I first heard Wilson speakers over 25 years ago. Down through the years, although I've never been an owner of Wilson speakers, I've always been a big fan and admirer of Wilson speakers. My end-game speakers are my current pair of Revel Salon 2 speakers. Happy listening.
Yeah I always thought the daw sounded ok at best despite all the praise it got from press. I am wondering if the same turns out to be the case with the sasha V. As soon as it is no longer the current model people will recognize it’s shortcomings 😂
16:30 Your a good man, Adrian. I’ve watched enough of your channel to know that for certain! You exude, authentic excellence. I imagine you’ve improved every life you’ve touched. I can’t think of Toronto without you crossing my mind. Absolutely be stopping by your shop if and when I’m in the area again. if anything, just to shake your hand. On a fun note… I think you’ll appreciate the story. First time in Toronto in the 80s. I got to see a 911 slant nose. Screaming down Young Street. Not going fast. Just screaming.🍻
Very respectful and eloquent tribute to DAW! And some great insight on how we as humans can prejudice and bias ourselves despite inherently knowing that everything changes minute to minute, day to day, etc. and we cannot recapture the past.
i love your loyalty Adrian , and how you honor and value your friendship with Dave, and for these reasons, you hold the Sasha DAW closer to your heart. thank you for this great episode.
Hi, Adrian. if I may ask, how much better is the Wilson Audio Alexia V than the Sasha V speakers? Is there really a big difference in sound, especially if my room dimensions in feet is L-18X W-15X H-7? do both of them have the same sonic character? Thanks.
Thank you, Adrian, for your thoughtful and personal review of Sasha V and its relationship to the DAW. I took delivery and installation (by the premier Wilson dealer in Michigan) of a pair of Sasha V’s two weeks ago as a serious upgrade from my trusty Yvettes. I find your description of the strengths of the new Sasha V is spot on after the requisite settle-in time of about 150+ hours. As fine as the DAW’s are, the new V is more neutral, more revealing, very transparent, and ‘quicker’. The back wall 'disappears'. One example: playback of the new Honeck/Pittsburgh/Reference Recording SACD of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 reveals this excellent performance with accurate timber, precise spatial resolution, and a great sense of Heinz Hall as a performance space. The tutti of Pittsburgh’s fabulous brass sections when called upon are awesome. The reproduction of piano and tympani is spooky good. My system is composed of McIntosh, Clear Audio, and Transparent hardware that are up to the task. Rather than a red, my color of choice is Ipanema Brown. Happy listening!
Amazing review..you have soul sir! As far as the Sashas go, I heve the Sasha 2's and I LOVE them. The question is, is it worth the upgrade to the DAW (used) or should I just bite the bullet and save up for the Sasha V?
Thank god every new speaker always gets better and better than it’s predecessor…regardless if that’s true or not. Just bend reality…the consumer wheel has to keep on turning.
Man Adrian your reviews are the best I know you don’t carry them but I would love your review of the stunningly good new Magico S3 MK3 which is actually 3k less than the Sasha V and it many ways better.
So many excellent insights. I think there was more insight into the DAW’s than I’ve seen in most/all reviews. With used models going for $25k, that is certainly useful information.
I purchased my Sasha 1s brand new 15 years ago, soon after they were introduced. They are a fabulous speaker, and it has only been the introduction of the new Sasha V’s that tempted me to move forward!
You will want to audition in person. Focal embellishes the sound, having wonderful midrange and treble. Wilsons tends to be brutally unforgiving neither adding to nor detracting from what is on the recording. Many folks like their honesty and many do not.
I think you can sell any amp with the Wilsons because they have a specific way of emitting sound: they “beautisize” sound which some people like (long listening sessions) and others don’t (homogenize sound). Audio is a subjective hobby, so like them or avoid them.
I always thought that Wilson speakers were on the "accurate" side of the spectrum, as opposed speakers like Sonus faber which are a little warmer, more forgiving, and very slightly less detailed. I know a lot people like to use tube pre-amps with solid-state amps with their Wilson speakers, just to soften the sound just a little bit. The same is true for people who prefer pure Class A solid-state electronics with Wilson.
@@Mark-rw3kwI agree with you. But, compared to speakers like Magico or Rockport, I think you can say Wilson makes everything sounds beautiful 😊. Perhaps, that why Wilsons are loved so much. Among the high-end brands, I dare to say Wilson aims at the middle except for the soundstage where Wilson is the undisputed champ.
@@klaymoon1 Wilson did switch from metal dome tweeters to soft dome tweeters some years ago, which helped out a lot. But I still think they are considered to be fairly accurate speakers.
Own Sophia’s Serie 1 and agree to a point as I had one bad experience with some D monoblocs which turned non fatiguing speakers into fatiguing ones (in both case with a beautiful sound which did NOT sound fatiguing but proved exhausting after a couple of hours). Now very happy with Bryston Monoblocs (a lot less shinny looks than Dan D’Agostino which I do not want to listen to because of their « see I have money » look)
I own Wilson Audio speakers and yes they are very expensive but you are buying R&D, performance and all that. Other brands can do similar but build quality... Ferrari are not for me, or Rolex however omega is my taste...
So I guess Wilson's employees are supposed to go without being well paid or silly things like health insurance? Margins in most industries are about that, yet I rarely people complain about those businesses.
A dealer pays the manufacturer about 60% of the MSRP for stuff they buy for their retail stores. When a dealer buys something as a display model for customers to listen to, or to stock in their inventory for customer purchases, that purchase comes out of the dealer's pocket. Dealer purchases from the manufacturer are not on consignment, they have to pay up-front for the stuff they buy from the manufacturer. At any given time, a dealer may have millions of dollars of inventory permanently tied up for listening rooms or to be stored for customer purchases. That doesn't include the cost of the store or paying employees who work there.
@@majicjazz First, I don't know what you mean by margins? What I said is that dealer cost is generally 60% of the MSRP. But I don't know if you mean dealer margins, or manufacturer margins? Both dealers and manufacturers have a lot more costs than the cost of each item sold or manufactured, so it is not net profit margin (since profit is at an enterprise level and includes a lot of other costs besides the product itself). Before COVID and government giveaways, a customer could usually go into a retailer and get a 20% discount from MSRP, but that is usually not the case anymore.
I have first hand experience in the purchase of high end equipment, a thousand dollar Amp will cost the dealer about 500 dollars, and a thousand dollar speaker will cost him about 400 dollars, I am sure Wilson pays its employees well, there is a large margin in speakers period.
No doubt Wilson makes great speakers but their frequent model changes and increasingly obscene pricing is becoming an almost cynical mocking of wealthy audiophiles. Of course Adrian is most willing to go along with this marketing project. It will be interesting to see how well this brand does now that the free money era is over.
Hi Adrian - I normally love your videos but you did sound to me a bit like a politician pushing the latest party line on this one. Let's be honest you were never going to say the DAW is better than the V. The Alexia V is a big step up from the 2 and worth the investment. But I do wonder if the Sasha V is just to standardise the line across the brand (which makes sense) rather than such a huge improvement in all honesty.
Wilson needs to retire the "Sasha" name. It's silly sounding. They should rename the speaker the WILSON AUDIO VILIP™ Vilip is a great name and sounds powerful and sophisticated. Wilson needs to do this.
I heard it at my local dealer. It still doesn’t have great transparency in the midrange and has that fatigue inducing midrange bump which sounds good only in demos. $49k list in insane for this. Wilson is a marketing company buying off the shelf drivers. It’s an ugly design. Of course you are pushing it because if you find someone stupid enough to pay list, you will make a 40% profit. How can we trust your so called review when you stand to make 20k plus per pair?
Ah, the same old LIES about Wilson using "off the shelf drivers." There's a HUGE difference between "off the shelf drivers" and having speaker companies make a product to THEIR specifications.
@@JR-ho5qm There is nothing wrong with off-the-shelf drivers from a top notch driver company. I don't know what the specs of the Wilson requested driver mods are, but if those Wilson requested mods actually improved the driver, the driver manufacturer could incorporate those same concepts into their stock driver models. So the drivers may be custom just for the sake of saying they are custom and the main issue is how much one pays for it. If Wilson speakers (or a few other super high-end brands) were mass produced, they could be 1/3 the cost, but they aren't. That's just the nature of high-end audio. These days, there are enough wealthy people who are willing to pay the price. For the rest of us, we search for 90-95% of the Wilson sound at 1/3 or less of the cost, and I think it can be found.
@@JR-ho5qm There is the cost of goods sold for the manufacturer compared to what a dealer pays, which is the profit margin. But the manufacturer has to cover overhead, marketing, warranties, etc. A lot of high-end audio companies have financial problems and some have been revived after bankruptcy like Audio Research, so it’s not an easy business. For a $50K MSRP speaker the manufacturer only gets $30K from the dealer, who has their own overhead expenses. I didn’t mean to suggest that manufacturers make huge profits. I meant that in low volumes with custom colors, etc, the manufacturing cost per unit is a lot higher than if it were mass produced.
It must really suck to be as miserable as you are with so much distaste and negativity towards gear you’ve obviously never owned. Jealousy is a helluva drug smh
Awesome Adrian. Just awesome. Authentic Excellence and you are excellently authentic. Thank you.
I couldn't agree with you more 💯👌
Kind of you. thanks!
I first heard Wilson speakers over 25 years ago. Down through the years, although I've never been an owner of Wilson speakers, I've always been a big fan and admirer of Wilson speakers. My end-game speakers are my current pair of Revel Salon 2 speakers. Happy listening.
My end-game speakers will probably be a bookshelf model, something that I can fit in my coffin with me.
@@Mark-rw3kwheadphones
I’ve had Wilson’s in quartz. Better resale. My current Wilson’s are in red. I couldn’t be happier. My wife even loves them!!!
Yeah I always thought the daw sounded ok at best despite all the praise it got from press. I am wondering if the same turns out to be the case with the sasha V. As soon as it is no longer the current model people will recognize it’s shortcomings 😂
16:30 Your a good man, Adrian. I’ve watched enough of your channel to know that for certain! You exude, authentic excellence. I imagine you’ve improved every life you’ve touched. I can’t think of Toronto without you crossing my mind. Absolutely be stopping by your shop if and when I’m in the area again. if anything, just to shake your hand.
On a fun note… I think you’ll appreciate the story. First time in Toronto in the 80s. I got to see a 911 slant nose. Screaming down Young Street. Not going fast. Just screaming.🍻
Lovely words of praise for David there, Adrian.
With some detailed thoughts in relation to your delineation between the two Sasha's.
Well said.👌🙏🙂
Very respectful and eloquent tribute to DAW! And some great insight on how we as humans can prejudice and bias ourselves despite inherently knowing that everything changes minute to minute, day to day, etc. and we cannot recapture the past.
Thanks kindly!
i love your loyalty Adrian , and how you honor and value your friendship with Dave, and for these reasons, you hold the Sasha DAW closer to your heart. thank you for this great episode.
Hi, Adrian. if I may ask, how much better is the Wilson Audio Alexia V than the Sasha V speakers? Is there really a big difference in sound, especially if my room dimensions in feet is L-18X W-15X H-7? do both of them have the same sonic character?
Thanks.
Thank you, Adrian, for your thoughtful and personal review of Sasha V and its relationship to the DAW. I took delivery and installation (by the premier Wilson dealer in Michigan) of a pair of Sasha V’s two weeks ago as a serious upgrade from my trusty Yvettes. I find your description of the strengths of the new Sasha V is spot on after the requisite settle-in time of about 150+ hours. As fine as the DAW’s are, the new V is more neutral, more revealing, very transparent, and ‘quicker’. The back wall 'disappears'. One example: playback of the new Honeck/Pittsburgh/Reference Recording SACD of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 reveals this excellent performance with accurate timber, precise spatial resolution, and a great sense of Heinz Hall as a performance space. The tutti of Pittsburgh’s fabulous brass sections when called upon are awesome. The reproduction of piano and tympani is spooky good. My system is composed of McIntosh, Clear Audio, and Transparent hardware that are up to the task. Rather than a red, my color of choice is Ipanema Brown. Happy listening!
Congrats! Lovely system.
@@adrianlow2114congrats on your new speakers!
Amazing review..you have soul sir! As far as the Sashas go, I heve the Sasha 2's and I LOVE them. The question is, is it worth the upgrade to the DAW (used) or should I just bite the bullet and save up for the Sasha V?
Thank god every new speaker always gets better and better than it’s predecessor…regardless if that’s true or not.
Just bend reality…the consumer wheel has to keep on turning.
Man Adrian your reviews are the best I know you don’t carry them but I would love your review of the stunningly good new Magico S3 MK3 which is actually 3k less than the Sasha V and it many ways better.
I just heard the Sasha V at Axpona paired with Moon by Simaudio. I've got to say it was one of my favorite rooms.
I was very happy with my DAW's, BUT I am now waiting on arrival of the Sasha V's.. :)
Good for you!
Great video! Suppose Sasha V has a winning chance against a poorly set up Alexia previous gen.
Excellent review and commentsry Adrian!
Thanks!
So many excellent insights. I think there was more insight into the DAW’s than I’ve seen in most/all reviews. With used models going for $25k, that is certainly useful information.
Very well done.
Thanks
Holy smokes these things have got to sound amazing…they’re built like a surgical instrument…
Just ordered a pair of Sasha V’s to replace my original Sasha W/P’s (Series 1). Can’t wait’
Wow! I have a lot of respect for your restraint if that is the actual timeline between your speaker upgrade :)
I purchased my Sasha 1s brand new 15 years ago, soon after they were introduced. They are a fabulous speaker, and it has only been the introduction of the new Sasha V’s that tempted me to move forward!
I would like to hear them or other more affordable Wilsons .
I have Focal kanta 2 and wonder how cheaper Wilsons compare…
They will have better bass. They will sound more natural and not as bright as the Focals
You will want to audition in person. Focal embellishes the sound, having wonderful midrange and treble. Wilsons tends to be brutally unforgiving neither adding to nor detracting from what is on the recording. Many folks like their honesty and many do not.
👍 well done. No shame to tell it as it is
I think you can sell any amp with the Wilsons because they have a specific way of emitting sound: they “beautisize” sound which some people like (long listening sessions) and others don’t (homogenize sound). Audio is a subjective hobby, so like them or avoid them.
I always thought that Wilson speakers were on the "accurate" side of the spectrum, as opposed speakers like Sonus faber which are a little warmer, more forgiving, and very slightly less detailed. I know a lot people like to use tube pre-amps with solid-state amps with their Wilson speakers, just to soften the sound just a little bit. The same is true for people who prefer pure Class A solid-state electronics with Wilson.
@@Mark-rw3kwI agree with you. But, compared to speakers like Magico or Rockport, I think you can say Wilson makes everything sounds beautiful 😊. Perhaps, that why Wilsons are loved so much. Among the high-end brands, I dare to say Wilson aims at the middle except for the soundstage where Wilson is the undisputed champ.
@@klaymoon1 Wilson did switch from metal dome tweeters to soft dome tweeters some years ago, which helped out a lot. But I still think they are considered to be fairly accurate speakers.
Own Sophia’s Serie 1 and agree to a point as I had one bad experience with some D monoblocs which turned non fatiguing speakers into fatiguing ones (in both case with a beautiful sound which did NOT sound fatiguing but proved exhausting after a couple of hours). Now very happy with Bryston Monoblocs (a lot less shinny looks than Dan D’Agostino which I do not want to listen to because of their « see I have money » look)
When speakers become Spiritual.
I own Wilson Audio speakers and yes they are very expensive but you are buying R&D, performance and all that. Other brands can do similar but build quality... Ferrari are not for me, or Rolex however omega is my taste...
Speaking like a sales person. “I don’t know what it is but it just sounded better” Mr. Wilson is rolling over in his grave
Speaker margins are 50 percent and many speakers are 60 percent
So I guess Wilson's employees are supposed to go without being well paid or silly things like health insurance?
Margins in most industries are about that, yet I rarely people complain about those businesses.
A dealer pays the manufacturer about 60% of the MSRP for stuff they buy for their retail stores. When a dealer buys something as a display model for customers to listen to, or to stock in their inventory for customer purchases, that purchase comes out of the dealer's pocket. Dealer purchases from the manufacturer are not on consignment, they have to pay up-front for the stuff they buy from the manufacturer. At any given time, a dealer may have millions of dollars of inventory permanently tied up for listening rooms or to be stored for customer purchases. That doesn't include the cost of the store or paying employees who work there.
@@Mark-rw3kw I have first hand experience in my statement as I have been involved in the purchasing of of high end products
@@majicjazz First, I don't know what you mean by margins? What I said is that dealer cost is generally 60% of the MSRP. But I don't know if you mean dealer margins, or manufacturer margins? Both dealers and manufacturers have a lot more costs than the cost of each item sold or manufactured, so it is not net profit margin (since profit is at an enterprise level and includes a lot of other costs besides the product itself). Before COVID and government giveaways, a customer could usually go into a retailer and get a 20% discount from MSRP, but that is usually not the case anymore.
I have first hand experience in the purchase of high end equipment, a thousand dollar Amp will cost the dealer about 500 dollars, and a thousand dollar speaker will cost him about 400 dollars, I am sure Wilson pays its employees well, there is a large margin in speakers period.
What DAC did you use?
Includes MSB, Lumin P1 built-in DAC, PS DSDac mk2 and others
I suppose you will be saying the same retoric about the nxt model supperceeding this one.
No doubt Wilson makes great speakers but their frequent model changes and increasingly obscene pricing is becoming an almost cynical mocking of wealthy audiophiles.
Of course Adrian is most willing to go along with this marketing project.
It will be interesting to see how well this brand does now that the free money era is over.
i feel so blessed that i like my 5 k $ system without going crazy with spending for "high end" gear.. 😅
crazy? No, just more beautiful.
Video works😊
Great!
Hi Adrian - I normally love your videos but you did sound to me a bit like a politician pushing the latest party line on this one. Let's be honest you were never going to say the DAW is better than the V. The Alexia V is a big step up from the 2 and worth the investment. But I do wonder if the Sasha V is just to standardise the line across the brand (which makes sense) rather than such a huge improvement in all honesty.
Wilson needs to retire the "Sasha" name. It's silly sounding.
They should rename the speaker the WILSON AUDIO VILIP™
Vilip is a great name and sounds powerful and sophisticated.
Wilson needs to do this.
Maybe use your screen name?
Vilip is gone. Get used to it
They should rename the speaker the WILSON AUDIO DAW II
I heard it at my local dealer. It still doesn’t have great transparency in the midrange and has that fatigue inducing midrange bump which sounds good only in demos. $49k list in insane for this. Wilson is a marketing company buying off the shelf drivers. It’s an ugly design. Of course you are pushing it because if you find someone stupid enough to pay list, you will make a 40% profit. How can we trust your so called review when you stand to make 20k plus per pair?
For what it’s worth I believe Wilson has the drivers made to there spec and are different than just off the shelf.
Ah, the same old LIES about Wilson using "off the shelf drivers."
There's a HUGE difference between "off the shelf drivers" and having speaker companies make a product to THEIR specifications.
@@JR-ho5qm There is nothing wrong with off-the-shelf drivers from a top notch driver company. I don't know what the specs of the Wilson requested driver mods are, but if those Wilson requested mods actually improved the driver, the driver manufacturer could incorporate those same concepts into their stock driver models. So the drivers may be custom just for the sake of saying they are custom and the main issue is how much one pays for it. If Wilson speakers (or a few other super high-end brands) were mass produced, they could be 1/3 the cost, but they aren't. That's just the nature of high-end audio. These days, there are enough wealthy people who are willing to pay the price. For the rest of us, we search for 90-95% of the Wilson sound at 1/3 or less of the cost, and I think it can be found.
@@Mark-rw3kw yes huge mark up foresure.
@@JR-ho5qm There is the cost of goods sold for the manufacturer compared to what a dealer pays, which is the profit margin. But the manufacturer has to cover overhead, marketing, warranties, etc. A lot of high-end audio companies have financial problems and some have been revived after bankruptcy like Audio Research, so it’s not an easy business. For a $50K MSRP speaker the manufacturer only gets $30K from the dealer, who has their own overhead expenses.
I didn’t mean to suggest that manufacturers make huge profits. I meant that in low volumes with custom colors, etc, the manufacturing cost per unit is a lot higher than if it were mass produced.
Sasha v equals overpriced good speaker. It’s 5 times more expensive than it should be
It must really suck to be as miserable as you are with so much distaste and negativity towards gear you’ve obviously never owned. Jealousy is a helluva drug smh
Then please, make your own speaker for 5x less and steal all their market share.
What do you base this on? Statistical facts or anecdotal information?
His wishlist will never come to be so he contributes to the negative.
@tascamtascam, I am with you