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Showing 1 of 6 conversations about:
01110110
12
Dec 10, 2020
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I own a pair of these (in walnut), for what they are, they are fine, and they look nice on my desk. But, for the price, if you just want some decent, compact, powered speakers, Audioengine's own A2+ are possibly a better value (particularly if you already have a decent desktop DAC, or have no need for the HD3's 3.5mm out, etc.) - vs the A2+, there's not really any differences in frequency response and both speakers share the same tweeters/woofers/amp.
The HD3's mostly add some QoL upgrades and additional capabilities - nicer cable with banana plugs for powering the right speaker, fancier built-in DAC, the addition of a 3.5mm headphone out jack (and the headphone amp is fairly competent - unless you are a serious audiophile, you likely would be fine without any separate equipment), the power/volume controls are located on the front the left speaker (as opposed to the rear), they offer better bluetooth quality if you want to stream music wirelessly (i.e., aptX HD support). Basically, the HD3's are more of an all-in-one audio solution, and as such might not make as much sense if you already have some separates that you want to continue to use.
I find I prefer the sound coming out of these after dialing in some frequency response correction using equalizerAPO, and recommend giving this one a try if you own either the HD3's or A2+: http://noaudiophile.com/DSP_Corrections/AudioEngine_A2_Plus.php
Just know that these corrections will also be applied to the HD3's headphone out as well, so you'd want to disable them for any headphone listening. Also, don't expect miracles in terms of bass response or distortion levels - these are reasonably well built, but there's only so much you can do with <3" woofers (thankfully, these do offer an RCA subwoofer out if you want some deep bass).
But let's address the elephant in the room - other than getting some drop rewards points, why bother ordering these here at MSRP? The HD3's have been put on sale a few times for around 20% off, either wait for a real sale or just order them somewhere else so you can start using them sooner.
OMan
119
Dec 11, 2020
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01110110In support to this post and my own experience:
After having them for over 3 years, I can say they have very nice desktop \ computer speakers. I have them paired with Audioengine Sub S8, and it is an awesome combination for games and movies. The sound quality is very good too. The sound is as good as Sonos 5, B&W686 and VAF DC-02, but smaller sound. The DAC \ Headphone is very good too, but it lacks a little extra power for headphones like the HD6xx. It is able to drive them to a nice volume, but when you want that extra bit, it lacks power. The other nice feature is the Bluetooth capability. It is very solid and I will say that has more range than any other Bluetooth speaker that I have used. It does not require Windows driver, which is a plus, and it works well with Windows 10. In the negative, there is not way to turn off the Bluetooth and it takes priority over the USB input.
murixbob
37
Keyboard Club Member
Dec 11, 2020
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01110110Exactly, the fact that there's 0 discount on these versus me buying directly from AudioEngine or through Amazon where I can at least get 5% off with a store card and pay off right away is sad. If anything I would consider buying them elsewhere or getting the Klipsch R-51pm when they are on sale for $350 -$370 range.
MorpheousTheDreamer
8
May 5, 2021
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01110110I wonder how these sounds compared to Monolith MM-5R, I think it was on sale recently for $350, it's back to $400 now. The non-ribbon twitter version (MM-5) is $300.
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