Ok, ladies and gentlemen, I received the speakers, hooked it up, listen for 2 hours or so, and here are my thoughts.
First of all, these speakers are VERY heavy, much heavier than I expect given it doesn't have a box. I think it is even heavier than my Zu Omen Def I. For the sound, I can say, YES, it is a different level. If I want to summarize in one sentence, that is, I can hear things I didn't hear from the Zu before.
1. The bass of course is better with the subwoofer. It provides a good floor of low frequencies, and I can hear the drums that I haven't heard before. I think it sounds like those big Timpani drum in orchestra.
2. It is more detailed and transparent. The female vocal is crystal clear. Again, I can hear things in this high mid frequency range that I didn't hear before. In one song, there is a wind blowing sound that I never notice it. At the beginning, I feel it is slightly "brighter" than the Zu. Now, I feel it is revealing the frequencies that not able to reveal by the Zu. The Zu sounds like I put a layer of "thing" in front of the X5. Combine with better bass, it has a wider dynamic range, on both ends.
3. It has more depth. The Zu sound more compressed, meaning the vocal and instruments are relatively closed, even though the sound coming at a depth behind the walls. For the X5, the vocal all of sudden is more forward, feels like sound just came out in the middle of the air, then some instruments are further back behind the wall. I think I misunderstood what "depth" means before. I thought depth means the sound comes further back away from the speakers. But I think I am wrong. X5 gives me a sense of depth by having separate layers, something sound closer, something sound further away, that relativity gives me a sense of depth. With the vocal coming out from the air, it also gives me a very 3D, holographic sense.
4. Saxophone sounds more airy. I played saxophone myself, so, definitely, I can tell it sounds more like real saxophone in the X5. The sound is more open, which is as expected with the open baffle, no surprise here.
I never know what I missed until now. You don't know what you don't know. But to be fair, the Zu Omen Def I is 1/3 of the price of the X5. While the above improvements are audible, but not by a lot. I think the Zu Omen Def are still good speakers for the price. Actually, in the first 10 mins, I feel ... oh no, not much better than my Zu, and it is 3x the price, what am i going to do with them. It took me about 2 hours of listening with different songs, then I realize all those improvements. I actually feel the Zu Omen Def I is a pretty good deal for people with a lower budget.
In conclusion, I am happy with the purchase. I get what I hope to get - the openness, the holographic, the bass. The detail and transparency exceed my expectation. It is not as holographic as the Magnepan (I think it is a 2.5 because they are huge, driving by expensive, huge Macintosh mono blocks) based on my memory, but that Magnepan is so big and ugly. Those Macintosh mono blocks alone are more expensive than the X5s. This X5 provides a good balance of everything!
So, now, I have a question. Does anyone know what are those bass program selections supposed to mean? There is 1, 2, and 3. Then there is a Prot which is not selectable. I tried different programs and can't detect the difference.
