Paradigm Shift A2 Pro Reviews

Forensic dissection of music and the system playing it, is fine if you're sure your system and programme material is up to it. There are plenty of speakers designed for that purpose. The Paradigm Shift A2s are designed to perform well with any source, covering the tracks of the less than stellar equipment with which they may be mated and in so doing, sound good regardless. If you like to relax to music and not have your system choose what you can listen to and from, then the A2s will be right up your street. That's not to say that they can't be exciting, as their natural propensity to boogie suits modern studio recordings well, with the polish they deliver knocking the rough edges off. The immediacy written in the DNA of a true active speaker, is completely unsuppressed with surprising levels of dynamic attack, control and frequency extension on offer. In those respects, the A2s completely surpass their passive counterparts and let us not forget, the A2s are only £279 each - Every speaker at that price point will have a balance, a set of compromises, designed into it's performance.

Although these speakers sound fantastic, the reality is that these things still cost $560 for a pair, which is fine if you're serious about music. Will 75 percent of you notice the jump in quality from a $150 pair of speakers? Or even a cheaper pair of Audio Engine speakers? Probably not. But for those who obsess of concepts such as the soundstage and imaging that a speaker can produce, you'll be hard pressed to find a better speaker at a comparable price.