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Considering a very demanding but extraordinarily resolved piano recording as one of the last outings from the Esoteric Corporation on Chopin, Liszt and Debussy Piano Pieces, the accuracy of articulation and presence was really outstanding. I listened to the very same recording at a friend's who last year had bought a pair of Sonus faber Guarneri Evolution. We both noticed how the feeling of presence and dynamic amplitude completely differed with my speakers. That's the great attraction of the K1: utter transparency from virtually non-existent interactions between cabinet and drivers even under extreme duress.


On the loss side of this ledger, some bass addicts could deplore what for the price could seem too polite. The last (first?) octave of lower-priced competitors like B&W's 802Di has more weight and preeminence. But the B&W's gains are offset by Vivid's finesse and agility in the bass which in my opinion utterly lacks in the Brit. No matter what, the K1's lowest notes remain articulate and energetic. Listen for instance to a double bass like on Brian Bromberg’s Wood for a good idea on the tonal richness and linearity in the nether regions. With the Vivid I have plenty of harmonics all across the instrument's range, a lot of energy and a stunning three-dimensional image. I know few speakers capable of all three of these things at the same time. Taking into account the rear woofers' progressive roll-off above 100Hz, 50-70cm wall distance remains unproblematic in my experience.


If you have the space, it's interesting to play with this variable though to observe the speaker's bass response. In my case it's a delicate balance as I must address the rear woofers and my DAAD bass traps. That requires very precise positioning but also provides me with a very fine tuning tool.

Strings and the K1 are marvelous together for perfect focus, density and articulation that have you imagine an actual guitar or violin in your listening room. I think that the advanced cancellation process of internal standing waves assists a lot in the correct recreation of string vibrations in the air as well as impressive acoustic phase coherence. Listening to many acoustic guitar albums, the sound of each guitar is always different.

On Linn Records' The music of Santiago de Murcia the sound of the baroque guitar showed a great wealth of colors and nuances whilst the timbres of Passion Grace and Fire captured a very different approach with wide bandwidth and fiery transients. On Mujeres de Agua the flamenco guitar was holographic with fabulous transients and clean attacks. What I like so much about the K1 is its ability to recreate a dense three-dimension image full of air and fluidity. It might be possible to mine even more presence and materialization of instruments and voices but often speakers with such an incredible amount of presence like a big Magico M series model will lack the airiness that makes listening so comfortable and involving at the same time.


With the K1 small details seem to appear out of nowhere like tiny ghosts. The K1 can completely immerse the listener but requires adequate amplification. These are not very difficult loads but they do demand clean power.


My preference remains for solid-state amplification but I have enjoyed rather good results also with tubes like the Ayon Orthos XS or Audio Power Labs monos. I get my most excellent results with my Luxman M800a as the current reference amps for the K1 but even the modestly powered class D RSA-717EX integrated amplifier from Japan's SPEC Corp worked well. I thus consider the K1 a fantastic reviewer's tool outside low-powered single-ended amps. Every subtle change in my setup is easily tracked and magnified. When something is wrong, these Vivid speakers warn me instantly. They are highly revealing of amplification and cabling.

To sum up, acquiring whatever Vivid speaker strikes your fancy and budget will buy you the utmost levels of transparency and unfettered reflexes. Amazingly agile, astonishingly lucid and revealing, I view my Vivid Audio K1 ovals as a kind of state-of-the-art and world-class design. I could for example imagine Ferdinand Porsche designing his own pair of K1 devoid of box coloration to then wonder what kind of car Dickie would have built if he worked in the automotive sector. As you'll appreciate, it’s difficult for me to award a pair of speaker I've lived with for so long. Obviously I won't do it. But if I were to upgrade to something even more full-range, I'm certain it'd be from the same catalogue of this stunning Durban company.
Vivid Audio website