Tidal Piano Cera or Magico S3

I would recommend your friend should listen to the KEF Blades as well, the Blades are an amazing speaker for the money and will outperform the Magicos. They will not have as much treble resolution as the Diamond based Tidals but other than that it is is very hard to beat the overall level of performance you get in the Blades

Thank you for the advice, a local dealer is selling the Blades so I’ve heard them and my friend separately too (with Esotric and Pass electronics). Both of us were not very impressed with the listening, quite good but not outstanding and not worthing the selling price of 26000 euro ( official price of the S3 is 23000 euro, Tidal Piano Cera 15500 and about 26000 euro for Tidal Piano Diacera or Tidal Contriva, 14000 euro for B&W 802 Di, 13700 euro for Thiel 3.7).
My friend was vey impressed by the Magico S5 he heard at the Mubich Show two years ago, he could not go there this year, but will go later in the year to a show in Zurich, so any advice for speakers that worthing to listen is welcome.

Audiooracle,

How exactly will they out preform the Magico? These speakers completely falls apart when played above 90db, have no low bass to speak of, and sound opaque. They do look cool, but that’s about it. Completely different league then an S3 or the S5. I would even take the S1 over these.
Are you a dealer of KEF?

I heard both the KEF Blades and Tidal Contriva Diaceras in in long back to back listening sessions and thought the Blades were very fine speakers. Not the equal of the Tidals, but in no way did they "fall apart" at over 90 db. levels. Nor did I find them unbalanced sounding as far as bass. (They were driven by Ayre MX-R amps.) Just goes to show how different we all hear things. The fact that the Blades have a very sculptural presence in a room as opposed to what most loudspeakers look like (no matter how expensive) gives them an aesthetic edge in a high end interior.

No, it just goes to show that some people do not recognized distortion when they hear it.
Have a look at their measurement on the German magazine Stereoplay. The distortion measurements at levels above 90 dB were pretty bad, and almost 15 dB (!!) worse than the Magico S5 recently tested by same magazine. But if you don’t hear it, good for you. I sure did.

It's ironic that a speaker that wasn't asked about in the original post is brought up by someone who not coincidentally happens to sell it, followed by several people replying that they have heard that speaker against the other two asked about and generally do not care much for it. Bitter pill to swallow, eh, audiodoctorcom?

Audiooracle, have you compared the Blade to the S3 in the same system? The S3 is very new and not many people have heard it yet? I'm also wondering if you are a KEF dealer. The OP was not asking about KEF speakers and you jumped right in in the first post to suggest he listen to KEF.

Now that you mention it, Audiooracle, I have heard the KEF Blade. I was
underwhelmed and left wondering what all the fuss is about.

Audiooracle should disclose his KEF dealer status.

Hi, what are your impressions of the sound of the magico q3 speakers?, my friend has a pair that I am helping him prepair to send back to magico to get the right channel speaker's mid-range fixed, so no, I have not listened to these speakers yet, what can I expect?, Thanks-cheers.

Can we stay with OP question, Audiooracle is a KEF dealer, so lets move on. I also would like to hearabout from those who compared Tidal piano with S3, or Marten with S3, S5.

The OP was asking about the S3 which is so new that I have not had a chance to hear it yet.

Audiolabyrinth, I have heard the Q3 though and it is one of the great speakers available today. It is extremely well balanced and neutral sounding. It is much easier to drive than is the Q5. It is dynamic, seamless, very coherent and I think it is quite transparent. It completely disappeared in the system/room. I have heard it sound different as electronics changed. It is the speaker that I would replace my Mini 2s with, if I could afford it.

Thankyou Peterayer for your reply, so this is what I may expect, I really do not know about his electronics though, may be inferior?, He has the Rega osiris intergrated amp with the oppo 95 with the full Modwright mods, the out board tube power supply and the player has two 6sn7 tubes sticking out the top, then he has the shunata tron-anaconda speaker cables and interconnects, you may say your honest opinion about this set-up, LOL!, He does not have a computer, go ahead.

which is the better speaker model up the magico speaker chain, The q3 or s3 ??, I know the s3 is a wooden cabinet were as the q3 is all Aluminum speaker.

My Mistake, Both the q3 and s3 are aluminum speakers, However, looking at their site, It seems like the q3 is the higher end model?, Has any one listened to both models?, If so, what are the sound differences, which model sounds better?

I have not heard the S3. It is a very new speaker and it is not in many dealerships yet. There are a few comparisons between the S5 and the Q3 on the net. Just do a search.

I prefer the Q3 as I find it to be more neutrally balanced, transparent and refined. The S5 is very good and has more bass impact/energy, but I don't think it is more accurate or realistic sounding. It is slightly warmer sounding and many people prefer its sound. If you go to a dealer and listen to both speakers, you will learn a lot about the S and Q lines. The Q line is more expensive and I think represents the best Magico can do. However, the S line is newer and there are some innovations in the S line that may influence future Q designs.