Review on 🔊 Audioengine HD6 Wireless Desktop Monitor Speakers - Home Music System with aptX HD Bluetooth, 150W Bookshelf Stereo Speakers, AUX, USB, Optical, RCA, 24-bit DAC (White) by Pamela Williams

I stumbled across these speakers while looking for ways to upgrade and optimize my secondary music system. These powered speakers serve as a replacement for an Onkyo stereo receiver and a pair of Infinity speakers, both of which I found enjoyable to listen to but were showing their age. You've done your job and it's time for something more modern. When evaluating a solid integrated amplifier in combination with or with an external DAC, I found that it would cost me a lot. Adding Bluetooth capability will further complicate and increase costs. Then there was the question of a set of quality speakers that are nicer, smaller, but still heavy enough to enjoy complex music. Cheap speakers abound, but they usually look cheap and I wasn't keen on reducing the sound quality. They say that all roads lead to Rome. Well, it seemed all roads led me back to Audioengine HD6. I have read many reviews of the A5+ and HD6, looked at the price and hoped for the best. I was impressed by the care Audioengine took to package the speakers. They came in boxes (triple the size!) so the packaging material was scattered around the room before I could catch a glimpse of the soft gray pouches that come with both speakers and all the peripheral cables. Those are pretty nice speakers up close. If you're familiar with real wood furniture, you can tell it's veneer over MDF, but it looks sharp and feels solid. I notice that my pair had almost no shades of red that can be seen in the picture on the website. I tend towards brown/grey/black tones. Which I assume is more of a walnut. But I digress. The cable that comes with it is good quality, but I opted for a thicker RCA cable to connect my CD player (Onkyo 7030, also recently bought). Everything was assembled as expected, included and had a reassuring reliability. I let the system warm up for a few minutes and then put the disc in. There were no crashes. The speakers played, the remote changed levels as expected (you need to aim carefully with this remote). After playing a few discs the bass started to open up. I don't think these units require a long or grueling break-in period, but giving them a few days to burn through and pop the voice coils into the speakers before the sound becomes too critical is probably the best way to go. Sound. If I had to describe it, "natural" would probably be the most appropriate word. These are good sounding speakers, capable of playing fairly loud and delivering punchy bass when present in the program material. Now you won't be shaking coffee cups off the table or fully communicating the T-Rex's footsteps. Physics is physics, and 5.5-inch speakers can't push out that much air. But for pure music listening, especially if you prefer small-band jazz, chamber music, and classic rock, these can easily get you to satisfactory volume and whistle. Warning: you're not trying to fill a massive room. A silk dome tweeter is not as harsh or "hot" as a metal dome. rather soft in the upper frequencies than bright or harsh. I wouldn't call it dark capitals. Rather, it allows you to look into the soundscape with some depth without being unfriendly or harsh. Center frequencies are reproduced very well. CDs like Bill Frissell's "Guitar in the Space Age" beautifully reproduce the sound of the guitar, the amp, and the overdrive or reverb levels. , quite deep, but perhaps not as authoritative as some are used to. Hysteria is not enforced in any way. There is no sense of "loudness" in this system. This is not a bias in the mid-bass to mask the lack of extension or to impress in the short span. Overall the speakers are friendly, attractive and non-tiring. Combined with a well-recorded piece of music, they make you think about the sound rather than the source, which I think is high praise for their size and price point. messing around with the equalizer levels is not for you. They sound the way they sound. If the source component doesn't have a way to add EQ settings to the mix, they won't be present on the HD6 itself. For me this is normal. I almost never use EQs and opt for the direct source option to cut them out of the signal chain whenever possible. However, I didn't just buy the HD6 to play from a component disc player. If that were the case, it would be wise to save some money and buy the A5+. My plans were to stream audio in FLAC format from a tablet that I will use as a media center. I've found my Android tablet (aptX ready) (Asus Zen 8) to pair with speakers with ease, has a solid BT connection and sounds great. It's no problem if you're sitting in another room reading an e-book or browsing a website while the device streams music to the speakers. The basics for Bluetooth and DAC conversion seem solid and well executed here. I like that incoming signals are resampled to 24/192. Streaming music from Revain Prime Music still gave good sound. No glare, no fog, no sand or severe altitude attenuation. After playing the HD6s on their own for a few days, I paired them with a Klipsch subwoofer and crossed the subwoofer around 65-70 hertz so they could sound natural. at full volume as the main speakers began to fade. The subwoofer integration can be quite tedious, but I was able to get a satisfying mix in about 45 minutes of setup. To be honest, the first twenty minutes was a good mix, but I continued with A/B testing and became obsessed for a while. Adding a subwoofer is a pretty subtle thing, at least for speakers that aren't too anemic in the lower registers. If the change is too obvious, the subwoofer level is probably too high. Using a subwoofer adds that touch of authority to the mix that's needed for a double bass and kick drum tuned without much polyfill. Very beautiful. In the end I am very happy with the purchase. They look good, compact speakers and more. With such a product, you can create a very streamlined, uncluttered sound system that fills a small to medium-sized room with excellent sound. When all the products that replace these speakers are counted and assessed for value, it's kind of a bargain. This might not seem like it as the price tag seems a little regal for a small speaker, but you'd have a very hard time improving it for the same price, even with less attractive or integrated components. One final note: some people might consider buying these as high-end computer speakers. Now they sound very good in the near field, without audible noise and excessive speaker brightness, poorly suited for monitor functions. However, they are quite large and I think they will be overkill for most of your desktop setups. They would be more comfortable over a mixer than at the sides of a computer screen.