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My current desktop reference loudspeakers include the Audience 1+1, MoFi SourcePoint 8, and ATC SC-7III. Each excels in different parameters. The Audience has the best imaging and soundstage reproduction, the SourcePoint has the most seductive harmonic balance, and the ATC is, comparatively, the most linear and dynamic. While the Audiomis MC5 doesn’t best each of these loudspeakers’ most outstanding features, it does manage to split the difference in terms of sonic trade-offs and include 90% of the most positive aspects of each of the other speakers to arrive at an extremely compelling nearfield transducer.
For me, the most attractive sonic aspect of the Audiomis MC5 is its combination of low-fatigue sound with high resolution. I can listen, nearfield, for most of a working day without needing to turn the MC5s down or off. Yes, the midbass is a trifle warm, but judicious placement can reduce that. While there are plenty of fine two-way loudspeakers similarly priced to the MC5, if musicality is high on your “must-have” list for transducers, these two-ways could very easily find a way into your system.
Sonically, the STA-100 is your classic, squeaky clean, quiet as a dead mouse, neutral-sounding power amplifier. Listening through my LS3/5a speakers to the instrumental “The Butcher’s Dog” from Charles Sawtelle’s album From Rancho DeVille, I was impressed by the clarity and precise instrument placement within the soundstage. Even the low-level feedback howl during the tune’s opening notes came through clearly.I can see the STA-100 finding a place in many high-performance desktop nearfield installations. Combined with a good DAC/preamplifier and loudspeakers that are at least 85 dB sensitivity at one meter, you have the basics of a fine stereo system.
How does it sound? Better than you might expect. Using my iPhone 13 mini I was able to connect to the BTR-HD on the first attempt. I was impressed by the sound quality from a Qobuz file of “People get Ready” by the Chamber Brothers, which had excellent lateral imaging and focus. On minimalist tracks, such as John Zorn’s “Ballade #2”, the sound was more than listenable, it was involving. Only on difficult, densely mixed material was I aware of what I was missing. It was simply harder to listen to the subtle details buried in the mix on material I was familiar with.
