short of a head to head bakeoff? -:)
I been living & loving my JA sigs for several years now, so consider this a biased opinion since I don't have any experience with the usher. I've heard various Paradigm models in showrooms where they competed quite well with B&Ws second line. Whereas I looked at the N805s and ultimately chose the JAs. My listenning taste are all over the board: small combo jazz, rock, reggae, bossa nova, small ensemble classical, flamenco, and a lot of what might be considered classical crossover like Claude Bolling, the brothers Assad, Piazola, etc. Driven by the right electronics, they image very well, have tight welll defined bass, are easy to place (front ported), and plain just make me smile. Their only drawback is large scale orchestral works, where they can become muddied during explosive crescendos. I really have yet to hear, in my limited experience, a monitor that can really deliver under those demands! That said, I still listen to alot concertos. YMMV, but try the bake off if you can...
I been living & loving my JA sigs for several years now, so consider this a biased opinion since I don't have any experience with the usher. I've heard various Paradigm models in showrooms where they competed quite well with B&Ws second line. Whereas I looked at the N805s and ultimately chose the JAs. My listenning taste are all over the board: small combo jazz, rock, reggae, bossa nova, small ensemble classical, flamenco, and a lot of what might be considered classical crossover like Claude Bolling, the brothers Assad, Piazola, etc. Driven by the right electronics, they image very well, have tight welll defined bass, are easy to place (front ported), and plain just make me smile. Their only drawback is large scale orchestral works, where they can become muddied during explosive crescendos. I really have yet to hear, in my limited experience, a monitor that can really deliver under those demands! That said, I still listen to alot concertos. YMMV, but try the bake off if you can...