Airpulse A80 Hi-Res Audio Certified Active Speaker System, Built-in Amplifier, Optical, Sub Out, Bluetooth 5.0 aptX, AUX, PC, and USB Inputs - Pair

Purchased to upgrade my desktop from Klipsch THX. In overall, the sound is great. I actually was able to reuse Klipsch sub reinforcing bass a bit. Now, one star off b/c of some inconveniences.First, there is no balance control. C'mon, not everyone has perfect seating arrangement especially when speakers are used with a computer. Surely, it can be adjusted in OS sound settings, BUT if you are feeding speakers from the same source as headphone you end up adjusting balance every time you are switching from speakers to cans and vise versa. This technically can be avoided if I feed speakers via optical or USB and set them up as a separate output device. BUT then I can't use my DAC which has parametric EQ and Dirac...Second, there is no sub output volume control. Not every recording is perfect so tweaking bass reinforcement is a big deal for me. Luckily, I can work this around by using Klipsch rotary sub control on one of its small speakers BUT then I have THREE speakers on my desktop lmaooo...

These are the perfect desktop powered speakers. Exactly what I was looking for. I was after a pair of quality speakers to put on my work desk at home and connect to my iMac via USB, mainly to listen to music. These speakers give me everything I needed and more. My iMac recognized the speakers immediately, and the speakers being HiRes, its USB connection supports up to 24-bit at 192KHz bit rate, which is more than enough for me and pairs well with Amazon Music HD and Apple Music lossless audio. The sound quality is absolutely great, even at high volumes, and especially considering their size. On top of that, their look just beautiful.They have nice bass for the size but I went ahead and paired them with an Edifier T5 subwoofer and it obviously makes a difference.Tip: due to their smaller size, these speakers will not have enough power to fill an entire room but if you use them as desktop speakers and angle them directly towards your sitting position, they will sound amazing, super crisp and plentiful.Overall, I am extremely happy with these speakers. It’s definitely worth the price for their stunning sound and build quality, compatibility and versatility.

I am really excited to talk about this one because it’s not too often that you find a HiFi speaker at this price with these kinds of specs that can deliver the type of performance that this one does.I am definitely going to talk about the Audio quality and performance, the Price and value, and who should get this speaker I am going to do the whole breakdown.Before we jump all the way in tho, I think it’s worth mentioning that the brand Airpulse in the HiFi speaker game is relatively young,...But here is what’s important for you to know is that the technologies and Acoustical Engineering that they are using is actually tried and testedsince one of the original audio designers for Airpulse is the internationally acclaimed Phil Jones and it's also a sister brand to the audio company Edifier.Which is another highly respected speaker brand that knows how to make high-quality speaker systems.On the flip side though I think Airpulse basically took whatever the edifier team has been doing all these years and kind of Crank the dial up to another level.This results in a lot more luxury and prestige, and most importantly they’ve dialed in the audio performance and sound quality with a lot more refinements and it's definitely noticeable.All right so let's get into it the cabinet is built with some really thick high-strength MDF that gives this speaker a solid feel in the handsPlus it also has this really nice walnut finish that adds to that premium look and feels that makes it versatile enough to fit in almost any home décor or office space.The drivers are some 4.5-inch Mid-woofer that was made with a Proprietary processThat combines a hard-anodized aluminum alloy cone along with an ultra-rigid cast magnesium alloy frame and a really large 30mm diameter voice coilAnd these new material designs along with the larger voice coil should have less power compression because of that larger diameter while also running at a much cooler operating temperature than what some other smaller voice coils could.Now, one of the key things that really sets this speaker apart from everything else that I have tested and used over the last few years and it is also the main thing that gives this a very unique sound delivery.And that Is the horn-loaded ribbon tweeters that were also created with a unique process of some thin aluminum ribbon diaphragm that has a high sensitivity which also results in some extended frequency range that is also pretty noticeable.Plus the wider horn shape of these tweeters acts like a waveguide that produces a much wider sound field since they basically deliver the music right to the listener's ear which also helps to reduce unwanted room reflections.But it gets even better because These drivers are being powered by two Class-D amplifiers with about 100Watts output, and a really powerful multi-core signal audio processor that is based on XMOS xCore200 architect,And there is also a bunch of other really cool pieces of tech packed inside this thing that gives it a real edge over similar speakers in this price class.The A80 is Hi-Res Audio certified with a Signal processor that is able to unpack high-resolution files with almost no loss in qualityPlus it has a Frequency response range from 52Hz upto 40KHz and an input sample rate of up to 192 kHz,It also has myriad inputs support for AUX, PC, USB, Optical, and Bluetooth,As a matter of fact, it's actually using the QUALCOMM’s Bluetooth v 5 chipset that supports APT-X decoders,Which should offer a much better audio quality playback from your mobile devices than what most other bookshelf speakers with just SBC codec have to offer right now.All right so the back panel controls and additional inputs are a volume knob that also doubles as an input selector.There are also a bass and treble dials that can give you plus or minus 3dB on each just in case you want to brighten up the high frequency for a given song or genreOr if you want to crank the bass up just a notch to get some extra kick, however, you may not have to since this model comes with a subwoofer out port to bring those lows even lower with a separate subwoofer.The speaker weighs about 26 pounds and has this really deep cabinet with a sleek and almost minimalist profile whenever you look at them from the front it also has a really balanced design that makes it ideal for desktop use.I really like how the front of these speakers looks it’s a really nice classy design and the walnut finish really adds to that elegance and prestige.All right so I know we had to cover a few other important things in order to get to this point.But it is no surprise really the Airpulse A80 sounds amazing the moment I started listening to some of my favorite test tracks such as Temptation by jazz musician Diana Krall, fly me to the moon by Frank Sinatra, and even Hotel California by Eagles I immediately said yes,they got it.The sound quality and audio performance are seriously crisp and detailedAfter my first listening session, I immediately understood why they paired the 4.5-inch Mid woofers with these horned-loaded tweeters and that is because they offer excellent clarity in the highs without being too sharp or fizzy at the top even at higher volumes.Now the Mid-range was really impressive to me and that is because of how it handles instruments and vocalsPlus the combination of the horn-loaded tweeters along with the bass allows this system to deliver some excellent details and resolve some really natural tonal quality in the singer's vocals.But the vocal quality reproduction is especially noticeable whenever I am watching a YouTube video or a movie with some dialog exchange between two or more people with different vocal tones,The overall bass is tight and rich and it's never bloated across genres or overcrowed the music whenever it's cranked to extremely high volumes,The bass was was still able to deliver some slam and impact in certain situations, However, these speakers are not tuned for bass heads,So, if you are looking for some subwoofer-level type performance here then you should probably look at another pair of powered speakers such as the Edifier S3000Pro Audiophile Truly Wireless Speaker system.But the good thing is you do have the option to add a subwoofer of your choice via the subwoofer out port that comes with this model, While I would say that these speakers are not really analytical in their technical performance,I do believe that they could work well as a reference monitor if you are doing any critical client work.But these are definitely more musical speakers to me from my test and it's a lot of fun to listen to because I literally listen out to hear how it will handle certain specific songs during my test phase.I really think the A80s is an excellent pair of active bookshelf speakers, priced at about $699 which puts it in a really unique position since it sits at the top of the premium midrange Hifi speaker category.Here is the real question, is it worth it?And while I could say yes and I definitely can say no, but a better way to look at it is if you have the appetite for a premium tier HiFi speaker system that is capable to unpack Hi-Res files and has a myriad of connectivity portsalong with the type of hardware that is usually only exclusive to more expensive speakers such as the horned loaded tweeters in this one that really allow this system to deliver some top-tier performance.With excellent detailed retrieval especially if you can feed it high-resolution files, but even then if you can only feed it some CD-quality files it is still a great technical performerthat knows how to bring out the best in your music, however, that is just a long way of saying that the choice is yours now that you know what this thing has to offer for the money.Now it would be totally irresponsible of me not to talk about a few of the gripes that I have with this entire system,For you, these issues are probably minor, but for some people, they might be a cause for concern or a total deal breaker.the first one is, for this price, I seriously think they could have given us one of the more elegant-looking remote controls such as the one that comes with the A300 bookshelf speakers.The OLED Information display on the front of the master speaker shows everything else except the volume level in digits or percentage values while using the remote or volume knob and I seriously wish that was a thing.Now while the bass is good and it delivers a really nice audio experience it still doesn’t have the kick that delivers the kind of sub-bass level performance that you would get from something like the Edifier S3000Pro Audiophile Truly Wireless Speaker systemAnd this could be a deal breaker for something people if they only want a stand-alone bookshelf speaker, but the good thing is you do have that subwoofer out if you don't mind investing some additional funds for one.I guess I could just nit-pick and find the slightest of things to complain about,but to be completely honest there are not too many tradeoffs that come with this one so I might as well go for the low-hanging fruit and talk about the price.There are a lot of people out there I think if they get a chance to listen to these speakers and hear the quality audio and excellent sound delivery that it has,they will immediately buy a pair, but the $699 asking price might be a stretch for some especially if they can't judge for themselves how refined the audio quality is.But is it worth it? is it justified? for the expensive hardware that they packed inside this thingalong with the exceptional audio quality and sound deliveryplus the upscale design and materials personally I like it and I am happy with the audio fidelity, especially how it handles the tonal quality of voice dialog.despite a few of the shortcomings that I mentioned earlier, I am still impressed and this comes highly recommended by me if you keep in mind some of the stuff that I said could be potential trade-offs.Do you already own a pair for yourself?Do you agree or disagree with my assessment of the Airpulse A80? Let me hear your thoughts along with any questions about things you thought I forget to mention in the comment section.Looking forward to your feed

I listen to music whenever I'm on my computer. I tried the Klipsch Pro Media 2.1 and the Logitech Z625 speakers. The Klipsch had better speakers but I felt the subwoofer was too weak. The Logitech had a good subwoofer but the speakers were not as good. After a bunch of research I bought the Airpulse A80 speakers. By far the best sounding speakers of the 3 options but they do not have enough bass by themselves. I matched them with a SVS PB-1000 subwoofer. It is absolutely fantastic. My office is about 15x15 and they are great for this size room. I have to turn the subwoofer almost to max to get the perfect bass. If the room was larger I would recommend the SVS 2000 series. These are great speakers but only with a good subwoofer.

I did a ton of research before deciding on these. I stumbled upon powered bookshelf speakers, what a great concept I thought. I had a very overkill setup for my apartment prior and knew this simple system would work perfectly. The A80 offers a very clean sound with in my opinion more than adequate bass response for the environment I am using them in. What a huge improvement over just tv sound. Having up to date Bluetooth is a bonus. I couldn’t be happier having decided to go with these “smaller “ powered bookshelves .