with its Factory tuning and data center DNA an 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 works seamlessly a bold goal for a relatively unknown brand the
various inputs include USB for PC and Mac that's driverless 3/2 mm 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 the packaging is excellent I mean it's
obvious that whoever is working over there knows a thing or two about a
eco-friendly and B 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 there'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 corner so power to power it on duh volume is
controlled by sliding your finger or touching the bar in the middle Bluetooth
connectivity 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
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 listen is 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 audio file World it
features two-way by Amplified speakers which is just it's just a fancy way of
saying that it has two separate drivers each with separate amps to drive them
there's a 3-in 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 load 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 headro to reproduce sound correctly
at both low volume and at Peak output and everywhere in between separate amps
also enabl 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 listen is not the same as the bit rate 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 base per performance of the system but simple Audi's got you covered
there with a dedicated subwoofer outport you were 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 6 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 lacked the
appropriate context to do the review so I said okay fine then and I sheld the
review now it would have been easy for me to just conclude that simple audio is
a bunch of diluted buttheads 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 Bose Companion 5ivs audio engine A2
pluses A5 pluses and some Bowers and Wilkins mm1's 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 nah 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 AB 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 mm1
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 nearfield listening at a desk the listens get much louder than
the mm1's without any distor although you still won't be hosting any
parties with them compared to the audio engine A2 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 perform
similarly um but better with a touch more Bas without any tuning and while
they do cost much more unlike the mm1's
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 base 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 listens to sound good as a nearfield 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 speaker 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 that
they're not that convenient to move around and I also think that there are
just plain better options at this price if I wanted rooms 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 is 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 op options for connectivity in the longer term thank
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there's something else in my outro but I just forget it I'm really tired I was up
to like 4 last night scripting my M8
review
he