albireo
pfm Member
Apologies in advance for the long rant -
I've recently moved to another country, and to a much smaller temporary flat. My old audio set up (Dynaudio/Benchmark/Simaudio) lies boxed and dormant in storage. I would define this set up as 'respectably mid-range': not the most expensive, not the cheapest, however I personally loved the results to the point that I had stopped box-swapping for a few years.
Then came the move. I now have extremely limited space so I started investigating the world of bluetooth speakers. My expectation were not unrealistic: I didn't expect this solution to match my existing setup; I hoped it would approximate it. So reasonably neutral output, reasonably textured bass, nice presence in the midrange. No tizzy treble, no boomy bass, no recessed mids.
Based on a quick survey a lot of this bluetooth stuff is (I hope I won't sound elitist - I am not, I mean to offend no one) utter cr*p catering to a younger crowd and to party/BBQ/kitchen duties. Ultimate Ears, Bose, JBL, Sony, even Marshall: based on my audition, and based on what I expect from personal audio of a certain level, this is terrible stuff.
If you dig deeper though, you'll start noticing some products aiming more at the 'music lover/audiophile' crowd. I started restricting my search to a few brands and trying to listen to as much as I can. There's also a guy making what seem to be fairly objective bluetooth speaker reviews on youtube using a binaural microphone to give you a rough idea.
Long story short, I went home with a Denon Envaya 250. Based on the (in truth, likely brickwalled/compressed) music samples in the shop, this had the best sound. My test was at very close distance, facing the speaker which was positioned at ear level.
Took it home. It is so disappointing. To me, in its context, it sounds exactly like you'd expect a small portable speaker to sound: closed in, boring, non engaging.
Is it due to my music? I admit I had tried youtube music first (you do find some, say, complete albums by Herbie Hancock in reasonably good compressed quality on there). I then installed foobar2000 on my android phone and tested some of my flac files (Hoffman masterings, XRCD24, stuff that usually sounds incredible on my home setup). Decent, nothing special. I concluded it's not the source material. I guess no DSP or any sort of digital wizardry can defeat physics. Sure, this is better than digital radio. Better than cheap Logitech-level computer speakers. But this is *miles away* from a traditional setup like the one I was accustomed to. Move around the room and the feeble stereo imaging becomes non existent. Bass is non-existent under 50Hz or so.
I'm in two minds now: should I buy another Denon and pair the two unit to get a stereo image, to see if this gives a sonic impression that's more akin to what I'm used to - or should I return this and forget about the whole bluetooth speaker thing and use my HD800 headphones only for the time being?
I have been thinking: perhaps, I am (you are) the wrong target. This bluetooth speaker concept was never meant to approximate the hi-fi listening experience in the first place (one person, sitting in a triangle facing two speakers connected to a 2 channel setup). What they aim for is the 'background music' crowd. If you're cooking, exercising, reading a magazine, playing with the dog, then this is great! But perhaps I'm over thinking this.
What have other people's experiences been?
I've recently moved to another country, and to a much smaller temporary flat. My old audio set up (Dynaudio/Benchmark/Simaudio) lies boxed and dormant in storage. I would define this set up as 'respectably mid-range': not the most expensive, not the cheapest, however I personally loved the results to the point that I had stopped box-swapping for a few years.
Then came the move. I now have extremely limited space so I started investigating the world of bluetooth speakers. My expectation were not unrealistic: I didn't expect this solution to match my existing setup; I hoped it would approximate it. So reasonably neutral output, reasonably textured bass, nice presence in the midrange. No tizzy treble, no boomy bass, no recessed mids.
Based on a quick survey a lot of this bluetooth stuff is (I hope I won't sound elitist - I am not, I mean to offend no one) utter cr*p catering to a younger crowd and to party/BBQ/kitchen duties. Ultimate Ears, Bose, JBL, Sony, even Marshall: based on my audition, and based on what I expect from personal audio of a certain level, this is terrible stuff.
If you dig deeper though, you'll start noticing some products aiming more at the 'music lover/audiophile' crowd. I started restricting my search to a few brands and trying to listen to as much as I can. There's also a guy making what seem to be fairly objective bluetooth speaker reviews on youtube using a binaural microphone to give you a rough idea.
Long story short, I went home with a Denon Envaya 250. Based on the (in truth, likely brickwalled/compressed) music samples in the shop, this had the best sound. My test was at very close distance, facing the speaker which was positioned at ear level.
Took it home. It is so disappointing. To me, in its context, it sounds exactly like you'd expect a small portable speaker to sound: closed in, boring, non engaging.
Is it due to my music? I admit I had tried youtube music first (you do find some, say, complete albums by Herbie Hancock in reasonably good compressed quality on there). I then installed foobar2000 on my android phone and tested some of my flac files (Hoffman masterings, XRCD24, stuff that usually sounds incredible on my home setup). Decent, nothing special. I concluded it's not the source material. I guess no DSP or any sort of digital wizardry can defeat physics. Sure, this is better than digital radio. Better than cheap Logitech-level computer speakers. But this is *miles away* from a traditional setup like the one I was accustomed to. Move around the room and the feeble stereo imaging becomes non existent. Bass is non-existent under 50Hz or so.
I'm in two minds now: should I buy another Denon and pair the two unit to get a stereo image, to see if this gives a sonic impression that's more akin to what I'm used to - or should I return this and forget about the whole bluetooth speaker thing and use my HD800 headphones only for the time being?
I have been thinking: perhaps, I am (you are) the wrong target. This bluetooth speaker concept was never meant to approximate the hi-fi listening experience in the first place (one person, sitting in a triangle facing two speakers connected to a 2 channel setup). What they aim for is the 'background music' crowd. If you're cooking, exercising, reading a magazine, playing with the dog, then this is great! But perhaps I'm over thinking this.
What have other people's experiences been?
