The Midrange and detail king - Diamond Mishra, Indiqaudio - Review

[Deleted member 15865]

Goodbye and good riddance to me!

Keith don’t go!
Oh, don’t take my fun
Keith don’t go
Keith don’t go!

 

[Love4sound]

Few observations and my 2 cents. Title is midrange king. Obviously it’s going to invite a lot of questions with indiq being a new brand and quite popular recently. I spoke to a close fm in Bangalore and he gave totally the opposite feedback for indiq after auditioning. Answer the query with your personal experience or technical details if you know. No need for any emotional response with some logical questioning. I don’t see anything wrong with questioning the driver design. It may be out of curiosity. I have given many reviews and started multiple threads. Many have raised various questions out of curiosity or they don’t accept to what I have written. It’s just how a forum works especially hifi vision being the most reliable forum for enthusiasts in this hobby

 

[jigarpatel]

Congratulations @Thirumalkumaran , Enjoy

 

[Prodigy]

Hi
Anyone interested in discussing about technical aspects related to this thread, please reply in an older thread that i created here, if the moderators are okay with it:

Any objective measurements available for Audio Products ( eg Indiq audio)

Hi Seeing the popularity of Indiq audio speakers in our forum, I am curious to know if there are any objective specifications/measurements of the speakers available other than the manufacturer specs. For example, a basic on-axis frequency response measurement. Being a newbie to audio, and since...

www.hifivision.com

I got no replies here earlier, hence tried to ask here where the person who bought the product himslef has designed speakers before.

Thanks
Vineeth

Your thread explains it.. Your are asking the wrong question to wrong people. May be an email to IndiqAudio or a phone call should give you all the answers you are looking for.

 

[square_wave]

Speaker design choices needs to take into account the pros and cons of approaches in the light of benefits vs cost in the market. If the current approach taken by the product is satisfying majority of the people in the target demographic at its price point, they are doing something really right, isn't it ?

Strictly going by speaker design practices the speakers can be made better by flush mounting and umpteen other changes. But then, what happens to cost ?

 

[Deleted member 15865]

Your thread explains it.. Your are asking the wrong question to wrong people. May be an email to IndiqAudio or a phone call should give you all the answers you are looking for.

May be he is. And could be faulted with indiscretion in the choice of thread/platform to place the query. But to accuse him of hate or ill-intention (thanks mod for deleting that part) is baseless, uncalled for and worse, disrespectful.

Speaker design choices needs to take into account the pros and cons of approaches in the light of benefits vs cost in the market. If the current approach taken by the product is satisfying majority of the people in the target demographic at its price point, they are doing something really right, isn't it ?

Strictly going by speaker design practices the speakers can be made better by flush mounting and umpteen other changes. But then, what happens to cost ?

Yes, that’s fine too. Each manufacturer will decide the optimum depending on how they are positioning the product and to whom. But the query and the ensuing discussion helps a prospective buyer to get some insight into this optimisation and then make a better informed decision. That is the value (improved knowledge/awareness) we get here - it’s actually the raison d’être for forums like this.

 

[Yogesh]

Respected members, however useful or rightful our discussion be, one thing that is for sure is, it doesn't belong here. Let's take it where it belongs!

This thread is about OPs new speakers, his impressions and his happiness of getting the gear that he feels was a great choice he made. Let's post here only If we have something to say about it OR if we need to congratulate him, Else....

Mods may please move all such posts pertaining to relevant thread linked above. Let's let a fellow member be happy about his recent acquisition and do our knowledge sharing where it's relevant. Let's not rain on someone else's parade.

 

[OM_2K19]

KEF produced a hugely popular Bookshelf speaker, LS50. Upon its release, many AV enthusiasts questioned the Metallic Twitter they used that caused hearing fatigue if not matched properly with the amplifier. KEF took this feedback seriously and redesigned the whole assembly/material, and introduced LS50 Meta. It retained all the goods of the original LS 50 and addressed the hearing fatigue issue. Now the new LS50 Meta (especially the active version) is next to perfect. IMHO, questioning/feedback never hurts any brand but takes it a step closer to Perfect.

Peace !!!

 

[stevieboy]

I used to be an earphone audiophile decades ago.! Now a HT user which is a good movie system, but you have to agree HT cannot replace a stereo (Whatever, stereo, direct, pure modes you throw at it).
So, started the hunt for a pure stereo setup which might be dedicated for late night sessions and only for vocals and classical. Me being impatient I was, got a BS22 as a stop gap. In parallel, as a DIY guy started to work on my stereo design.
I was auditioning various stereo systems as well, ranging from Simple Yamaha NS-555 to Focal 926. Either they didn’t match the vocal clarity I was after, or didn’t fall under the price bracket I was looking for.

Days passed on...! One day I visited a HFV member for a speaker my relative wanted. There I come face to face with one of the detailed sounding, clear representing, soothing systems I have come up on! (Note, it was not the speaker I went to look at). Pulled an old song, which immediately transported me to my earphone audiophile times. (Serious ratatouille moment!)
What is the point of a new design, if you can get what you want directly with support and made in India? It was a custom LR by Indiq audio, got recently on a GB. Called Amit for knowing the further details, and proceeded to have an audition with my wife at his home. Played various songs, and being as accommodative as he is, let me audition as much as I wanted.

I was waiting for another GB (Who wouldn’t want to get a VFM speaker at steal deal?). BTW, these were having a new name, “Diamond Mishras”
How the 2nd GB went is history. The 1st delivery of the GB is delivered on 15th Jul 2021 to me.

View attachment 60172

Do you think I will wait for anything else? System was opened, checked. These things are a lot larger if you are in the impression of “bookshelves”. Being around 21inches tall and weighing around 11KG per speaker, I would call this "Mini towers". The custom laminate option and the front black fascia, gave a modern yet fitting look into the décor I have. The heavy gauge 5 way binding post, rubber feet and Magnetic grills just elevate them altogether.
These were immediately setup with my Norge Concerto gold 1000 and ASUS HDP R1 running a custom firmware with some Flacs I already have in my system. Swapped my Amazonbasics CL2 with the belden 8477, and there it goes.

First impressions: The level of detail and the voice clarity was remarkable; the sound was very open. Though it’s not fully burned in when I received, I was not expecting a forward vocal and wide stage music which was presented before me. Like our Munna Bhai,

“Wo raat apun do baje tak sunaa!”

Listening the speakers more and more asserted one thing... This thing is born to sing what your music has, in a way you were not prepared for.

I never thought Asha Bhosle & Janaki would visit me for a direct audition. This thing brought it closer to it. SPB and KJ Yesudas was lively. Started feeding of songs which gave me some “perspective”. Mishras and Norge was able to cope up with them and still wanting more.

Combine this system with whatever electronics you have, you can easily find the place where your chain is improved! And its way forgiving while doing so.
Tried with RPi Volumio on a Fiio Olympus DAC, swapped with an Echo dot running spotify and apple music, these were showing up more details on the lossy formats than I’m used to.

Never heard a speaker that’s both forgiving and transparent!

These experiments are still running and I’m yet to reach the depths what can be said as its limits.
As of this writing it has ran more than 50-55 hours at my home. And I never felt the fatigue or the feel to stop at the current song.
I was always like Desmond Doss (Hacksaw ridge)

“Lord, help me get one more! (Song)”

And it’s still going on...! On the way are various components which I cross fingers that would try to reach the limit of what these can do.

Will try to keep this as a log or live review where I want to pen my thoughts on how Mishras behave & improve with the change it undergoes in time and sources.

Regards, A happy owner.

View attachment 60173

Congratulations on your new acquisition @Thirumalkumaran. Those look quite good, the contrast of the black and a very classic wood colour shade finish. I hope you have got or have planned good stands to extract the most from your speakers keeping them at the appropriate recommended height respective to ear level as Indiq would have suggested or as other users of these speakers would have found. As time goes by do explore the small tweaks like spikes under the speakers between the base and the top of the stands should help focus. These seem to have something already under the speakers in the pics...? Have fun on your journey! Love the quotes in the middle of your review very entertaining!

Regards

 

[square_wave]

. But the query and the ensuing discussion helps a prospective buyer to get some insight into this optimisation and then make a better informed decision. That is the value (improved knowledge/awareness) we get here - it’s actually the raison d’être for forums like this.

This is a very valid line of thinking. But therein lies the challenge with product management in a speaker lineup for a manufacturer. They would have painstakingly voiced the speaker to appeal to a certain target demographic. Now, a change to flush mount may not add that much to the " target sound " but might add cost considerably. Added cost will lead you to deal with a different type of customer and may not really work out for the manufacturer.

 

[tcpip]

A question worth pondering : A non technical consumer (like me) should rely more on the design aspects or purely on the music reproduction? Should he buy a perfectly designed product which does not sound to his taste / good OR buy unconventional design which sounds great to him?

I will take my example, I auditioned multiple brands (QA, KEF, MA etc) in Delhi / GGN / BLR, but did not find them to my liking or the one I liked was 2X over my budget. After auditioning Indiq at one of their customer's place in GGN and then in BLR, I absolutely loved them. For majority of the consumers it is all about the sound, irrespective of the design aspects

This is not a good argument, for various reasons.

First, measurements give you an idea of some parameters which are hard to assess by ear alone. For instance, is the impedance graph benign? (If not, it may be hard to drive with some amps.) Is the SPL graph flat? (If not, it will colour the music in some genres.) Is the distortion low? (Again, colouration.) If measured parameters turn out to be good, they tell you about the care taken by the designer in designing and manufacturing the items. This tells you something about the quality which just the branding, the pretty showroom and the listening tests won't. Some good branded speakers have electrolytic capacitors in their crossovers, for instance. This is downright distressing to an engineer: electrolytic capacitors have very large tolerance in values and must never be used for frequency dependent circuits. How will you know this by an audition? Speakers which have troublesome impedance curves may be acceptable to your current amp but may cause trouble to an amp you buy in future, which is better in every way but can't drive those impedances.

Second, your auditions in a showroom are always limited. It's unlikely you'll spend more than 10 hours auditioning any single item, even if you put in a huge amount of time and spread out your visits over several days and have a dealer whose patience is like the Buddha. But once you bring your system home, your own listening will grow and you'll discover things about your own tastes, your own listening preferences, etc, which you wouldn't have known when you did your 2 hours of audition. I bought a pair of Wharfedale floorstanders in Dec 2000 which were their flagship model at that time, and in a year's time, I was wondering about my choice; in two years time I was looking for a replacement. Having some technical knowledge would have helped me spot the fairly obvious flaws in the speakers in the first 15 mins. Technical knowledge and data CANNOT be replaced by just auditions.

Thirdly, the listening room can be set up to hide even serious problems with the equipment being auditioned. Speakers which sound harsh can be set up in rooms which will make them sound merely "detailed", and partnered with electronics which will make music sound smooth, and so on. Knowing measured data about the speakers lets you get a "second opinion" on how the speakers may be expected to perform. I know dealers who will even put hidden capacitors or inductors with their speaker cables to change the tonality of their speakers.

So, just going by auditions is like driving blindfolded, trusting a friend (in this case, your ears) to tell you when to brake, when to turn. Sure, one can drive that way, but only an ignorant person would willingly choose to blindfold himself and drive.

(Where will you get measured data from? Good manufacturers will provide it, and so will good third party reviews.)

 

[amrutmhatre90]

My my my, hopped on this thread to read the review of Diamond Mishra and suddenly I have learned a lot about designing speakers.
Lets stick to the thread guys.

They look really good and sound awesome @Thirumalkumaran
One day I will be getting a complete vintage stereo setup these will be on top of my list, they have a understated looks and the amazing sound which you can listen to hours.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

The way the forum is going, it could soon be bereft of technically minded, design oriented members who must be getting disillusioned with the touchiness and/or indifference of the fast changing membership. I am not a numbers/tech person, but I value their presence and benefit from the nuggets I can understand and absorb that explain what I might be experiencing or desiring in my system.

 

[arj]

The way the forum is going, it could soon be bereft of technically minded, design oriented members who must be getting disillusioned with the touchiness and/or indifference of the fast changing membership. I am not a numbers/tech person, but I value their presence and benefit from the nuggets I can understand and absorb that explain what I might be experiencing or desiring in my system.

Good point

While I do believe listening and sounding good to ones own ears is critical, one must know what to listen to..the decay of an instrument so that background continuity of music is retained, the micro vibrations in a vibralto, the timing of bass with the vocals, the sarod sounding like one instead of a banjo etc. the richness of Tone with the right harmonics, the bass hit of a bansuri , the ghanak of a tabla etc etc..and I see that missing in so many of the sound clips and thats despite my own ears not being as good as people like @prem or @Dr.Bass amongst people I keep validating with.

And there is an objective way not necessarily in terms of measurement of values but in terms of the nuances of design which affects all of this and thats why we need a specialised forum and I really felt the right questions were being asked here.

If it were just to make a person feel good on a purchase then the right forum is perhaps facebook not an Audio forum. Go to any forum like Audioasylum and people are brutal and just because of that one learns so much from other experiences and learn to discard others.

 

[chander]

I really felt the right questions were being asked here.

Agreed! All valid, all very objective - not once were the questions out of line. Maybe I misread - but I do feel the questions were very pertinent and curiosity driven. Well....

 

[prem]

Arj, you’ve touched upon a very valid point. Flux, in the video you posted, the clarity you hear is not correct. It’s because the centre of gravity of sound is tilted upwards. Most people get carried away by this but this is not how voices and instruments sound in real life or in a recording. There is lack of mid bass, not to mention lower bass. You have to get the bass right for a song to sound correct and for the harmonics to be developed. Even if bass is limited to around 50 dB, it’s fine. In the frequency range the speaker plays, it should be linear. That’s very important for the balance of the sound. I have no idea if this problem is because of the speaker, the electronics, the cables, the room or something else. You need to eliminate one by one to figure out the culprit.

 

[fLUX]

Arj, you’ve touched upon a very valid point. Flux, in the video you posted, the clarity you hear is not correct. It’s because the centre of gravity of sound is tilted upwards. Most people get carried away by this but this not how voices and instruments sound in real life or in a recording. There is lack of mid bass, not to mention lower bass. You have to get the bass right for a song to sound correct and for the harmonics to be developed. Even if bass is limited to around 50 dB, it’s fine. In the frequency range the speaker plays, it should be linear. That’s very important for the balance of the sound. I have no idea if this problem is because of the speaker, the electronics, the cables, the room or something else. You need to eliminate one by one to figure out the culprit.

Thanks for the observation and inputs Prem, the recording certainly sounds tilted upwards as the phone was kept at below tweeter level while recording and was not necessarily stable at all times either, on the bass again I think phone mics do not do a very good job at capturing the bass (have tried this numerous times).

However will certainly measure the in-room response using my digital chain and see the result & get in touch with you to get your inputs further. Certainly respect your opinions as I have followed your various posts , although quiet a few bounce above my head too. I had put the recording as few past ones were getting evaluated and wanted to add a second one in the mix , as it gives you variety and as you pointed our there could be variances due to chain/speaker or the recording medium itself.

 

[prem]

Flux, you’re welcome. I was just commenting on what I heard. In real it may be sounding completely different. If bass and harmonics are coming through and you are enjoying it, that’s what matters.

Don’t get into all this sweep analysis. You’ll end up only complicating things. Go by what your ears are telling you. At the end of the day listening is a sensory perception.

 

[Decadent_Spectre]

Flux, you’re welcome. I was just commenting on what I heard. In real it may be sounding completely different. If bass and harmonics are coming through and you are enjoying it, that’s what matters.

Don’t get into all this sweep analysis. You’ll end up only complicating things. Go by what your ears are telling you. At the end of the day listening is a sensory perception.

I'll drink to that.

Strange to hear this in this day and age from a JBL owner

 

[fLUX]

Good point

While I do believe listening and sounding good to ones own ears is critical, one must know what to listen to..the decay of an instrument so that background continuity of music is retained, the micro vibrations in a vibralto, the timing of bass with the vocals, the sarod sounding like one instead of a banjo etc. the richness of Tone with the right harmonics, the bass hit of a bansuri , the ghanak of a tabla etc etc..and I see that missing in so many of the sound clips and thats despite my own ears not being as good as people like @prem or @Dr.Bass amongst people I keep validating with.

And there is an objective way not necessarily in terms of measurement of values but in terms of the nuances of design which affects all of this and thats why we need a specialized forum and I really felt the right questions were being asked here.

If it were just to make a person feel good on a purchase then the right forum is perhaps facebook not an Audio forum. Go to any forum like Audioasylum and people are brutal and just because of that one learns so much from other experiences and learn to discard others.

Very valid points Arj, feedback is very important for any individual or company to grow & one should certainly be open to that. Coming to the examples you have listed these are very valid pointers and needs to be pointed out , as its very possible that the issue can be anywhere and the purpose this forum exists is to discuss & evaluate gears, personal setups and so forth & are ultimately helpful as the infinite upgrades we make is to make our system sound better.

Also regardless of the platform , I don't think anyone needs to be brutal or condescending but at the same time point out all flaws in the review or evaluation process accurately. One can always ask the questions in the right manner and expect equally well toned responses too, as this tone is what ultimately leads to chaos and then a popcorn thread. I don't think there was an issue on either of these in this thread , but don't agree the questions were relevant across, the discussion deviated from user experience/if he noticed any impact of the design on how they sound to then questioning decisions on design. Good questions, very helpful to gain knowledge but not something any of us can answer, only way to justify/report the impact of design decisions was basis of how they are performing vs other speakers auditioned and naturally would be more subjective. I am not sure if there was a better way to approach the answers to these questions in objective manner & let more experienced members speak to that.

Flux, you’re welcome. I was just commenting on what I heard. In real it may be sounding completely different. If bass and harmonics are coming through and you are enjoying it, that’s what matters.

Don’t get into all this sweep analysis. You’ll end up only complicating things. Go by what your ears are telling you. At the end of the day listening is a sensory perception.

Thanks prem, the ultimate judge is always going to be my ear
But I would also admit I am into this hobby as much due to the gears as the music and would certainly like to explore nuances on both sides.