Q Acoustics 3030i review

[@oacband]

I love your reviews! Haha..Your vacation story analogy was a brilliant way to explain the differences. So glad you did that. I have a pair of large Klipsch and as enjoying as they are I often wish they could turn the CAPS LOCK off! Keep up the great work and thank you.

[@iiWiReviews]

Thanks! Glad you liked it, and I must say that CAPS LOCK is a great description too, I might borrow it sometimes. :D

[@CandidUploads]

Great review. I found your description of the sound accurate and similar to my experience with Q Acoustics. I have the Concept 300s and I find the elevated high mids are part of their house sound which you either like or don’t. You have great ears and a good approach to reviews. You have become a good source of trusted reviews for me. Keep up the great work!

[@DKH83]

I never knew there are words to described sounds. You did so well that I think I can buy with confidence.

[@stevepavlinadotcom]

Thanks so much for this review. I've looked at perhaps a half-dozen 3030i reviews, and yours was the most helpful. I especially liked your storytelling example to contrast it with the Klipsch.

[@MrMangel888]

I just started following you a few months ago, and I truly enjoy your approach to reviewing audio gear. Great job! I just finished setting up a Bluesound Powernode N330 with a pair of Q Acoustics 320i, and I love the combination. As you said, it always comes down to personal preferences, but I think the Q Acoustics 300 series offers great sonic value for the money. Greetings from the U.S. -keep up the great work.

[@maheshpalamkar3032]

I was eagerly waiting for your review as I bought these a few months back. As usual it's a precise review in the most appropriate words. I completely agree with your opinion. Had these been with slightly more pronounced mid range and at the same time little suppressed or I would say more natural high frequencies then probably it would have been the best bookshelf speaker in the 400 dollars budget.

[@andreassouth1523]

Which amp are playing with?Upper mids and treble are smooth or they have a little sparkle,that one reviewer said?I like smooth sounding speakers with neutral to soft upper mids and treble for long listening sessions without ear fatigue.

[@mircea5013]

Oh my god you're describing precisely my thoughts: The "fsh""ts""fs" are accentuated. Mid-treble, that area. No one is mentioning this. They all say oh it's neutral-warmish, laid back, it's relaxing, you can listen for hours. Well let me tell you, that elevation is really unpleasant for me. You're the only one that picked up on that!

[@henrytan8696]

When vocabs and jargon become inadequate in describing the differences, you graphically deliver the travel story that hits all the notes. 2 thumbs up!!

[@JP1050x]

Love my 3030i’s. It’s a very smooth sounding speaker throughout the frequency range, which makes it non fatiguing. I’m using my 15yo Onkyo mini receiver, which produces 20watts @4ohm. It drives these speakers perfectly in my medium sized room. It’s such an easy to drive speaker, that plays a wide range of music well, and can be listened to for hours on end.

[@dt9r]

Great review, I really really like Your approach, I have the elac b6.2 and your view of the elac sound print is definitely spot on. The vacation comparison is the highlight anyhow :D thumb up (BTW, I m Italian and your accent is really helpful for me)

[@100icki]

I'm learning english, understood the whole movie, your english is perfect

[@kenntks]

yep, your review is great. very insightful & informative. I can feel what you're talking about. The expression and explanation is very well. You actually painted out the soul of the speakers.

[@ampz37]

The vacation analogy is perfect to describe analytic-type of speakers. Laughed myself out.

[@johngault-9597]

Greetings from India. Wonderful reviews. Your descriptions are erudite and as pleasing as these 3030Is that I purchased after watching your review. Be well

[@ArtVandelayOfficial]

I've just received these today, playing with Smsl A300 They definitely show bad recordings and low bitrate but feed them quality and wow wow they grab your attention I'll leave detailed opinions after they've burned in for 50 hours 🙂

[@stevezeidman7224]

I think you did a fine job. Finding a speaker that reveals details but doesn’t get on nerves is difficult. It sounds like the “Q” is one of those that might get on your nerves. I know description of speakers can be difficult. I can relate. I can’t describe my own speakers well. I have Revel towers. They can sound really awesome and I think wow. Other times I’m looking for ways to calm them down.

[@yyams]

And.. Yes, You did just fine. I have the 3050 (previous gen towers, cheap when this series came out) in my cinema system. The LS50 (cheap when the Metas came out) in my music system. Accidental, but it turned out perfect.

[@comfortlivinghh]

enjoy your show as always. great job!

[@xcvbxcvb2179]

I have tried the 3050i. (Floorstanding). I think your review of the smaller brother also apply a lot to the bigger ones. I tried to tilt the speakers up quite a bit and the sound improved alot. The upper mids got more in balance with the rest of the frekvence. The tilting gave them a much better balance and presentation. The driver integration got much better. The only problem I had, and the reason I sold them was the tonallity. Coming from the Triangle Borea BR03 I was spoiled with tonallity accuracy. The 3050i was actually playing a tiny bit out of key and instrument realism was so so. I need to say I have very sensitive ears when it comes to tone and most people will not complain when I do. I'm back with my Borea BR03 and looking for a pair of BR08 in the used market.

[@gilvanilima]

A analogia com o Brasil foi muito boa. Gostei!

[@titan90000]

Great review as always, very clear and concise. These sound like what I am looking for, non fatuging and a bit laid back. As I like to listen to music for 3 - 4 hours every night after work. Do you have any experience with Dali Oberon or Spekor series speakers?

[@JP1050x]

3030i’s would be great for what you’re looking for. I use mine for late night listening, and they sound excellent at low level listening. They’re also very smooth sounding speakers that can help you relax depending on the music. Sade an Nora Jones sound amazing on the 3030i’s. But, also do well in base heavy Hip Hop tracks. Excellent all around sound.

[@douglasbonner6543]

Just wondered if in the past you had ever heard the older Wharfedale Diamond 9.1? Your review of these reminds of them in my mind. I own the 75th anniversary edition and they are keepers. Thanks for you review of the Q's. If you do get a chance to please review the Aune X8 it is a reasonable price and I think you would enjoy the different op amps it comes with. Cheers

[@iiWiReviews]

I heard 9.2 and 9.3 in their time and I remember liking them. It was long time ago and in a completely different system so couldn't compare them directly to this one...

[@myplaguesify]

very accurate comparison,klipsch has exciting sound the big problem is when you listen to classical sad song it doesnt convey the real emotion rather it makes a sad song happy:)

[@RP-ms7lu]

Nice description, sad song in happy tone !!!! :)

[@guilhermeprado7851]

Q Acoustics 3030i or Polk Audio Reserve R200? Here in Brazil, about the same price. I can't decide. For hi-fi listening and electronic music production (for fun). Using as desktop speakers. I have a Violectric DAC V800 and a Adcom GFA-5400. Thanks in advance!

[@felixlaboy1453]

Amazing review. I have a $2,000 budget for a small setup. Can. You recommend a integrated amp and a set of bookshelf speakers.

[@computeraudiophile9590]

Elac Unifi 2.0 ub52 is one of the best starts on a budget. You can buy some used good amps ( maybe Emotiva bcs matches well with Elacs ),and still left with enough to buy decent cables,(equally important).Enjoy hunting.

[@felixlaboy1453]

@@computeraudiophile9590 Thank you very much. I really appreciate the advice.

[@MatijaTurk4]

Try Pioneer SX series... awesome vintage amps, or Arcam fmj series..

[@speech70fb]

Iz ličnog iskustva, mogu da kažem da kod "Q Acoustics 3030i" treba imati u vidu izuzetno dug break-in period i da bez bar tri meseca intenzivnog slušanja ne treba donositi zaključke. Par primedbi koje sam imao vezano za zvuk posle mesec ili dva korišćenja su u ovom momentu (četiri meseca slušanja) ili potpuno nestale ili se svele na zanemarljiv nivo. Generalno, ovi zvučnici imaju iznenađujuće visok kvalitet za tu cenu. Ima zvučnika koji važe za referentne u tom tipu i koštaju duplo više, a nemaju kvalitet zvuka koji ima "Q Acoustics 3030i".

[@iiWiReviews]

Istina, ja sam ih kupio mesec dana korišćene i razočarao se zvukom... Kasnije sam shvatio da su se tek kod mene počeli usviravati i onda odlagao opis dugo vremena... Prvi vlasnik ih je nažalost otpisao pre nego što ih je propisno čuo. Želeo sam to da pomenem u videu ali sam izgleda zaboravio.

[@mickey1160]

That's right

[@enricolisk1357]

For vinyl, would you go with 3030i, the Klipsch or Kef in the similar price range that you presented?

[@zonnycs2502]

Hey, great review! I've been looking at tons of speakers for the past month or so and I'm leaning heavily towards getting these. Just a question though since you're probably 100x more experienced than me when it comes to speakers. Do you think these would work well as computer speakers? The plan would be to connect them to an amp and then the amp to my PC with an optical cable. Not sure if it matters but my desk is 160x80 cm and I sit about an arm's length away from my screen. I will be using the speakers for listening to music (mostly metal, but other genres too) and watching movies/TV with some occasional gaming too. Since I live in an apartment I won't be listening to them at super high volumes and adding a subwoofer is obviously not an option.

[@iiWiReviews]

Thanks! I haven't tested it in that kind of situation, but I don't believe it would be all that practical. First of all it's a very deep speaker, also bass reflex port is located on the back... I would rather go for some speaker with less depth and bass reflex on the front for desktop use. But I'm not really the best person for this kind of recommendation since I don't use speakers in that type of environment.

[@j1nftw1n]

They do make smaller ones, you can check out the 3020i or the 3010i that seems more suitable for desktop use

[@rovd4433]

Great review bro. thank you. To add a bit, as opposed to these being used alone, I think the 3030i are better matched with any quality subwoofer because even though these produce bass, they weren't created to be impactful bass speakers. Having these together with one subwoofer should eliminate the need for a second subwoofer as it would be an over killed for a small hifi system. For short, these are add-on in my opinion. I'm anticipating buying these to use with my q acoustics 3090ci centre speaker alongside with my svs sb1000 subwoofer to complete my mini hifi system. My current denon bookshelf speakers are very dull sound quality-wise. By the way, what do you reckon?

[@balakrishnapanicker.5804]

Sounds reliable , gentleman .

[@totalplonker824]

Yeah my Q acoustics 3020i sounded lovely for the first 18 months but then my ears started perceiving as quite harsh

[@yyams]

Do you have a subwoofer (or two) for the low lows? I mean - not for your reviews, but I'd hate to think of you missing all that 25-40hz stuff.

[@yyams]

(well, 20 to 40 hz really)

[@iiWiReviews]

Not at the moment cause my space is little cramped. But I'm keeping an eye on some RELs, so if a good offer is presented I'll probably jump in.

[@yyams]

@@iiWiReviews Cool, and understood. But I will add they are WELL worth having IMHO - they have volume controls and off switches for the night time, and there's no reason you gotta go big first time out! A nice way, of course, is DIY. For a real basic third system setup with amp and crossover, about £150 is the cheapest I've managed. If you can stretch and stuff is available to you over there - my current setup is on a miniDSP 2x4HD but the amp and actual driver is very affordable. Some MDF, time is cheap in these covid days... You could get something real (REAL) nice happening for much less than any REL - for the time being. Either that or it's a waste of money you could've spent on something real real REAL nice later on eh. Best of luck whatever you do Srb. Keep up the good work. Jjams out.

[@yyams]

*£150 for that particular space, I must add... But, a smaller driver and it'd be the bargain upgrade of the year. Or, perhaps, a small but significant waste of valuable resources!

[@amanieux]

would you recommend the q3030i for low volume, very near field (50 cm) desktop use ? if not what other speaker would you recommend for that use case ? thanks

[@rhfturck]

3020i would be better for that.

[@erikt9677]

i bought some mission M73 for 60,- and some Philips MCD 908 for 30,- the philips have goldplated ribon tweeters combined with a neodium tweeter. i tryed them out,compared them and got lost in what i heared,those Philips sound nice, rich,detailed bud not sharp at all, never thought i would like them so mutch. on a car stereo?!,(yes, a good one ), something got to me playing with my cheap new toy's. i went back on the hunt and found a boston micro 80 set with a cr1 center for 35,-, turned out the same seller was selling his Yamaha natural sound av receiver RX-V10MK 2, for 37,50, WHAT! yes i own a Yamaha midi receiver now to, this is getting out of hand! ,not the monny! my 399,- sound bar with 2x199,- rear speakers are useles now,(they were useles when i bought them) expensive garbisch replaced by cheap quality stuf,can make an old man realy happy. it should have ended her, bud that Q Acoustic 3090ci was realy shiny, like calling to me. so i made a stupid low bid of 50,- euro and for 75,- wil be owner soon. that 2.1 boston set looked good to for 50,-, dam offer accepted, again?1 and i stil have a offer on boston A26 incl stands for 35,- ,am i in trouble? i also found some Q Acoustic 3030i min. bid 270,- a pair,thats cheap! and they would fit nice to my upcumming new 3090i center for 75,-in the same collor. dam,i am in trouble!

[@Bhuwan121]

These (Q) or triangle Borea BR02?

[@NaveenKumar-uh2gk]

Plz help me to select between 3030i and bronze 2 .I am getting both in same price in india .which one is better.which one you like more plz pl answer

[@iiWiReviews]

I would go for 3030i if space is big enough, they have deeper, fuller bassline. But if you don't have space and have to keep speakers really close to the wall, then Bronze 2 with its leaner bass and front bass-reflex port might be a smarter choice.

[@simasimic5820]

Da li uzeti 3020i za 36k, elac b6.2 za 39k ili klipsch 51m za 33k dinara?

[@iiWiReviews]

Za svoje uši ja bih B6.2. Ali ako imaš šanse poslušaj najbolje sam. Ipak su ukusi različiti.

[@simasimic5820]

@@iiWiReviews Hvala

[@kirilkirilov7236]

In the end you gonna to match critical to the Q acaustic to match!!! maybe you need to change your cabels becouse you dont have good mathing!!!

[@KINESKI-SINDIKAT]

uz ovakve zvucnike ..jos solidan sub da se uzmi ..stavar je odlicna ..mnogi bi se iznenadili ovakvom kombinacijom..mada ljudi beze u hi fi od suba..kao davo od krsta ...ja imam kod kuci sve opcije i mogu da kazem da je kupovina suba jedna najboljih investicija ..jer mozes bass da podesis po zelji jer ponekad fali tog donjeg spektra koji daje neki poseban car u muzici

[@iiWiReviews]

Pravda za sub! :) Slažemo se, samo loš sub kvari stvar a dobar sub doprinosi kvalitetu i doživljaju. Dodaću i to nekad u sistem...

[@yaoyaotigeraudio7299]

Nice work, friend, can we cooperate???

[@iiWiReviews]

Hi, for any cooperation offers please contact me via mail. You can find it in "About" tab of the channel.

[@russkilde]

You should do measurements in REW. I do think that subjective only reviews of HI-FI gear become less credible especially given the popularity of Audio Science Review

[@iiWiReviews]

Well, there's ASR for that and there are descriptive reviews like this one for more verbally than technically inclined viewers. To each its own I guess, it's good there is a choice.

[@DueM]

tbh thats what asr is for, they're just looking at accuracy but that doesn't account for personal preferences in sound. that's why subjective reviews have their place.

[@fredricgrethel1717]

Wow I could not disagree more. Numbers do not tell the whole story. To each his or her own, but I am quite happy with these reviews and this channel. Thank you iiWi!

[@yttean98]

your review of these speakers could have been half the length, the review far too long really, most of your reviews are too long including the DACs. Reviews should be concise, direct to the point, some measurements if you can conduct them, and nonrepetitive comments.