VanatooBlack Transparent One Encore Plus Near Field Studio Monitor Speakers Pair for TV, PC, Gaming. Powered Speakers for Desktop and Room. AUX, USB, Bluetooth, Toslink Optical, Coax, Remote.

These are great values for audiophiles. If you are fine with listening to 128 Kbps MP3s or only need to hear voices in teleconferences, these are not for you. Save your money and get something cheaper.This version of the speaker is relatively new (about 2 or 3 months old as of 11/24/23, if I understood the manufacturer correctly) and has a revised amp. I have never heard speakers handle the bass as well as these do in such a relatively tiny box volume! Treble gives and midrange are also acceptable with good resolution.The Vanatoos were purchased for near field use on my desk and needed to be compact. The 5.25” aluminum cones are powered by 100-water digital amps (class-D) and the 1” aluminum dome tweeters are powered by 20-watt digital amps. Each speaker also has a 5.25” long throw passive radiator.Still, these speakers could be used to fill a big room with music under certain circumstances (such as after the addition of a sub, or listening to certain music genres at certain volume levels).I put the Vanatoos on the Suptek wall mounts and used blue tack to secure them. This allowed me to get the speakers off my desk and allowed tilt and swivel of the speakers. I attached my computer to them with a coax digital cable (the only connection cable not included). I listened to 24-96 Flacs of various genres.After a short while listening, I attached an extra sub that I had, the Funk Audio 18.1. This sub has an 18” driver with 98db/1watt supplied by an 800-watt (at 1% THD) amp. The sub is huge, very loud, and sounds good with a big port and a beautiful cabinet. I didn’t have freedom to place the sub in the optimal position for music in my office, so I used the REW (Room Equalizer Wizard) and the Room Equalizer APO. I am roughly 40-inches from the Vanatoo speakers.These speakers, even without the sub, are musical and do a good job – a great job considering their size and price. Voices and instruments are very close to accurate. It does best with small ensembles rather than large orchestra. The sub makes things better. With the Funk Audio sub, the speakers could easily fill a large room with loud music. (If my budget for a sub was only $500, I’d give the SVS SB-1000 Pro Sealed Subwoofer an audition.)I liked how compact the Vanatoo speakers are. I don’t need to get an amp and find space for that. A DAC is not required for these as it uses digital amps. These are relatively small (10” H x 6 1/2” W x 8 1/8” D). It isn’t wireless, but I am fine with that. Wireless technology often has less sound quality than wired – besides it is nearfield. The wire connecting the active and passive speakers is proprietary (not just speaker wire).The build quality is what I would expect at this price. I liked the magnetic grills that cover the bright aluminum drivers. Mine was in a black – not high gloss glaring. It has a three-year warranty.I did not use any of the other inputs, but there are several: USB, Toslink Optical, Coax (I used), Bluetooth and 3.5mm Analog Inputs with auto-input selection. It includes a nice remote that I have hardly used at all.Other professional reviews are available for older versions of this speaker from Stereophile and others.Comparisons: If you just want something for teleconference and background ambience, get the Creative Pebble. It’s small, cheap, and clear. I tried the Edifier R1280Ts, and these were a huge disappointment to me. I considered them only useful for teleconferences, and for that purpose, the Pebbles were smaller and with a clearer voice.If price and size isn’t a consideration, then these speakers are certainly not the best speakers for audiophiles. My Focals on stands powered by Musical Fidelity sound much better in every regard. The two places that are of most concern to me is that the large Focals sound bigger (a larger soundscape) and secondly the midrange is more prominent. With the Vanatoos, the midrange (vocals) sound a bit more recessed than is my preference. This is in comparison to my favorite speakers in their price range – which considering speakers, stands, and amplifier is roughly five times the cost of the Vanatoos. And, of course, even my beloved Focals aren’t the best. I have heard speakers costing $10,000 or so that were clearly better. I am saying this just to reinforce that my rating for the speaker is for the price range and not over all speakers. Not only do the Focals cost more, the system is much bigger.Summary: If you are looking for small musical speakers at a relatively low price (for audiophiles), I recommend that you give the Vanatoo One Encore Plus a listen! You get a 30-day trial period from Vanatoo.

I've been a fan of Vanatoo since first hearing the OG Encore One and was amazed at how they sounded for at the time $500. Fast forward 10 years and I have some extra money to get these for my bedroom TV connected to a PC via USB. I was impressed, but " issues " kept me from being blown away (placement limitations). They were good, don't get me wrong but at everyone is asleep volumes they were not hitting their stride, and the passive radiator was not doing much being too quiet to hit the wall behind them.I should mention my current speakers are full range. It's a single speaker so there is no cross-over and the sound comes from one driver. With the Encore, I was kind of hearing each driver at times. Most people would probably not notice it but I'm used to the pinpoint sound from the speakers I have now.I took them out to my living room to pack up to return (currently mostly empty for renovation) and since they are so easy to set up I decided to set them up and used my phone to play music. They were on a table, about 2' from the wall behind them and about 6' apart.Wow. Sounded SO good! They are technically good speakers. A touch crisp, I'd say on the "clean" side. But never quite crossing over into shrill/fatiguing.I've done studio recording (not as an engineer, but in the booth). I've done live sound mixing...With these speakers, instruments were where they belonged in the mix. They sounded good everywhere in the room. (very bright room, not even curtains on the windows), These blur the lines between 'home' speakers and studio monitors.It's hard to fault them. They sound small because they are small. I can't speak too much to soundstage because I don't spend a lot of time listening to soundstage but I didn't notice any problem with it either.I tried them with my 6.5" desktop sub and I did not gain anything. They sounded better without it. For music, these went low enough for me even in the big room but I prefer my bass tight/accurate. But the Sub out on these makes it easy to add a big sub for extension.These speakers just get out of the way and let you enjoy the music. They are on the clean side. I was tempted to put my tube pre-amp in front of them but I did not have the right cable. While on the clean side, they did not punish poorly recorded music/low-quality rips and they never crossed into SSSSSibilant. You hear what the engineer recorded.I LOVED not having all the cables running to my DAC, my tube preamp, and my 2.1 amplifier, to my speakers. Only a power cord, cable to my PC, and the cable connecting them.I'd be happy with these if they cost $200 more. I can't compare them to anything because, for the last 10 years, I've been doing DIY speakers.Pros:You get a lot for the money since you are getting a DAC and active (DSP) cross-over and bi-amp speakers. They have a connection for everything including Bluetooth (which I did not test)Sub out with two cross overs to choose fromExcept for sounding small (because they are small), I can't fault them. They get out of the way and let you enjoy the music. Not warm, not cold, neutral.All-in-one. No picking a DAC and Amp and hope they play well with your speakers. The Encore One is on its 3rd generation and it's dialed in.(on audio science review the 2nd generation tested very well except for some minor dispersion issues and the 3rd generation added a waveguide and I was impressed with how they sounded anywhere in the room)Cons:Might be a bit neutral for some people if that is not the sound you are used to/want.Very fiddly to change settings. But not hard once you figure out how to do it.They are small, only 5" woofers (which is what I wanted). There might be better choices if you could go with a bigger woofer. I'd be tempted by the new Kali MM-6.If I wanted these for music in a room... I'd keep them in a heartbeat. If you want small speakers that split the difference between 'home speakers' and studio monitors, I think these deserve a look.

This is the most wonderful one with so small dimensions I've ever bought!! Once I turn on it and play HiFi music, I'm completely poisoned! I cannot describe with any words how beautiful is the voice!! I never wrote a word for review before! I'm too excited to hold one moment! Must recommend it to my friends! Tks for the wonderful product!

I am a musician and 60+ years old. I’ve had PA systems and DJ systems but never a decent home stereo. I live in a small apartment and decided to give these speakers a try. I had just these speakers for two days and was blown away by the sound, appearance, and build quality. Today, a Klipsch 10” sub woofer showed up, and that was the icing on the cake. I spent about $1K on this setup and couldn’t be happier. The reviews are 100% spot on. Buy them today!!!

When connected to a PC via USB, the speakers keep going into stand-by mode and not playing a new notification sound because it takes them a few seconds to wake up. Which kind of makes them useless as computer speakers. So if your PC only makes notification sounds only every once in a while (new mail, for example), you will never hear anything, as the speakers will be silent for a few seconds while waking up, and by the time they are read to play, the notification sound had already stopped.