I just heard the 801D4 yesterday driven by Luxman separates. I was pleasantly surprised by how much better they sounded than the D3.
Any owners here of Bowers & Wilkins 800 series D4 yet?
Anyone here owns D4 series?
Actual owner?
Reason I ask: I own the 803 D3. A dealer locally had the 803 D4 on display. So I went to listen.
I was not really impressed from that audition. I felt my D3 sounds better at my home.
Having said this, the dealer had them connected to (obviously) different gear than me, to McIntosh gear, including MC462 stereo amp, and a Mac tubes preamp I am not familiar with. My guess is preamp with built in DAC. They were also streaming via a Sonos Connect.
These kind of auditions are a crapshoot. Unless with my own gear (or similar), and preferably in my room, not much you can learn
Showing 2 responses by greginnh
@thyname - I suffer from tinnitus and as much as I wanted to love my 803D3 speakers there were many instances when I just could not stand the higher frequencies. I also got rid of my KEF Balde 2s for the same reason. I happened to visit one of my regular retailers yesterday and he informed me how surprised HE was with the different presentation the new D4 series has -especially on the top end. I was saying to myself "sure - I doubt that is the case" but sure enough, no more annoying tweeter and everything just sounded wonderful. These new speakers have me seriously considering going back to B&W. I am a bit concerned that the 801 would overpower my room so I may audition the smaller speakers (in my room). Everything is so room and gear dependent. I was lucky that he had the same amplification I have at home so several variables were removed. |