Voxativ debuted a complete three-piece system at AXPONA that I hope I enjoy reviewing soon. They had two version of the system; one had the Zeth tower speakers, and the other had the Hagen stand-mounted speakers. I prefer the Hagen system.
By adding the small black Absolut Box, you now have the Hagen Absolut System. It is deceptively simple-looking, and it sells for $7,900 with Voxativ speaker cables. The black box houses a 30-Watts per channel class-AB integrated amp, a custom DAC with DSP, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth aptX. There’s also an optional bass unit if you want to add it, but we didn’t think it was necessary to suit our needs.
With the box and a pair of Voxativ Hagen single-driver loudspeakers, all you need to provide is a smartphone to stream music wirelessly to the system. You could easily add a music server and a turntable if you wished. With the built-in DSP, they say the system is flat to 45Hz and rolls off slowly from there.
At first glance, I thought this was going to be a very expensive lifestyle system, and I guess it is. But, it is also so much more. I dare say this may be the best single driver stand-mounted speaker I have ever heard. I’ll let you know when I get it in my room, but I can tell you it is truly a very high-end system in every way.
On Gillian Welch’s “Soul Journey”, the sound was simply alive and full of big tone. Her voice was right there in the room with us, and David Rawlings’ guitar playing was so easy to follow.
Days after we left the room Becky was still talking about how great this system sounded. I concur, and I can’t wait to hear it in our home.
