[...] You can see my thoughts on the speakers I have listened to so far here:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18611884
Yeah, I was reading your thread yesterday, and was going to point Matson in its direction, but you've beaten me to it! Some useful observations from your auditioning that I'm sure will be appreciated by anyone looking for monitors in this price range
2. Which other ones did you listen to before choosing the D5?
I'm answering this one first as it'll help give you a picture of where I'm coming from.
The short answer is: none
I had a budget that meant I was able to consider Dynaudios, Adams, Neumanns and SE Munro Eggs. Obviously that's the sort of price range where you pretty much have to try them out in person [or better still, trial loans], but then I remembered the D5s and thought that for the money I could take a punt on them 'blind'. If they disappointed, I could sell them on for minimal loss and move up to the bigger boys armed with a clearer idea of what wouldn't disappoint.
It should be said that I do have a background that includes studio engineering. As a result, I've experienced monitors like Alesis Monitor Ones and Twos [surprisingly imprecise], Yamaha NS-10Ms [the sound of a close-mic'ed kick drum gutlessly flapping its way through NS-10Ms is something that will haunt me forever], and Dynaudio BM6s [far and away the best nearfields I've heard]. But that was some time ago, so I'm relying on memories rather than objective comparison.
1. How are you finding the D5 speakers ?
Having had them for most of the week, I guess I'm still in that honeymoon period, but so far I'm very happy with them. I haven't found a sonic fault yet. The blue LEDs, on the other hand, are going to be taped over sooner rather than later, mind - distractingly bright!
Sound-wise, I'm afraid it's going to be nigh-on impossible for me to make any meaningful comparisons, as the D5s were part of a total audio upgrade and I have nothing I can A/B them with. It's also going to be difficult to say whether they're value or not: as studio monitors, they're in a low price bracket, but as PC speakers they're almost extravagantly pricey. Compounding this, a recent increase in my purchase power has, I'm afraid to say, distorted my idea of what constitutes 'value'.
But anyway, the standouts for me so far:
- Natural-sounding - nothing's hyped [there's perhaps a slight low-mid bump]. It's not a V-shaped freq curve by any means - if you want ultra-sparkly top end, you may be better off with the ribbon-tweetered Adams, from what I've read - but nor is it a *cold* analytical neutral.
- Transients & impact - As you should expect from coaxials with DSP correction, these handle transients really well [at least at the low to moderate volumes I've been listening at]. Snares have bite, toms have punch, cymbals have ting, and splosions have...erm, splo. Or whatever.
- Stereo imaging & depth - it's a wide field, positioning is good [not laser-guided, but then these are budget monitors!], and when I'm in the sweet spot there is that lovely 3D effect, where everything that's more centrally positioned seems to be coming from behind my computer screen. So there's some depth to the soundstage.
- 'Headphone'-esque detail - while they're not going to rival headphones for forensic detail, I was pleasantly surprised to hear some sounds that I would only really expect to hear through phones. Things like those wet mouth noises that get compressed in TV studio broadcasts, for instance. And the studio that Gary Lineker does his presenting in is smaller than the BBC would like you to think, judging by the clearly audible room reflections
- Tight low-end - especially on the IsoAcoustics. Obviously a sub's going to be needed for heavy club music, but they easily produce enough for my 7m x 4m room. Incidentally, the specs say that the low end of their range is 53Hz, but I ran a sine wave sweep through them earlier and was hearing a signal at 45-46Hz. That sweep also didn't seem to reveal any resonant peaks further up, as some others have reported, so I'm now wondering if they've made some stealthy improvements to the spec/production.
3. Do you get the weird bass popping issue some people have experienced when turning the volume up?
Couldn't tell you, sorry. I live in a block of flats, so have neighbours up down left and right. I'm not going to **** them off until they start ******** me off! As soon as they do, though, I'll update this post
By the way, I like your ISO Acoustic stands. I was looking at these but not sure if they are worth the extra money over angled foam pads. I haven't seen the video you posted on them so I will watch that when I get a chance.
Have you watched it yet? The differences on mid-heavy music like rock/metal is evident! Having said that, the 'sonic integrity' isn't the main reason I bought them; I was more concerned with bass resonating through to the neighbourinos, which they cut down really well. And obviously having both the woofers and tweeters at ear level is a good thing too. But yes, pads are cheaper - certainly better than no isolation/angle at all.
Hope that helps a little, anyway. Sorry I can't give more objective/comparative opinion!
That's a 27-inch monitor, by the way.