SWANS D1080-IV – Powered 2.0 Bookshelf Speakers
Overall Ranking: 7/10
Price: Click HERE
Owners: HiVi, Inc.
Buy here: Swans – D1080-IV – Powered 2.0 Bookshelf Speakers
UPDATE: Just to give you a perspective, it is 2021 and I still own this pair of speakers and absolutely LOVE them. I still doubt that in this price range any other speakers come close to it. However, in case you have more budget to shell out, look for KANTO YU4 and YU6 (You can thank me later đ ).
INTRODUCTIONÂ
Audiophiles, music enthusiasts, and regular music listeners always look for something, some piece of audio equipment which delivers the best possible sound in a said price bracket and the best of anything is different for every individual, it always depends on their previous experience and exposure. The definition of good sound/music differs from person to person, as some might have experienced a $50,000 system versus one is a newbie who is venturing into the musical world and has owned a $50 and wants to upgrade gradually. But then it doesnât matter, we (humans) evolve and we strive to evolve for good.
Enough of the philosophy around the humans/price/benefit received. Letâs get into what we are here for and see how much these bad boys can deliver if you are betting your money on them. And see if these are really the best budget desktop speakers?
- To start with Swans – D1080-IV – Powered 2.0 Bookshelf Speaker from HiVi Inc. have been the underdog in the audio equipment industry for quite some time. They are active/powered hence amp is built into one of the units in the pair. The speakers come in a PVC Finished cabinet with professional acoustic panel design and jacquard grille casing, which is good to hold and look at (just like a few expensive wooden 2.0s around us). These are designed and engineered in California, USA, and the head office is also located there, but as with all the other products, the manufacturing is in China, which you can tell by the box received.
- They boast 5.25” LM5N woofer & 0.8” dome tweeter, which is enough to produce decent low-frequency sound (by the way the IV version carries the woofer from more expensive Swans M200MKIII speakers (PS: I was worried about the base and trust me you would not need a subwoofer unless you are a base-head)
- I won’t say that out of the box they were incredible, as none of the monitors are, they require some break-in period and pistons need to flex themselves (50-70hours) and boy-O-boy once they broke in, itâs a delight to hear them. Of course, you canât make them compete against the true audiophile-grade, highly expensive speakers but let me tell you these are not some regular dogs. These are like a dragon sleeping calmly and waiting for you to poke them to come to life and expel the fireâŚâŚwhoops I can dramatize things đ
- I have tried playing vocals, instrumental, hip hop, and almost everything in my capacity. They take care of all genres well. Watched a few movies as well, few war movies with thunderous sounds and a few lay low movies which makes no ear exploding sounds but are mostly dialogue and vocals-oriented â it plays them all very well, though at the time I get worried about the lows as it feels that it could blanket the music underneath (but that may be because of the audio source)
- For the audio source, I have used iPod, iPhones, Android phones, external Bluetooth adaptor, direct line to TV, laptops, audio CDs, etc. All boil down to the âSOURCEâ when you have purchased good speakers and want to hear good music out of it. And these so very much works well with the FLAC, audio CDs, direct line-in, means the Lossless music source will always give you the best output â it’s like saying garbage in garbage out. So, try not to put in the garbage/low-quality content into a good speaker or you will be disappointed
- Just to give you a perspective here: MP3 of 4-6MB size generally is captured at 320kpbs whereas FLAC at 30-50MB size is captured at 1500-2500 kbps and at 44100 Hz sampling â which is a delight to hear
- These swans donât disappoint at all, I can say with full confidence as I have used them in a hall of the size 40ftx40ft and with 40+ people inside and people were amazed to hear these little beasts, in case you feel the thump is not enough to shake your house down, you can always buy external subwoofers and connect with a set of wires (PS: they donât have the direct sub out like Audioengine A5+, but then A5+ are almost 2.5x expensive and carries a snob value for years)
- For your reference, if you have heard the all-time favorite, blue-eyed boys Audioengine A5+ and A2+ or the Mackie or Rocket, etc, I would say that Swans could make a big dent into their segment with the value for money proposition that they offer. These D1080-IV sits right somewhere in between the A2+ and A5+ in terms of the quality
- These are a perfect blend of not so flat (like true Monitors) and not overpowering (like Logitech, btw Logitech stands nowhere near the crystal highs that Swans produce, I only mentioned them here because of their loudness and THX tag boasting) bookshelf, which you can keep playing happily without making big blow in your pocket
- The brushed aluminum buttons for volumes, treble, and bass controls adjustments is cherry and make it feel premium. Connecting cables are of good and heavy quality.
PROS
- Small footprint (but not tiny)
- Decent driver size
- Highs: Brilliant, Low and Mids: Good
- Wonderful wooden finish panels
- Good quality knobs
CONS
- Subwoofer out (with few extra dollars)
- Slightly better Mids
- Gamers might like more thunderous speakers
WHO IT IS FOR
Anyone who:
- Wants to upgrade from tiny desktop speakers
- Loves crystal clear highsâ and appreciates good music
- Donât want to spend a fortune
- Has lack of space
FINAL OPINION/VERDICT
Any day I would be happy to suggest (or buy another pair) D1080-IV or the higher model like Swans M200MKIII (they are killer), sitting on my desktop or with the big screen. Due to their thin presence and not so great marketing like other brands they are making their mark slowly in the music equipment industry. You can buy a pair to test them out yourself and be introduced to the âGood sound in budgetâ philosophy for real.
TIP: if you are using your active speakers with your laptop/desktop and want to raise the sound quality bar, please invest in a good DAC (digital to analog converter) like Schiit, Fiio, ODAC, etc.
PS: I have not accrued anything while reviewing these speakers or being paid by the company to promote these. Itâs my own true blue opinion.
Buy here: Swans – D1080-IV – Powered 2.0 Bookshelf Speakers
Also, loot at Mackie CR Series CR3 – 3″ Creative Reference Multimedia Monitors
Wonderful speakers and definitely a good buy at this price level. They are comparable with the speakers of twice its price for sure.
Hey I’m confused betweent the M200MKII and the D1080-IV. Is the sound equal or better than the M200mkii since they are the newer ones. Which would be better? These are about 60{0e0f650f2f0a423a739f20d7334b4e653cfe24bb5e9fe81c8ac78ae3b72beb93} of the cost of the M200mkii here. If there is a significant difference, only then shall i be willing to pay more. Also, does cons in the subwopfer out means i cannot connect a subwoofer later. If I can, how so?
Hi Akshat, let us break down your dilemma and try to answer it:
1. M200MKII Vs D1080-IV: The D1080-IV has 5.25″ Bass-midrange driver 0.8″ dome tweeter whereas M200MKII has 5″ Bass-midrange driver 1″ soft dome tweeter
a. This means that the D1080 has a better low-frequency response â it must be because the D1080-IV now comes equipped with the Low Freq (bass) drivers which are borrowed from mighty M200MKIII. This means that you will get good bass with D1080-IV (I am not saying the MKII are bad, they have a better/bigger chassis which makes it equivalent to D1080)
b. Sound quality: M200MKII has a slightly better and clear sound because of the dome 1â dome twitter and of course the bigger chassis
2. Subwoofer connection: As these are entry level active speakers, they donât come with a sub out like audioengine A5+, but that doesnât mean you cannot connect a subwoofer, of course, you can. You would need this to do so:
a. An active subwoofer with RCA in/out: active sub has its own amp and the RCA in/out is a MUST (check at the back of the sub for RCA input as well output ports, I am emphasizing because most of them has only input)
i. Crossover frequency knob: this is generally built into the sub, with this set at the appropriate level you basically telling the sub to send high frequency to active speakers and let the sub play only low frequencies
b. 3.5mm to RCA from sound card/DAC to sub RCA in (if you donât want a DAC, still you need this cable to connect to the source)
c. RCA/RCA from RCA out on sub to RCA in of active monitor
Conclusion: What should you buy, I had gone for D1080-IV considering the price difference and good bass response and size of the room (these can rock a big room but will distort a bit). Bass response is very good for a 2.0 system and you will not need a sub (unless you want to shatter your windows), they still shake my seat, use a good source, preferably FLAC/ALAC files. Also, you need to burn these for 60-80 hours to get the good response. If you want to use them with your computer, buy a DAC (preferably SCHIIT) but may be later.
I would say save for MKIII and go for D1080-IV now, and if the price is a concern, only if you want to upgrade later, MKIII are just gorgeous. If you donât want to shell out for MKIII later and want a one-time solution, then you can buy MKII and keep them for long.
I hope, it was somewhat useful, let me know for any query!!
Check out here:
Amazon India: http://amzn.to/2okuyAB
Amazon USA: http://amzn.to/2olLSpq
Well i must say a good effort… I wanted to purchase this… But you didn’t mention about the sound staging and depth, any audible cone break up, diffraction of tweeter, cabinet resonance, etc…. Whether sound is at my ears or infornt of me?? As i am unable to personally audition them….please elaborate…Plus i’ve also noted swans are too bright not harsh though….is it with d1080 as it is with m10s
Thanks, Sooraj
Let me try to answer you to the best of my limited knowledge. It’s been some time since I’m using d1080 and I can happily mention that I love them for the amount I have paid. Just to give you a perspective, I have put them into a large hall (40ftx40ft) with 35+ people and used Apple devices (old ipod classic and iPhone) and Samsung to play files. I must tell you they were excellent, but that was just an experiment to check where they go haywire, surprisingly with ipod/iphone they didn’t, with Samsung the sound was bad. So now to answer your query, sorry I get off track when it comes to music equipment đ –
a) Sound Staging & Depth – Perfect sound staging (of course not like a $1000 pair), but I felt they are well-engineered
b) No cone breakup or diffraction unless you feed low-quality file
c) No cabinet resonance – solid built
d) Sound (staging) is in front of you, here I tried to place the pair at different distances apart, more distance apart they are kept, wider is the soundstage. I really loved them, as I felt the singer is sitting in front of me (again, please use good quality file preferably FLAC/ALAC or use a DAC)
e) They are neither harsh nor bright and definitely a notch above m10s.
Sure they are not the best but in this price range, I couldn’t find anything better in India. They are for sure value for money in comparison to Vanatoo T1 and Audioengine. If you can spare some money for the DAC/AMP, it will be well worth it. I can easily recommend these.
Do check them here: http://amzn.to/2s9Acsq
You can also look at M200MKII which is available at the good price currently: http://amzn.to/2FHkMOk
Hope I was able to answer your query!
Thnk u bro…
Last thing what was the SPL???
Yes, i know these are the best multimedia monitors way better than mackies, m-audios…
Plz ignore the repeated comment..
Hi,
I did not measure the SPL for these but it is in the range of 55-60, as is the case with most of the studio monitors. Just for a quick comparison, loudspeakers at a pub operates in the range of 100-125.
It is sad that you cannot audition them in India, but I don’t regret a bit buying them. M-audios and mackies are good too but the cost to value proposition is not there.
I have recommended these to many and they were surprised to see the performance at this price. The built quality is also decent and should last long if we don’t abuse them.
One more thing I would like to mention, I have recently tested it with the newly launched MiAi (I know it’s not a high-end phone or a mentionable audio source) but it does have an inbuilt AMP, the 10V smart power amplifier with the advanced Dirac HD Sound algorithm provides powerful audio output)
I just mentioned this to emphasize the importance of DAC/AMP usage to enhance your listening experience, it’s always optional thou.
Check here for availability:
Monitors in India: http://amzn.to/2s9Acsq
Monitors in the USA: http://amzn.to/2olLSpq
AMP/DAC India: http://amzn.to/2GPpE50
Its a very good effort…. Appreciate it…
I am so very interested in buying d1080 but cant personally audition them due to unavailability…
Few things are not mentioned in the review like how is the sound staging, depth(sound is at the ears or infornt of me like the m200s which have amazing phasing capabilities)
Any audible cabinet resonance, tweeter diffraction, cone break up… Etc
Also, all the swans suffer from too bright highs…like the m10s…is it the same case here..
Most importantly what was the SPL…
Please if you cud fill these…i wud be thnk ful
Thanks for this in depth review, there is not a lot of coverage on this system. I was previously going to buy edifier r1700bt speakers and would like your opinion on how they compare with the swan system. I am not a base head but do like pop/electronic music and enjoy crisp and clean vocals.
Thanks!
Thanks for asking the question Khayal. I did not use Edifier r1700bt, but what I know about Edifier and Swans is that in this segment/price bracket, the Swans are much better. The bass is definitely present (in abundance) but is not too overwhelming, but the sound signature is excellent in this price. I am sure you would love electronic music and clean vocals with these, at least I do đ
Hi Guys, for anyone who cannot audition these I can say I agree with the reviewer 100% and everything he has said is on point. One thing I want to add is the Hivi D1080 has a sweet spot that in my opinion is a bit narrow. You need those foam speaker stands to angle from a desk towards your ears from your desk so that your ears are in the sweet spot. These foam pads (that sit under the speakers) are super cheap and widely available on Amazon. Make sure get the right size matching the speakers . It makes a night and day difference to the sound quality and will also absorb the vibrations on your desk that can be irritating. Iâm going to check for a good DAC now to improve the sound even further .
Guys , Edifiers are rubbish in my opinion compared to these speakers. Edifiers are for bass heads , they focus completely on bass and nothing else. Since I prefer clarity over bass I strongly recommend Hiviâs D1080 or better for their warm signature sound