Apr 23 2007, 12:40 AM, updated 19y ago
But first, Z5500 users, please be kind with me !!! ....if I probably upset you with my testimony. I'm just trying to be honest....that's what I'm gonna do here in this testimony. I have bought both of them with only 2 weeks apart.
First, I have always wanted to buy another speaker set after my AL641's sub was struck by lightning. I have auditioned Z5500 in a store, but everytime I heard the demo unit, it failed to impress me. I looked at S750, but then I read the premature death in almost every forum I have joined. More minus points: no digital connection, the disgusting look of its control panel...bla..bla...bla....
Not impressed with the comment & the look of S750, but I NEVER have the change to audition here in Jakarta. NO Thanks for Creative's main distributor here in Jakarta because their showroom only shows several units of Creative's MP3 player MOCK-UPs & several Asus boards. Other than that, the showroom only have
chairs & 2 idiotic staff , who knows nothing about their own product, but tried to answer my questions with false information.k So, there is no way I would buy Creative's S750.
Then, I heard Aego-M. Rave reviews. I couldn't stand the comments. Bought 1 units in Spore after a very impressive audition in City Electronics. But then I
say to myself "FOR ITS SMALL SIZE & UNBELIAVABLY LIGHT SUBWOOFER, THIS IS TOO EXPENSIVE EVEN AFTER I BOUGHT IT". At home, the more I listened music with Aego-M, I feel so content. Even my AL641 didn't sound this good. So musical that I listened music with it whenever I can. All songs becomes so much nicer, full of melody, especially at night to dawn when ambience noise is very low....yesss....I hardly sleep..... Even at low volume, the music is still so enjoyable, and all the details are there.
But....thinking.....I wish I had another speaker set for watching DVD & listening to music in my room. S750 gone....Z5500 boomy & not good for music....at least that what I keep hearing about. But HEYYY I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE LOOK, SIZE & ESPECIALLY ITS SOPHISTICATED CONTROL PANEL. But then I wasn't impressed with the sound....so what choice do I have left ? Nothing. AND HERE IS I MADE A BIG MISTAKE. I EXCUSED MYSELF BUYING z5500 on the following assumptions & LAME EXCUSES:
- I fell in love with the look & its control panel....so damn beautiful. The look really sold me out.
- It's a 5.1, so it is impossible for Aego-M to have much better soundstage from such tiny speakers vs. the 5 beautiful bigger satellites from Logitech.
- From Earth to Mars, everyone gave a thumbs up for z5500. With the rave reviews, it couldn't be so bad, right ? So, I assume my problem with Z5500 was caused by : improper settings of Z5500 with the demo unit. And the demo set was played in front of the store facing the huge main hall where sound couldn't reflect at all. THAT MUST BE IT !!!
Anyway, what choice do I have left ? S750 is even much more questionable for me. Resisting a 4-month pressure for buying a 5.1 for my room's music & DVD IS NOT EASY.
TODAY, I went AGAIN to the mall just for window shopping.....
Good Lord....I saw someone just bought Z5500 from a store. The "magmatic pressure" from "this little volcano inside me" could not stand no more...... I
BOUGHT 1 UNIT HOME. In the car, I convinced myself that the music will sound at least equal to Aego-M. Smiling on my face......
I unpacked and set Z5500's satellites in front of Aego's LEFT & RIGHT satelites, separated about 2.5 - 3 meters apart. Using Chaintech AV710, Z5500 does sound quite muddy compared to Aego-M, the soundstage is so far inferior to Aego-M, and the bass is so rough compared to the Aego's punchy & accurate bass. No
settings from play mode (Stereo X2, Dolby PL2 music, sub level, etc) could help make it sound better (or at least equal) than the CLARITY, SOUNDSTAGE, VOCAL,
ACCURATE BASS ..whatever that I can get from from Aego-M.
This is done with the satellites on the same position, same music, and same loudness. I tried another method by minimizing the listening gap from switching the speaker cable by using Aego-M with my iRiver H320 & Z5500 with my computer through AV710. That way I can switch to both speakers in only 1 second gap, listening to the same music.
IT SHOCKED ME !!! When I switched between the two, I just said "WOWWWWW....." right away.
HUGE DIFFERENCE. The sound quality difference is NOT small. There is no way people, even NON-AUDIOPHILES, could not distinguish between the two. Aego-M
sounds SO MUCH FULLER, SO MUCH CLEANER WITH THE BASS PACING WITH ACCURATE & LIVELY BEAT. Aego sounds so much PUNCHIER. Music is SO MUCH ALIVE ! SO MUSICAL with all details that I could hardly hear coming from Z5500. I sat for awhile...don't know what to think....I wasn't even sure I was OK at the time. Well, after spending so much money in these 2 weeks just for speakers, you should understand how I feel.
Hhmmm...maybe I AM an audiophile by ear, not theory.... so I thought.
My sister-in-law & my nephews came. She NEVER listens to music for her own purpose by any means. My niece are just 15 years old boy & 17 year old girl. The best speaker they have heard is TDK Tremor S40 which I gave them last year. I called them and asked them to listen to both speakers playing Kenny G. "G-Bop" in which Kenny's trumpet is playing along with bass beat on the background.
Method of testing is the same. First, AV710 (with Wolfson output) + Z5500 in Stereo X2 versus Aego-M playing from my Iriver H320's Line-Out (about same
volume). I started the music from the middle of the song, so the music switching can be softer when I switched instantly to Aego-M.
Almost instantenously with the music switching from Z5500 to Aego-M (which takes only about 1 seconds maximum btw) both my nieces shouted "WUAAHHHH" in almost a choir. My sister-in-law who is MUSIC-BLIND, said "This is definitely much better. The music is so much alive & it is spreading widely".
I smiled, covering up my huge dissappoinment inside myself. I told them "Naaah this one is FANTASTIC FOR MOVIES, and that's why I bought it". They never
realized that my heart was BLEEDING !!! hearing their honesty. Tested Z5500 with Stereo Mode....it doesn't make them more impressed with Z5500.
And you know what, then I realized something. My old AL641 sounds quite similar to my Z5500...maybe only a little better with more accurate bass, but staging
is about equal.
So, for people who is struggling between Aego-M & Z5500, I could only say "Hear them side by side, then you know which one is the right for you....for sure".
This is the first time I realize "SIZE DOES NOT MATTER !!!". Aego-M looks so much more expensive because it looks so small compared to the huge Logitech Z5500, but the when you hear the sound of Aego-M, you will realize that the sound is not as small as it looks. Aego-M certainly PLAYS LOUD, as loud as Z5500 perhaps. People often psychologically associate SIZE & LOOK with quality. This is proven wrong with Aego-M.
This setting in my computer plays both speakers gave about the same music volume :
WAV volume in XP = FULL
- Aego-M at 40%
- Z5500 at 80% (normal/in non-boosted range)
PS:
Z5500 users, maybe you will bleed reading this. I understand. Trust me, I'm as bleeding as you are facing this reality after side-by-side comparison.
So, don't be hard on me. It's already hard enough for me.
I will buy digital cable tomorrow. But frankly, with such a great difference in music quality, I highly doubt it will help Z5500 upto Aego-M peformance.
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UPDATE :
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UPDATE :
Today, in my frustration, I bought a $30 optical cable to see whether I could improve the sound a bit. I was pessimistic it would make dramatic changes to the overall performance, but surprisingly it DOES improve the sound quality quite a lot. Sound clarity improves from muddy to OK, the soundstage improves but not up to Aego's. But the MOST DRAMATIC CHANGE is in the sub department. I mean, the improvement really SHOCKED me. At the same sub level & volume, the bass extention almost DOUBLES or maybe TRIPLES the analog connection. I mean the change in this area is like night & day that even a deaf person could hear. Bass extension & accuracy improve noticeably from unacceptable/very rough/very loose to acceptably accurate & tight (but also becomes very bloaty at the same sub level). I have to turn down the sub level from default 4 to 2 - 2 1/2. Sound details also improves quite much, but still far from what Aego can give you. Overall, the improvement makes Z-5500 go up to another level noticably. The volume is also DOUBLED. But honestly, I do not feel all the melody & presence like when I'm listening to Aego. I mean, the sound is just there. How should I describe it ??? It's like the music does not have the feeling at all, except doing its job blasting the music to you, and then move to the next track. It does not "involve" you, or make you feel involved, impressed. At low volume listening, then the lack of feeling and presence is even more accentuated. With Aego-M, even at low volume, the details are there and you CAN FEEL it. It still sounds so nice & inviting.
I tried Madonna or Michael Jackson, this is where I now began to see "the light". Yes, it is NICER THAN Aego-M with these kind of music. The bass extension plays very well. The pace is nice & fast with the music. It goes deeper than I previously tested with analog connection, which is totally unacceptable for me because the bass is sooo loose, rough, punchless. This is good news for me. At least I began to see the bright side of Z-5500. I think that Logitech SHOULD HAVE PROVIDED the optical cable BY DEFAULT, because their analog connection is completely unacceptable to any ears for any kind of music. Logitech also has a good sense of humour by providing Dolby PL II Music.
Well at least it is there....for completeness sake.
NOW, MOVIE....
I spend about 3 hours testing around with about 30 DVDs :
- War of the World
- The Apocalypse Now
- Rose Red
- The Dark
- The Chronicles of Riddick
- Jurassic Park
- etc
And .....the result is....GREATTT. Now, for the first time I agree that this is what Z-5500 should have been used for....HOME THEATRE. This is the only thing that makes me FEEL GOOD about buying Z-5500. It shakes my room....AND MY MOTHER downstair. The "bleeding of my heart" is cured half way to recovery now.
But then again, when I switched back to analog connection, all becomes complete trash. So, I think Z-5500 users can not live with analog connection for this speaker. It is a "MUST HAVE" accessory, and Logitech should have provided the cable unless they purposely expect to make a very bad impression out of the box.
But still, I will listen to my Aego-M for my music any time and any day. It is a NO-CONTEST, Brother.
Now imagine, if only I had a speaker with Aego calibre, and it has optical.....hhmmm.......
...[slapped]....
"That means more money, you moron !!!", my pocket shouts.
This post has been edited by Serville: Apr 23 2007, 11:27 PM
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...if u can hear the difference..wait till you hear what hifi system can do for you 
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