Raidho D1 audition



Two weeks ago I have heard the Raidho D1 speakers in a hi-end shop in Amsterdam (A10 audio). Surprisingly, but luckily for me, I was the only one attending the "morning" demonstration. I could listen all the CD that I brought with me sitting in the sweet spot and without any disturbances.

The D1 where driven by the Jeff Rowland Corus preamp and the 625 power amp. There were two CD players hooked up, i.e. the dCS Vivaldy and an EMM labs single box retailing at roughly 30k euros (I did not asked which model it was). The dealer told me that the system was optimized for the dCS player, meaning he has used his most expensive cables costing around 30K euros. He did not mention which brand of cables he used and I did not bother asking as I find it silly to use cables that cost as much as the pre-power combo (we all have our prejudice in this regard).

The D1s sounded certainly nice, very detailed and fast but also with a very full midrange. Resolution-wise, one would have a rather hard time to find speakers that are more transparent in the midrange and highs (IMO of course). Speed-wise, while very fast, the D1s are not as fast as horns or electrostatics. The stereo image and soundstage were quite good (given the fact that the listen room was filled with other electronics and speakers) and together with the very detail and full midrange made for a rather impressive presence of the speaker in the room. That is, voices and most instruments where rendered with full body and size with a confidence typically associated to large speakers (at least in my experience).

I could not really judge the bass output of the D1s, as the room was quite large (given the D1s' size), plus the position of the speakers in the room was not chosen to give the best bass response but rather a good stereo image and soundstage. Nonetheless, it seemed decent. However, given the level of performance in the midrange and high departments, it would be a pity to not add one or two top of the line subwoofers (in fact as many as necessary) to achieve a world class performance also in this department.

I have quite a bit of experience with moderately high priced monitors like Dynaudio C1 (mk 1&2), Focal Micro Be & Diablo, Wilson Duette and Vivid Audio V1.5. Among these monitors, the Focal Diablo sounds the closest to the D1s, i.e. fast and detailed. The Vivid V1.5 has also a similar presentation. While the D1s sounded much better than any of these monitors, I find it hard to say how much better it really is. Not only I have listen these speakers in different system and room and at very different times, but one should not underestimate the effect made by the dCS Vivaldi in the D1 demo I had. (The Vivaldi was a marvelous cd player to say the least, though at 90K euros ones should not be surprised.) Maybe I should also mention here that the dealer told me that in his opinion the D1s are above the Magico Q1 (while being cheaper here in Europe). Since I have never listened the Q1s, I can not make any comment in this regard, but the dealer carries Magico speakers for a long time and has first hand experience with the Q1s.

I would conclude by saying that I was quite impress with the Raidho D1 speakers. 17k euros (including stands) is certainly a lot of money for a monitor with limited bass, but the reality is that 17K represents only a fraction of the price of other expensive monitors, e.g. TAD CR1. (I would be really interested to hear from people who have listen the TAD CR1 monitor and also the Raidho D1s).

Finally, I should acknowledging A10 audio in Amsterdam (www.a10audio.nl) for putting together a very nice demo.
nvp
A10 Audio was and is not a Magico dealer.
I know the Magico dealer in Amsterdam Concerto Audio very well because I am a client of his shop.
I had the opportunity to listen to both but a Q1 is an other world in my opinion
A10 Audio was and is not a Magico dealer.
I know the Magico dealer in Amsterdam Concerto Audio very well because I am a client of his shop.
I had the opportunity to listen to both but a Q1 is an other world in my opinion
I've been kindly invited to visit the Raidho facilities in Denmark next week. Hopefully, I'll be able to audition all three speakers from the D-line.
Kiwi_1282001, the dealer told me he has set up Q1 speakers (how often or
how many I do not know). I do not know how many hours the D1s have been
played before the show. I believe the pair belonged to the dutch distributor.
Regarding the room, the situation was certainly not bad, the D1 were out into
the room far from any room boundaries and/or speakers and other
equipments.

Sabai, last year in Munich I was extremely impress with the TAD Evolution
speakers and this under show conditions. I was told that the TAD CR1 are
even better. This is why I am curious about them.

Maxgalla and Windmolen, now that you have mentioned it, I remember
reading on the Concerto Audio's site that they are the only official dutch
dealer for Magico speakers. Since A10 audio has Magico speaker in their show
room for some time now, I did not put much though into this. However, I have
never said that A10 audio is the official Magico dealer. I merely reported what
I was told, i.e. that Alex from A10 audio has first hand experience with the
Magico Q1 speakers.

Windmolen, if you have experience with the two speaker why not elaborate a
bit on the topic. I am sure many (including myself) will be interested in such a
comparison.

Sidekick_i, how does one get to be invited to the Raidho factory? :) Please
report back, here or in a separate thread. Happy listening!

I know a dealer in US who carries both Magico and Raidho line. His take on the D1 vs Q1 is the D1 is a more refined speaker with better resolution and staging/imaging, and better rendition of timbre and microdynamics. The Q1 is a more balls to the wall kind of speaker that can pressurize a room to a greater extent than the D1. So if you want to rock out, the Q1 may be the speaker for you. If you listen more to jazz, classical, vocals, etc, the D1 has the advantage. But he said you still won't be disappointed with rock on D1 because it will rock when called for.