Thank you all for the welcome and good wishes.
I know it sounds a little strange but was not expecting my post to actually appear, I tried to post a few times, but because I had pictures attached the system would not allow me to post (I did not have the 10 posts count as yet). So I was a little surprised to actually see my post with pictures.
Anyway, The timing could not have been better even if I had planned it, It was Easter so we had a public holiday on Fri, Sat, Sun and Mon. My brother came round on Friday to help me to get them into my apartment. The speakers are heavy !, we only had about 10 step to navigate – but we struggled due to the weight, even with the help of a trolley.
But they were installed without any incidents, so that was good. Brother and I set down to listen after installation, All we heard was a very pinched sound, mainly the treble and mid – hardly any bass. So nothing to jump about.
I then played them for 3 hours straight and things started to loosen up. Then I put on a burn in track (75mins) to play on repeat overnight. It had started to sound like it had potential the next day. To cut to chase I have now logged 60 hours over 5 days so far, mainly playing music – only used the burn-in CD for the first night.
Now my dealer informs me that they need 300 hours to fully break in, so take my next comments with that in mind, as I have only logged 60 hours.
In comparison to the S3, they have a more direct sound, it feels like there is less between you and the music. The S3 were already very good in that department, the S5Mk2 have moved things further along. They had the effect of bringing out details that I don’t recall hearing before. It has the same high/better quality mid-range the S3 is known for, the treble on some tracks seemed a little more obvious – it could have been the extra transparency that was just highlighting this. The bass does extend further than the S3, the S3 bass is deep but possibly a little too tight. The S5Mk2 develops a more fuller sounding bass and still tight – but not as tight as S3. S5Mk2 bass sounds more realistic than the S3.
They seem to create a bigger soundstage than the S3. They are very quiet and it seems the noise floor has been lowered, music emerges from blackness. Compared to the S3, they seem to be more linear. Now that I have them, I would say the S3 probably had a slightly more mid/upper bass output. This means that on small drums there seems to be slightly less impact on the S5Mk2 compared to the S3.
Possibly you can say the S3 had a smidgen more warmth, whereas the S5Mk2 is a little more neutral. The slight roughness that I had initially had has gone now and they are sounding as smooth as the S3.
So far I’m very pleased with them, the only small issue is that a lot of music I listen to has a lot of bongos/congas there is a small reluctance to fully ‘crack/snap’ like the S3 did. I not saying they are less dynamic than the S3 quite the contrary. But hope more hours will fix this and no doubt I will adjust a little as well.
A few more actual pictures of the S5Mk2 (quality not too great – taken with my phone) in my apartment. Hope they get uploaded too.
