I received my two pairs of Audience ClairAudient 1+1 v2+ back with the v3 upgrades. I have been able to track the upgrades since I sent originals in for V2+ upgrades. I thought that upgrade was big but this second upgrade is phenomenally bigger. This tiny speaker has always been a “blow my mind” component with how crazy good it is - coherent as the Magico and Raidho speakers I have had in my system. Maybe even more coherent!
With this new upgrade the most immediate thing I noticed was how these speakers woke up, came alive, bristle with energy and dynamics. Almost like they are active / self powered so every cell of every driver is stomping its hoof to get going. While retaining the single voice, refined, transparent delicacy of before, now it feels like the dynamics and energy of the speaker has tripled, without taking anything away.
I also noticed there is more extension especially in the lower registers. Combined with the increase in dynamics the “slam” factor has increased while the “musical” natural sound has not been lost. These are so revealing without being strident in the least. In fact, I often think it must be the absence of a crossover that allows such a coherent accurate picture to be painted and to be so listenable without fatigue. As if my ears and brains are not having to struggle with artificial stitching together of frequencies that other speakers have to do when handing off different frequencies to different drivers.
I’ve owned a lot of bookshelf speakers (KEF LS50, Dynaudios, etc). They all pale in comparison to the ClairAudient 1+1 - as witnessed by the fact those others are sold or are packed away sitting in a closet. The beauty of the 1+1 is it competes with my $8,000 Raidho XT-1 but is more versatile. It can be my best ever computer audio speaker. It can be my best ever L/R/C home theater speakers (superb pairing with REL subs that can keep up and blend in) - I have had 3-4 more expensive center channel speakers and I can’t go back to them because the human voice and clarity of center channel information is perfection through the 1+1. Especially now with the V3 upgrade. I know that is overkill for HT in most systems. But I would put my HT with the 1+1s up against any cost no object home theater. And the footprint of the speakers is perfect for that application. These little gems will never leave my home and will only have more 1+1s join the family over time.
PS, I paid full retail cost for the upgrades
