Now that's a sad video.

I have these with dual 10 amp power supplies. Use them on the Arendal 1723 thx towers with sparkos op amps in the fosi's, you wont be disappointed. I never turned them up all night and went to bed, but i have had some pretty extended jam sessions at around 90 percent power with zero issues. Gets super loud with a staggering amount of accuracy and resolution at those volumes. Bass hits hard, mids fleshed out with plenty of top end sparkle. Im guessing the 10 amp power supplies must keep the amps more stable? Idk, either way, the sound i am getting is pretty phenomenal.

How much do you get paid by 'gr research' to say all this nonsense?

1% music people who think they can buy their way to heaven ? The thrift shops are full of the results of unsupported ideas… Laser Disc , Beta , VHS , DAT , SACD , HDCD ,CDs , DVD ,and now streaming ? All recordings are flawed ? Cause they didn’t have the cables off the floor. The studio didn’t have $25000. Cables , the DACs in the 50s and 60s suck ? Bi wire or buy wire ? How could the Beatles and Duke Ellington record without pro tools ? Science has no place in HiFi ? The James Webb telescope and Voyager use cheap parts , that can only leave the solar system? Your crossover has better parts than NASA ? Your hearing is better than Stevie Wonder ? Your system cost more than the system at Woodstock ? You don’t play music,but know how a 59 Les Paul should sound ? Album art and liner notes are distractions ? You have to sneak equipment in the house like a fat chick sneaking donuts? Audiophools ! A person who listens to music through their wallet !

I have a 20+ year old Realistic ( Radio Shack) tuner/ amplifier that works as good new. I am trying to find matching bookshelf speakers ( I know, good luck).

For me, on first hearing, samples B tended to be a bit more expressive on vocals. Incredibly. BUT... what is the ADC involved ?

Not really close - A by a lot. B sounded less clear, cloudy, confused, perhaps not broken in. I expected it to be closer. Thanks for the demo's.

Are you guys going to call it the R&D model???

I'm confused by your comments, given how the Pontus 12th and Venus 12th have been described. If in fact the Pontus 15th resembles the Venus 12th, sonically, I'd expect it to have less meat on the bones and a focus more tilted towards upper mids and highs. I've yet to encounter a review that described the May in such terms. Unless those who compare the Pontus 15th to the Venus 12th are simply wrong, it would seem more likely that the Pontus 15th would be more similar to the Spring,

I have 25 years of experience in music production, 5 in DIY acoustic. Clear A B diff in tone balance listening in cheap headphones. With Behringers it is not so obvious, but noticeable. Upgraded versions have more mids/high mids and saturation/distortion? which sounds more warm and close. In both cases I prefere stock as more clear and undistorted. I'm shocked... BUT! 1. Headphones can't reveal scene space depth and instruments position separation, which is imho the main point to upgrade. So audio samples are definitely not enough to make a decision about Danny's upgrades. I hope after some time and piles of comments it would be revealed what actually results was flipped :)

I trust Ron the most among any others who are present as reviewers. With that respect, Ron I really need your comments and true reflection of its Bass performance. I am looking for deep and fast beats as well as true represent of drums, trumphet etc. My very old Hegel DAC so far doing the best among any other I came across (modern Denafrips Ares, Chord, sub 1500 USD), but want to upgrade to get a change as well as more airiness, sound stage etc.

Hi. Great review I just got mine, and to a start it only improves the sound quality a little bit. Maybe it will improve…. (I use Primare I32 and CD32 with Audiovector R 6 Arreté. ) I have a question; my IsoTek power cable doesn’t really fit in the Pontus - so I have to use a standard cheap cable. Which quality cable do you use?

have done the mod .Liked the original better .Sound is different , after mod was done lost detail , sounds is somewhat vailed and too flat to be exciting , boring .Correct response and graphs means nothing if you ears do not like it .

The thought of sending it back to China if it needs warranty work has me looking elsewhere unfortunately.

I don't believe that a DAC should be "smooth," it should be accurate. If a digital recording is too harsh (not surprising since most people listen to music via earbuds and recording engineers know that) then it would be better to smooth it out in one place in the audio chain, maybe the pre-amp, amp, or speakers, but definitely not the DAC. But since not all digital recordings are harsh, then it would nice to be able to have some user control over the amount of "smoothness" put into the audio playback chain.

The Daniel Hertz Maria sounds fantastic! way better than what you compared it to.

I’ve not heard them yet, but they seem a modern successor to the KEF Reference 102/2 that I coveted way back in 1992 or 1993. They were bookshelf monitors, but tallish enough to need shorter stands. I’d have bought them but I was the owner of a new pair of Spica Angelus’ and wasn’t financially prepared to get caught up in the constant upgrade nervosa that the older audiophiles were guilty of doing. I’m an imaging and soundstage junkie first and foremost, and those 102/2’s were stellar in that respect. I’m no bass head either, as I prefer the tautness of British monitors. Those Spicas, for example, excelled in the midrange but weren’t bass/treble masters in any sense of the term.

Respect to you Ron always….. but Randy from CheapAudioMan just make my eye roll🙄. I subscribed to his channel at the beginning of his channel and I unsubscribed to him shortly after for the same reason I left Zeos’s multiple channels. Randy is even more slokier and regardless of the value of the products he is reviewing.

Very good a review! Thanks

What are those tube monos in the background?

Hello Ron, can you please do a review of CD Transports. I know your main transport is the jays audio cdt2 mk3 but for those who can’t afford such a price, I would be curious to know what your alternatives would be…. Preferably whose transports that i2S, too. I don’t this model of Eversolo coms with e-arc inputs.

Ron, do you think the rises in the responses, in the location were they are at, plus the higher sensitivity of this speaker would lend itself to better dynamics at low volume listening? Almost like a speaker with a built in loudness button? Seems like you'd have to turn up the R3 a little more to get equal levesl of dynamic range.

Ron, can you please do a review of the CD transport you mentioned in this review.

Danny. You’re amazing Your speakers are the best. I own. 3 of them Bravos. And 2 encores

I liked Sample A the Holo May DAC. I heard even with my tinnitus plagued hearing, more of the subtleties of instrument sounds and room acoustics fleshed out in Sample A. I thought that Sample A, for better or worst was a bit brighter sounding and had better timbre in my opinion. Sample B albeit sounded very close to Sample A, I knew was the Denafrips and had punchier base notes and sounded darker and more dry and ‘technical’, dare I say it. While the May sounded livelier and more fun to listen too, to me.

Danny sells snake oil power cables.

anyone pls suggest where i can find the audio rack (plywood shelves and pipes config)

I just picked up a pair of Yamaha NS1738 for my bedroom paired with a Sansui G9000 and I was worried they wouldn't handle what it puts out. With limited space I'm amazed just how great they sound and I haven't had time to really put an album on yet just a little Bluetooth box and a Chris Webby song my son listens to. I'll be looking for another pair as I have some old Toby speakers made in Fort Worth that cannot handle anything over 80 watts.

What is that metal song, Nightwish?

Crossover parts do makes a difference, better parts would defiantly give higher quality sound. I can hear upto 10-12 khz, and I indulge my 13 year old son to hear upto 16khz differences. But that being said there is some snake oil in this upgrades too, e.g upgrading from electrolytes to polymer cap will make sound better as well as iron core coils to air core conductors too. BUT, those poly caps are also made by different companies and companies like mondorf etc are selling their top range polys at 50 -100$ and if compared to normal poly 10 $ caps difference is either nothing or un-hearable to human ears. So there is a marketing gimmick in such parts too, upgrades only matters to human hearing ranges, those frequency graphs are unreliable. Some times speaker manufactures deliberately suppress or increase certain frequencies and on graph it would seem very strange but speakers sound more musical and enjoyable, rather to an upgraded more linear freq response which might be natural but boring, its a big reason every speaker company call it their "House Sound" Also i don't like Danny's tube connectors idea, they really sound exactly same as well made gold plated banana plugs.

I've had the Q350 in my room, but sent them back because I thought they were too bright. Not warm enough to my tastes. If I hear you correctly these have a different sound signature? (apart from obvious quality differences) Wpuld you characterize these as "warm" sounding?

Before revealing i prefer sample B because of more decay/sustain and slightly more natural tonal balance and timing

Does your Point on speaker Placement apply to avoid phase cancelation such as with klipsch speaker which is the most obvisous example I can think of to illustrate that point

Excellent review Sir! I’m assuming that this product shames the Klipsch 6000F II and 8000F II? Please give me an emphatic yes!!!

I am old! My long perspective is that people who enjoy music have never had it better. Back in the day, I owned a Marantz 2275 Receiver which weighed almost 40lbs. Cost around 600 bucks back then. The sound I get from my tiny Class D amp now sounds just as good to my never was audiophile ears! Appreciate what you have!

Still Jonesing over those Caladans in the background. Still waiting on mine.....coming up on one year since ordering.

The biggest improvement to make audio better is to add some Weed.

Why do they all seem to use line arays at professional audio concerts these days? They USED To go out wide and curve all the speaker boxes to give a wider coverage area.

I think that decay chart might start to explain what I'm hearing. I listen to a lot of piano music while i'm working, and the upper end of piano can sometimes sound smeared to me, while the lower end can get a little one-note on some tracks. One track in particular really illuminated the issue, Sorcellerie, Grandioso. It's a challenge for HE1000SE's, but on the Kef R3 Meta, I thought I was hearing a timpani, and I had to stop what I was doing and check that out. I've been trying various things to alter the bass including those plugs it comes with. Speaker is actually really sensitive to those plugs, but they fix one thing on frequency response, while breaking some things in the timbre.

From a friend of mine that I met yesterday! 🙂👍

i think this Pontus 15th is the Venus 12th

Who is that singing at about the 22:30 mark?

Wow! I’m SOLD! Would you rate this puppy higher than the Klipsch RP6000F-II and the Polk R200? I am ready to go on YOUR WORD right now! THANK YOU SIR!

Planned on getting this one for the home theater I'm planning out. Thanks for the video.

The only song i heard a difference was with the 1st speaker and it was the hispanic ladys voice was more pronounced and a little more presence for the part B. Second speaker everything sounded the same to me.

they say the insides look just like a Venus 12th. but a pic from there website shows some differences

You should do this frequently.

Ron, any chance you’ll get the Gustard x30 in for review?

Question: Would it be a good idea to buy a Denafrips Ares 15th to pair with an Onkyo receiver? Thank you

After watching his review of one of the Zu Audio speakers, I was able to purge most of it by watching several Sean Casey interviews, the best probably being the one done by John Darko (who was over the moon re the speakers I have, the Omen).