Generally speaking, one can hardly go wrong with these speakers. You should bear in mind, though, that they are a compromise given their size, but this is exactly what makes them so versatile. If I had the financial means and enough space on my desktop, I would probably go for a pair of their bigger siblings, simply because more bass is always welcome. But what is there in terms of low end is informative enough and definitely does not disappoint. Of course, personal preferences and acoustical characteristics play a huge role here, but I would like to emphasise that we should not have huge expectations of thunderous bass from a 5-inch driver. And if, by any chance, you find these speakers booming (as one reviewer pointed out), then you can simply use the tone control settings on the back to tame the bass.
I am still in a process of evaluating mine. So far I am quite happy with my choice. My setup consists of a pair sitting on a desk in a small, bedroom-like environment. Although their proximity to the back wall suggests using the tone controls settings and attenuate the bass, I ended up without making any adjustments at all, at least until I take care of some reverberations in the room and make some measurements in order to know what exactly I am dealing with acoustically speaking.
I usually avoid describing sound as this is highly subjective, but I would say that the speakers are very revealing. I happen to have a few DACs at the moment of writing this review and was able to play a bit with all of them. What strike me is how easily I could say the difference in the sound characteristics between them.
In terms of features, I am slightly disappointed that they don’t have an RCA input and this is probably the only negative thing I can say about them. The autostart (ISS) function is working smoothly and the auto power off takes a bit more than what I would normally expect – around 45 minutes or so, not a biggie.
Finally, I would like to say that I can only recommend Genelec 8030. They might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you happen to be on the fence about them, I can confidently suggest to give them a try.
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