Gadgetory

with its factory tuning and data center DNA and Intel 730 series SSD is an amazing choice for gamers and performance enthusiasts now the goal for the simple audio listen was to design something that looks gorgeous sounds amazing and work seamlessly a bold goal for a relatively unknown brand the various inputs include USB for PC and Mac that's driverless three-and-a-half millimeter line in and Bluetooth the ID or industrial design is the result of months of collaboration with BMW design works USA it uses premium materials including aluminium if you're european or aluminum if you're Canadian or American high quality polycarbonate and acoustic fabric with tight manufacturing tolerances Packaging is excellent I mean it's obvious that whoever is working over there knows a thing or two about a eco friendly and be very very appealing looking packaging and everything is tucked away quite nicely so the cords are all wrapped up all nicely everything's you know packaged nicely I guess it's not really much else to say about it the listen has a pretty unique capacitive touch interface that is navigated using gestures and by pressing on icons around the corners so power to power it on the volume is controlled by sliding your finger or touching the bar in the middle Bluetooth conductivity is controlled with the Bluetooth button so just press and hold to engage pairing mode and line-in illuminates if it detects a source then brightens it if it's the active input mute functionality is pretty self-explanatory you press that in order to mute it if touching things sounds like too much work we've also got an included IR remote control it won't allow track skipping or pausing and resuming playback if you're using the line-in but when listeners connected via USB to your PC or Mac which doesn't require any drivers by the way the remote can be used to control a variety of music playback programs including iTunes Windows Media Player and media monkey it also works when you're connected via bluetooth now the last thing you want is something that's all show and no go and they absolutely are beautiful they do show but listen borrows many internal design cues from the audiophile world it features two way by amplified which is just a it's just a fancy way of saying that it has two separate drivers each with separate amps to drive them there's a three inch driver with rare earth magnets for the mid and low range and a silk dome ferrofluid cooled tweeter it also includes a compression driver to help with the lows which you can see if you pull the unit apart although this is not something that is generally recommended so there's that passive pressure driver the benefit of separate amps to drive each of the main speakers is that it provides plenty of headroom to reproduce sound correctly at both low volume and at peak output and everywhere in between separate amps also enable the system to use its finely tuned DSP based active crossovers to improve dynamic range reduce distortion and generally give the system better control over each driver this is a great feature active crossovers are just plain better and the main reason less expensive systems use a passive crossover is simply to save on the cost now compression is a word that has a definite stigma associated with it when it comes to audio quality but the intelligent dynamic compression method used by listens not the same as the bitrate compression that mp3 audio files undergo this kind of compression is designed to control the audio output of the speakers so that at very high volume levels you don't encounter clipping or distortion dynamic compression will mostly affect the low-frequency or bass performance of the system but simple audios got you covered there with a dedicated subwoofer out port you are able to add your own powered subwoofer to the listen to improve your listening experience listening tests were a bit tricky for these speakers because my initial impressions of them from back when I started this review almost six months ago were fairly negative given their price but when I told simple audio this they retorted that I simply hadn't experienced other speakers in this price range and lacks the appropriate context to do the review so I said okay fine then and I shelved the review now it would have been easy for me to just conclude that simple audio is a bunch of deluded butt heads and their speakers are fashion accessory crap and then just leave them collecting dust but that wouldn't be very professional and between simple audio statement and all the requests that I've gotten for speaker reviews over the years I figured maybe it's time to come at this category from a different angle I ran out and got both companion fives Audioengine a 2 plus is a 5 pluses and some Bowers and Wilkins mmm ones for context and then set to work reviewing each and every one of them including taking another crack at the simple audio listens and you know what my conclusion actually changed it's easy to sit in front of speakers and say now they don't really sound that great when your only point of reference is what your imagination figures $500 speakers should sound like and you're not doing side by side a be listening or in this case ABCDE listening with other real products that actually exist it's much harder to find the faults in the listens when I can see the obvious faults in other similarly priced products as well compared to the MM one subjectively the listens don't look as good to me and they do not deliver the same crystal-clear highs but they do deliver strong stereo imaging equally satisfying mids and more detailed bass and while either of them gets loud enough for most near-field listening at a desk the listens get much louder than the mmm ones without any distortion although you still won't be hosting any parties with them compared to the audio engineer pluses which I was expecting to blow the doors off the premium you know fashion statement speakers in my roundup from a price to performance standpoint I'd say they performed similarly um but better with a touch more bass without any tuning and while they do cost much more unlike the MM ones they're also delivering some additional functionality with the touch controls and the Bluetooth connectivity which is a pretty big point for these the a5 plus and the bose companion 5 both wreck the listens for movie watching and gaming in terms of bass if you don't add a sub with the optional port at the back but of course they're both much larger and therefore not for everyone and I actually prefer the listens to the companion fives anyway for music listening so I guess it's overall conclusion time ultimately who is this product designed for and where is it designed to be used according to simple audio a variety of settings I mean the ability of the listen to sound good is a near field speaker on your PC desktop and to also perform well when you use the included cable extension and set them up further apart on a speaker stand as a room speed is touted as a major selling point but for me I mean as someone who positions speakers in one place and doesn't move them much this versatility is of less value to me especially because it comes with so many cables and power bricks and stuff but they're not that convenient to move around and I also think that they're just plain better options at this price if I wanted room speakers but if I was going to use them in their wheelhouse near-field listening at a desk where aesthetics are an important factor and music listening at a reasonable level is a priority with no desire to wake up my neighbors and having high quality Bluetooth is important then I've seen much stupider products than the listens and I'd rather you buy this than most of the other fancy Bluetooth speakers on the market since at least they look good and offer other options for connectivity in the longer term thank you very much for watching guys like this video if you liked it just like it if 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