„At the risk of coming across as a cheerleader for this tiny, artisanal Czech company that is rarely found at the major international high-end audio events (the cost of maintaining a presence there is likely prohibitive given the scale of the operation) – this first non-limited edition speaker from the reinstated and rejuvenated top-of-the-range XN series demonstrates that Roberto Barletta has in no way suffered from the ‘difficult second album syndrome’.
The Xavian Medea is as revealing, impactful, and agile as it is friendly, coherent, and engaging in typical domestic settings; it is as precise as it is comprehensive. Furthermore, it offers transparency—particularly by avoiding the addition of grain and texture that might obscure lower- level information—allowing it to do justice to very high-end sources and amplification devices, whilst not being excessively punishing to more modest devices. In fact, during everyday use, it delivered background sounds from a distinctly lo-fi internet radio player that were quite enjoyable, providing body and scale, if not refinement. And, as with all truly exceptional hi-fi components, it raises challenging questions regarding the necessity for ‘more’ in terms of size, complexity, and expenditure.“
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