The sound
Contents
When we have the Xavian in place – closer to the wall and use more toe-in than the Focals – we immediately notice how complete this speaker sounds. It is clearly tuned to sound good and complete in living rooms. The reproduction is quite forgiving, yet very precise and rich in detail. It’s simply not overfresh or sharp. And yet, it sounds defined enough; we don’t miss a thing.
Magical duo… or trio?
As mentioned before, we’ve had the Xavians play both on the Pass Labs with Bryston and on the Yamaha A-S2200. Now it’s playing great on both, but what strikes us is how incredibly well the Yamaha matches with these speakers. What a sound! It’s really perfectly balanced. Where the Bryston sometimes plays very tight, the Yamaha sometimes shows some playfullness. And that’s just great. So yes: the Pass and Bryston is tighter, more precise and perhaps more holographic (the image is more in the room, which is very nice) …. but the Yamaha is more playful. It ‘has something’… Especially with progressive rock or vocal work. With electronic, as expected, the Bryston is just ‘king of the hill’.
Red wine, cheese and a fireplace
Your editor can’t help it, but this loudspeaker makes you crave a glass of red wine, a nice piece of cheese and a fireplace.
Sometimes there are systems that realize that craving… Maybe it’s the non-technical listening. This speaker is just not a speaker to listen to technically. It’s all about the music. The feeling it creates. The connection to the band, singer, instruments… The experience of the creativity. Regardless of the genre. Rock, pop, jazz (preferably not), soul, trip-hop, et cetera.
So this Xavian knows how to do that very well. Listening to music is relaxation again; an experience. And in some cases that includes a good glass of wine and a nice piece of cheese. Possibly with a crackling fire. By the way, that sounds more French than Italian or Czech. Would Barletta also have some French roots? Who knows…
… and next?
We wander off for a while. That happens sometimes. Of course, we listened intensively to the Xavian Premio Esclusivo for a while. That is necessary for a review. A new speaker takes some getting used to. And sometimes we tune the system a little for balance. During this period we noticed that the Xavian actually likes everything and can be placed quite easily. Not too far from the wall – then it becomes a little thin – and not too close; then it becomes woolly. Toe-in helps for focus. A bit of a traditional set-up. That’s fine.
We’ve played a lot of things. From Infected Mushroom to Beth Gibbons and Albion. If music is a bit ‘thin’ then the Xavian also tends to be a bit thin: it doesn’t clean up the source. But if there’s body and roundness in the recording, then we really hear that wonderful glow. That’s really impressive for such a compact speaker. The definition in that bass is also remarkably good! Provided the amplifier keeps a grip, of course.
