I seem to be one of the few not taken with the Sopra 2. It was time to move my Merlin VSM-M's to my tube system(smaller room) and find new speakers for my Clayton 100's (Naim 272 pre/streamer) in the big room. When I heard the Sopra 2's at the dealers, I thought they were amazing and arranged a home audition. Various circumstance allowed me to have the well broken in Sopras for nearly a week. Early on I was impressed. The pace was great and I thought they sounded great overall. After a few days however, I began to find them fatiguing and started to find the highs harsh and annoying. I also noticed some sound staging and imaging issues but blamed them on specific recordings. . I really wanted to like them that much.
In fact, despite my doubts, I almost ordered them. However, as there was a six week wait plus the fact that despite my excuse making, I was aware of the fatigue and issues with the highs, I decided to test Dynaudios. The dealer had a pair of Dynaudio C1's available for audition, so I gave them a try. I should point out that both the Sopra 2's and the C1's were auditioned with my Rel sub. With the C1's all the problems not only went away, but all my problems with the Sopra's came into focus and I realized that I had made excuses for the Sopra's soundstage which now clearly seemed blurry and imprecise. Suddenly, I was sure that I didn't want the Sopra's.
While I couldn't audition the C2's, I liked the C1's enough that I took the risk and ordered the C2's un-auditioned. They have been a great success (again with the REL). I vastly prefer their sound staging and the highs seem sweet, not shrill. As good as the C1's are, the C2's are a major step to the better. All of this was true straight out of the box before they were broken in. There was never any question of fatigue and I could (and did) listen for hours at a time. With the subwoofer, the base isn't a issue either. They continued to get only better as they broke. Overall, in my opinion, the C2's are far superior to the Sopra's in my room and with my system.
This isn't meant to be a slam on the Sopra's. They still sound amazing in my dealers system. I'm posting this comment as a cautionary tale and to balance all the positive reviews and posts. No speaker performs well in all systems and spaces. I was fortunate that I was able to audition the Sopra's for an extended period and lucky that the wait for the Sopra's led me to try the Dyn's.
I also learned a lesson. Always audition at least two products when making a major audio purchase. I wish I could have auditioned several other speakers but, sadly, no others were available for audition in my locale. As happy as I am with the C2's, I'll always wonder if I would have found something I liked even better had other auditions been available.
Finally, I'd be interested hearing from others who were have had similar reactions to the Sopra 2's. While no one else can speak to my room, I do wonder about the Clayton's and Naim mating with the Sopra's. Or could it be the Nordost speaker cables or Transparent interconnects. Or is it as simple as I got used to the Dynaudio tweeter's in my Merlins? Or am I allergic to beryllium tweeters? Even though I'm thrilled with the C2's and have absolutely no regrets, I would really like to more fully understand what led to my reaction to the Sopra's. Not sure why it matters at this point, but I'm still curious.
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