fairaudio reviews the ADAM S2V nearfield monitor

Reviews

HiFi enthusiast Jochen Reinecke has tested our high class ADAM Audio S2V studio monitor for fairaudio:

“The first visual impression is of something valuable and cool yet also crisp and fresh. The combination of the black housing with its rounded edges, the 7” woofer for the bass and mids and the yellowish orange glow of the AMT tweeter somehow gives an overall impression of sporty athleticism. The build quality is worthy of the price class of €3,500 per pair, including all the important parameters like the clearances, fittings, central alignment and so on.”

Are you looking for a flattering speaker, one that’s silky and elegantly rounded, one that will forgive recording and mixing mishaps, one you can use to relax, kick back and enjoy your collection of old vinyl classics? Then forget it. You might as well stop reading now and look elsewhere. The Adam S2V is an absolutely incorruptible monitor, it’s a real workhorse that lets you peer deep into the sonic image with freshly cleaned glasses and the magnifying glass it supplies.”

The bass response of the Adam S2V is weighty, dry as a bone and stays substantial and profound way above moderate listening levels. And it’s quick! The mid-range, on the other hand, is enormously detailed, transparent and clear, as though freshly cleaned. The same is true for the treble frequencies which are depicted – thanks to the AMT – up into the ‘air’ range. This not only gives plenty of resolution in the audible range up to around 13-14 kHz but also lends the sonic image an outstanding airiness and feeling of refinement. In its default factory state, the Adam S2V gives an overall impression of being well balanced, all the way from the bottom frequencies right up to the middle of the treble range. Using the neutral settings, the “top end” of the S2V is more on the silvery, glittery side than the gilded, well-rounded side. Anyone who finds that too ‘sparkly’ can fine-tune the response using the DSP system.”

“Why does the Adam S2V sound so transparent and in-your-face? Well, it’s evidently down to its speed and the clean and timely driver response. This is closely linked to both the fine and coarse dynamics. The particularly good quality of these aspects reminds me of the substantially more expensive Genelec 8351.”

“Background noise (the AMT tweeter shows up everything!), distortion, muffled Alesis digital reverbs, poorly attenuated voicings, half-hearted vocal recordings, overly sizzly hihats… Those are the kinds of production problems or deficiencies ruthlessly uncovered by the Adam S2V, which rubs a handful of salt into the wounds. You can, of course, use the sophisticated DSP to adjust things here and there, but fundamentally this speaker will stay what it is: A monitor that lifts the good stuff up into the heavens and throws the bad stuff crashing down to the ground. That’s something you have to be aware of.”

“The imaging of the soundstage is a smidgeon wider in terms of both depth and breadth than you’re used to yet it also lets you precisely locate sound sources. The soundstage begins one step away from the speaker’s baseline.”
The S2V’s background hiss is so quiet that you can’t hear it if you’re more than 10 cm away. That’s an accomplishment that even today can’t be taken for granted.”

Please read the full review (in German) here.