he newest addition to Danish Dynaudio portfolio are the Confidence Platinum speakers. It's not like you can read about them in every audio magazine on the front page, which is quite an unusual approach in this business – it's because its manufacturer is a true professional and that is valid not only for his products but also for the way he promotes them. I can't be certain of that but I think that this is a particular case of a product that transcends its predecessor in many ways, and while being more expensive still is not supposed to be the leading/most important model of its line. What is really going on I might guess (a strong accent on „guess”) can be found in... a timing. So far Confidence line included two versions of the same models: a basic one called Confidence II and another one called Confidence Signature. The latter included some better components in their crossovers and even better/nicer finish. Shortly after they were introduced to the market here comes another, refined version. Guys from Dynaudio when asked about it admitted that a „problem” laid in Evidence Platinum – mighty, superbly finished speakers that in fact are their flag model at the moment. All the new solutions, techniques, and even higher finish standard delivered such an improvement in both sound and aesthetic that Dynaudio guys had to use them also in Confidence line. But since CII line has been introduced not so long before telling all the buyers now that there is another, even better sounding and looking version of what they've just bought is somehow problematic. So we have to answer ourselves a question whether we should value Dynaudio's constant involvement in making their products even better, or should we reprove them for introducing CII versions too soon. There are two possible scenarios: one can introduce any tweaks, improvements, new solutions to one's products as soon as these are available – that's what Ayon Audio does – or wait with introducing them for a year, two or four years – meaning as long as it usually takes between a newer line of products replaces an older one.

That's not a review of Confidence speakers but these were exactly my thoughts while I was unpacking X34, a new version of Excite X32. As you can see the name of this basic line remains unchanged, just as it was unchanged in case of Focus line refreshed/renewed in 2011. It suggests that such values as: tradition, longevity and continuation are very important for Dynaudio.
A „trigger” of above articulated speculations was a perfect look and finish of the speakers under review. New Excite speakers sport a finish of a natural veneer, which in Rosewood version look insanely good. If you ever happen to see this version you will realize that some sort of a bond between you and these speakers arises even without listening to them for a second. It doesn't matter if New Excite is what you're looking for, whether you already have some more, or less expensive speakers, you will simply feel urged to appreciate the accomplishment of Danish engineers.

There are some details that while being a part of the whole project manage to heighten the overall very positive impression. One of them is lack of mounting holes for grills. Same solution was used by others, for example by Monitor Audio in their Silver line (see HERE), but here the natural veneer was applied in absolutely perfect way. Grills use magnets – one is glued into a hole milled in speaker's fascia and than veneer is applied over it. The second magnet is placed inside grill's plastic frame that is covered with a black cloth.
Another feature, a very practical one, is a new solution used to stabilize each loudspeaker. X34 are quite tall, slim speakers with drivers mounted in the upper part of the enclosure which moves its center of gravity way up. The previous version of Excite speakers used spikes simply screwed in the thick MDF plate at the bottom of each speaker – a simple solution but it didn't improve in any way the stability of the design. Stability of X34 is very good because its new feet spread outside speakers outline. It's no novelty – it's been done before but Dynaudio did it in their own way – reasonable and nice looking way. The shape and silver color of these feet match the whole design nicely. And they are reasonable because of their design. These feet made of are die-cast aluminum reinforced with some sort of „framework” that improves their stiffness. Speakers stand on four resonance-absorbing rubber feet, but they sport also adjustable spikes and these can be adjusted from the top side of every foot. Well thought-out, elegant and practical solution.

X34 design-wise are a two-way, three-driver, bass-reflex speakers. They are very slim - 950 mm tall and only 170 mm wide. The 2013 Excite line includes also a bigger floorstanding speakers – X38 – that were reviewed by Marek Dyba in October 2013, in 114. issue of „High Fidelity” (see HERE). Catalog names also stand-mounted Excite X14, that: „is the most compact Excite model, yet delivers true high-end sound quality to any system by virtue of its long-excursion mid-woofer, refined soft-dome tweeter and first class crossover components. The exquisite sonic balance, underscored by unbelievably deep, fast and perfectly controlled bass response is in rarity in this price range”. The Dynaudio Stand X3 and Stand 6 speakers stands, SF1 speaker feet are perfect accessories available for optimizing placement of X14. A 21st century speaker line wouldn't be complete without central speaker (although this „rule” seem to change nowadays), so Dynaudio offers its Excite X24 Center model home Home Theater fans, and, if there are any, multichannel audio fans.

Music used during test (a selection))

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• Le Jeu des pèlerins d’Emmaüs, Ensemble Organum, Marcel Pérès, “Musique D’Abord”, Harmonia Mundi HMA1951347, CD (1990/2014).
• Bajm, Ballady, Pomaton EMI 8 55988 2, CD (1997).
• Bing Crosby, The Radio Years, GNP Records/King Records (Japan) 240E 6848, “Very Best Jazz”, CD (1988).
• Jean-Michel Jarre, Magnetic Fields, Dreyfus Disques/Epic EPC 488138 2, CD (1981/1997).
• Maria Peszek, Jezus Maria Peszek, Mystic Production MYSTCD 214, CD (2013).
• Miles Davis, In A Silent Way, Columbia/Mobile Fidelity UDSACD-2088, “Special Limited Edition, No. 1311”, SACD/CD (1969/2012).
• Nosowska, 8, Supersam Music SM 01, CD (2011);
• Pat Metheny Group, Offramp, ECM ECM1216, CD (1982).
• Pat Metheny Group, Offramp, ECM/Universal Music K.K. UCCU-9543, “Jazz The Best No. 43”, gold-CD (1982/2004).
• Porcupine Tree, Deadwing, Lava 93437, CD (2005).

Japanese editions of CDs and SACDs are available from

There is no use in comparing the new Excite X34, with older X32. I think that paradigm followed by Dynaudio designers hasn't changed much. But means of achieving it allowed to get to a new performance level. It's not some game changing improvement but significant enough to recognize it as a clear improvement and kind of a new opening for entry level Dynaudio.

Regardless of albums I was listening to the main feature of the sound I noticed each time was amazing transparency. Transparency which means resolution. If somebody decided to place Castle Knight speakers, lets say Knight 5 to be exact next to Dynaudio one would quickly realize that these speakers are like night and day with Dynaudio being day. It's not about which ones are better sounding, it's about how different their sound signatures are.
So – transparency. X34 deliver very open sound. In comparison many other speakers will sound like placed behind a curtain. And again – it's not about better/worse performance, but about very different one. In this particular model Dynaudio designers have finally overcome limitations of woofer's membrane material. In fact it has many advantages but resolution, in many cases, weren't one, as there were some colorations in the midbass area, and a differentiation of low end wasn't so great. This is my opinion of course, not something you have to believe in – a few years ago I exchanged some emails with Dynaudio's owner who really tried to get me to eat my words. I couldn't and didn't do it back then because an actual improvement I can see only now, in those new models.

What these speakers can offer is really something. On one hand there is an exquisite treble – the tweeters used here offer truly high performance. There are some that are still better but there is only a handful of them and they cost more, a lot more. This treble is precise – not only delivering the outlines of sounds but a full, rich sound in all of its aspects. A part (large one) of soft dome tweeters sound bit harsh not like their metal counterparts.

But Dynaudio obviously found its own way to make them sound really good and it is using this way not only in the most expensive tweeters but it's been bringing it also to the less costly ones. We get a very open sound and it’s achieved not via hardening treble, not any soft of emphasis in this part of the range but rather thanks to incredible lot of information it delivers. Even when I played not so perfectly engineered material from Bajm's Ballady the presentation was so involving, so interesting that I couldn't wait to hear another piece of music to find out what would I be able to hear there.

The other range extreme might be even more surprising. Small size of these speakers won't prepare you for such an impressive bass performance. OK, it might no go all way down – laws of physics still apply. But, just like in treble area, also here there is a lot substance and information. Together these two feature create an impression of much larger speakers, minus the lowest bass. The scale of sound is large, one might think that even too big for such small speakers. Dynamics is momentarily surprisingly good, sound is fast and seems not to be limited in any way by the size of woofers, there is no compression there. That's what makes you sit there and play more and more recording as you love the way Excite present them. You enjoy new details that somehow skipped you attention before. But if these details become too distinct by themselves they tend to overtake the show which is killing the presentation – you probably witnessed that yourself, right? Don't worry, the X34 don't do that. In both the Ballady, and later in the Davis' In A Silent Way going deeper into the mix didn't mean details brought into the front of the mix, but a better inside into recording. I'm pretty sure you could hear the same in other systems with these speakers – sound opens up giving you a better inside into the mix but keeping proper proportions between all elements.
The way that low end is delivered is different from how, for example, above mentioned Castle speakers do it, but also from how PMC do (see for example HERE). Castle deliver softer, more round bass which makes it sound really nice. PCM deliver more taut bass with a little emphasis on so called „kick bass” that creates a concert-like impression. X34 offer even faster bass than PMC, but not so taut. Bass is more focused than delivered by Castle, but not so warm and not so „forgiving” for poorer recordings.

Bass and treble, although quite interesting, are in this case only an addition to the midrange. The openness of the sound is simply amazing, you feel like there was this mist of sounds around you in the room. It's because there is no exaggeration, sound is not harsh, nor lean. Bass that is powerful, bit on the soft side, but very well controlled offers a proper foundation for the whole sound, so that the volume of phantom images is large, and the dynamics allows everything to „breathe”. So these are definitely not one of those lean sounding speakers. Their sound signature is somehow specific so you need more time than usually to discover what this sound is about. To achieve this kind of sound (that many will recognize as the right choice) Danish designers had to make many choices. One of them was a choice of tonality. X34 offer „fresh”, open sound – I've already mentioned that. They deliver a lot of information – we know that already also. To use these features to the maximum a decision was made not to roll off the upper midrange. I'm talking about the range between 2-4 kHz that is powerful and unambiguous.

Life is not as simple as tables and graphs might suggest. When you see a very flat frequency response you might be pretty sure that these speakers sound rather aggressive. Only if you properly correlate radiation on the main axis of a driver with an off-axis radiation and understand how it changes in time that could give you some idea about what this particular design is able to deliver in terms of sound. Usually this part of range I mentioned above is slightly rolled off which results in a nicer, more relaxed sound. You can't do it when it comes to the top quality speakers – this would effect sound's clarity and openness and also its selectivity, and not in a good way. For top performance loudspeakers one needs to use more expensive drivers, better, more costly crossover elements, and put even more effort to make all drivers to sound like one.
It seems that this second choice was made for X34, even though these are not expensive speakers. And the choice was made for better and for worse. For better as it would be very difficult to find any other speakers under 10.000 PLN (give or take) capable of delivering so many details in such a professional, meaning responsible way. For worse as this will not be acceptable with all amplifiers but also with some of them. I would suggest pairing them up with amps offering a bit warmer sound. Heed, Roksan, Advance Acoustic – you should look among these. Clones Audio should be a nice partner too. Or some tube amplifier. I think that Prima Luna could be a perfect match, and so should be the Linear Audio Research. It's a bit unorthodox to recommend paring Dynaudio speakers with tube gear – usually that only works in small room and with powerful tube amps. But the new line was designed in such a way that its impedance is more „tube-friendly”. The manufacturer tells us that nominal impedance is 8 Ω and while I'm sure that there are significant impedance drops in bass area X34 still seemed not to be a difficult load.

Summary

Music lovers who know the powerful, firm sound of previous Dynaudio designs will be surprised by how much more information can be provided by similarly looking speakers. How much deeper can bass dig. How much more dynamic the whole presentation might be. These three features combined in X34 is what makes them one of the most interesting items on the market in up to 10.000 PLN range (at least among those I had a chance to listen to). They are not the best, as there are few at least equally interesting designs, but if their sound signature suits you, you won't find any better ones. They are not perfect – you should combine them with amplification that doesn't add anything from itself to the upper midrange, or maybe even is a bit shy in this area. If you combine them with +30k PLN components you should be always fine. These speakers aren't really bright sounding, but they are capable of delivering so much information that less expensive amplifiers are not able to deliver. Offer them a high quality partner and they will pay you back with amazing sound.
And these speakers' fit and finish is amazing too, there is some real engineering behind then and not just another Chinese attempt to catch up with Europe. To be clear – I have nothing against products made in P.R.C. - some of them are really good. But in my opinion there is not to much innovation to them, they usually make use of inventions made elsewhere. Dynaudio proves that there is a great potential in European industry.

I've quoted catalog before but let me do it one more time:

The New Excite line combines a high-end sound with a timeless elegance of its slim cabinets. New models are easy to drive for almost any amplifier due to their high, linear and friendly impedance; this improvement was made possible due to high efficiency drivers. […]
Slim line design that fascinates with a distinguished presentation: The Excite X34 is an elegant, high-end, floor standing loudspeaker, whose sheer sonic output and incredibly three-dimensional soundstage belies its modest dimensions.

Excite X34 are floorstanding loudspeakers 929 mm high, 170 mm wide and 270 mm deep (dimensions without feet and spikes). They are very elegant, good looking speakers thanks to very good proportions and wonderfully applied natural veneer. X34 sport dual 145 mm MSP (magnesium silicate polymer) mid/woofers and a beautiful 27mm silk dome tweeter. Diaphragms of house-owned MPS are used for most Dynaudio's woofers. Another characteristic feature is dust cap that is an integral part of diaphragm and also large 40mm aluminum coils. The baskets of woofers and midrange are cast aluminum with flow-optimized ribs. Large magnets are also quite impressive.

The crossover is mounted at the back of gold plated, single binding posts, on a single PCB. Manufacturer claims that he committed a lot of effort to fine-tuning of this crossover and that resulted in the biggest sonic improvement over older version of this line. One can find there a polypropylene capacitor, electrolytic ones by Bennic, and some core coils (with powder core). Ground resistors are soldered at the other side of PCB.

Cabinets are made of MDF plates that are reinforced from inside with additional thinner plates. They are damped with some foam (side walls) and lots of artificial wool. The exquisitely finished cabinet includes a cloth grille secured by concealed magnets, and features a particularly smart base construction: on hardwood floors, the X34 can stand on four resonance-absorbing feet, while four adjustable integrated spikes may be used to achieve a perfect foundation on carpeted surfaces.