Magico S3 (2023) Listening Impressions

NekoAudio said:
..but the quality of bass on the new S3 is a lot better than the A5.
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I'm sure it is. I continue to be impressed by the quality of bass that 3 x 7" drivers in M3 can do. 2 x 9" bass drivers in S3 are pushing more air than M3, and they have the better Gen8 cones. I bet they sound incredible.
 
Mike said:
Nice! Can’t wait for ours. You must have gone for black? The other colors are coming next. We went with Pewter.


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The hope was that the new S3 would arrive for me to hear in mid July. It turns out that the S3 are in bronze I think. So, now it is suppose to be here mid August.
 
Alas, no news as of yet pertaining to the release of the 2023 S3. But we do have the following images to whet the appetite.

S3 enclosures of extruded and machined 6061-T6 aluminum.png

S3 Internal Bracings.jpg

S3 enclosures 2.jpg

S3 inspection.jpg
 
Soon…soon….soon. I think ours is shipping this week.


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I heard the Magico S3 MkIII yesterday on the Dutch Audio Event show, and they sounded absolutely marvelous. Boy, did the S3 MkIII's sound ever so fantastic! I was deeply impressed. Clearly, in every way, it is a massive improvement over the S3 MkII, almost incomparably so. The treble is ultra-refined, airy, and delicate yet not soft. The midrange is pure, clean, and detailed, yet majestic and smooth, with just the right dose of tonal saturation, and the bass is powerful, deep, and articulate. The overall sound of the S3 comes across to me as cleaner and purer, airier, more delicate, and more refined than the previous S3 MkII. Whereas I found the S3 MkII's midrange to have a subtle coloration, this is nowhere to be heard with the new S3 MkII. I am pretty sure this is thanks to the plastic cone being removed from behind the midrange unit. The last point really is more of an educated approximation than a proper assessment, but I have a feeling that the imaging and soundstaging are also improved. Compared to the S1 MkII (that I still own), I found the S3 MkII to sound spatially constrained, almost flat. Together with the midrange coloration, this was why I decided to stick with the S1's at the time. However, based on what I heard at yesterday's show, the new S3 produces a beautifully large and deep soundstage bubble, and the sound breathes entirely freely from the cabinets.
 
cpunter said:
I heard the Magico S3 MkIII yesterday on the Dutch Audio Event show, and they sounded absolutely marvelous. Boy, did the S3 MkIII's sound ever so fantastic! I was deeply impressed. Clearly, in every way, it is a massive improvement over the S3 MkII, almost incomparably so. The treble is ultra-refined, airy, and delicate yet not soft. The midrange is pure, clean, and detailed, yet majestic and smooth, with just the right dose of tonal saturation, and the bass is powerful, deep, and articulate. The overall sound of the S3 comes across to me as cleaner and purer, airier, more delicate, and more refined than the previous S3 MkII. Whereas I found the S3 MkII's midrange to have a subtle coloration, this is nowhere to be heard with the new S3 MkII. I am pretty sure this is thanks to the plastic cone being removed from behind the midrange unit. The last point really is more of an educated approximation than a proper assessment, but I have a feeling that the imaging and soundstaging are also improved. Compared to the S1 MkII (that I still own), I found the S3 MkII to sound spatially constrained, almost flat. Together with the midrange coloration, this was why I decided to stick with the S1's at the time. However, based on what I heard at yesterday's show, the new S3 produces a beautifully large and deep soundstage bubble, and the sound breathes entirely freely from the cabinets.
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Thanks for sharing. That's a great write-up!
 
cpunter said:
I heard the Magico S3 MkIII yesterday on the Dutch Audio Event show, and they sounded absolutely marvelous. Boy, did the S3 MkIII's sound ever so fantastic! I was deeply impressed. Clearly, in every way, it is a massive improvement over the S3 MkII, almost incomparably so. The treble is ultra-refined, airy, and delicate yet not soft. The midrange is pure, clean, and detailed, yet majestic and smooth, with just the right dose of tonal saturation, and the bass is powerful, deep, and articulate. The overall sound of the S3 comes across to me as cleaner and purer, airier, more delicate, and more refined than the previous S3 MkII. Whereas I found the S3 MkII's midrange to have a subtle coloration, this is nowhere to be heard with the new S3 MkII. I am pretty sure this is thanks to the plastic cone being removed from behind the midrange unit. The last point really is more of an educated approximation than a proper assessment, but I have a feeling that the imaging and soundstaging are also improved. Compared to the S1 MkII (that I still own), I found the S3 MkII to sound spatially constrained, almost flat. Together with the midrange coloration, this was why I decided to stick with the S1's at the time. However, based on what I heard at yesterday's show, the new S3 produces a beautifully large and deep soundstage bubble, and the sound breathes entirely freely from the cabinets.
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Nice review! What did the rest of the system look like?
 
It was a full MSB system with Antipodes Oladra Music Server and Ikigai cabling.

386511998_716720783834053_7844489051031230600_n.jpg

Dutch dealer AudioExperience organized the demo with Belgian/Dutch agent Very Fine Solutions and French Distributor Sound and Colors.

Here is a link to one of the photos of the system on the AudioExperience Facebook page: Log into Facebook

Sound & Colors | Importateur de materiel haut de gamme audiophile en France (Distributor)
Homepage - Very Fine Solutions (Agent)
AudioXperience inspireert muziekliefhebbers | Nuenen (Dea
 
I also visited the DAE show and listened to the Magico/MSB system but it was not my favourite of the show, imaging was not great IMO, voices were projected very wide between the speakers. It might have been a comprise in the set up to get a larger sweet spot. Tonally I fully agree with Christiaan's comments.

It was a nice show to visit and see great audio equipment, sometimes a bit too crowded to get a good impresion from a room, but overall the SQ was a bit disappointing (too much noise coming from next door rooms)
 
Actually I really liked a system with small Aretai speakers combined with a Bladelius integrated, maybe not very fancy, but it was very musical and did not have any room acoustic problems.

Powersupply was well taken care off with an Yeti Acoustics powerblock
 
Reviving an older thread to ask my own question. I own S5MkII's (got them at a nice price as ex-dems) and am wondering how the new S3s might be compared to the S5MkII's.


I intend to have a listen to the S3s at some point but prob. not very soon.

I note that size-wise, the new S3s are almost identical in size to the S5s and maybe that's why we haven't seen new S5s??
 
Bart001 said:
Reviving an older thread to ask my own question. I own S5MkII's (got them at a nice price as ex-dems) and am wondering how the new S3s might be compared to the S5MkII's.
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In my opinion the new S3 speakers are better across the board compared to the S5 MkII, but I do think the S5 still provides a noticeably greater amount of bass output and extension.
 
NekoAudio said:
In my opinion the new S3 speakers are better across the board compared to the S5 MkII, but I do think the S5 still provides a noticeably greater amount of bass output and extension.
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TY so much for this info. For me in my room and system, I would not trade bass weight for 'better anything else' right now so that is good to know!
 
Bart001 said:
Reviving an older thread to ask my own question. I own S5MkII's (got them at a nice price as ex-dems) and am wondering how the new S3s might be compared to the S5MkII's.


I intend to have a listen to the S3s at some point but prob. not very soon.

I note that size-wise, the new S3s are almost identical in size to the S5s and maybe that's why we haven't seen new S5s??
Click to expand...

The new s3 is better almost all aspect the S5mk2, currently the biggest advantages of the S5 remains its ability to go lower and push more air on the lower octaves.

My guess will see new S5 in the next couple of months, and no later from the end of 2024.
 
exupgh12 said:
The new s3 is better almost all aspect the S5mk2, currently the biggest advantages of the S5 remains its ability to go lower and push more air on the lower octaves.

My guess will see new S5 in the next couple of months, and no later from the end of 2024.
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I bought my S5MkII as floor demos with the thought that their replacement must be coming soon. That was 3 yrs ago!

I suppose that new S5s will be even bigger, given the specs on the new S3s.
 
New S3 2023s replaced my S3 MkIIs. The shorter height dimension will get you attention, but the cabinet volume looks to be similar due to the greater depth dimension. Run-in and final setup now complete. MkIIs are terrific speakers, but these are a big, satisfying step up. More refined and articulate across the spectrum, and, to use an overused audio word, transparent. Feels like I'm hearing exactly what's on the recording, for better or worse. On better jazz recordings, it's not difficult to sense the performers' presence in the room. One of the joys of settling in with a really good new component is the rediscovery of one's music library (CDs and SACDs), which is where I am now. Considering how I feel about these speakers, my room limitations, and where prices have gone, it's very difficult to imagine replacing these.
 
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