I bought a pair of Sophias 2 months ago, and I concur with the reviewer's findings. I hear increased dynamic range in familiar music, tonal naturalness, and no weaknesses in any frequency range. I have had Magico A3s and Focal Kanta 3s before, and they caused listener fatigue. The amp and source are of course critical.
I own the SabrinaX and this is for me the end game speaker. It puts a smile on my face every time a hear music. Notable is that even non-audiophile music still sounds very enjoyable which is very important in every day listening.
I auditioned Wilson speakers,the Sabrina X, in Manhattan a couple of years ago and liked them very much, more natural and musical than the comparable Magico’s and others but then I listened to the Vandersteen Quatro CT’s and that was a completely different experience-the time alignment and phase coherence snuck up on me and had me hooked. The Wilson’s imaging was vague in comparison to the Vandersteen’s. Wilson’s are not truly time and phase coherent; the Vandersteen’s are. Makes a huge difference!
Wilson Audio is the best brand that combines scientific technology with the art of tuning. It achieves an extremely high level of accuracy while maintaining a sense of beauty. That’s why it’s also my favorite brand, and I love my Alexx V at home. On the other hand, Magico represents the company that takes scientific technology and various performance metrics to their absolute limits. As for YG, although they are quite good, I still cannot understand their obsession with aluminum alloys. No matter how advanced the aluminum alloy is, it’s still just aluminum. It won’t surpass better materials like beryllium, titanium alloys, or carbon fiber simply because it’s CNC-machined.
Tom: Great review of the Wilson Sasha V. I see you are using some Shunyata components, but do you use any type of power conditioner for this review of the Sasha's? And are the PS Audio monoblocs fed with 20 watt or 30 watt electrical cables coming out of the wall?
@@joeb4349 Shunyata power director. The power circuits to the amps have 10 gauge wiring. 2x30amp circuits at 120 volts technically suggests 7200 watts total input capacity. 50% class a/b efficiency suggests we can drive full output in both channels. There is more to this, but that’s the simple version. Since full output happens only on transients this might be overkill.
Are your loudspeaker brand surveys conducted with bonafide Wilson owners, or are they just a general survey of your subscription base’s opinions without regard to what they actually own or have heard?
We try to understand the relative strengths of brands with prospective owners. A brand experience survey isn’t a bad idea, but that isn’t what we were referring to.
@@kenhiett5266Agreed. My point was this is basically a Wilson commercial and the survey business was just a pretense for talking about the brand. I prefer it when magazines like this, that are part of hifi industrial complex, just dispense with the pretense.
“We build boxes out of Corian, we buy components from other manufacturers. We use PPG automotive paints. We build crossovers based on the speakers we use. We price out products at an inflated price. Focal won’t sell us the best drivers. We had to use a different vendor. Our speakers are by volume, sold and traded in at greater numbers than other manufacturers. We build audio jewelry speakers” Wilson 2023
Kind of hard to make a general statement like that when you most likely haven’t heard all of them nor all the top ones. I’m sure you haven’t heard all the electrostatics either but hey there’s a fanboy with everything, enjoy the static.
@ I’m open to open baffles as well. 😉 But my ears always hear the muffled reverberations of boxes. Transparency is most important. Everyone can agree on that.
it may be the crowd you a running in is the issue ;) Just saying. I know quite a few people that have spent this much on speakers as a starting point. Just a different audience I guess. While expensive, these are fantastic speakers.
Please visit the factory as I did myself, I admit I was completely horrified understanding how these speakers are build, essentially they are toxic bombs, personell with less than insufficient eye and respiratory equipment are spraying clouds of epoxies in toxic fume filled room, it was less than unbelievable, truely horrifying and I will never in my life support such a product that contains such masses of toxins and produced in inhuman conditions. I feel for the workers that doubtlessly shorten their live in that factory, go there and see for yourself!!
And yet they sound fantastic, better than any high end or mid tier speakers I’ve heard of this size. Those that chase measurements typically forget to use their ears, the most important measure.
Most really good speakers don’t measure well. You don’t base your decision on measurements alone. A very musical speaker will not measure as well as an analytical speaker will. I rather have a musical non fatiguing speaker will a less then perfect measurement then the opposite. To each their own.
@@Prometheus1979 have you two seen the frequency response curve for the Wilson speakers? I believe at that price point it should measure well not just sounds well
How about, if you had hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on speakers, how many live music performances would that money afford you? The Absolute absolute sound, as it were? I suppose that is immaterial to the clientele' in that realm of the marketplace though.
It is an interesting thought experiment of sorts. Just assuming you could hear any band/orchestra locally at any time (not even close, even in NYC, but just assume) you could hear about one concert a week for 10 years for the about same cost as the depreciation of a $200,000 stereo. So, your thought experiment indicates why many more frequent listeners would opt, in this imaginary forced choice scenario, for home audio. Of course, practically, if Keb' Mo' or Bill Frisell or Dua Lipa isn't in town this week or this month or this year (a real problem even in big cities), well, again, advantage stereo. And then there's the "I can't hear Miles or Rush or Solti live" problem. And, not to add insult to injury, a lot of rock and pop and blues just sounds terrible live (overamplified, requires hearing protection, bad pa, feedback, noisy crowds, huge venues with many bad seats). 'Live' and 'the absolute sound as a reference for judging audio gear' are not the same. Of course, we'd suggest having a stereo that fits your budget and attending concerts as the best path. It is what our reviewers do.
@@TASmagazinetotally agree-many music fans listen to 50x to 100x more at home, not to mention the impossibility of hearing so many wonderful historic performances in a Time Machine-Sviatoslav Richter to Count Basie to Jimi Hendrix all in the same sitting.
@@BissingerlawAnd some, like me disdain going to events, traffic, parking, weather, crowds, lines, expense to mention a few. I'd much, much rather cozy up to some fine music in the comfort of my home without anyone coughing behind me.
I bought a pair of Sophias 2 months ago, and I concur with the reviewer's findings. I hear increased dynamic range in familiar music, tonal naturalness, and no weaknesses in any frequency range. I have had Magico A3s and Focal Kanta 3s before, and they caused listener fatigue. The amp and source are of course critical.
What's your amplification?
@@johnthacker7483 VAC 200iq and Meitner MA3
I own the SabrinaX and this is for me the end game speaker. It puts a smile on my face every time a hear music. Notable is that even non-audiophile music still sounds very enjoyable which is very important in every day listening.
I would like to see a review of the more affordable Sabrina X and how it compares to its larger siblings.
Next in the review queue is the new Watt/Puppy.
@@TASmagazinevs totts with sub/s?
I auditioned Wilson speakers,the Sabrina X, in Manhattan a couple of years ago and liked them very much, more natural and musical than the comparable Magico’s and others but then I listened to the Vandersteen Quatro CT’s and that was a completely different experience-the time alignment and phase coherence snuck up on me and had me hooked. The Wilson’s imaging was vague in comparison to the Vandersteen’s. Wilson’s are not truly time and phase coherent; the Vandersteen’s are. Makes a huge difference!
Wilson Audio is the best brand that combines scientific technology with the art of tuning. It achieves an extremely high level of accuracy while maintaining a sense of beauty. That’s why it’s also my favorite brand, and I love my Alexx V at home. On the other hand, Magico represents the company that takes scientific technology and various performance metrics to their absolute limits. As for YG, although they are quite good, I still cannot understand their obsession with aluminum alloys. No matter how advanced the aluminum alloy is, it’s still just aluminum. It won’t surpass better materials like beryllium, titanium alloys, or carbon fiber simply because it’s CNC-machined.
YG sound pretty good to me but hard to justify when they are priced quite high above Wilson due to the cabinet material being the bulk of the cost.
Tom: Great review of the Wilson Sasha V. I see you are using some Shunyata components, but do you use any type of power conditioner for this review of the Sasha's? And are the PS Audio monoblocs fed with 20 watt or 30 watt electrical cables coming out of the wall?
@@joeb4349 Shunyata power director. The power circuits to the amps have 10 gauge wiring. 2x30amp circuits at 120 volts technically suggests 7200 watts total input capacity. 50% class a/b efficiency suggests we can drive full output in both channels. There is more to this, but that’s the simple version. Since full output happens only on transients this might be overkill.
@@TASmagazine Tom: Thanks for this information. 10 gauge wiring--good. And 30 circuits--good. Two of the most overlooked aspects of high-end audio.
Are your loudspeaker brand surveys conducted with bonafide Wilson owners, or are they just a general survey of your subscription base’s opinions without regard to what they actually own or have heard?
We try to understand the relative strengths of brands with prospective owners. A brand experience survey isn’t a bad idea, but that isn’t what we were referring to.
Great question, even better attempt at answering the question while discreetly removing egg from face gracefully.
There's significant problems with surveying Wilson owners as well, though.
@@kenhiett5266Agreed. My point was this is basically a Wilson commercial and the survey business was just a pretense for talking about the brand. I prefer it when magazines like this, that are part of hifi industrial complex, just dispense with the pretense.
Does anyone have the source on harman research in room response preference?
“We build boxes out of Corian, we buy components from other manufacturers. We use PPG automotive paints. We build crossovers based on the speakers we use. We price out products at an inflated price. Focal won’t sell us the best drivers. We had to use a different vendor. Our speakers are by volume, sold and traded in at greater numbers than other manufacturers. We build audio jewelry speakers” Wilson 2023
If a speaker is ultra high end, apparently you must switch to the term, "loudspeaker", for extra solemn gravitas.
Better value panels w subs 😊
I'd rather have speakers that look nice.
A very nice way of saying Wilson speakers aren't flat. Far from it. Ugh.
I will never buy another box speaker, ever!
They all sound like boxes.
I only buy plannar magnetic or electrostatic speakers!
Boxes suck!
Open baffle tooo🔥💪‼️
Kind of hard to make a general statement like that when you most likely haven’t heard all of them nor all the top ones. I’m sure you haven’t heard all the electrostatics either but hey there’s a fanboy with everything, enjoy the static.
@
I’m open to open baffles as well. 😉
But my ears always hear the muffled reverberations of boxes.
Transparency is most important. Everyone can agree on that.
@ I had no trouble making my statement.
@ of course you didn’t because you’re stuck in your bubble, have fun.
HAHA yeah i know tons of people with $52k speakers. get real.
…this is an audiophile channel, the point of the content is kind of ridiculous stereos
it may be the crowd you a running in is the issue ;) Just saying. I know quite a few people that have spent this much on speakers as a starting point. Just a different audience I guess. While expensive, these are fantastic speakers.
Please visit the factory as I did myself, I admit I was completely horrified understanding how these speakers are build, essentially they are toxic bombs, personell with less than insufficient eye and respiratory equipment are spraying clouds of epoxies in toxic fume filled room, it was less than unbelievable, truely horrifying and I will never in my life support such a product that contains such masses of toxins and produced in inhuman conditions. I feel for the workers that doubtlessly shorten their live in that factory, go there and see for yourself!!
You mean like how apple I phones or any mobile devices are made?? Probably more toxinsand poisons in the phone you are holding in your hands???
Wilson speakers dont measure well
And yet they sound fantastic, better than any high end or mid tier speakers I’ve heard of this size. Those that chase measurements typically forget to use their ears, the most important measure.
Most really good speakers don’t measure well. You don’t base your decision on measurements alone. A very musical speaker will not measure as well as an analytical speaker will. I rather have a musical non fatiguing speaker will a less then perfect measurement then the opposite. To each their own.
@@Prometheus1979 have you two seen the frequency response curve for the Wilson speakers? I believe at that price point it should measure well not just sounds well
How about, if you had hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on speakers, how many live music performances would that money afford you? The Absolute absolute sound, as it were? I suppose that is immaterial to the clientele' in that realm of the marketplace though.
It is an interesting thought experiment of sorts. Just assuming you could hear any band/orchestra locally at any time (not even close, even in NYC, but just assume) you could hear about one concert a week for 10 years for the about same cost as the depreciation of a $200,000 stereo. So, your thought experiment indicates why many more frequent listeners would opt, in this imaginary forced choice scenario, for home audio. Of course, practically, if Keb' Mo' or Bill Frisell or Dua Lipa isn't in town this week or this month or this year (a real problem even in big cities), well, again, advantage stereo. And then there's the "I can't hear Miles or Rush or Solti live" problem. And, not to add insult to injury, a lot of rock and pop and blues just sounds terrible live (overamplified, requires hearing protection, bad pa, feedback, noisy crowds, huge venues with many bad seats). 'Live' and 'the absolute sound as a reference for judging audio gear' are not the same. Of course, we'd suggest having a stereo that fits your budget and attending concerts as the best path. It is what our reviewers do.
@@TASmagazinetotally agree-many music fans listen to 50x to 100x more at home, not to mention the impossibility of hearing so many wonderful historic performances in a Time Machine-Sviatoslav Richter to Count Basie to Jimi Hendrix all in the same sitting.
@@BissingerlawAnd some, like me disdain going to events, traffic, parking, weather, crowds, lines, expense to mention a few.
I'd much, much rather cozy up to some fine music in the comfort of my home without anyone coughing behind me.
Gimme 50 pairs 😂