find the right size for it then the speaker might be a little bit off-balance but I think Phoenix are definitely onto something here with this focus on compact active powerful and clean speakers that would live on a standard desk to deliver an absolutely fantastic listening experience and if you found this design and like what you heard in this review definitely check them out there's a link in the description below I'm Dimitri with Hard Rock Canucks thank you so much for watching let me know what speakers you're using right now to power all your audio needs or the comment down below and we'll see you in the next video you