Home Driade Model 2S – With the ‘S’ of Sublime

Driade Model 2S – With the ‘S’ of Sublime

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Pros

  • Growth potential: they can last long
  • Calmness in the soundstage
  • Open and pure sound without tiring

Cons

  • They cover up nothing
  • They start an itch to upgrade everything else

Price: € 4995

Build quality
Controllability
Reproduction
Price
Alpha-Audio Approved

Intro

The Driade Model 2 stole the show in the extensive €4000 speaker comparison. The 2S is the replacement for this model. The bar has been set high by its predecessor, will the 2S exceed it or will it be limbo dancing?

What is new about the Driade Model 2S? Driade’s typical design has remained. And that is good, because there is also a function in it; the angles that the panels make prevent unwanted resonances. As a result, you’re looking at a wide front when you are in front of it, but the speaker looks slim from other angles. It is still a beautiful and timeless design, especially in the walnut version they look classy.

Perfect duos

The Driade Model 2S is a two-way design with a bass port on the front. That means they can be placed fairly close to a wall, but Driade recommends a minimum distance of 30cm. We usually play even further from the back wall, as this helps with realizing a deeper stereo image.

The cone of the large speaker unit is new and made of carbon paper, the tweeter is the same as in the Model 2. The design of the filter has been adapted for the new cone. Each component of the filter is measured separately and each section in the filter is paired with a different filter within the 0.1% difference, so each pair of speakers differs minimally from each other. The positive effect on the soundstage of this careful selection is clearly audible. The phase precision provides a great deal of calmness and stability in the stereo image.

When we use the word “calm” in reviews, we mean to say that restlessness is absent. There is nothing that distracts you, that swirls through the soundstage, that tickles you and that can cause minor irritations. It is like a landscape in an Old Dutch painting: everything is depicted exactly in the right place and there is harmony in the image.

It is the same with the sound from the Model 2S: it stands very firmly. It sounds exuberant, provided the amplifier can deliver of course. You can listen for hours without fatigue. To get to this level of calmness with passive speakers, you often have to dig deep in your wallet. The price-performance ratio of the Model 2S is particularly good in this aspect.

Internally, the speaker is wired with Flow 405 cable, like every Driade speaker. The same cable is also available as speaker cable and not unknown to Alpha Audio readers: it is our reference cable in the tests, samples and livestreams we do.

Type test
Single Test
Speaker class
Monitor - bookshelf
Speaker type
Dynamic
Speaker system
Bass reflex
Signal control
Passive

Winkels met Driade

Cort van der Lindelaan 11
9722 LP Groningen, NL
Fleminglaan
2289 CP Rijswijk, NL
Steenstraat 54
6828 CM Arnhem, Gelderland, NL