I have the Elac 6.2 up front with the 5.2s as surround backs with other Debut 2.0 rounding out my 11.2 setup. In this test the Q Acoustics sounded more live and the Elac more neutral. It’s subjective as are the various comments. For me, I like the neutral sound but the Q Acoustic’s rendering of the guitar was clean. Toss up!
Great comparison. I prefered the Elac. More open, clear and a little more zing. I felt the vocal track had too much reverb to give a good sense of voices. Thanks!
Elacs are more detailed.. and the bass dampens .. precisely..whereas the q acoustic have more bass sustainance.. making it little woofy...bass can always be increased by amp. So elac is preferable.
You would here the difference for the better with the KEF speakers but twice the price. Can anyone tell as the frist song and buy what Album. Thank you.
I know this is a test of these 2 speakers but for me id also consider the monitor audio bronze 50/100 imo they are underrated and are fantastic speakers well built also.
So hard to choose! With closed eyes, track 3 was almost impossible, but track 4 sealed it for me. The Elacs. There was just something in their depth of soundstage. I'm actually a little bit frustrated because I've just bought them both and don't know which one to return.
from my hearing the Q Acoustics 3030i is better because of its good sound balance. More harmonious and does not irritate the ears. The sound range of the Q Acoustics 3030i is even greater.
Elac is clearer at top end but I personally like the mids and the bass from the 3030i so for me hand in pocket my cash would be 3030i and that surprised me
Agree... I have a pair of 3020 and I hooked up a pair of Martin Logan LX 16 (same as Motion 15) after them and I found the ML with may be better trebble but for the rest it was thin and flat with no dynamics and narrower soundtage, and they're almost 3 times the price. On the Elac demo I found stuff is too exarcerbated, almost artificial, but a lot of that has to do with trying to listen that on YT. The pairing is although really important. The Elac woud probably do goog with a good A or A/B amp. where they may feel carricatural if paired with a cheap D Amp (sub 3/400).
Just listened on the end of a Topping E30 day, Rega Brio amplifier and Monitor Audio Gold 50's. Surprised to read the comments, as I thought the Elac's were better top to bottom. The Q Acoustics sounded muddied in the midrange with a thin treble. More spacious with the Elac's while maintaining an accurate tone to male vocals. Bass seem to extend deeper with the Elac's too.
You did a good test, I'm tired of those who just talk and wise up. You say your opinion and then the sound test. In my opinion, the Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2 are better because of the neutral sound they call. They may be in the budget class, but they really sound great. In my opinion, the only complaint is that it requires a slightly better quality amplifier/from themselves or for that class/or a receiver. I have a Mrantz 4230 receiver and ancient Dynaco boxes from 1967, which really sound powerful even after all these years. Otherwise, I love vintage sound. I would like to hear other opinions, best regards! p.s. I will buy them in any case.
ive been trying to decide between the two and have listened to this test first. the vocals in the 3030 seem buried to me. The elacs sound vocal forward and a bit lighter and more detailed. I agree.
@@philjagdon6774 hey there…I bought the debut 2 b6.2. And have not one regret. I love the subtle but deep bass. And they are just totally balanced to my ears.
Love sound demo's. You're doing a great job, I'm new here, and your reviews have become my reference point. I understand the products abilities a lot more listening since being here. Thanks for all the work you put in.
The Elacs seem to have a crisper sound, maybe more controlled bass. The voices in track 3 seem more well defined than que q acoustics where they seem more muffled. In track 4 i prefer the q acoustics. It has more bass a bit more warmth overall that seems to benefit that kind of music. Tack 1 and 2 the differences are seemless. They both seem to be great speakers, and maybe the choice has to do with the kind of music you hear the most or even the size of your room. Based on the video alone, i'd choose the Elacs as they appear to be a more ecletic speaker - i listen to lots of different kinds of music. (and my living room isn't that big, so the bass should be enough, even on electronic music and maybe I could benefit from a front ported speaker). Also I'd say to be fair the correct comparison should be Elac Debut b5.2 vs Q Acoustics 3020i or Elac Debut b6.2 vs Q Acoustics 3030i. Anyway the Elacs are also cheaper.
The 3030 are warmer (some people seem to prefer it for extended listening) the Debuts 5.2 are more resolving (on a reread I see people calling it 'crisp'. I agree) (and an amazing bargain). I wasn't really expecting that. It depends on what you prefer to listen to. I like detail, and tend towards the debuts. The 3030 sounded a bit mushy, like a good soup before bedtime. I was predisposed to like the 3030. I will listen more. Kudos to Andrew Jones for pulling this off. (Karl Heinz Fink didn't do a bad job either ;-)
This. I lean towards a warmer sound, but the Q Acoustics presentation didn't do it for me. The treble didn't integrate well and there wasn't separation in the mids. Found the Elac's far more resolving while remaining sweet at higher frequencies.
With an amp with tone controls, I would pick the Elac. Maybe. The treble could be lowered. But compared to DBR62 Elac Reference, neither of these speakers would I purchase. But good video, thanks!
This is incredibly useful thanks 🙏. Both are on my shortlist but I can't get out to listen at the moment. Listening on my pixel 7a phone through my B&W P5 headphones. On track 1 the vocals on the Elac sound a bit nasally and recessed. On track 2, the reggae bassline misses a few of the lower notes so the Elacs struggle due to lf roll-off. The opposite seems to be the case with the hi-hat on track 3 with the Elacs doing better🤔
Elac debut B6.2 won't sound great on any home theater amp. But when you use tube amp on it, it will sound better than any speaker 4 times it's price. Believe me, I have a pair.
Both are fantastic. The Qs are a little warm, the Elacs are a little clinical. Both amazing with some eq and placement. Overall, I prefer the Elacs because they are a more normal shape and sit better on stands but both are great. Things sound lovely!
I have the elac b6.2, I found them a bit bright but try to pull off the tweeter grid, something strange happens, the treble seems more relaxed to my ears, more treble but more pleasant, maybe there was a resonance
Listening on my B&W 682 s2's there's not much difference between test speakers, except maybe a nod to the Q's for more articulate mid-bass. How about testing with more varied tracks that include big band, horn and string solos, female vocalists, etc.?
Pretty close. Instruments are more realistic on the Elac. The individual distinction or separation of instruments can be identified if one's gonna just hear them attentively. its like a 3D sound. The Q has more dynamic and aggressive sound but its a little bit close to flatter 2D. Just my honest opinion....
3030i emphasise bass and Elacs treble. Both lacking in different ways. I wish those companies expanded a 3-way bookshelf speakers range. Standard 2-way driver speakers are always a heavy compromise. Do Kef speakers vs two others if you can. Good video.
It is difficult to hear the difference between the two speakers. When looking for a new pair of speaker I searched RU-vid for "reviews" using my computer. Two tiny computer speakers cannot possibly give an indication of sound quality. So many revewers do this (yes I know you made it quite clear that this was a sound demo) but many do not. All I hear from thos so called reviews is badly recorded sound which is meaningless. Perhaps you should consider doing a review, giving your thoughts/info/impressions/preferences, amp used etc. I would be interested in that. Please don't take this as criticism. I am merely pointing out the problems of these types of demos. I am currenly considering the Elac B5 2 speakers. What conclusion did you arrive at?
This is not obvious at all at 1st. I think what made this comparison difficult at 1st is that some of the recordings are really harsh. Like the acoustic and electric guitars in the 2nd and 3rd songs, and the ELAC expose that really well. But you 1st end up getting the impression the ELAC is way to bright and that's why the guitars sounds harsh but the truth is the guitars are actually harsh. And the QA hides that a bit imo. I still think the ELAC seem a bit bright but there's definitely a veil being lift off when they come in. So it look like the ELAC are more neutral/analytic than the QA, would you agree? Anyway, thanks for the video. I might be getting those as a cheap solution to mix on after watching this. Cheers.
I got a pair of the Elacs as a present but wasn't able to test them out yet as I've only got a 5.1 home theater system from Sony, a DAV-DZ260. Sorry if this a completely stupid question but I don't understand anything about speakers etc. Can I hook up the Elacs with the DAV-DZ260? Thanks in advance!
I have a pair of Q Acoustics 3030i’s. This demo doesn’t capture how full and balanced they sound when listening to them in person. I listen to mine within 4-5 feet in front of me, slightly toed in at ear level, and have them separated by 5-6 feet apart. I also have them 3-4 feet away from the wall behind them (front wall). The 3030i’s have a rich smooth sound, which are relaxing to the ear, and can be dynamic when playing at louder volumes. I listen to mine at low-mid volume during late night listening to help me wind down. But the speakers can easily blow you away with a large, energetic sound stage when turning up the volume. These speakers can also easily be used in a home theater setup, with the amount of impactful sound that they are capable of. The 3030i’s would likely be a closer competitor to the Elac Debut Reference 6.2.
Track 2 acoustic guitar sounds really nice like it should on the Elac s. The Qs the acoustic guitar sounds flat rather boxy as if playing on a cheaper guitar model.
Im pretty sure, the channel is doing some sort of an experiment. Because the sound of both speakers are the same. This is just one record with one speaker. Listening with JDS Labs Atom Stack + HD6XX
Through my he400i(2020) using sonata hd Pro , the 3030 sounded a little shouty compared to elac. I would prefer 3030 for vocals and classical but overall Elacs for general music listening.
I don’t know which one is which but the brown ones blow the black ones out of the water - the throw the natural clarity the timbre how is this a comparison??? This is a massacre.
bass better and more detailed on elacs, acoustic guitar sounds better / got more natural tone on qacoustics (& overall warmer vs more neutral tone). elacs probably more detailed and clearer overall
Elac's are clearer and faster,,,the q acoustics are softer and seem to have an easy going nature,,, Dialing in a Sub on the QA would be difficult going by this Demo,,,as stand alone speakers though I think they both have their merits!!!
za mene ovako preko yt bolje zvuci Q Acoustics 3030i ali to nije merodavno..jer ja to slusam onda preko svojih zvucnika..tako da je najvernije tvoje iskustvo ali i ono daje ocenu po tvom sluhu i osecaju...mislim da su oba ova modela ok kupovina ko hoce nesta dobro i ok cene.
Elacs much cleaner and oraginsed presentation. Q sounds like a small boxy speaker limited by its small size trying to imagine something it is not capable of.