vmhf Posted August 9, 2010 Posted August 9, 2010 (edited) Just like to post up a few comments on the recent demo of this combo at Wicked Digital's boutique showroom in Neutral Bay, Sydney last week. This is not a formal review but just my thoughts in a few paragraphs. Steve at Wicked Digital kindly offered me and a friend an after hours demo of the Aaron no.1.a integrated amp so we decided to take him up on it. The amp was connected to a pair of speakers by a brand I was not familiar with called Xavian. Upon doing some research the company is established in the Czech Republic and founded by an Italian speaker designer. The Xavian XN270 is stunningly built and solid as a rock confirmed by the knuckle test. Similarly the Aaron amp oozes class in its construction with an uncluttered and eye catching front panel. You can feel the German precision when pushing and turning the front selector knobs. Now to the sound of this combo. Absolutely engaging and what I would call 'high end' sound without the associated pricetag. Certainly not for someone on a shoestring budget but within the reach of most people into hifi. The Xavian speakers are amongst the most outstanding stand mounts I have ever heard. The midrange is truly superb. Upper frequencies are well extended with a sweetness to the sound that is almost tube like. Great control and definition in the bass regions which are certainly due to the fact these are a sealed box design. I would say the speakers easily reach the 35Hz region in the right room and provide more than enough satisfying bass for most people. This thoroughly enjoyable sound was proving the great synergy with the Aaron no.1.a amp which I find has a most alluring midrange. Crystal clear in this department that also resulted in a wide and deep soundstage. As mentioned before I found the treble in this combo had an almost tube like sweetness to it. Not grating like most integrated amps I have heard. It was however slightly more pronounced than some other amps I have listened to which really boosts the detail levels which I like in a good recording. For bad recordings you may want a more forgiving amp. I almost forgot to mention that the source was a Bel Canto DAC3.5 with power supply connected to a Cambridge Audio CD player acting as the transport. So in a nutshell a genuinely superb combo that could easily replace my more expensive tube setup if I wanted a different more refreshing sound. Takes up much less space too which is a boon for some people living in smaller quarters. I have a feeling things will get even better in time once the amp has run in and the speakers have logged in more hours. Well worth a listen if you are in the Sydney area and are looking for a new system. Edited August 9, 2010 by vmhf
My Rantz Posted August 9, 2010 Posted August 9, 2010 Nice write-up and obviously a couple of worthy new brands for 'philes to keep in mind.
New Sensations Posted August 9, 2010 Posted August 9, 2010 Nice little write-up there vmhf. I recently reviewed the baby brother of the No.1a, the XX and found exactly as you have: a real sweetness to the top end.
vmhf Posted August 9, 2010 Author Posted August 9, 2010 Looking forward to your review on the XX 20th Anniversary Edition. From what Steve tells me it is similar to the no.1.a with a slightly lower output and a 'made in Holland' tag as opposed to the 'made in Germany' of the no.1.a. I am also assuming the $2K difference buys you higher grade components within as well. A quick comparison of the two revealed a more refined sound of the bigger brother and larger soundstage. Apart from that they both appear almost identical in build quality and appearance. I find it strange that Aaron has released a limited edition amp that is below their flagship model.
markm1111 Posted August 9, 2010 Posted August 9, 2010 (edited) Victor Very interested in your comments re the XN270. Did you move them around at all? Did they seem fussy at all in relation to placement? I am thinking of these as an option to listen to as a possible better fit for my listening room than my Focus 140's Edited August 9, 2010 by markm1111 typos - as usual
vmhf Posted August 9, 2010 Author Posted August 9, 2010 Hi Mark, On the first listen we did not move the speakers around. Steve's listening room is quite small so we seemed to be enveloped in the sweet spot. I will be popping over again this evening to do a comparison with my ML-1 signatures. Should be a very interesting evening... Certainly for a rather large stand mount speaker these did not seem to excite any room nodes when the volume was pushed. The sealed box design usually helps in placement of a speaker. Cheers, Victor.
markm1111 Posted August 9, 2010 Posted August 9, 2010 Thanks Victor. If you get a chance, please see if Steve will let you move them close to the wall. Any feedback I can get would be great. Cheers Mark M
vmhf Posted August 9, 2010 Author Posted August 9, 2010 I am sure he will go the extra mile if an SNAer has a request!
vmhf Posted August 10, 2010 Author Posted August 10, 2010 Another great evening at Steve's Wicked Digital showroom. Got to listen to the Xavian XN250, XN125 and of course the XN270 again. First to answer markm1111's question first about the placement issues of the XN270 standmount speaker. We found some adjustment was required to achieve a stable image. But placing the speaker close to the wall did not significantly effect the sound. I would say at worst some of the '3D' aspect of the music was diminished but this will always happen when doing this to any speaker. The sound was still thoroughly enjoyable with no strange distortions in the bass being obviously apparent. On the other hand placing the smaller XN125 and XN250 the bass seemed to bloom and smother the midrange noticeably. An effect that some people intentionally want but not for me. So this is testament to the sealed box design of the XN270. I found the ATC scm19's had a similarly tight and fast bass to the Xavian XN270 but not in the league of bass depth at all. Just like to add that the smaller XN125 and XN250 Xavians are well worth listening to as well. Both have bass to die for in a stand mount.
Wicked Digital Posted August 10, 2010 Posted August 10, 2010 (edited) #?#?#?#?#?#?#?#?#?#?#?#?#?# Edited May 12, 2011 by Wicked Digital
New Sensations Posted August 10, 2010 Posted August 10, 2010 vmhf - if you have time, perhaps you could post your thoughts on how the ML-1 Sigs compared to the Xavians?
vmhf Posted August 12, 2010 Author Posted August 12, 2010 I only got to compare the ML-1 signatures with the Xavian XN270 briefly at Steve's showroom. I found on first impressions that the ML-1's had the more vibrant sound. Its tweeter was more apparent than on the Xavians. The ML-1's bass was visceral and tight as was the Xavian's which delved down noticeably deeper. In the important midrange the ML-1's sounded very clean and clear which was equaled by the Xavians. Although I found the Xavians had a slightly more open sound. In tonal balance the Xavians exhibited a slight warmth to the sound that the ML-1's totally lacked. The ML-1's seemed give you the impression of sitting up close to the performance whilst on the Xavians you were sitting further back. Both are fantastic speakers no doubt.
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