Genesis Audiophile 16.03 Component Set Test Report

Folk/Rock

Tracy Chapman "Heaven's Here on Earth"

After giving the Audiophiles about 40 hours of break in time I started my listening test with Tracy Chapman's "Heaven's Here On Earth." This track has a wonderful openness to it and a good mix of instruments. The opening 12 bars are all instrumental mood setting with an acoustic guitar, wood block, bass drum and tambourine. The tambourine bangles were missing some of the airiness and shimmer of more expensive components systems tested in the pages of CA&E, but the Audiophile's reproduced the bangles individuality better than the MB Quart QSC that I auditioned last year. I had started listening with the tweeter's crossover level switched to 0dB, so I flipped over to the +3 dB level to see if I could get the shimmer to improve. While it did improve the shimmer, the overall sound quality was much better at the original 0dB, so it was returned to the original.

The acoustic guitar's body tones were a little thin, but still inviting. I liked the string and fret noises that were audible. The bass drum was most impressive - these little 6 1/2" woofers delivered a lot of energy and snap in the deeper bass range. The vocals were very nice with a natural and well balanced reproduction. I could complain that Tracy sounded a touch too nasally, but overall the performance was excellent.

Score: 8 /10

Rock

Lenny Kravits "Believe in Me"

With more mainstream rock, the bass was as I noted prior, very solid. My logbook read "very impressive bass output & sound." With the drum kit, the snare snaps were abrupt and sharp; the high hats and cymbals were clear, but again lacked the shimmer or ring out that I like. I was listening to Lenny Kravits' "Believe in Me" and the vocal reproduction was a little thin in the bottom fundamental of his voice. He sounded great through the middle ranges, but the overall male vocal reproduction was missing the fundamental thickness generally found in that of a male's voice (Michael Jackson doesn't count here). The vocal and instrument imaging were well placed with solid location and height. Nothing was moving around or out of place.

Score: 7/10

Classical

Schubert "The Great"

With a good classical CD like Telarc's 20-bit recording of Schubert's Symphony #9 "The Great," I can really test for a sense of space and tonality. The opening French horns were big, ambient and rich sounding; the flutes and oboes were delicate and finely detailed; the brass section was full and strong, never getting too brassy or over powering. And the violins and string... yeah, I like the sound of the Audiophiles on classical and acoustic instruments.

The string bass plucks were gorgeous. They were taut and exactly at the loudness to match the system. The Audiophiles conveyed the orchestra's size and depth very well. In other words, their reproduction provided a sense of a large orchestra in a large hall as was intended.

Score: 8/10

Jam Session

Focal N 4 "Boxenkiller"

Similarly, on the "Boxenkiller" track, the drum kit was so snappy and responsive that it was just a lot of fun to just sit and listen to. The bass drum and toms were produced with wonderful skin and impact tones. The opening bell tree was natural and the completely exposed sound of the cymbals and high hats exhibited beautiful decay and shimmer. Without a lot of spectral density the Genesis did a good job on the shimmer, but once there was competing instrumentation, the shimmer seemed to suffer. The bass guitar comes in at 1:23 into the track with fat plucks that are tight and offer good fret and string noise details.

Score: 9/10