I got a new chance to audition the Threes today. This time it was at a very good room. Last time it was at a cramped and small living room with horrendous acoustics. But fundamentally, my experience was similar to last time. There's no doubt that these are excellent speakers. They are very precise, imaging is great, and the bass output is extremely impressive given the size. Still, subjectively and to my ears, they don't seem like the final word in sound reproduction. My reservations:
- there is something in the treble which I find ever so slightly artificial. I have difficulty pinpointing it exactly, but my experience was similar this time to last time. I should mention that I have no problem hearing up to 20 khz. I don't know if it's the drivers or the amplification or something else, or if my own subjectivity plays a trick on me. But I'm not 100% convinced by the uppermost registers.
- even in a good room like this with symmetrical placement and seating, they felt like "small speakers" (which they are, of course). What I mean by this is that the acoustical source feels small. This is also something I have some trouble describing in a good way, but I often have the experience that bigger drivers or well-eq'ed horns - EDIT: and large electrostats - couple the soundwaves to the air in a more natural manner (so that the kick drum doesn't have to crawl its way out of the speaker, but that it's just there in front of you). The Kiis feel much bigger than other small speakers, but still can't be compared to big horns or speakers with large and effortless drivers.
- I think - but I'm not sure - that I perceived some compression or distortion in the bass. This is the point where I'm least sure about my own subjective evaluation. Bass is extremely room dependent, and it might very well have been resonances in the room.
These are my reservations. On the plus side, it is obviously a very good speaker. First and foremost it seems like an excellent musical allrounder, which does most things very well, and doesn't have any glaring shortcomings. Precise, authoritative, correct, and engaging. And compact of course. Not the final word in audio, IMO, but still a good offering.
The test might not have been perfect. Anyway, my point was merely that I do hear fairly high notes, which means that I'm sensitive to what goes on up there.
