BenLaw said:Congrats WR Look forward to the full review. Are you one of the first to get these?
I think I was the first!
Here's a brief review based on 5 days ownership and not as much time to listen as I'd like (as always!)
First off, for those that have ADM9s, yes the ADM40s are better, to my ears, quite a bit better, but the ADM9s remain very very good. There's nothing wrong with ADM9s and in the run up to getting the 40s, I did question why I was bothering to upgrade. With previous hi-fi purchases I'd upgraded because something was broken or bothering me; nothing ever bothered me with the ADM9s. However, moving on...
The first few tracks I played made me search out tortuous bass tracks to check what I was hearing. Listening to the likes of Massive Attack, James Blake, Goldfrapp & many more showed that AVI have kept the bass really tight on these, but they have quite a bit more extension and impact than the ADM9s.
I've spent quite a while with music and test tones (using Audiotools on the iPhone to help measure response) and my current thinking is that for music they just don't need a sub. Listening to Massive Attack - Protection quite a lot louder than I normally would showed no lack of extension or volume.
Moving on to acoustic and vocal music the thing that really strikes me is how dynamic, detailed and clear they are. The best way I can describe it is that they sound incredibly life like and bring the performer into the room like no hi-fi I've heard before. I've really noticed the difference with Piano, guitar and vocals - perhaps because those are the instruments I'm most familiar with.
Basically, I'm loving them and can wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone.