This set is completely new to me, and I haven't even really heard anything about it before listening. That's how much Janne mentioned that it was said to be a pretty good set, and the importer wanted "a man who never likes anything", i.e. the undersigned with a reputation as a somewhat picky hifi player, to listen to this. Well, let's try.

Text: Jani Ilola

The list of music used for listening can be found at the end of the story, so check it out there. I won't elaborate on the matter any more here, but I'll go straight to the assessment. A more in-depth article about the series by Janne Soilakari can be found ( article in finnish language ) at this link , it's worth reading for basic information if it's not a familiar product:

I listened to Kuustonen's song almost completely before I realized that I should write something down. So, what the heck? Wasn't this supposed to be a set under two hundred? This works. The midrange is natural and flat, and the bass reproduction is precise, powerful and well-balanced at the same time. Ohhh. The treble is also quite nice, although it does have an extra "wave the magic wand..." sound. But it is bright and open. The noise could calm down a bit if you decrease the tweeter level. But that bass/midbass/midrange… I listened to the song all the way through. And these same songs have been listened to probably a thousand times, so it's hard to get excited about them anymore.

Junior starts right from the first steps so nicely that you can't believe it. Really good. The treble is the only one with a bit of extra oral energy and excitement in the s-sounds and s-sounds in this song as well. Otherwise, I can't find anything to crunch.

Ugh, now Rammstein's opening speech has a twang. The bottoms are naturally missing in the bass hits, but when the song starts, there is plenty of stability and attitude. With a louder volume, the going gets tighter (in a good way), nothing attacks the face. It would sound like there is a little more range of motion coming into the bass drum membrane as well. Of course, this isn't a bass cannon without a subwoofer, but it looks believable.

Hipolla attracts you from the very beginning with the sound of snuff and snare, as well as a solid and brutally accurate bass reproduction. The banjo sounds exactly as I imagine it to sound in my mind. There is a surprising amount of power in the bass hits and runs and the overall sound is very consistent and even with a louder volume you don't get the feeling that the series is somehow anxious. Oh my god, the hairs on your arms stand up during bass runs, this doesn't happen often.

Janita's shakers now have tremendous precision and detail. The singing voice is really good, no hoarseness or other mistakes are easily noticeable, in addition, the solid bass reproduction also gives the singing voice sufficient support and depth. The mid-bass is very precise and snappy, there could be a bit more power in the bass, but somewhere the limit of six-and-a-half comes up. If you add more subbar power to this impact and sound, I could imagine that it would be pretty badass. The horn section also has a nice impact without it becoming ear-splitting.

In Lofgren's performance, you can immediately notice more space and (space) reverberation than normal, and in addition, a certain kind of lively vibration is transmitted from the guitar strings. The singing voice also seems to have more size than usual. The snapping of the guitar head causes a slight wow effect, it's so natural and snappy. Less often than that, the foot starts tapping to the rhythm of an acoustic guitar performance.

Well, how does that metal work? This set does not apologize for the worse, i.e. the sound is just as sharp as what it was mixed to be, but the sound itself is also quite functional and the solid bass reproduction helps the reproduction. At high volume, this song has some weird effect that causes my ears a slight unpleasant feeling in that guitar sound. However, this calms down/disappears when the volume drops a bit.

Summary:

This is really quite amazing for a series of a couple of hundred. I usually don't cultivate exaggerations in my reviews, but this set does deserve praise without reservation. For the price, this is really good and absolutely good. The sound is really universal and you can find power and precision very well. This is really easy to listen to, and at least during the test session I didn't get any kind of listening fatigue, on the contrary, I felt like listening to all the songs until the end, which doesn't happen very often. The only thing I could really complain about is the somewhat fair level of the treble and (perhaps due to that) a slight hiss and aggression in some of the material, but otherwise the sound produced by the treble is good. At this point, it was not possible to test a level lower than the dividers for the treble, but I could imagine that it would calm the playback appropriately.

As a rating, I would give a commendable 9-/10 on an absolute level, and considering the price range, I would even give 9+, say what you will. This is really good.

Music material used for listening :

• Mikko Kuustonen: Abrakadabra
• Junior Wells: Sweet Sixteen
• Rammstein: Marry Mich
• Bela Fleck & The Flecktones: Flight of the Cosmic Hippo
• Janita: Sävyjä
• Nils Löfgren: Keith Don't Go
• Nightwish: Crimson Tide / Deep Blue Sea