Simple Audio Listen Bluetooth Speakers Unboxing & Overview

There are a lot of different speakers to choose from out there and making a buying decision can be daunting especially if you do not want to have to go out and listen to every different set of speaker and still make a sound buy.

Speakers can also range quite a bit depending on their features and what market they are trying to reach. Simple audio is reaching into a very niche market that falls right on the border of desktop and high-end audiophile. The Simple audio “Listen” branded set is also a very interesting product all around as it has an abundance of features that make them appealing in a variety of ways.

One of the biggest features that I feel make the “Listen” stand out is their ability to be a very portable and yet solid made product that can be used in any room in your house or any Bluetooth device as well. If you want to use them as your desktop audio system they can connect via the 3.5mm cable and regardless of which OS you use be it Mac based or Windows you can hook them up via USB for automatic USB connectivity. When using USB connection the “Listen” speakers use the native sound drivers of your sound system to power the audio, but you can get even better response by using a high-quality amplifier and the 3.5mm connection. The system will automatically stop playing if you are connecting a different type until you unplug the previous cable.

If you have amazing built in audio that is cool, but most onboard audio solutions are ho-hum for quality music reproduction and more geared toward gaming. The “Listen” comes with a 3-Inch midrange speaker with rare earth magnets and has FerroFluid cooled tweeters as well as bass reinforcing pressure driver. A pressure driver is a passive speaker that is slaved to the active driver(s) via the acoustic chamber. It typically consists of a frame, a rubber surround, and a weighted driver. The additional weight allows the pressure driver to use its mass to reinforce low frequencies. By utilizing a pressure driver, Listen’s low-frequency response is extended, rolling off (-10dB from reference) at approximately 45Hz ±5Hz with volume level at or below ~80%. The speakers should sound very clean with little noise interference even at high volumes.

The 2-way design ensures that the “Listen” can reproduce a broad range of frequencies and by utilizing SPL Sound Pressure Levels the “Listen” can produce a full range of frequencies without distortion or tone loss. The speakers contain a separate digital amplifier for each speaker and by providing separate digital amplifiers for each driver the “Listen” speakers are able to take advantage of several benefits to make them sound amazing. First, this design provides plenty of amplifier headroom to reproduce audio accurately, even at higher SPLs and peak output. Second, it allows us to use precisely tuned, phase compensated, DSP-based active crossovers. The bass reinforced pressure driver has an extra heavy weighted driver to ensure a clean low tone without muddy sound reproduction

Active crossovers that use a DSP to accurately reproduce the different frequencies ranges with out producing a harsh or unbalanced sound are part of what make the “Listen” a separate animal than your standard speakers. Simple audio also incorporates Dynamic Compression, which allows on the fly compression that eliminate clipping or distorted sounds even at maximum volume levels something only seen in the studio and usually during the mix-down phase of the process not on a speaker. The “Listen” provide Dynamic power allocation that allows a flat frequency response and also changes the way the speaker works and the way it actually reproduces the source signal. The speakers compensate each other at a different level than normal speakers and allow both speakers to be heard clearly regardless of how low, or how loud you have them. At lower volume levels, the woofer will receive slightly more power relative to the tweeter; at higher volume levels, the woofer will receive less power, allowing Listen to maintain a flatter frequency response across a wider range of volume levels.

The speakers are made to work anywhere with their various connection types and for those wanting an even fuller sound the “Listen” come equipped with a Subwoofer out. This feature is for those who want to utilize a subwoofer in their sound system, and something that no PC speakers I have owned came with unless they had a subwoofer in the speaker setup with the original purchase.  All in all just a lot of features that set them apart from the pack. Because Listen is a bi-amplified design, they treat the tweeters and woofers as separate channels for measuring power. Using a 1KHz sine wave, the woofers measure 21W RMS per channel with 8% THD+N, and using an 8KHz sine wave, the tweeters measure 19W RMS per channel with 3% THD+N. This means each speaker’s power is 40W RMS for total system power of 80W RMS. Ergonomically designed with a complete touch interface as well as remote control makes usage very friendly. I am very eager to get these speakers hooked up to my different systems as well as how they sound in different locations, but from my initial feeling and the specs that the “Listen” has I have very high expectations to how they should sound. I will use all of the different type of connections as well in an effort to see which one brings forth the best sound and also compare them to 5 different sets of speakers in a comparison of different priced and different spec speakers. Thanks for reading tech Of Tomorrow. Pricing is slated at around the $499.99 mark, but these are not meant for the meek, but rather the connoisseur who wants great audio and portability in the same housing.

Product Page & Availabilty: