Have you checked out the Dynaudio Xeo range? Or if you wanna reach higher, the Focus XD range?
They have wireless connection between master and slave speaker, or through the Connect box which have DLNA support, digital and analog inputs. For Roon you would need some kind of streamer, ie. Allo Digione into coax or Chromecast into toslink.
I use my Xeo’s many hours everyday.
I guess, there is just no helping some folk, You did your best Slim.
from the Elac web site -
And here is a review of the floorstanding sibling.
That’s a pair of passives. Very nice speakers though.
Sorry for posting the link to the passive speaker AF-61. I mixed up the product numbers and thought it was a review of the ARF-51 (powered floorstanding Navis ARF-51).
No worries at all. It was still a great read. Good measurements too. Andrew Jones with yet another home run.
That review from Hans was like expected: great speakers, crappy wireless add-on. But pair them with a decent transport and DAC, and they will be hard to beat for their price.
@Magnus Why was crappy wireless to be expected? The discovery roon server was well recieved and Elac has done it before with the X1. They have taken a year extra to finalize the design of this speaker. I would have expected the package as a total would outpreform the market.
I want to hear it myself - i like Hans his reviews, but he always, everywhere pushes Sbooster power supplies
I felt the wireless add on was an extra that was added to make it more competitive with for example KEF LS-50 Wireless, but I always thought its strength was that it’s 100% analog. At least I was not surprised that the wireless part was not as good as the speakers themselves.
But as Hans said: pair it with a mojo and an allo usbridge, and you have something thats hard to beat for its sub $3000 price. If I bough these speakers, thats (or something similar) is what I would do.
I am also considering actives for a new system and am considering kef ls50w and Elac Navi’s. The kefs like the elacs can be used with an outboard dac and bass is not a problem when you add a subwoofer. What are your thoughts?
With a separate DAC, I would choose the Elac. The KEF can be used with a separate DAC, but will still do an internal DA and AD conversion. Elac is fully analog if used this way so no unnecessary analog-digital conversions (which will subtract from the sound quality a little).
And don’t assume you need a sub, listen first and decide later. A subwoofer will give more bas, but it will also muddle up higher bass (where they overlap). And both these speakers plays pretty good bass from what I have read.
But at the end the sound is what matters, so try to get some listening on both of them and decide.
Yes but I will say the with good dacs kef owners are experiencing large improvements even with the ad to da conversion. Not ideal but an improvement. I imagine hip hop and some classical would never be fulfilling with either speaker sans sub. But this is an assumption. With kef you can start with the internal dac which for the time being would serve and then upgrade the dac and add sub. With elac you have to buy a dac right away.
Yes, pros and cons for both. Here is what Hans Beekhuyzen has to say about the Elac speakers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETbEaI9FZ8s
Do you think elac plus bluesound node 2i would outperform internal Dac and streaming in the ls50w?
I can’t tell, you have to listen and decide yourself. At a guess it would be fairly close, although I personally believe more in Elac (I wasn’t that impressed when I listened to KEF about a year ago). But this is just guessing and speculations from my part.
The problem is finding dealers with the right products in your area. I would love to be able to have them side by side.
I have the Navis ARB51 and the LS50W here at home and A/B tested them. The Navis won to my ears.
Thanks for sharing John.
In which ways are the B51’s better, to your ears/tastes?
Which DAC are you using the the B51’s?
And balanced XLR’s or unbalanced RCA’s feeding the B51’s?