Auditioned R1700BT, R2000DB and S1000DB at All IT @ Ikano Mutiara Damansara, unplanned and unprepared, was initially going to Ace Hardware but saw All IT beside it then just went in. I got bookmark some songs for audition in my phone to sample different scenario but long time no listen so kinda forgot which part of song to pay attention. Not the most sterile environment to audition, got a Vinnifier speaker playing nearby, and I looked like an idiot bowing down and sticking my ear near those speakers with my hands on knobs and phone to control soundtrack, a bit paiseh. I am only testing using bluetooth.

Initial impression of R1700BT-R2000DB-S1000DB. Bass loudness: R1700BT > R2000DB > S1000DB. This surprised me. To my ear, both S1000DB and R2000DB sound pretty similar treble/midrange wise, S1000DB bass loudness slightly weaker than R2000DB, but treble/midrange clarity maybe slightly better, other than the look and price, they sound quite similar to me. Turning the bass knob on both of them does almost nothing to boost the bass loudness to the level I prefer, I already cranked them to the max, but still loses to default setting of R1700BT, which brings me to it. Surprisingly R1700BT bass can get REALLY loud and powerful, turning the knob actually has HUGE adjustment and can clearly hear the difference, default level is just nice for most people, but I can imagine basshead will prefer to turn it to max and it will sound like as if it has subwoofer, which R2000DB and S1000DB can't achieve. Maybe the treble is not as clean as R2000DB and S1000DB, but at least it is able to produce frequencies up to 20kHz like any other speakers. The difference lies in the sub bass. From my song, the sub bass clarity of S1000DB and R2000DB maybe slightly better, but not too far off from R1700BT, but because the bass loudness of S1000DB and R2000DB is so weak, I can barely hear the changing pitch in the sub bass frequency. Then I went back to listen to my headphone (Sony WH-1000XM2), all 3 not able to produce the kind of changing pitch being played at the sub bass level, they just blend the different pitch into the same pitch. Granted, per spec, the lowest frequency response for S1000DB is only 48 KHz, R2000DB is 55 KHz and R1700BT is 60 kHz, while headphone is 20kHz, which is understandable. But because R1700BT bass output is louder, it is easier to distinguish the sub bass pitch from the song. Speaking of control knob, both S1000DB and R2000DB have knobs at the back of right speaker, which makes adjusting profile on the fly less convenient, while R1700BT is at the right of the right speaker. As a bonus, I also sampled R1280T there, it is downright suck among all of them.

Contrary to my listening, the reviews that I read does not match what I hear, maybe I am not listening in a clean environment, or my soundtrack quality is not good, or I am used to listening to 2.1 and headphones and have bias, or I have bad taste. I guess my taste is different, to me I prefer to listen to the different pitch produced by song rather than quality especially the sub bass pitch because it is such a niche frequency that most failed to produce cleanly, but of course not to the point I can accept "radio" quality sound. Most speakers can play treble and midrange well because frequency at that range is easy to produce and you can at least play around EQ to get the profile you like, but when a speaker can't produce a particular sub bass, no matter what you do or how you tune, it just can't produce, which is why TV/phone speaker sucks and I can't stand listening to them. I appreciate the sub bass pitch when listening to headphone and some of my old Logitech 2.1, and I will realise just how much sound I am missing when listening to my Edifier speakers (the sub bass quality of my Edifier is not as good as Logitech), and it sometimes bothers me. Edifier wins hands down in the treble and midrange and also build quality, having wood vs plastic and most of their satellite have separate tweeter/midrange woofer, I also prefer their cabling, but Logitech got the upperhand in the bass, and I am always in a dilemma when choosing between them. I kinda hope I can mix the best of both together.

I need to audition it for the second round because I want to sample those song from my headphone first to really understand the sound signature of each song, and this time will include S350DB or more speakers into the list as well. Gonna listen to more comparisons from Digital Stereophony youtube as well. But from first impression, it's either I choose a jack-in-all-trade that just perform decent (but not great) across different frequencies and call it a day (R1700BT), or select the one that has the best treble and sacrifice bass for now (R2000DB or S1000DB), and looking to add a dedicated sub later, hmm...
p.s. sorry for always posting "long winded" post but I enjoy typing and telling my experience.