Hey Gentlemen,
Here's my "field report" based on about three hours of listening to the first pair of DI SI's at Ezra's house this afternoon. Besides, Ezra the listening panel was composed of Mike (Audio Archon who unpacked and set them up), Alen (who first presented the DI's to the Chicago Audiophile Society), and Bob who has heard both the DI's & Ulf's and has great refined ears.
I heard the SI's being driven with a very good SS amplifier, the Micro-ZOTL as an Integrated, the Micro-ZOTL driving the Opera SET 2A3 amplifier, and a pair of Kronzilla tube reference amplifiers.
1) The SI's take the "house sound" of the DI's to a qualitative higher level of finesse and sophistication. This speaker offers the music even more effortlessly then the DI's. From top to bottom it's more silky/smooth and allows you to relax into the music more easily. It's just as "alive" and dynamic as the DI's, but smooth as butter.
2) The SI's have a more accurate bottom end without sounding "dry/analytical" and its integrated more fully with the the lower mid-range.
3) The SI's pull off the same "disappearing act" as the DI's and add even more precision in the location of the players in the sound-stage, along with the air/space between those players.
The DI's sound slightly, and I mean slightly, "rough around the edges" compared to the SI's.
Some quotes from the listening panel:
Ezra- tell people on the Gon that the SI's "smoked my 70K Sonus Faber Lilium speakers in every way!
Alen- if I did not own the DI's or SI's I would spend the extra money on the SI's because they are better across the board with more "polish" and much better bass. I still love my DI's there great, the SI's just take it to a higher level of performance.
Bob- What ever tiny little "edge/roughness" the DI's have is total gone! The SI's are lovely musical speakers that totally disappear and image as if they were tiny mini-monitors.
Mike- Yep, Eric pulled it off, all the virtues of the DI's with another level up of polish and elegance regarding tonality and ease of presentation.
I'm very lucky and spoiled that I have spent time with and reviewed all three of Eric's speakers except the SI's in the last six months. So, I know what the next question will be for many of you. Well, how do the SI's compare to the Ulf's?
PLEASE NOTE THIS: If you do not have a extremely large acoustic space or are willing to spend lot's of money on room treatments you would be wasting your $ because the SI's will out perform the Ulf's if you force them into a small acoustic space that the great majority of listeners have their systems in. By all means if you can get the Ulf's at least 4 to 6 feet off the front wall, at least 3 to 4 feet off the side walls, and have at least a 12 to 20 foot or higher ceiling, the Ulf's take the performance level of the SI's to even a higher level! ( My review for hometheaterreview.com should go active next week for all the details why Eric's next model up is a killer speaker). Otherwise, take the money you save and put it into your upstream gear because just like the DI's the SI's are conduits that clearly pass what you are feeding them.
