Poniedziałek 3 Maj 2010, 17:03

I just got the chance today to take a set of brand spankling new Bowers & Wilkins MM-1 computer USB speakers home for a little review.

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/904/dsc04533d.jpg

First play on the new BW MM1 revels superb stereo perspective and surprisingly boomy bass line from such small speakers, never heard anything like it on speakers in this size!
Started out with U2, Discotèque, because it has a little of everything, but is not a premium test track.
Next on the list is Miles Davis, Someday My Prince Will Come, to test out how high pitched the tweeters might be, and again I'm, surprised, they reach just up to the edge were you tend to get annoyed but before you know it, your ears relax, and you get used to it - they are very easy to listen to.
Third track were Hugh Masekela, The Coal Train, and here is it I realize something - this track is a super live recording so to sense the room around the band is simply amazing, if the equipment can revile it, the MM1's can not. Their depth, the 3D sound stage, could be better - and I seem to notice here when your recordings go beyond usual bass they stand out a little too punchy
Lets test out another track that shows off the 3D sound stage well, Chris Minh Doky's edition of In a New York Minute from his anniversary recording A Jazz Life, sad to say but it sound a little flat…
Went on listening to Sia, Breathe Me, and it makes me happy, the stereo perspective is absolutely astonishing - you though have to sit almost perfectly in the sweet spot to get the full benefit of it, if you move just a little to one side you start to notice were the sound comes from, they don't blend that much.
Back to the stereo perspective, Pink Floyd's Money, a joy to sit in the sweet spot and get every little detail out of boxes this size, just wow.
Must be enough with the slower tracks now, let's pump the beats up a notch.

Dirty Vegas, Days Go By, makes me sad - way too much bass and a huge loss in the middle of midrange area, the bongo drums disappear almost completely in this sea of extended bass.
A track like Yello's Junior B tells about whats wrong, the midrange is squeezed but the bass is extended, a pretty strange choice to take but leaves behind a super detailed tweeter with superb stereo image, so if that's what makes these stand out enough to buy there must be something seriously wrong with every other computer speakers out there.
Perfect track to show off just how well playing they are is Prodigy Breathe, if you can stand still when listening to it there must be something wrong with you and not these speakers, perfect mix of boomy bass, super detailed high notes and cutting trough all this a sharp and distinct voice that sounds just right.
Same could be said about Justin Timberlake, SexyBack, just the way it should sound. After listening to a lot of pop tracks, more than I have written down, I discover what could be the reason to why BW choose to make the speakers sound like this, I have a very old edition of Michael Jackson Black or White, it sounds compressed and flat - except in the bass area and top details.
Could it be, that BW choose to extend bass and details so tracks that are compressed in the way they sound, sound better than usually on speakers like this. It makes hugely sense if you think about what people might buy them, younger people or people who have been used to listen to music on a even more compressed computer speaker set maybe even with MP3 files.
So far I have listened to my collection of FLAC files and discovered the flaws of these speaker, but when I realized they might have these flaws for a reason I switched to my iTunes library of 256kbit AAC and it all fits now - they sound just as good as I hoped for, the faults get hidden in the details that are cut off when you compress the music to lets say, hmm 256kbit AAC maybe? ;)
The BW MM1 is a heads-up to every company that makes computer speakers, these are not the reference, but they are pretty damn good!

A small tip is if you still think the bass is too boomy, as I do, then choose Bass reducer in iTunes EQ and you have a pair of speakers all your friends in the office or dorm will envy you for!

Read more about BW MM-1 here:
http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.aspx?infid=4503

*note that these are actually the best computer speakers I have ever heard, it's just that I would personally never use such thing and my reference for how music should sound goes far far beyond this level.