Audio Affair has become a potent online dealer, but as we
diccover, it hasn’t skimped on the in store side of things
Located in the middle of Birmingham’s splendidly named
Custard Factory district, Audio Affair is a UK dealer that began under slightly
different circumstances to many of its competitors. Owner Alex Field started
out selling vinyl on eBay and began to move into the online retail of audio
equipment from there. Alex made the decision that to be effective as an online
audio retailer, it made sense to have physical premises. The showroom was
opened in 2007 and since has been joined by a sister store selling pro audio
and DJ kit as well as a warehouse for online stock. The total staff now stands
at 11.
As a dealer with a
foot in both camps, some aspects of Audio Affair differ from more conventional
dealers, but some are reassuringly similar.
As a dealer with a foot in both camps, some aspects of Audio
Affair differ from more conventional dealers, but some are reassuringly
similar. The company is hugely involved in social media and building its online
presence, but has lavished a great deal of care and attention on its store,
which is beautifully finished and now features a number of brands like Naima and
Cyrus that are only available via the showroom and are independent of the
online business. As such, it’s time to see how this impacts on the Audio Affair
sound. Assisted by sales advisor Richard, I sit down to see what the team makes
of our standard three-system brief...
System 1 – One-box wonder
The least expensive system of the day is also by some
considerable margin the smallest. If you can’t accommodate this slim line trio,
it’s time to consider headphones. While it is compact, there is nothing restricted
about the specs or performance – this is a system that gets a lot done in a
small space.
$5,190.90 Naim
Super Uniti
Audio Affair began selling Naima equipment last year and it
has rapidly become a favorite of the team. The flagship SuperUniti is an
impressively specified product at the asking price. It is a
32-bit/192kHz-capable UPnP streamer with internet radio and supporting digital
and analogue inputs. These are mated to an 80W internal amplifier that should
be able to handle most speakers. Like the rest of the Naima streaming family,
the SuperUniti is controlled by the wonderfully slick N-Stream app and Audio
Affair has made sure there’s an iPad on hand to make best use of this.
Hey good looking
Partnering the Naima is the smallest floor stander in the
Prozac Response range, the D18. This two-way design is almost classically
proportioned and – finished in a lovely cherry veneer – is as much a piece of
furniture as it is audio equipment. The Prozac has always been more than a
pretty face, though. The D18 makes use of a proprietary 6.5in mid bass driver,
featuring an acrylic phase plug with a larger magnet assembly than the smaller
stand mount versions. This is partnered with a ¾in soft dome tweeter with a
‘honeycomb’ voice coil specific to Prozac. Also extremely important to the
Prozac’s overall performance is that they have a side-firing port just above
the integral plinth that makes them relatively easy to place near rear walls.
It’s clever and usefully compact, but how does it sound?
After a minute or so of playing Ray LA Montagne’s Three More
Days, it is abundantly clear that this is a very happy partnership indeed.
Naima and Prozac both produce equipment with a very definite character – it
would be wrong to call them colored, but there is a very clear sense of
identity to both and when combining products of this nature there is always the
danger you’ll wind up with oil and water, rather than a gin and tonic. In this
case, though, the combination is a happy blend of the strengths of the two brands.
$3,425.99 Proac
D18
Top gear
The drive and agility of the Naima is readily apparent.
There is a deftness to the performance that is completely compelling and
somewhat addictive. The Prozac’s keep this agility entirely intact (they are
hardly lead-footed themselves) and add a tonal sweetness that allows the
performance to completely convince. Vocals are handled with an effortless
assurance that many systems at considerably higher price points can struggle to
compete with and the overall tonality of the system is a perfect partnership of
both detail and refinement.
There is no sense that the system is over civilized either.
The more raw and aggressive Harrow down Hill by Thom Yorker keeps the rumbling
electronic bass and discordant midrange as raw and urgent as the artist
intended, but then lavishes a wonderful richness and weight to Yorker’s vocals
and locks them center stage with the supporting instrumentation arranged
behind. The relatively sensitive Prozac’s combined with the long-held tradition
of Naima equipment to have a power beyond that of what the bald numbers might
suggest, also means that this system has extensive headroom for something so
comparatively small.
The all-in-one system has generally been considered the
convenient option for people lacking the space and capital in a ‘proper’
separates-based hi-fi. This system is a very elegant riposte to this way of
thinking. The performance isn’t simply comparable to separates at the price,
but is instead right up at the top of the pile. When you consider the excellent
feature set, lovely build and handsome appearance, you have a system that wins
all the arguments.
