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FEATURE<br />
FEATURE<br />
PERSONAL FIDELITY<br />
Unlike the Porsche 911, the<br />
price of the original Audioengine<br />
5 – now the 5+ – has only gone<br />
up in price to $399, but the HD6<br />
is now the top offering in their<br />
product lineup, where they only<br />
had one speaker before. The new<br />
HD6 you see here is now $749,<br />
and while they still produce the<br />
same 50 watts per channel as<br />
the 5+, the HD6 offers a builtin<br />
24/192 DAC and multiple<br />
streaming options. Considering<br />
you used to have to buy a<br />
separate Audioengine Bluetooth<br />
adaptor for $149 and you still<br />
didn’t have a DAC, adding a great<br />
DAC and higher quality everything<br />
into one box is pretty awesome<br />
Powered monitor speakers have been around<br />
for the price. I dare you to find<br />
for decades in recording studios and, to some<br />
a combination of separates that<br />
extent, in the consumer market with companies<br />
like Meridan and Linn offering world class,<br />
the price.<br />
offer this much for anywhere near<br />
powered, floor standing speaker systems with an equally<br />
The new speakers feature<br />
world-class price tag. Audioengine burst on the scene about<br />
upgraded drivers with a slightly<br />
nine years ago with small, high quality powered speakers<br />
that looked great, sounded great and best of all, were very<br />
larger 5.5 inch Kevlar-coned<br />
woofer where the 5+ has a 5-inch<br />
affordable.<br />
unit, and when listening to both<br />
Much like comparing the original Porsche 911 to a current<br />
side-by-side, you can not only<br />
model, Audioengine has pursued a path of steady refinement,<br />
hear a touch more bass grunt<br />
rather than making radical change with every new product they<br />
from the HD6, but throughout<br />
produce. And like Star Wars, they didn’t name their first product<br />
the range, there is a level of tonal<br />
the Audioengine 1, but the Audio Engine 5. Comparing the current<br />
HD6 pictured here to the original Audioengine 5s that are<br />
so much in the originals until you<br />
refinement that you don’t notice<br />
still rocking out in a good friend’s garage without bother, the lineage<br />
is easy to see, and after a brief listen to refresh my mem-<br />
underlines what a tremendous<br />
hear the new speaker, and it still<br />
ory, the Audioengine 5 still stands up (and rocks out). That’s the<br />
value the 5+ still is, if you don’t<br />
sign of a great company, and the success that they’ve enjoyed<br />
need a built in, streaming DAC.<br />
is no accident.<br />
(continued)<br />
118 TONE AUDIO NO.78<br />
AUGUST 2016 119
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