Usher Mini Dancer 2 or Q Acoustics Concept 500 - Marantz PM Ki Ruby

Back to the Ushers. It’s been a weird experience so far.  You're gonna think that I am crazy but it sounds very different on different days.. Some days, they sound like a dream.. extremely natural, magical and musical…Also, i'm not sure if the Phase setting on Pontus affects the sound?  Should I leave it on or off?

Yeah, listening through the break-in process can be a real rollercoaster affair albeit interesting if at times frustrating.  If possible I’d leave music playing on them even while not listening to speed up the process and maybe experiment with placement — specifically less toe in to see if treble sounds better more off axis.  Glad the Pontus worked out and is exactly what I hoped you’d find, so now let’s just hope the Ushers cooperate and settle in even more to your liking.  🤞🤞🤞 Thanks for the update!  Unfortunately I’m not familiar with how Denafrips implements their phase function but I’d suspect it should sound better one way than the other.  Maybe someone like @vthokie83, who also owns a Pontus 2, could chime in with their thoughts on it. 

Any updates/thoughts as they’ve had more time on them?

Thanks for sharing your system components — most helpful.  I hear ya loud n clear on the wife front, and let’s see where things stand at around the 200 hour mark because things may well be very different by then.  I know you just dropped some coin on the speakers, but I’ll just share some unsolicited thoughts I think could be worth considering for the future or whenever FWIW.

- Your system could likely benefit from better speaker cables, and I’d highly recommend something like these Acoustic Zen cables (yeah I own them) as they do all the audiophile things in spades (pun intended) and sound very natural doing it.  I also think they’d very much synergize with and  compliment the Usher’s considerable strengths.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235430798208

- A more organic-sounding DAC like the Denafrips Pontus 2 may also be very worth considering as your current DAC, while very good, leans more to the very neutral and maybe clinical side.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650096562-denafrips-pontus-ii-dac/

- Last, adding an external linear power supply (like Teddy Pardo, etc.) to your Node can yield significant improvements in performance and refinement for $400 or less.

I mention these only if after break in you’re curious about pushing or tweaking your system further.  Again, just fyi and FWIW.

Congrats! Yeah you wanna give them at least 200 hours of playing time for the speakers to begin to settle in (and likely longer than that for full break in) so some patience is definitely warranted. Not only will the tweeters settle down, but the mid/woofs will also loosen up and likely balance out the sound further. That you’re already realizing some significant improvements even at this stage is very promising and will likely get even better. In the meantime you can experiment with toe in and speaker placement, and you might also consider eventually treating your room for things like first reflections from the side walls, etc. as that can have a big impact on the sound you hear (hanging blankets up temporarily can be helpful in experimenting with this). Also, what are your current cables/interconnects? I think just some more time will be your friend here. I almost returned my speakers after the first two weeks because they sounded so anemic, so things can change rather dramatically and completely understand the sometimes painful break-in process. Hang in there and you’ll be rewarded.

My pick in this price category is the Joseph Audio Profile that is an extremely well balanced speaker and has imaging/3D soundstage and pulls off a disappearing act that are among the best in the industry and would be well worth adding to your list.  People who’ve heard them with the $17k Perspectives say the Profiles capture a large portion of what the Perspectives offer, which says a lot I think. The Ushers are the best looking and best value of the bunch IMHO, and they also have considerably more bass capabilities than the others while the Q doesn’t dig really deep and the Profiles lie between the two. Both the Ushers and Profiles offer excellent and very natural midranges, and I know the Profile’s silk dome tweeter does an excellent job of providing lots of air and natural detail without straying to brightness. I’ve only heard the Ushers with the Beryllium tweeter that was likewise excellent but haven’t heard their DMD diamond tweeter in the current Mini 2, but I will note it’s the same custom built in-house tweeter they use in their $40k flagship that I find pretty incredible given the price of the Mini 2 (benefits of making your own drivers). I have no experience with the Q so can’t add anything there, but it did receive a very positive review in Stereophile along with very good measured results FWIW. These are all excellent speakers and hard to imagine you’d be less than thrilled with any of them, and none are a hard load so should be perfectly fine with your Ruby. If I’m you I’d read reviews and go hear as many as you can to whittle down to the one that seems to best deliver what specifically you’re looking for. Hope this helps, and best of luck.

Really depends on what improvements and sound characteristics you’re looking for, and are you looking for new or used?