Dynaudio 52 vs. 52SE?

Yeah I heard the 52se , the highs started to irritate me after a while, kinda irritated my ears, great bass response, pretty average at lower volumes , vocals a little thin , over priced and over hyped...don't believe the hype...

There is no doubt about the technical superiority of the 52se over the 52, but the Dyn tends to be good with bass heavy materials which is more at home at a party than quiet late night listening. There is something about the Dyn that is cold and emotionally detached. If you like your music warm and inviting, there are so many other brands to choose from.

I agree with Jax - the highs irratated me after a while too, the bass response was excellent but bass gets boring after 5 minutes...(unless you wanna party 8 days a week) the (all important) voices didn't sound right too me, thin and 'missing ' for want of a better word... I think the sales and marketing are telling the designers what they want to hear... unsatisfying at low volume

I listened to the 52SE for a long time using Simaudio P-5/W-5 with AudioNote UK transport and DAC. I didn't find the speaker especially shrill ... a good test I find is the first track on the first Nora Jones CD ... I am not a big fan but I use this as one test track. On some systems, the bad recording comes out especially shrill and even painful. The 52SE didn't do too bad in that regard. Yet, I wasn't really moved by the speaker ... too lean for my musical tastes. Not that I am sure the Living Voice is perfect for me either, but switching to the Living Voice Avatar from the 52Se was night and day. Certainly I found the LV to be much more musical, emotional, and more room filling.

The 52SE needs quite a bit of break in time to smooth them out. I'm driving them with a Musical Fidelity A3.2 with 175W into 4 ohms. They sound fantastic.