Just a heads up! The two black subwoofers seen in the corners are not connected or used in this video. Thanks!

by far the best DEMO I've heard on youTube I wish all demos had comparison's like this. Kudos to you and Randy

Sapphires sound amazing. Klipsch was a little more congested sounding but the way they reproduce piano performance; dynamics, touch and feel is the most realistic to me.

Quick comparison of my favorite part of the bass track: 8:22 Revel $&^÷*#* 16:22 Klipsch Heresy 25:28 Concept 500 33:27 M3 Sapphire 41:47 X5 The X5 gets the best piano but adds an amplified quality to the magic the M3 does with the bass. Randy's awesome. Thanks

Folks, I’m late to this party. After seeing the amount of effort put into this demo, this was instant subscription material. Randy let me hear the differences that words simply cannot describe! Here’s my triple take: 1. I did not realize with my ears what the bass was doing until the Concept 500s revealed the truth. For a box speaker, that was an ear opening experience; however, 2. The Spatial Sapphires ruled the day for me on the bass sample. I’ve played in bluegrass bands (yeah, I know…a hi fidelity wonderland) for a large part of my life and the Sapphires hit the resonance and timbre of those big doghouse bass tones that I’m used to hearing. That was about the most faithful reproduction of sound that I have ever heard; however, 3. The X5s absolutely floored me with the piano sample. Holy ebony and ivory Batman. I sold pianos to pay my way through college. I’ve been fortunate to play Steinway, Concert Yamaha’s, Kawai, Bosendorfer Imperial’s (extra keys on bottom end), and I’ve heard stellar concert pianists try out our products…and…well…the X5s had me believing a piano was in the room. So, what does one do to get the best of both worlds? My ears will forever now want the Sapphire bass and the X5 piano. Buy half a set of each? Put the Sapphire on the left and the X5 on the right? The Holy Grail of speakers has to be out there somewhere merging the two sounds of what I just heard. Then you just watch. I know my luck. The new “find” will suck at woodwinds or vocals. The impossible quest is “impossible” for a reason. Until then, the excitement is in the chase. I hope “Randy” stays with us to help slay the windmills. Great job young man with your presentation. I look forward to exploring your videos and chasing dragons.

I Will admit, I was skeptical. Piano is probably the most difficult to reproduce in the spectrum. I was blown away with the X5s. That price range will never be in my budget, but thank you for letting us experience it with you. Thank you.

You win the trophy for the best sounding audio in KZfaq history

Spatial all the way. The fact that one can tell the difference over a cheap cell phone speaker can speak volumes.

The Q Acoustics sounded the best of all the "Box" speakers, but both the Spatial speakers are phenomenally better than any of the conventional speakers in this group. The Spatial's have great speed and reveal the texture of the instruments. The X-5s are unbelievable!

The binaural mic head thing is amazing! These were VERY good recordings.

By far, the best sound demo I have heard. I played this video using Mac + external Dac and connected to my secondary dedicated music system. Boy, was I in for a ride.

Thanks Ron for this! Regardless of how useful or not sound clips are in the speaker decision making process, it's always fun! And your recording is great fun, good quality, and great sample of speakers. Thanks for doing this!

Thanks Ron, fantastic comparison video. Absolute next level. All of the speakers were amazing, the Spatials just more so. I listen to a piano everyday and the Spatials get closer to replicating the sound then the others. I was pleasantly surprised with how balanced the Klipchs were.

Listening to these with my X-LS late at night on my U-Frame 8" servo subs, I'm really impressed how well the binural audio works! And the differences between each speaker is really distinct, esp in that opening bass clip!

That microphone setup is amazing! This is the first youtube speaker demo that I've actually found useful! With a good set of headphones it seems like I can definitely hear what these sound like in your room. If you keep using this binaural head for recordings you'll have to pay more attention to what you do while recording. Every time you took a deep breath, moved slightly on the couch or scratched your beard I found myself whipping my head to the left to see what was over there! :) The X5's and Sapphires are amazing! These are the first speakers I've heard that I'd actually consider buying verses building my own. Nice work on this video!

Excellent format, commentary, sound and the best of all, beautiful music, wow! I enjoyed this one very much. I love the Heresy and the Spatial. You are gifted Ron. Thanks for doing this. PS, I want Randy's job LOL!

Thank you Ron! 👍 Great experience in listening in your room with that bunch of speakers. For me the X5 sounded realistic as „live“.

Thank you for the great video with amazing sound. Love it when you walk as the sound panning around. Very cool Randy!

Amazing video. Thanks for the effort put into making this.

Great video!!!! The format is really cool and I hope the crowd funding goes well so you can purchase the Binaural microphone to keep as a tool in your arsenal! These are all pretty damn good speakers. I think the Spatial open baffle still edges out the others as they have no bloat/resonance/overhang to the sound.

Wow, that was the most fun I have had online listening in a few months. Well done Ron. You definitely need to find a way to keep Randy around. While listening to the X5s at around 41:30 through 41:37 I thought my ears were playing tricks on me because I heard a baby crying in the background, but someone else mentioned they heard it too. Glad my hearing is still in tact.

This video was fun to hear and watch, thank you Ron.

Each one of these speakers is a winner. If they weren't heard side by side or back to back in this comparison, every one sounded great. The Spatial's are a truly unique presence to listen to. Thanks for a great "in home" demo, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Nice addition and always enjoy your audiophile discussions.

Great video, Ron! That was a lot of work! Thanks, I enjoyed it. Best Piano: X5 Best Bass: Saphires. Although....The way the X5's let you hear the room where the recording was made is mesmerizing. I said before, your recording of the original Saphire review was the best sound on KZfaq ever. The Neumann Dummy takes it up another notch! --Listening on GR X-Statiks with all upgrades, Twin dual 12" GR/Rhithmik OB servo subs, Roku stick+

Definitely the X5s for me, they are so clean and the attack from the piano just slams. Thanks for a great video Ron! I appreciate the time it took for you to make it!

Thanks Randy. Really appreciate you going the extra mile for us. Best speaker review on KZfaq. Live in Gilbert, AZ.

man!!! a loooooot of work to put this video together! chapeau! total respect...what dedication!! loved the sound clips! just ordered one of Vasilic's albums! exquisite sound engineering! listened to these clips a million times... my preferred speakers were (very surprisingly!): 1. Q acoustics concept 500 (unbelievable honest sound with infinite texture! beautiful, sublime integration. they don't grab you initially but on the long run, i could listen forever to these speakers) 2. X5 (unrivaled clarity, airy. wonderful "you're there" feeling listening to them. i can imagine: totally unforgiving of even the slightest imperfection) 3. Revel F226BE (similar sound signature to the Q acoustics; perhaps a bit more "relaxed" laid back sound; a bit less dry than the Q acoustics? like the Q acoustics, not a speaker that grabs you initially ...but they are just a joy to listen to) 4. Spatial Sapphire M3 (similar sound signature to the X5, but X5 are better on all registers. the sapphires lack texture compared to the 3 above. bass seems a tiny tiny bit "unruly"/slow? on the very low bottom) 5. Klipsch heresy IV (they are nice...but man, they are not even close to any of the other speakers; big "black hole" in the mids! ...and many other issues). wish i could afford the Q acoustics, the Revels, or the X5s .... but now i know what one day i would LOVE to own! ..before i go deaf! thanks Ron!! what a joy this video!

Fantastic review. Really nice of you to put all this together and the recordings were fantastic. Only issue I had was remembering how the previous speakers sounded compared to the next because the sound clips were longer than at the beginning. Regardless, this is awesome and I enjoy your program. Keep up the great work!

Ron - Thank you. This was clearly a lot of work and it is greatly appreciated. Also thanks for exposing us to this musician . . . cant wait to play his catalogue through my system.

Excellent audio tracks to highlight texture and tone. The open baffle speakers really shine here.

Thank you so much for all the effort put into this demo. Best by far of any review. Keep it short and simple. ..Klipsch

The Spatials really do have some magic going on. But the Q Acoustics surprised me, the gulf between them and the Spatials wasn't gigantic in terms of the music reaching out and touching me. Klipsch and Revels nice enough but lacking that bit of magic. Top work Ron. Now if you can find us some unicorn speakers that I can fit in my miniscule room please 😀

The X5s definitely have an enormous dynamic range, and considerable attack when the pianist hits those keys. Having spent too much time in my youth at jazz clubs and bars, I always thought that was something that was impossible to reproduce in audio (I worked at a high end HiFi shop at the time, and we actually had this exact discussion). The piano sounds perfect in timber, and the hammer and strings are clearly audible. The decay is also amazing. Yet there's something I like about the M3s. While the X5 is clearly more accurate and realistic, the M3 has the same amount of detail, but is just a bit more relaxed. Perhaps it's a symptom of aging, but I guess I prefer the more relaxed presentation to the aggressive realism of the X5s. How sad is it that I've come to this? I used to drink my coffee black, but now I like a little sweetener in my Cup of Joe....

I'd have to go with the Sapphires based on this video. It's really impressive how much bass they are achieving from an open baffle design. I could get lost in that sound.

For me, the Spatial Audio (both) are the clear leaders here. The tactility, detail, air, and realism is head and shoulders above the rest.

The binaural panning is a nice twist to sound demo vids. Great job NRD. 👍

This is beyond cool. Thank you for going above and beyond.

Thanks for this excellent presentation NRD. For me it was half way through the M3S that I found my foot tapping and body was generally joining in the party. Nothing up to that moment - This carried on throughout the X5's as well. That says all. Would like to hear the comp live... Greetings to one and All

Wow... one of the best sound demos I've seen.

One the best sound demos on youtube ever!!!! SUPER!!! Thank You!!!

Merci! Super démo. Les Spatial sont exceptionnelles

Ron, thanks for the tremendous effort that went into making this demo. Especially important during these times when it is more difficult to listen to new speakers in person. Because of the pandemic, we have been spending more time at home, listening to our systems and wanting to upgrade. This makes your work even for critical. That ALL the speakers sounded great is a testament to how good your room is! Congratulations! I honestly think most of us would be happy with any of the speakers if we had your room. One comment I agree with (from another post) is that placing every speaker in the same location doesn’t make sense, yet you did so for the video. I know why you did: trying to remove as many variables from the equation as possible so the trolls couldn’t nit-pick. But you are a strong proponent of proper speaker setup, so there is an inconsistency between this and how you conducted the demo. I have placed an order with Clayton for the M3 Sapphires (yesterday) based mostly on your in depth review and your interview with Clayton. I also read and listened to everything else available, but your reviews are so good that I am willing to purchase speakers without first listening to them in my room. I will confess that I placed the order prior to listening to the shootout. Thanks for the efforts! They are appreciated.

Nicely done Ron! Could definitely hear the boxes singing... All good units and would be happy to own any of them - the open baffle seem more open and less boomy...

Man demos with Randy is pure awesomeness! I get to experience speakers that I can’t afford! The Heresy crazy for its size! Thanks again

WOW! Great work. The Spatials clear winners with no box but I am an Apogee FR ribbon user so no box is my bias (but I do love my klipsch’s as well). I actually think the Sapphires may actually be quicker and more dynamic than the X5s. Maybe it’s just my headphones limitation. Maybe the synergy of drivers. What is remarkable is that as soon as you hit either of the Spatials you can practically here the bridge on the bass move..:). Just amazing. The X5s clearly accelerate past the Sapphires regarding reverb decay and capturing real piano (and bass). Much more realistic picking up mic bleed, string decay, reverb carry over, etc. Really well done, Ron.

After researching for a while and auditions I bought last week the Q acoustic 500. It’s an amazing speaker. I connect it to my Naim a Uniti Atom and the sound is just amazing! The bass reflection is close to a sub feeling with chest punch... clear - warm - dynamic and outstanding imaging...every penny worth...

I could hear your stomach rumble! Randy is fabulous! What a great way to present speaker reviews on KZfaq✌🏼

You saved the best speaker for last. Nice!! Loved it & great job! 👍👍

Absolutely brilliant deom and review. As you say, Mr Day, jaw dropping!!

The X5's sound so open and realistic, out of the box. the second favorite was the Sapphires with a great dynamic range. Both the X5's and Sapphire I see myself listing too for a long time. the others I believe I would get fatigued. They were all great and fun to listen. Thanks for the experience.

Man, the Spatials just kick ass. Wow. Killer sound. (Im sure that's the technical term for it...)

My favorite NRD video ever! I think this style of shootout review is what viewers crave. “Randy is quite the tool” lol! More shootouts like this if possible! Wishing the NRD family a happy holiday!

Awesome video! Glad to see some Klipsch Heritage in the mix! They’re not the most accurate but they may just be the most fun.

Excellent review, the spatials sounds very natural!

Awesome piece of work. Ear-opener!!!

Awesome video. Thank you Ron! That second track (piano) reminds me of the theme song from TV show Frasier LOL

Now THIS..... is an audio demo! Nice work Ron

This is great, loving this setup.

this was fantastic. thx for the introduction to Spatial. Sound impressions are fantastic and the design reminds me of the Avantgarde Zero 1 XD

Fantastic comparison, great job, Ron! Outstanding sound. The binaural experience was incredible. I "felt" and heard you walking around my room. :-) And the listening experience is superb. Unusually good quality audio on YT. The Spatials are on a different league. But the QAcoustics was good! The Heresies are very enjoyable but just a bit resonant and boomy. (Piano was good, though!) If I hadn't heard the others I would have said that the Revels were very, very good.

Great video Ron! watched almost all of them after I found you about a year ago!

So far the best sound demo ever congratulations Ron you blow out off the park

Well that was a treat! Thanks Randy and NDR! Using a god pair of headphone I manage to hear this close to real piano reproduction. 👏. Impressive. In addition to that I really appreciate the soundstage of the m3 and x5. Especially during the first track with the repetitive stereo effect. It seems that the back of the speaker is leaking sound and creates a very cohesive overall soundstage. Thanks again good experience

Wow that binaural mic is incredible. I think you're onto something huge with binaural shootouts. The Spatial X5's were my favorite though a couple others were very close. The X5's air motion transformers did it for me. Incredible attack. So fast and defined. The X5's make it difficult to go back to a boxed speaker.

I’m shocked! I expected the Spacial Audio’s would be a cut above, but damn. The bass string percussions were exciting on both the M3 and X3, but that piano with the X3 just came alive and bloomed. This binaural microphone setup provides an amazing demonstration not rivaled anywhere on KZfaq that I’ve heard.

Wow, the best demo recording by far on my headphones. I am 74 years old and this was the first time I could easily tell the difference between speakers. Great demo music. Some male and female vocals would be nice too. Great.

Great Comparison video! I know these take a lot of time and work but we need more videos of this type and quality. Keep up the good work!

Randy is quite the performer.

Wow. Have listened to this so many times and appreciate each speaker more and more. I was able to differentiate the subtle texture characteristics of each more on my LaScallas than any of my others I have. The open baffle design definitely has some exemplary definition in some areas and does IMHO separate them from the others. Everyone will have their favorites for overall listing and room acoustics. The Concept 500 really stands out more to me now and seems have more of a blend of the strengths Sapphires and Klipsch. Thanks again for such a thorough and quality job of producing this

The h390 had the Klipsch’s singing! Excellent synergy between the two!

So interesting to hear all the differences Ron. Great job in presentation btw! Making me rethink wanting Wilsons ;)

Wow very good work on your part re recording, video as well. The Head sure did its job! Nice.

Thank you, it is the most experienced experience possible on KZfaq. I wish they all used your standard.

Dang! I could hear you behind me. Great binaural setup. Amazing room and speaker interaction capture in spite of YT's compression algorithms.

Awesome setup Randy is amazing I enjoyed the speaker comparison it sounded great my favorites are the Sapphire M3s love the channel.

Clearly the last one then the 3rd,4th,1st and 2nd! Nice experiment. Had to go back/fort lots of times for good comparisson. Thanks

Wow! I don’t think I saw that coming! There’s really a difference in tone, texture and clarity in bass, mid bass and to my ear, the high end. No contest in my opinion. Spatial Audio hands down. Thanks again for the demo, Ron!

the Spatial's sound so good.

Awesome demo.

I play the electric bass so I'm always listening out for the bass line in any piece of music. There was no comparison in my mind that Bass on the M3 Sapphires far outshone that of the other speakers in terms of clarity, texture and depth and speed. There was no overhang on any of the bass notes, only the sustain of the note on the string and the body resonance of the double bass. The muted notes stopped when they were supposed to stop. When the bass was played with the piano you could hear the intention of the bass player and both musicians sounded like they were playing together as a team, especially when the bass player was playing a rapid series of notes. Every single bass note was defined and clear. The Piano also sounded more natural. The Bass on the X5’s was tight but not as deep and also there seemed to be too much bite and emphasis to the bow striking the strings which was distracting and ultimately tiring. The piano initially sounded exciting with the best attack and dynamics and you could easily hear the resonance of the instrument but again this was ultimately tiring to listen too after a while. Too much boom and muddiness of bass notes with the other speakers which masked a lot of detail, especially on the Q Acoustics Concept 500. I totally agree with you on the bass of the M3 Sapphires. You presented a wonderful demonstration and it was easy to hear the difference between all the speakers.

Interesting! The Binaural recording of the sound captured emphasizes the "headphone effect". That is to say that regardless of the location of the sound it is clearly within your head. I do like that the semi nearfield location of the speakers minimizes the effects of room acoustics (you hear more of the speaker sound rather than the 'room'). Unsurprisingly, the X5 (with the horn like waveguide for AMT tweeter) was the more life like (for a box speaker). Thanks for the demos.

Holy crap we are missing so much detail and depth hopefully you will be able to do another video on the X fives for music selection would be great.

Had to double check I hadn't bumped the bass knob on my amplifier. Wow those Heresy' are strong! They all sounded good just slightly different variations in tweeter and mid-range brightness. I've been eyeing the Heresy's for a while, this just confirms my suspicions. Very nice sound. ;)

Thanks for the work put into this first of all - I can only imaging the pia in setting up, leveling, moving etc, every pair :) I have a pair of Revel F208's (last gen) and have had them for the past several years. Recently been looking into some X3's but haven't had a chance to do a listen yet, but this demo was fantastic! I ran two YT players - one of the Revel piano track, and one on the X5's piano track, and listened to each one in short segments toggling back and forth. There's a huge difference, which I'm astonished at. Regardless of any impact from the room or the mic's (had to look up the price of that dummy head (yike's that is pricey) the tonal (and pressure) differences are really clear on the piano. The Revel's - which general have very good midrange, the piano sits back and has an unnatural spike in the upper mids that makes it sound thin - but I didn't notice it until I did the back to back listen with the X5's. The X5's the piano is very forward and full range / uncolored. I noticed more low end mush with the Revels as well. At first I thought - there's no way he got the levels equal on the X5's - they are too hot, but then I listened more on the bass end and yep- it's just the tone diff of the two speaker sets. Great Job on the review - I never even consider 'listening' to the speakers on youtube, but this was super worth it and helpful!

Great session Ron! I grabbed my OLLO AUDIO S4 MK1 headphones and connected them to my Marantz PM7000N and the Samsung TV over optical. I must say Ron, what a great audition room you have, an inspiration for us all and Randy-das Nuemann Kopf is doing its job with highest fidelity. As for the two speaker designs boxed and unboxed for me the winners is unboxed period. However for most us out there the room size is the biggest factor being not be able accommodate open baffle, sadly but physics is physics. Then a pair boxed just have to do the job. I own a pair of Concept 500 and for me they were the best sounding of the three boxed contenders. Both the Revel and Heresy had bloated bass. An honorable third place for the Concept 500. The winner is the Spatial X5 and the piano was the real deal here no comparison from the others. Hm, I need a bigger room!

This demo setup and post video processing must have taken you quite a bit of your time. So kudos to you. I must admit the X5s does sound a little louder on my headphone too.

Regarding the piano, the Q Acoustics Concept 500s had it.. seamless, transparent and coherent to the max :) Sounded the most 'natural' to me!

Revel 6:39 : track 1 10:19 track 2 Klipsch : 14:38 track 1 18:25 track 2 Concept 500 23:45 track 1: 27:15 track 2 Sapphire : 31:44 track 1 35:21 track 2 X5 : 40:04 track 1 43:22 : track 2 The volume on the X5 is higher, so they will sound better by default, after volume matching it's much less clear which is better. Open a window for each speaker align the tracks, volume match then switch between them. I presume the volume difference was there in the room as well. Reverse the volume and the other speakers sound better than the X5. :( A suggestion - start each speaker test with a test tone that you can volume match to correct for this sort of thing, it's very difficult to do by ear with actual music. A question - why are the X5 only semi-active? They are very sensitive and it would seem easy to add a small amplifier for the tweeter/midrange.

The bigger spatial audio better than the smaller ones, they’re both VERY GOOD! I think while very musical I can’t hear all the refinement but it has all the bass, in the same tokenI can’t hear the tone density I hear from the narrow towers, especially the Revel. Big wide speakers are a problem for us with small spaces ..... Great job Sean!! Thank you!!

Firstly, this is an awesome demo. This is the way speaker demos should be. Secondly, the Spatials's were very good but impractical for me. I'm happy with my Concept 500's which did, IMHO, a great job as well.

Good Gosh the Spatial’s to me sound incredible…. Thanks for doing this - I would have never considered open baffle until now.. plus made by hand in Utah is another strong selling point.

Great sounds very well balanced superior to the other models thank you for posting

I love you Ron, thanks for this!!

Great demo! I've been on the fence between Klipsch Forte IV and Open Baffle Speakers. Ron, the difference is amazing! The music used to demonstrate the performance of the speakers was perfect in the way that it illustrate the quickness and precision of the instruments. After hearing this comparison, I'm going for the Spatial Audio M3. I wish I had the bread for the X5 but the M3 can hold it's own.

Thanks, Ron. That was a great experiment. I've got M3 Turbo S's in my listening room and have been considering the M3 Sapphires...now I need to consider the X-5's. Your little experiment just cost me an additional $2K. Keep up the great reviews.

Amazing demo, probably the best I have come accross, all of these speakers are just amazing, would be tough to select one, however If i was to choose it would be the X5, really noticed the pianno in those speakers however i do like the depth of the Bass in the Revels!

Thanks Ron for taking the time to show all these speakers one after another. Although this is not my music, I did appreciate the job the speakers were doing especially while playing the bass and piano together. I can say that the 2nd track on the X5's was in a class by itself, the Sapphires were really close. I didn't like how the Concept 500 handled it at all and I thought the Klipsch handled the piano better but the Revel handled the bass better and I wasn't expecting that. Remember that I am an old man with bad hearing and not great headphones, so what do I know.

Would have liked to hear the Klipsch cornwalls insted of the hershey, have to say, X5’s for the win .Very good comparison video Ron, thank you.

Ron, thanks so much for this! It had to take a crapload of time. When you asked "Do you hear the box?" I was like well....a bit.... I have Electrostat hybrids that present similarly in the mids and highs. The transmission line bass is powerful, but NOT as nuanced as this! Yes! I did hear the box! Until the Spatials played. Then I figured out what was NOT box! Amazing! So easy to hear even over You Tube! I understand why people feel the levels weren't matched. On first blush it sounds this way, but after a couple runs you can see that what we think is SPL. is actually MORE. More information, not louder information, if that makes sense?? Once again, thanks for this! BTW- Go ahead and start that Go Fund to keep Randy. I'll toss some bones your way.