QLN ONE SPEAKER - REVIEW
Qln One Speaker Review
There is no shortage of high performance, high end audiophile monitors on the market for astute listeners to choose from. Designers are going above and beyond to stand out from the crowd, with the drive to innovate and offer a high value product having never been stronger. One such company is Qln, based in Sweden, and they have been producing top shelf loudspeakers for decades. Mark Sossa—the Director of Sales and Marketing—of Well Pleased AV brings Qln products into the USA, and offered us their newest product for review, the Qln One monitor, which retails for $4800.
The speakers are substantial for their size, weighing at approx. 30 lbs each. Of note, Qln does sell a dedicated stand for the One. The stand is 24 inches, which Qln says is optimal. Grilles are supplied, but were left off during listening sessions.
Set Up & Listening:
We set the Qln One’s up in our main system, driven for the most part by the recently reviewed Audio Hungary Qualiton 100 watt tube integrated amp, as well as several other amps. Our source was a Rega Planar 6 turntable, and a Sonore microRendu streamer / Bryston BDA-3 DAC combo. Cabling was a mix of Black Cat and Audio Art Cable.
After a few days we settled on about 15 degrees of toe in. This provided the best treble and midrange balance. The speakers were roughly 7 feet apart and we sat approximately eight feet from the speakers. There was plenty of space around the monitors to keep room interaction at a minimum.
What we heard after about a week of casual listening was what seemed like a very neutral, nicely balanced, and layered overall presentation. Our initial impressions were confirmed over the long term. There was lots of nuance at the top end, and the midrange was highly transparent, clean, and free from any distinct coloration. This really came to light after listening to numerous recordings that had been in heavy rotation in the prior months. One such album, Retrospective, a brilliant sounding SACD of many of the Eric Burden and the Animals best 60’s output, was amazingly analog sounding, and the amount of detail retrieval was stunning, but not to the point of distraction.
Tracks such as “Inside Looking Out”, “Don’t Bring Me Down”, and “See See Rider” are filled with tension and release, with fuzzed guitars, organ, and Eric Burden’s commanding vocals. Chas Chandler’s iconic bass lines were distinct and powerful. (Chandler went on to manage and produce one Jimi Hendrix!) The Qln One did a superb job of presenting these raw recordings and everything just seemed to snap into focus, reminding me very much of the original vinyl I used to spin as an early teen, but with much higher fidelity.
Speaking of Hendrix, we revisited our two favorite posthumous albums, The Cry Of Love and Rainbow Bridge, both remastered for vinyl and CD by Bernie Grundman. These two albums, released not long after Hendrix passed away, are filled with songs he was working on at his own Electric Ladyland studios in New York, and which were to appear on a double album he was conceptualizing. The material is powerful, drawing on funk, psychedelia, sound art, and blues. The Qln pair made these albums sound fresh and exciting a good 50 years after their initial release.
Tracks like “Dolly Dagger”, “Freedom”, the often covered “Angel”, and “Ezy Rider” spill out of the speakers with ferocity and precision. There were quite a few overdubs and layers to these recordings, and the One was able to navigate through all of them and provide a seamless, powerful window into Jimi’s last creative burst.
A recently released self titled LP by a Los Angeles based group called Cadence Calling, is a stunner through and through. The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered for vinyl one hundred percent analog. They subsequently did release a 96 kHz digital download as well. The group calls upon early 70’s folk rock and the laid back California sound in the style of Jackson Browne, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, and others. We found the album enchanting, and the Qln’s beautifully captured the overall vintage vibe and warmth of the recording.
Recently, I took a deep dive into the catalog of iconic Spanish songstress Rocio Durcal. She had her heyday in the late 70’s and early 80’s combining flamenco, traditional latin styles, including Mexican ranchera, and pop music into a powerful, original blend. There are a number of good 24 bit remastered anthologies to choose from, and all are well done, with Durcal’s sublime voice rendered lovingly via the Qln pair. The accompaniment on many of her best known songs is layered with strings, horns and percussion. Her flair for the dramatic comes through delightfully. We had many requests to play some of these albums over and over again while the Qln’s were in the house!
No matter what the genre, or the vintage of the recording, the Qln One’s seemed to just be the messenger, offering a nice clean window into the music. They will not plumb the depths like a floor stander loaded with large drivers, but the bass performance was spot on, and highly accurate. The Qln One also was exceptional at handling transients, especially with drums, quick percussion instruments, and piano. Are the speakers perfect? No transducer is, but we found it very difficult to find any obvious sonic flaws. They held our attention, and never ceased to be engaging.
Conclusion:
The Qln One monitor is a beautifully designed stand mount that offers elegance in its sonic presentation, and class in its physical appearance. It is clear the Qln One should be matched with well chosen amplification and cables, as this will pay dividends. The more transparent the source, the more the One will rise to the occasion.
As noted, there is an endless array of two way monitors available for audiophiles to choose from, but Qln is definitely an ear opener with its highly accurate, transparent, and well balanced sound. The Qin’s are also well appointed in the coherence department. These speakers are definitely not a flash in the pan. They reveal themselves to the listener and become more endearing over time, instead of dazzling with fireworks that then go on to lose their lustre over time.
For a smidge under 5k, the Oln One is seen to be full of good Swedish engineering, natural tonality, and is very high value. A must hear for those in the market for a reasonably priced high performance monitor. It is clear that a lot of thought went into the product. We also highly recommend inquiring about the dedicated stands. Well done Qln!
Product information:
Manufacturer product page:
US importer:
Mark Sossa, Well Pleased AV
https://wellpleasedav.com/.