i bought a pair of Tascam VL-X5's a year or so ago, and
they sound pretty good for $200-$250 - not sure how
they compare to the audioengine, but definately worth
checking out.
One thing worth thinking about is getting a pair of monitors
that have ports on the front vs the rear of the speakers - they
will be alot less sensitive to placement to get good bass
response, whereas rear ported monitors need to be more carefully
placed.
the small NHT M-00's are nice as well, but they are more then
$250..
I'll post some impressions later, but right now I'm having too much fun listening to them . Well, I'll give some quick first impressions.
First I hooked them to the headphone out on my Macbook pro. Wow, big sound coming out of tiny speakers, very impressive. I started listening to them for a little while and noticed the recessed highs and boomy bass. I played "Black Cow" by Steely Dan and it definitely sounded muddy and off. A little disappointing, but still good for $200. I thought maybe the highs will come out and the bass will clear up with burn in.
Then I switched to the headphone out on my Aura Note. Wow, source makes a HUGE difference. It's not really fair comparing a $2000 unit to a stock sound card, but still. "Black Cow" sounded very good now and was all cleared up, no muddiness. I played some Scott Walker and his voice was scary . Now I'm listening to Amos Lee and it still sounds very good. Much more balanced and clear hooked up to the Aura Note. Great mids, but Amos doesn't hurt in that area. Now I'm playing Alexi Murdoch. The highs still seem slightly recessed and don't extend very far and the bass doesn't extend super low either, but that can be expected. Still very impressive for these speakers.
I haven't switched back to the Macbook pro yet, but I don't really want to. The problem is that I bought these to hook up to my macbook pro and I'm planning to hook up the Aura Note to ~$1000 speakers. I'll give some more impressions after I hook the A2's back to the MBP and then later after some burn-in.
Ok, more quick impressions. I just played "Narrow Daylight" by Diana Krall with the A2's connected to the Aura Note and then to the MBP. I didn't level match so it wasn't completely accurate, but I'm still very impressed out of the MBP. The Aura Note provided better balance and detail especially with the highs and lows, but the Diana's voice still sounded amazing out of the MBP. I think I can definitely live with these as a desktop speaker. They sound amazingly big for how tiny they are and I think they are a steal at $200. I don't remember my Swan M200's ever sounding like this. I'll do most of my listening in a dedicated area using the Aura Note, its amp and floorstanders, but the A2's are perfect for my desktop use.
As you've already noted, the A2s scale very well with better sources. I play mine off a Duet and using a Little Dot MKIVse as a pre-amp. Good sound ensues!
I wonder why they're going back and forth with the logo? The original ones didn't have it, mine (bought late last year) do, and now it seems to have disappeared again.
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iMac -> Apogee Duet -> Little Dot MKIVse -> HD650 w. Cardas or Audioengine A2.
As you've already noted, the A2s scale very well with better sources. I play mine off a Duet and using a Little Dot MKIVse as a pre-amp. Good sound ensues!
I wonder why they're going back and forth with the logo? The original ones didn't have it, mine (bought late last year) do, and now it seems to have disappeared again.
Yes, that sums it up. They scale very well .
I don't know why they keep changing the design, but it's probably due to customer feedback. I was expecting to be disappointed with the looks, but I definitely am not.
argh, I dont know if to save up for the yamahas or just get the A2s or the bx5as now
Audioengine has a good return policy so you could return them if you don't like them. Better yet, you could buy all of the ones you are interested and then compare them and return the ones you don't like
. Well, I'll give some quick first impressions.
Linear Mode
