B&W 805D4 Review

Very nice. I enjoyed the 804D4 I listened to when I was at your place. I imagine these sound great too. Do you have them at the store?
 
Very nice. I enjoyed the 804D4 I listened to when I was at your place. I imagine these sound great too. Do you have them at the store?

Not at this time. Stand mounts don’t sell as easily. Not big movers as a whole. Most people would just spent a wee bit more and get the 804D4’s IMO.


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The 805’s and 800’s first Diamond series were a big catalyst to my getting so into stereo equipment. Sounds like the D4 generation are very well-received as a whole.

I agree with you, Mike. After you factor in the prices for stands nowadays, you might as well go up to the floorstanders.
 
Nice review. I wouldn’t characterize them as neutral, but I love the way they sound. I really like mine paired with the Boulder 866.
 
Wow! I’d briefly thought about 804’s but I needed to downsize from floor standers due to moving. I have a pair of REL subs that really fill out the sound.
 
B&W 805D4 Review


Have you tried driving direct from N-05XD to M10x, Mike? I’m currently using N-05XD volume control with a spare amp. To my surprise, it sounds much better than I thought it’d be. I’m curious about Esoteric-Luxman synergy.

From the literature, the VC in N-05XD isn’t just a basic VC, but a fully balanced dual mono pre-amp with esoteric-QVCS attenuator system. I think, with N-05XD being the first of its kind in esoteric product line, they may have over designed and packed in many quality features. Successfully I must add.
 
Re: B&W 805D4 Review

Have you tried driving direct from N-05XD to M10x, Mike? I’m currently using N-05XD volume control with a spare amp. To my surprise, it sounds much better than I thought it’d be. I’m curious about Esoteric-Luxman synergy.

From the literature, the VC in N-05XD isn’t just a basic VC, but a fully balanced dual mono pre-amp with esoteric-QVCS attenuator system. I think, with N-05XD being the first of its kind in esoteric product line, they may have over designed and packed in many quality features. Successfully I must add.

Based on the comments on the video, I will try this configuration today. Seems to be a popular request after I posted the video, but I would like to know why? Is it that people are looking at the system and thinking “I could almost afford that system if you take the Boulder out of the picture”? or are they thinking “the Esoteric direct into the Luxman might be better”? I’m actually curious since it’s been a popular request.

The Pass XP22 with the M10X has been another terrific pairing.


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Re: B&W 805D4 Review

Based on the comments on the video, I will try this configuration today. Seems to be a popular request after I posted the video, but I would like to know why? Is it that people are looking at the system and thinking “I could almost afford that system if you take the Boulder out of the picture”? or are they thinking “the Esoteric direct into the Luxman might be better”? I’m actually curious since it’s been a popular request.

The Pass XP22 with the M10X has been another terrific pairing.


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Just read the YouTube comments. My guess is it’s because of how Esoteric markets N-05XD, which is streamer/DAC/pre-amp. Naturally people are curious about it’s pre-amp performance.

Another thing is, rightly or wrongly, this “no pre-amp is the best pre-amp” concept. People always want to get away without one if it is at all possible.

Personally, as I’m getting back to separates from integrated, I would try to have a pre-amp. But before I can identify which pre-amp, I will be driving direct with N-05XD. N-05XD being versatile (also has HT by-pass) does make things easy for me.
 
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