Sampan Stereo 100 Music Box

I had one of the most engaging listening experiences ever last night. I took home the first, freshly minted, Sampan Stereo 100 Music Box, plopped it down on a small table in front of a couch, plugged in the power and connected my smart phone to the Music Box. I had planned to listen to the to the Music Box on a desk but I could not move.I sat less than two feet away and maybe a foot higher than the Music Box. But could not hear the Music Box. Instead I was presented with  a huge soundstage. The finished product sounded was way better than what I had heard during development and testing. As I leaned into the extreme nearfield, the soundstage widened, deepened and became more enveloping. There was something alluring about the simplicity of the setup. One cable into the back: power. One cable connecting my phone. An on/off volume knob on the front. No DAC. A perfect audiophile listening experience? No! A thoroughly enjoyable listening experience? Yes!  As ran through various artists on my phone, the simplicity of moving from one cut to another, the quality of the music, and the depth and width of the sound stage was intoxicating. I had to keep the volume down because my family was asleep. But even listening at low volume was thoroughly enjoyable. I listened for hours. I finally turned in after 1 AM.

This morning after my family left, I plopped the Music Box on a book case and turned it up. Still sounding good. Still going through my collection. I decided to have breakfast so I left it on Bob Marley's "Songs of Freedom" anthology.   I was listening to the third disk when I noticed a dramatic change. Like a car going up hill changing gears. The system reached a break-in threshold. Bass: deepened. Vibrating the walls. I cranked up the volume even higher and now the system was really boogieing. Some Studio One. Heaven.

What is the Sampan Music Box? A 42 inch by 4.5 inch by 5 inch active stereo speaker using single full range 3.5 inch drivers in folded transmission lines, driven by a 50 watt per channel T-amp. What is also impressive is how it fills my rather large room that is open on two sides with truly magical sound. Today, I will listen to the Sampan Music Box driven by the Logitech Squeezebox touch. More about that later.
ER.

SEE: www.roleaudio.com