Audio Pro C20 evaluate: a wi-fi speaker that provides much more, and sounds even higher

Audio Pro C20: Two minute evaluate

The Audio Pro C20 has a variety of connectivity choices. As anybody conversant in the class of greatest wi-fi audio system is aware of, a field of drivers that is capable of harness your private home’s Wi-Fi community can supply superior sound to that afforded by a Bluetooth connection, whether or not music is accessed by way of Google Cast, Apple‘s AirPlay, ‘linked’ companies reminiscent of Tidal Connect (which truly permits you to stream losslessly in 24-bit hi-res, the place AirPlay faucets out at 16-bit CD high quality) or a devoted multi-room app such because the Audio Pro Control app. And the Audio Pro C20 presents all of this. 

But simply rapidly, let’s clarify why Audio Pro’s newest wi-fi speaker is value your time from a technical perspective. First off, pinging music over Bluetooth from telephone to speaker incurs compression. Wi-Fi’s larger bandwidth means you may pay attention in (very) excessive decision, as much as 24-bit/192kHz. Now, a Wi-Fi enabled speaker accesses your chosen tunes from the web (or native drive linked to it) fairly than out of your telephone itself – and when you stroll into one other room or take a name, so long as you keep inside vary of your Wi-Fi router, the music retains taking part in.

Why clarify this within the intro to a product evaluate? Because Audio Pro will get it. The Swedish firm’s been within the recreation for 40 years and the agency will get that we wish a couple of open gate resulting in our music. Also, we now have loads of package we might wish to bodily join our shiny new speaker to, if doable (and thanks very a lot prematurely). So, on prime of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth streaming, Audio Pro has added to the sizeable C20 a compelling array of ports on the again: an RCA in (for turntables with an RIAA amp), a phono MM in (for moving-magnet cartridge decks and not using a phono stage), an RCA sub out (when you needed to attach a devoted subwoofer to it), a Toslink Optical in (for CD gamers or funds soundbars, say) and the arguably the most important draw of the lot – an HDMI ARC in, so it may well go straight into your TV and problem among the greatest soundbars. So lengthy because it’ll match beneath it with out obscuring the display, that’s. 

What it’s essential to know is that this: this factor sounds improbable, providing readability, depth, pleasure and finesse, even at larger volumes. The management app is simple to navigate and corrals your entire chosen music streaming companies – however after all, you may go into every app in your telephone and click on the little Google forged or AirPlay icon to see the C20 prepared to attach.

Audio Pro calls the C20 the whole resolution for music and TV and it is onerous to argue. It’s additionally onerous to think about a house inside, shade scheme or decor model that the Audio Pro C20 could not be associates with – and the grille can stay on or simply be whipped off, when you want to see its three proficient drivers.

The metallic prime plate provides an additional contact of sophistication and the buttons click on properly, in a construct that feels each reverent to conventional methods and but strikingly trendy. 

The undeniable fact that it comes from an extended line of hits means it does not come low-cost although. I’ve written odes to Audio Pro’s lovely audio system and I helped evaluate the marginally smaller Audio Pro Addon C10 MkII for TechRadar’s sister web site, What Hi-Fi?, so I can personally vouch the five-star ranking there (and the a number of awards it subsequently gained), though I concern these seemingly did not do a lot to maintain costs low. 

In abstract, it is stylish, it is distinctive and it is (nearly) the whole bundle. Why nearly? If you needed a 3.5mm in on your headphones (or 4.4mm, 6.35mm, or XLR), you will not discover it – you’d should go the the FiiO R9 for that. The C20 is for the enjoyment of shared music. And what an expertise that’s. 

Audio Pro C20 evaluate: Price and launch date

• Unveiled January 8, 2024, transport from March 2024
• $550 / £450 / €550 (round AU$820)

The Audio Pro C20 is accessible for pre-order now, and ships from March 2024. In the US, it prices $550 and within the UK, it will set you again £450, hardly a mere sum, no matter whistles and bells it sports activities. 

That mentioned, the competitors right here is not way more reasonably priced. Yes, the Q Acoustics M40 HD is (wonderful and) a music system squirrelled right into a set of audio system, however so far as wi-fi connectivity goes, it is a Bluetooth just one. Then, there’s the improbable FiiO R9, with all the connectivity and hi-res wi-fi streaming smarts you may want for, so long as you may present your personal audio system or headphones. 

Sonus Faber and Naim additionally supply comparable options – see the Naim Mu-so Qb, a 2019 launch which does not boast an HDMI ARC enter, assist, or the Sonus Faber Omnia, which does – however whereas the previous is now out there for comparable cash to the C20, the latter is much more costly… 

Audio Pro C20 evaluate: Specs

Audio Pro C20 evaluate: Features

• Built in RIAA amplifier
• Google Cast, Apple AirPlay and Audio Pro’s personal multi-room audio possibility
• HDMI ARC

By including a phono stage to its newest masterwork, Audio Pro C20 will be plugged straight into your devoid-of-phono turntable (so long as it sports activities a shifting magnet cartridge), permitting you to easily energy it on, choose ‘phono’ on the Audio Pro’s prime plate, decrease that needle and get into the groove. Got one of many greatest turntables with an RIAA amp inbuilt? That’s OK too, there is a separate RCA line in for you too. 

Of course, that is Audio Pro, so the brand new C20 additionally options the profitable multi-room possibility triumvirate that the corporate launched with the 2021-release Addon C10 MkII: AirPlay 2, Google Cast, plus its personal multi-room audio functionality. You additionally get Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth (v5.0) and HDMI ARC – so you may hook it straight as much as your TV. 

Thanks to a mix of those this stuff, you can even re-stream music (together with vinyl out of your turntable) to different Audio Pro audio system you’ll have collected from its A, C, or D-series, in a wi-fi multi-room system round your private home (and you do not even have to begin making holes in your partitions).

The C20 additionally presents the choice of connecting an exterior subwoofer by way of its sub-out (the corporate would direct you to its personal Audio Pro SW-5 or SW10) enabling you to boost the C20’s bass efficiency even additional, do you have to want – though I did not discover this needed. 

Finally, two C20’s will be set-up as a stereo pair utilizing the Audio Pro app, and even by way of Apple Airplay 2. I believe you may agree, that is a variety of choices. If you need a 3.5mm headphone jack, you will not discover it… however do you actually? 

Features rating: 5/5

Audio Pro C20 evaluate: Sound high quality

• Clarity, neutrality and element in spades
• Ample bass clout with out muddying the soundstage
• Not an omnidirectional resolution

Simply put, the Audio Pro C20 sounds superb certainly, whether or not bodily hooked as much as your TV or turntable, or when commanded to play music by your telephone. You may anticipate having to make a compromise when shopping for a jack-of-all-trades field – a minor hit on sound in return for one thing that works with all the pieces – however not so right here. 

Coheed and Cambria’s In Keeping Secrets of the Silent Earth: 3 accessed on Tidal Connect is a raucous proggy album and the C20 by no means shies away from any of it, serving indomitable vitality throughout the frequencies in a cohesive however rigorously regimented combine. 

Given delicate string progressions reminiscent of Joni Mitchell’s A Case of You, Mitchell’s textured vocal soars above her dynamically agile and three-dimensional Appalachian dulcimer (and James Taylor’s emotive acoustic guitar) the place every musical passage is given sufficient house to have the mandatory influence the monitor. 

When dealing with TV content material, the C20 is a straightforward (straightforward!) step up from something my Sony TV’s audio system can do, opening out the sound and providing that additional ounce of element via intakes of breath and clacks of high-heeled sneakers on cobbles in Shetland. 

It’s not a Dolby Atmos resolution, after all, and the sound is not significantly omnidirectional (owing to the C20’s design), however there is a vast soundstage right here nonetheless. 

However I listened to it throughout the course of my testing, the C20 continued to please and entertain with its myriad connectivity perks, ease of use and gifted audio chops. 

Sound high quality rating: 5/5

Audio Pro C20: Design

• 2x 30W and 1x 130W digital class D amplifiers
• Removable grille
• Choice of three finishes

The Audio Pro C20 is accessible in Soft Satin White, Stylish Grey or Classic Black. The woven material entrance is mounted to the C20 by magnets and will be simply eliminated, giving the choice of two very totally different seems to be, relying in your favored aesthetic. 

I wish to take off the grille off to raised hear (and observe) Audio Pro’s iconic eyes-and-nose model driver configuration, as seen within the model’s beloved T3+, C5 MkII and C10 MkII, for starters. Here, you get two 30W and one 130W Digital Class D amplifiers, powering the C20’s twin 1-inch tweeters and a 6.5-inch woofer.

At 41cm throughout,19.6cm excessive and 22cm deep (and weighing in at 6.2kg, which roughly the identical as a gallon of paint), the C20 is a considerable factor and whereas it matches beneath my wall-mounted TV simply superb, these pondering of utilizing it as a soundbar will want to consider that top. 

My ‘Stylish Grey’ pattern is simply that. The gold-tone prime plate (with solo LEDs to indicate which supply you are utilizing in addition to lights across the six preset buttons) additionally helps and whereas the gold accent on the grille is gone (as seen on the C10 MkII) I do not miss it. Do I miss Audio Pro’s superb rock ‘n’ roll leather-based deal with? A bit, however I additionally concede that this is not  proposition isn’t meant to be particularly moveable. 

It’s at all times been onerous to search out fault with Audio Pro’s construct high quality, and the C20 isn’t any exception. 

Design rating: 4.5/5

Audio Pro C20 evaluate: Usability and setup

• Simple, app-guided setup
• App can deal with your music – or not
• No provided distant

After powering the speaker on (in case it must be talked about, the C20 must be plugged in to energy always), you are rapidly guided to the Audio Pro companion app, which is able to add the C20 to your Wi-FI community and usually do the remainder. During my time with it, it neither crashed nor tripped up even momentarily. 

On the app, the ‘Browse’ tab (which seeks to maintain your music multi functional place) will open Apple Music natively via ‘open on Apple Music’ if utilizing an iOS gadget, however third-party streaming companies (reminiscent of Tidal) would require you to login once more if going this route. You also can choose the C20’s supply right here, whether or not that is Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, phono, line in (I hooked it as much as the FiiO R9 earlier than setting it up and it did a improbable job), optical or TV. 

The central ‘Device’ tab within the app is supposed to organise your audio system fairly than your music, so right here you may title your speaker, (both the mannequin, or its placement in your house, reminiscent of ‘kitchen’) and with the C20 there is a three-band EQ tab for bass, treble and subwoofer out. 

The third and closing ‘Settings’ tab mainly permits you to select which companies are displayed on ‘Browse’, in addition to an FAQ part and particulars on the app model you are operating. 

Audio Pro hasn’t provided a devoted distant management within the field (though when you’re utilizing the HDMI ARC to your TV, you may simply use your TV’s distant for quantity) and truthfully, I do not miss it, as a result of the app does the heavy lifting – or after all, you should utilize the premium prime plate. 

Usability and setup rating: 5/5 

Audio Pro C20: Value

Obviously, if you do not have the expendable earnings to afford such a speaker, it does not matter how good it’s – you will not be shopping for it. 

That mentioned, Sonus Faber will give you one thing with an analogous spec sheet that is double the value, whereas Naim has an older possibility that provides much less when it comes to connectivity, however sounds wonderful, for comparable cash (see beneath for a comparability of those merchandise). 

My recommendation? You is not going to be upset with the sound-per-pound worth right here. 

Value rating: 4.5/5 

Audio Pro C20 evaluate: Should you purchase it?

Buy it if…

Don’t purchase it if…

Audio Pro C20: Also contemplate

Audio Pro C20 evaluate: How I examined

• Tested throughout seven days 
• Used as a TV soundbar, wi-fi speaker, wired to the FiiO R9, wired to a turntable and as a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speaker
• Listened to a wide range of music; watched three episodes of an action-packed TV present

When testing the Audio Pro C20, the one connection I didn’t use was the subwoofer out – as a result of truthfully, I actually like Audio Pro’s tuning inside its audio system and by no means felt the necessity to attempt to increase the low finish. 

The analogue inputs accommodated each pre-amplified and non-amplified turntables, the digital optical was used for a CD participant, the road in for FiiO R9 (as a supply gadget), my TV was hooked as much as it… and, after all, Bluetooth and my residence Wi-Fi community have been helpful for utilizing it with my iPhone. 

And then it is the standard: listening to numerous acquainted music from my reference playlist, (in addition to three episodes of Shetland on TV, which I’m actually into and extremely suggest – sure, I do know I’m late to that exact celebration) at a wide range of quantity ranges, throughout my testing. 

As a short apart, I eliminated the grilles throughout my testing – it is what I at all times do at any time when doable. Why? The fewer bodily obstructions between you and your music, the higher…