My Sound Review

Like it despite all its problems.... Unique tiny square speaker pair that looks stylish and totally discrete in the dining room. I was coming more up from a sub £200 DAB/Bluetooth speaker than Hifi separate standpoint – not as portable but adds great stereo and USB playback option. I’m not a garden/pool party kinda person and UK doesn’t have that kinda weather for it. It has all the music connection I need (USB is mp3/wma only, no wifi/network). I’m using the USB playback more than I expected but unfortunately there are occasional USB decoding crackles at the start of random tracks. Speakers are not attached which is a bonus. Sound is surprisingly good coming out of the 11cm woofer in only a 4L box with 13cmx13cm square area. The overall sound quite balanced and imaging is ok. Serious air movement coming out of the rear bass reflex port and it can go quite low (registering even 30-40Hz bass) but playing Beyonce Deja Vu or Hotel California produced some crackling/clacking...

I lost my JVC FRD-80 on a recent flight and wanted a better replacement. After lots of online research (who doesn't?), I finally ordered this directly from SoundMagic for £10 cheaper than Amazon. The unit is delightfully light and the copper coloured casing looks cool.  The twisted wire is thin and waxy which is both lightweight and less prone to tangle. It's also great for not transmitting cable noise. The remote button and mic is of good quality and feels solid, unlike the plasticky JVC. As with the JVC, the A-B switch has no effect on function or quality. SoundMagic includes 3 sets of Comply foam plugs as well as the usual silicon ones. Straight to the heart of the matter. In two words, flat response. Unlike the JVC which is more V-shaped with boosted bass and treble and slightly recessed mid. E80S is more like a studio monitor with very open and neutral sound but ultimately lacking low bass grunt, for me. Bass is fast and tight but just doesn’t extend low enough. Low ...

The Beginning   My first pair of speakers was the AE Aegis One for £150 in 1999. I had that for about 3 years and I remembered the disproportionately small white driver in a fairly large box providing big and extended but slightly under-damped bass. And the soft dome tweeter is less extended and isn’t too revealing, giving an overall warm sound. Midrange must be good but not as memorable. What’s amazing today is that one can still find a year 2000 review by Stereophile ( link ). I have to concur their finding: overall lacked "air." It sums up my memory of that good value box. When I upgraded to the Monitor Audio Silver 8i, the bass surprisingly wasn’t significantly “more” though I didn’t owned them simultaneously and wasn’t bothered by it at the time of purchase. If anything it might be “less”. The bass port is tuned quite high for such a large box (ok still relatively compact by floorstander standard, at least short and shallow). The overall bass is less extended and t...