Estelon XB Mk II Loudspeaker $49,000 Reviews

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1192-estelon-xb-mk-ii-loudspeaker

In retrospect, I don’t think it hurt that the Estelon speakers’ backing cast of characters was at the absolute top of its game. My system has been building itself up over the past year, and right now, with the Hegel H30A amplifier fed by the EMM Labs DS-EQ1 phono stage and DS Audio’s DS 003 cartridge, I feel like I’ve entered another dimension. My own Aurelia Cerica XL speakers, as crazy-good as they are, really don’t do justice to this world-class front end.

No, it took the injection of the Estelon XB Mk IIs to show me what the rest of this kit can truly do. Now, the XBs are expensive speakers, by any stretch, but while I’d be an idiot to brand them a bargain, I truly believe there’s huge value here, given their world-class sound and outrageous, provocative, seductive looks.

I think it’s fair to contrast the XBs to the YBs I’ve lived with for the past three years. The YB is already a Class Three speaker, with its heroic build quality, high-end driver complement, and exceptional sound, and it stands out as a worthwhile purchase on its own merits. The XB, at an additional twenty thousand dollars per pair above the price of the current YB Mk II, is a big-ass jump, and you’d think it would need to be significantly better to justify that Honda-Civic-sized upcharge.