Hi everyone,
Just an update.
As mentioned, I tried look for Audio Note AN/E but couldn’t find a good used pair. I accidentally stumble upon Devore O/93. Which share very similar design with AN/E and was chosen to be the speakers of the year in Japan (don’t remember which year).
So I switched to look for Devore O/93s and again, an ex-owner of O/93s (currently the owner of Nines) shared that he prefers his Devore Nines, because as he said: " O/93s have too much sound going on, not as articulate and refined as the Nines (in my opinion). "
Luckily for me, there is a guy who wanted to sell his Devore Nines since he said his Shindo 12W couldn’t drive the Nines to their best. He is about 2 hours away from my place. I decided to give them an audition.
In his big living room, he played Norah Jones then some other vocals, at the beginning, I found that the sound is as much organic and smooth as my Harbeth 30.1. The bass is better (but not considerably better). However, since I believe in the comments of the ex-owner of O/93s, I pulled the trigger without after only about 15 mins and brought them home.
Another 2 hours of driving back home, I hooked them to Quad 909 power and Quad preamp 99, play my favorite songs to test. The mid was quite harsh in high notes. I tried to position the speakers further away from corners and played the songs again.
I played from vocals to classicals and here is my experience. In general, the sound of Devore Nines is not as warm as Harbeth 30.1. 30.1 tends to make the sound round and smooth so there is no hint of grain in it. I guess this is a reason why it’s very relaxing and zero-fatiguing when listening to 30.1.
However, in my opinion, because 30.1 ’softens’ spikes and edges in the sound which could be due to bad recording, noise,etc. but also could be the character of the voice of the singer or the sound of the music instrument. That’s why all singers voice are so smooth and this makes various singers have a kind of ’uniform’ sound, which leads to boring listening session.
On the contrary, on Nines, some singers sound silky smooth ( like Ayako Hosokawa, Lara Fabian) but some other singers sound quite edgy (like Adele). The voice is less warm and very much similar to what you hear when someone talking in a room with you. I hope I could call this "neutral" and "natural".
In addition, what makes a significant contribution to this "natural-ness" character of Nines is the ability to create the *dead* silent background. I hope you can believe me that this is true since I think only who has experienced this can understand, I’m sorry that my words are limited, I don’t know how to explain further.
As for the bass of Nines, according to specs, they can reach 32Hz (some other reviewers said they can measure Nines can reach 25Hz at some volume). This ability makes Nines a clear winner over 30.1 in bass area. When listening to Je t’aime by Lara Fabian (live version), everytime the pianist hit the notes in the last octave of the piano, I feel extremely satisfied - "YES, this is how it should be". The bass is tight and round (not as round as 30.1) and absolutely not boxy or boom.
Another strength that Nines possess over 30.1 is the speed, like in the "Keith don’t go", the guitar is much less confusing on ’strumming parts’ ( I don’t know if it’s the term). Nines give me a different (positive) ’image’ of the record compared to 30.1.
Yet another strength is that Nines throw out a bigger sound stage than 30.1, not much bigger but I think about 70% bigger.
In general, Nines are more accurate, natural, dynamics, emotional, open and faster than 30.1. However, Nines are a little more fatiguing than 30.1 in my small room due to the fact that more bass and edges in some voices/instruments are not ’softened’ as in case of 30.1. As a result, Harbeth 30.1 can be a great choice for those who don’t care much about accuracy and bass but just need beautiful and relaxing sound.
For now, I am satisfied. I will listen for a while until my ears get used to what Nines offer and demand more. When the time comes, I will find a high quality tube amp for them.
Regarding the search for natural sounding speakers, I believe Nines are not the destination, they are just a 'somewhere' near the destination and they are also not the ONLY. But I think I will stay for a very long time in this ’resting area’.
Best,
Huy.
