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In the current Absolute Sound Jonathan Valin, who is very critical, offers some high praise for the B&W 800D3 which he identifies among the Best in Show. He generally reviews loudspeakers $20k and above, generally loves Magico and high end vinyl. Because I have found, to my ears, B&W 800D3 competing so well with speakers at twice their cost and under $100k, I am always surprised that B&W 800D3 are rarely mentioned by reviewers like Valin but this show report, RMAF 2018, explains that too.

"I’m going to begin with the two best-sounding loudspeakers I heard at RMAF. Since I’m not a big fan of either marque, both came as surprises. Nonetheless, good is good, whether you expect it or not—and these exhibits were very good. The first was B&W’s $30k 800 D3 three-way floorstander (1" diamond-dome tweeter, 6" Continuum cone FST midrange, and two 10" Aerofil cone woofers), driven and sourced by Moon electronics. Though the 800 D3’s bass and power range were a bit lighter than what I’m used to from Magico M3s, the overall presentation was far and away the most neutral, transparent, and lifelike I’d heard up to that point in the show. I listened to two digital tracks I’m very familiar with— “Shame, Shame, Shame” from Lake Street Dive’s Free Yourself Up and “Don’t Play that Song” from A Brand New Me: Aretha Franklin with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra—and on each the 800 D3s supplied a fair taste of the realism these cuts are capable of via my MSB Reference digital, Magico M3 loudspeakers, and Constellation Hercules II Stereo amp. Not bad for about a quarter of the money.

Best of Show:

Best Sound (money-no-object): Sonus faber Aida driven by ARC Ref160M's and sourced by Clearaudio.

Best Sound (for the money): B&W 800 D3 driven by Moon electronics.