Ed Selley
Hi-Fi Editor
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Other reviews have been less kind about the sound quality and I find a mark of 8/10 difficult to believe when the review for the PMC Twenty5 23i was rated at 9/10 for the same. Are those two products that close in sound quality?
If I'm reading the review correctly, it sounds like I could buy QA Concept 20's (just to pick one of their own products) and a Quad Vena 2 Play, have better sound, better connections, use fewer plugs and a similar amount of space and have a significant chunk of change for other stuff. Record player/CD player/records etc.
I take your point, but still to mine, the Naim will sit on a side board, work top or desk, so I'm not sure it's like for like. This only works for me if the sound quality is A+. The fact that it's not suggests that you're better off spending your money on a quality midrange, just add speakers box and some good bookshelves. £1500 is a lot of money for what sounds like average sound quality, but without the space saving you get from Ruark, Naim etc.Look at it as a Mu-So2 competitor
This, I like. I think they look very cool.I'm not sure I would have gotten over the looks of them though!
I take your point, but still to mine, the Naim will sit on a side board, work top or desk, so I'm not sure it's like for like. This only works for me if the sound quality is A+. The fact that it's not suggests that you're better off spending your money on a quality midrange, just add speakers box and some good bookshelves. £1500 is a lot of money for what sounds like average sound quality, but without the space saving you get from Ruark, Naim etc.
Fair enough. Just one of those products that isn't for me. I assume there is a market though, or they wouldn't have made it.but it's a different proposition in convenience terms to a device that lights up when you turn the TV on and just syncs up automatically
There's definitely a market. I'd love to buy these, just not at £1500. Hence why I'm looking at the Wharfedale Diamond A1. I'm just unsure whether they sound any good.Fair enough. Just one of those products that isn't for me. I assume there is a market though, or they wouldn't have made it.
Sure. I'm not anti all in one powered speakers. Quite interested in fact. The wharfdale's look good value, assuming they sound ok.There's definitely a market. I'd love to buy these, just not at £1500. Hence why I'm looking at the Wharfedale Diamond A1. I'm just unsure whether they sound any good.
I read all your reviews Ed and love your practical and real world explanations. I respectfully though cant agree with this. It's a high end stereo pair of speakers that needs to be competitive with a stereo of similar pricingI honestly feel that this thread has the answer to why some other reviews have wound up were they did. The issue is also of Q Acoustics' own making too. If (as they've done), you say, "we've made a pair of active speakers", people automatically (and completely justifiably) think of some of the things @Paul7777x linked to (or the KEF LSX which is, in fairness, conceptually closer but with poorer connectivity a terrible app and less stable wireless comms). The thing is, it isn't really a rival to those.
Now, if Q Acoustics had said "We've leveraged what we do to make something we feel is better than a Naim Mu-So 2"... well, it isn't anything like as interesting a product release but it does more accurately assess what they were shooting for. This is a one box rival. It works as a one box and it should be judged as a one box (with the caveat it comes in three). If other publications did that, (which, in fairness means ignoring a fair bit of Q Acoustics' own product literature) I suspect the conclusions reached would be different.
I read all your reviews Ed and love your practical and real world explanations. I respectfully though cant agree with this. It's a high end stereo pair of speakers that needs to be competitive with a stereo of similar pricing
I honestly feel that this thread has the answer to why some other reviews have wound up were they did. The issue is also of Q Acoustics' own making too. If (as they've done), you say, "we've made a pair of active speakers", people automatically (and completely justifiably) think of some of the things @Paul7777x linked to (or the KEF LSX which is, in fairness, conceptually closer but with poorer connectivity a terrible app and less stable wireless comms). The thing is, it isn't really a rival to those.
Now, if Q Acoustics had said "We've leveraged what we do to make something we feel is better than a Naim Mu-So 2"... well, it isn't anything like as interesting a product release but it does more accurately assess what they were shooting for. This is a one box rival. It works as a one box and it should be judged as a one box (with the caveat it comes in three). If other publications did that, (which, in fairness means ignoring a fair bit of Q Acoustics' own product literature) I suspect the conclusions reached would be different.
Whilst I still love you Ed, if that’s the case, then every set of active speakers with an adequate source box is an all in one system.This is an all-in-one system. It has been appraised as such. I agree that due to its appearance and odd marketing, it's a mental leap to see it as one but that's what it is.
£350 for four sticks
So are the ones I alluded to.
Whilst I still love you Ed, if that’s the case, then every set of active speakers with an adequate source box is an all in one system.
There's definitely a market. I'd love to buy these, just not at £1500. Hence why I'm looking at the Wharfedale Diamond A1. I'm just unsure whether they sound any good.
The Node 2i can't be used as a hub as it has no preout. The Yamaha can but that still leaves you with no HDMI (so no auto start), no Roon and no voice control. It has to be wired to the speakers. So, when you say;
You know as well as I do, that's not the case. This is not simply an argument over outright sound quality- I'm sure the Dynaudios in particular will do a fine job- but the manner of how it does it that matters too. From a purist perspective having a device that turns on when you power up the TV or when you yell at it isn't critical but for many people it is. The moment you mix and match, a significant chunk of that seamlessness is lost.
No less pertinent to describing the Active 200 as an all-in-one is that none of the three boxes will do anything at all independent of the others which would suggest that it is a single system by any reasonable definition of the term.
£350 for the stands is audacious though. On that I will broker no argument.