Seeing this thread title bumped up reminded me: I recently had a chance to listen again to a pair of Magicos (M3 I believe) in a very nice listening room at a dealer, hooked up to massive Mcintosh amps.
A variety of music was played, starting with some solo violin, other string stuff, jazz, etc. First impression as always with Magico: pretty vivid, detailed sound, floating free of the speaker. But tonally...I did my usual eyes closed test and asked "could I believe this is real, and if not, how does it depart?" Pertinent to the thread title: My overriding impression was that the tone was just darker than life. This was the case with everything played through them. I can imagine someone being blown away by the realism of the sound in terms of sheer detail and texture though. And the muted bell of a trumpet was fantastically portrayed, a real sense of metallic solidity. But like the A3 I heard, at least to me, the tone just didn't have an "it" factor that grabbed me either in "I want to keep listening" terms or "compared to reality."
None of that is to actually conclude "Magico's are dark." Obviously it could be just bad luck in that both places I auditioned them, with proprietors who are very experienced with Magico, just didn't pair them with the right amps. I dunno.
But in these and previous encounters I've had with Magico my personal reaction is respect and not love. They check lots of the audiophile boxes, but I have yet to hear a Magico that didn't seem sort of dry, buttoned up and sort of clinical. The music happens "over there" behind the speakers but doesn't seem to reach out and boogie.
Again...not a pronouncement on the whole line at all, just how the ones I've heard sounded.
But if the Magico sound appeals (and I wish it did to me as I was prepared to buy A3s), I'd think an owner would be in heaven, as they are mighty impressive in what they can do.
A variety of music was played, starting with some solo violin, other string stuff, jazz, etc. First impression as always with Magico: pretty vivid, detailed sound, floating free of the speaker. But tonally...I did my usual eyes closed test and asked "could I believe this is real, and if not, how does it depart?" Pertinent to the thread title: My overriding impression was that the tone was just darker than life. This was the case with everything played through them. I can imagine someone being blown away by the realism of the sound in terms of sheer detail and texture though. And the muted bell of a trumpet was fantastically portrayed, a real sense of metallic solidity. But like the A3 I heard, at least to me, the tone just didn't have an "it" factor that grabbed me either in "I want to keep listening" terms or "compared to reality."
None of that is to actually conclude "Magico's are dark." Obviously it could be just bad luck in that both places I auditioned them, with proprietors who are very experienced with Magico, just didn't pair them with the right amps. I dunno.
But in these and previous encounters I've had with Magico my personal reaction is respect and not love. They check lots of the audiophile boxes, but I have yet to hear a Magico that didn't seem sort of dry, buttoned up and sort of clinical. The music happens "over there" behind the speakers but doesn't seem to reach out and boogie.
Again...not a pronouncement on the whole line at all, just how the ones I've heard sounded.
But if the Magico sound appeals (and I wish it did to me as I was prepared to buy A3s), I'd think an owner would be in heaven, as they are mighty impressive in what they can do.