B&W 805D vs. Dynaudio Contour S1.4


I've been listening to the 805D at a local deal and have been very impressed by its overall balance and richness. I'm also interested in the Dynaudio S1.4, but haven't been able to compare them side by side.

Has anyone been able to do this? I'm very curious as to how they stack up.

Thanks
stratguy
Tdwalker,

can you please expand a bit your comments regarding the differences you found between the 805Di and the Auditor M? thanks in advance.
Jdec - Sorry for the late response, I don't frequent these forums and get no notification of new activity.

Anyway, the Auditor M's were neutral from about 70Hz up through the treble, but they are a small speaker and sounded like a small speaker in the bass. Other than being well-behaved from the mids on up, the detail, imaging, soundstaging, and treble extension all seemed satisfactory rather than exceptional in any way.

The 805Di on the other hand had exceptional detail and imaging, and bass deep enough that I would not be left wanting when listening to most music. The trade-off being a bit of disconnect / character mismatch between the sound of the midrange and tweeter and some mildly unpleasant sharpness in the high treble.
"A few years back when I was looking for monitors I auditioned the 805D and the S1.4." -Goatwuss

The 805D is a recent model. There's no way you auditioned it "a few years back".

Sorry guys, it must have been the 805S that I was talking about. I strongly preferred the S1.4 to them as in my auditions they had much more dynamic range.
Imaging is only one of the aspects of the sonic reproduction, not the most important imo...