I heard the EOS HD on the 15th and ordered a pair on the 17th. The EOS 1 is no longer a product. The EOS 2 is now the EOS and the EOS 3 is now the EOS HD. I have been looking for a new bookshelf speaker for a while now now. Heard plenty including usher, jmlabs, wilson(too exp), proacs, coincident, theil, ae, harbeth, dyn, tannoys(full size), list goes on... I like the reynaud offrande at RMAF.. also the tannoys and audio notes with we300b... very nice.
The pair I heard had just been polished and Roy was setting them up for me and overnight burn in to ship the next day. Besides testing, I'm pretty sure I heard the first music on them. Edge amp, birdland dac(i think) some low end transport. Room 30x30ft or so 15ft(maybe higher) stands in 3 ft.
There's so much good about these speakers... it's hard to find fault(I quickly dropped my sound analysis(about 4 or 5 songs in) and dumped my usual evaluation and just sat back and took it in). It's also hard to describe what I heard since it is so different than what I've been hearing... I will say I heard some traits common in single drivers like audio notes or tannoys but just some. If you've heard GMAs before then probably already know about lack of grain, imaging, sound stage, dynamics, smoothness, speed, etc... besides those, bass authority(this bass also goes pretty low), clear perfect highs, w/o fatigue were what really stand out to me with this speaker. Speakers I've been hearing have been frying my ears after a while even though they have the nice hf.
Neil Young "down by the river chorus" is one test I have for compression when all voices join in. Typically things get messy on most of what I've heard. On my speakers, I usually hit the volume down a bit and get by it.
Not here, opened up above the speakers and distinct voices with space. Very nice. The Who "Real Me" is my bad recording(also compressed test). Most speakers I hear in an attempt to image moons drums typcially get different parts in each speaker. Not here again, everything behind the speakers, a bit to the left but again, space indicating placement of each drumbs. This song also plays with Daltreys voice. Sometimes resessed and sometimes forward. I didn't notice any large variation like I typically do. Also, I've heard the bass guitar in this(which is the greatest bass rift ever IMO) vary from bookshelf to bookshelf. Sometimes the drumbs stand out, sometimes the bass. On the EOS it's the bass which is typically how I hear it on floor standers. One other note, I was enjoying this quite a bit then Roy came in and said, "this song needs to be played load" and cranked it. I mean cranked! I've had dealers give me the be careful look before... not Roy, up it went and it was fantastic.
ok, that's all.
