Review Audioengine A5 Powered Speakers

I love music, I don’t have a talent in that but generally listening in music helps me to do things better then without any music.

That why I have music wherever I go and whatever I do, be it at work, or at play.

Recently I embark to improve my listening experience at home to get an improvement from my existing audio setup. iTunes (in apple lossless when possible) à Creative Xmod à Altec Lansing ATP3. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great budget setup and I think this costs less then 150 SGD if you get it today however I predict I will be spending more time in my room in near future and don’t really want to be wearing my UE11 at home.

My 1st attempt at improving my current setup was a disaster, decided to go for the cheaper upgrade route by keeping my Creative Xmod and just upgrade the speakers to Creative Gigaworks T3. What a mistake, I made my decision to get a 2nd hand T3 just by 5 mins with the T3 at Creative retail shop and also online reviews.

Maybe I am pampered by my UE11, the T3 while having very nice treble and crazy amount of bass, it ALMOST de-voided of any mid tones, the easiest way I can explain mid-tones … okay I can’t explain mid-tones, basically it makes the music sound FULL and WARM. The Creative T3 sounds very clean and clinical, the crazy amount of bass (even at minimum settings) made it worst. It’s like having your ears jabbed with something sharp over and over again whilst having someone slap you with a big flat fan. Okay, I think I am making it sound worst then it actually is. But trust me .. for MUSIC, the combination of Xmod and Gigaworks T3 is really bad, no mid-tones and flabby bass all over the place. This results in what we call ear fatigue, when you can’t stand listening to the speakers over a long period and makes you tired and irritable from listening to it. I couldn’t take it and sold the T3 at a loss of 10 SGD after a month of using it.

My research bought me to the Audioengine A5 and the ESI nEar 05 which is highly recommended by members of the audio community. After narrowing down to these 2 models, I set off to Adelphi to do an audio test of these 2 speakers. Unfortuntely, ESI is no longer carried by jaben, instead I was directed to some ulu place and contact some stranger. Arrghh .. right, no way I am going to go for a wild goose chase just to test out some speakers.

Since I was at Adelphi, went ahead to test at Audioengine A5 at CD Acoustic with Jimmy (really nice guy).

My quick impressions of the various speakers tested at CD Acoustic.

Test Equipment: iPod Classic 80Gig
Connector: 3.5mm Male to Male Connector
Music Bitrate: Apple Lossless

Audioengine A2

1st speaker we tested, our first impression was WOW .. such nice vocals, like concert hall. Very nice .. and this was from an audio CD that Jimmy played from CD Player. Decided to play different genres of music from iPod Classic. Hmm okay .. the bass isn’t that good. Tight but gets distorted at some range and apparently, if it’s too loud, the speakers will shut down to protect itself, but still .. very decent pair of speakers if using it for small room or office.

Audioengine A5

This is the big brother of A2, the significant but not sole difference is that the A5 has a charge/docking station on top of one of the speakers, it also has a slot for plugging in a Apple Wireless thingy (can’t remember the name).

The A2 didn’t sound impressive when we 1st listen to it .. sounds hollow, then we pumped the volume and then we understand .. the A5 needs some level of loudness to realize it’s full potential and the bass is no longer weak and bloated.

I begin to realize why everyone loves the A5, the treble is clear, the mid tones is smooth and the bass is tight and accurate (i.e the bass doesn’t go BOM BOM BOM, it goes THUM, THUM THUM) which makes you want to listen more and feels good listening to it (zero ear fatigue).

Akimate Mini

Just before I left, Jimmy requested for me to try out the Akimate Mini as well, before we go into the sound, the Akimate Mini features a wireless remote and a built-in ipod dock as compared to the A5.

Soundwise, it’s a or several grades higher then A5. Basically we sat in front of the coach and just had our jaws dropped as we listen to Diana Krall. It was as if we were sitting in a concert hall and listening to a live performance.

The sound was very very smooth, very tight bass and amazing surround sound. Even with the amazing surround effect, the music did not lose it’s richness and vibrancy, it was like a mini concert in front of me.

Unfortunately, this was out of my budget by quite a significant amount. If I do not have a budget to meet, it’s no question asked that I would have gone for the Akimate Mini.

Conclusion

If you have no budget and loves music in general, please get the Akimate Mini, it’s entry level HIFI but designed for the ipod generation, it sounds so good even when driven by a mere ipod. You have have no complains about your speakers for a long time to come, you can even set it to switch on as a music alarm using your ipod (not sure about iphone, apparently iphones don’t have this feature).

If you have a budget and intending to use it on a relatively large room all by yourself, go get the A5 .. a very worthy contender to the Akimate Mini and MOST people will be hard pressed to hear the difference. Do note that the Akimate Mini and Audioengine A5 both occupies a large footprint so make sure you have enough space on your desk or bookshelf.

If you a budget and restriction on your desk, do go for the Audioengine A2, these have a smaller footprints but sounds amazing as well. You will not be able to blast it loud (i.e at a party) but it should sound much much better then those sub 100 speakers you see at Funan/Sim Lim.

As always, why should you trust me? No, you shouldn’t. My advise is to grab your ipod, free your afternoon and head down to Adelphi and do a listening test yourself. Jimmy’s a really nice guy and really allow me to test the speakers until I am happy to part with my money.

Extra Notes

After I bought my Audioengine A5, I began to read the possible benefits from a better soundcard (as compared to my existing Xmod) and I purchase a 2nd hand ASUS Essences STX for a steal.

The improvements from a better soundcard such as the ASUS Essences STX, is amazing !! I seriously didn’t believe that sound could improve that much, I dare say my audio system now is a very decent entry level HIFI which sounds amazing, the soundstage is wider, the singing sounds much warmer and bass more impactful.

Is this card worth the upgrade for the audioengine a5? If you have the spare cash .. I would say YES.

Having said that, the Audioengine A5 already sounds amazing even on it’s on so even without a great soundcard, you will be able to enjoy the speakers by itself.

PS: there’s an additional bonus for this soundcard, it has a built in amplifier to drive your headphones for better sound quality, though I must admit I am enjoying my Audioengine A5 too much to test the headphones amplifier.