理性派HiFi X5 Speaker Review

[sarieri]

Can you post a link of his store? Assuming online store?

https://m.tb.cn/h.UKepGFL

Here it is.

 

[MZKM]

Preference Rating
SCORE: 3.7
SCORE w/ sub: 6.6

Sensitivity: 82.4dB (300hz-3kHz)
Frequency response: +/- 3.7dB 80Hz-20kHz

 

[Ricardojoa]

This speaker actually measured much better than the wilson audio tunetot

 

[Triliza]

Nice review, very interesting to see speakers from China. Is the company making these a small one, how did the designer of these came to have measurements for this particular speaker?

 

[Jeromeof]

Very interesting - would be great to see more Chinese speakers enter the market outside China. We need more competition (especially in Europe) to drive up quality and drive down prices.

I do like the finish. My wife who hates the look of box speakers might even be happy with how this speaker looks.

 

[Koeitje]

Doesn't look too bad, all things considered. Throw in some extra filters and it should make a fine desktop setup for a reasonable price, though usability doesn't look great right out of the box, and the tweeter level seems a tad too hot.
The manufacturer did talk about how this model is "made for desktop use" too, so maybe that dip across upper bass is some form of pre-emptive desktop compensation filter baked into the response, still no justification for the funny resonance around the 400Hz mark.

Meh, just buy Adam T5Vs and put a shelf filter on it. Also saves you the cost of an amplifier. Only reason to get this is if sound quality isn't your tip priority and you like the looks.

 

[Cars-N-Cans]

Is that a fake JBL horn tweeter? Does anyone else make their waveguides with a geometry like that? I see the waveguide can be purchased separately, but it doesn't quite look the same as those from Harman/JBL (edit: And no logos or anything on the trim. Just bare plastic. And its $2k USD so if its a bootleg might as well go with the real thing).

 

[Cars-N-Cans]

This speaker actually measured much better than the wilson audio tunetot

But it looks like it might just be a copy of what works on other speakers. I was having deja-vu looking at the measurements. The waveguide for the dome tweeter looks pretty much identical to those on my Polk signature series, and the horizontal directivity and listening window are very similar to both my own measurements and Amir's. Its almost like whomever built it looked around for things that worked, and then turned them into off-brand generics to be used in building speakers. I'm very curious to see the provenance on the woofer. Be willing to bet it came from Big Rock Shenzhen Mountain

 

[Eric.D]

Is that a fake JBL horn tweeter? Does anyone else make their waveguides with a geometry like that? I see the waveguide can be purchased separately, but it doesn't quite look the same as those from Harman/JBL (edit: And no logos or anything on the trim. Just bare plastic).

Ok so to clarify this, the designer of this speaker(also the x5) was a Harman/Audio precision/JBL etc. employee. The HDI Horn was designed by a man called 辜磊（GU LEI), his career portfolio can be seen here: (Video of the speaker ). Furthermore, between 0:30 and 5:06 of the video, he explained the purpose and the philosophy of the design/choices of the horn/driver.

 

[fineMen]

Not too bad, but otherwise it can't compete with e/g JBL's 305.

 

[delta76]

For a moment I thought this was a spam post (as a moderator of a small forum, that always triggers me to see non Latin characters in a thread name)
Kudos for Amir to use the actual, "correct" product name

 

[Cars-N-Cans]

Ok so to clarify this, the designer of this speaker(also the x5) was a Harman/Audio precision/JBL etc. employee. The HDI Horn was designed by a man called 辜磊（GU LEI), his career portfolio can be seen here: (Video of the speaker ). Furthermore, between 0:30 and 5:06 of the video, he explained the purpose and the philosophy of the design/choices of the horn/driver.

I just wonder if there are IP issues? It is China so that argument is a bit academic since once your IP is over there or in the hands of a Chinese national, it basically ends up with the CCP in some fashion a lot of the time and is copied ad-infinitum.

 

[Eric.D]

I just wonder if there are IP issues? It is China so that argument is a bit academic since once your IP is over there or in the hands of a Chinese national, it basically ends up with the CCP in some fashion and is copied ad-infinitum.

That is plausible but I think we should discuss it on a case-by-case basis, in this case, the designer showed convincing evidence of details that were involved in designing the horn/driver (in the video there was footage of COMSOL simulation of the HDI horn and the phase plug of the compression driver).

 

[Vini darko]

Very intrested for the teardown. Will the manufacturer be vindacated? I'm routing for them.

 

[Lunafag]

An example of why sealed box is not a magic bullet for sound quality. The more I learn about ports the more I appreciate them.

 

[Cars-N-Cans]

That is plausible but I think we should discuss it on a case-by-case basis, in this case, the designer showed convincing evidence of details that were involved in designing the horn/driver (in the video there was footage of COMSOL simulation of the HDI horn and the phase plug of the compression driver).

And I could show very convincing details in things I have designed for my past employers since I still have a lot of design documentation and data left over from my work. However, once you leave the company, regardless of if you are the inventor or not, its not your IP unless its explicitly stated as being so. In this case it looks like the IP belongs firmly with Harman, and he is reproducing it outside of his employment or contractual obligations with them, i.e. IP theft. As I said in an earlier post the horizontal dispersion and waveguide size/profile for the dome tweeter looks strikingly similar to the Polk Signature series. That alone would not mean much since those are so generic and ubiquitous, but the "Scan Speak" driver and JBL-styled compression driver waveguide all paint a much different picture of these designs basically being copied from other speakers. If they are genuine Scan Speak woofers, then at least there is plausibility of legitimacy.

I used to say the Chinese will eventually come for our speakers as well, but I did not envision that being literally shipping those same speakers with some random knock-off parts, a strange-sounding name on the grill, and a manual in Google-translate Chinglish. If it is a copy then its probably best to steer clear of a lot of this stuff. Hopefully the teardown says otherwise.

 

[uwotm8]

Woofer seems to be a fake ScanSpeak
Overall surprisingly acceptable FR but that garage-DIY feel/look... meh
Thanks Amir!

 

[uwotm8]

Is the woofer an original Danish-built Scan Speak Revelator woofer

no wai

 

[Eric.D]

And I could show very convincing details in things I have designed for my past employers since I still have a lot of design documentation and data left over from my work. However, once you leave the company, regardless of if you are the inventor or not, its not your IP unless its explicitly stated as being so. In this case it looks like the IP belongs firmly with Harman, and he is reproducing it outside of his employment or contractual obligations with them, i.e. IP theft. As I said in an earlier post the horizontal dispersion and waveguide size/profile for the dome tweeter looks strikingly similar to the Polk Signature series. That alone would not mean much since those are so generic and ubiquitous, but the "Scan Speak" driver and JBL-styled compression driver waveguide all paint a much different picture of these designs basically being copied from other speakers. If they are genuine Scan Speak woofers, then at least there is plausibility of legitimacy.

I used to say the Chinese will eventually come for our speakers as well, but I did not envision that being literally shipping those same speakers with some random knock-off parts, a strange-sounding name on the grill, and a manual in Google-translate Chinglish. If it is a copy then its probably best to steer clear of a lot of this stuff. Hopefully the teardown says otherwise.

And I agree with you on this one, IP awareness is really important. Although I don't know if designing a similar HDI* horn is an IP theft, yet that scan speak driver do be sus as hell. XD

 

[Sokel]

The music I listen to has enough instruments so not another one please.
Can't be poorer than that.

Thanks Amir!