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Today, we are going to review a rather unusual model of studio monitors - the Adam Audio D3V, which is a fully active desktop monitoring system. Let's see what they can do, we'll also tell you about all their features and give you a detailed description of how they sound. When you observe companies that are later than others to market with a product in a particular category, you begin to notice a pattern. This pattern is usually expressed in a thorough analysis of the competition's product and customer reaction to the segment. In this case, Adam Audio is already playing catch-up, but it has a very serious advantage - it has the same clear understanding of the needs of buyers, and therefore the positioning of its product Adam Audio D3V is not just a bet on "black/red", but a measured step with an understanding of all the consequences. Companies like Presonus, JBL, Kali have already made their moves, and now their products will have to seriously compete with the new studio monitors from Adam Audio.
First of all, let us introduce the concept (or remind you of its existence) of ultra-nearfield monitors. They have a specific range of use, expressed in terms of the distance of effective use. These monitors should be placed on a table, directly in front of the user, at arm's length. If you think you can use them to watch films across the room, or listen to music in the kitchen while you cook (no one can stop you, but…), they are not very suitable for this type of task. Their frequency responses are as flat as possible, like all in all studio monitors, but at the working distance. For longer distances, there are midfield and farfield monitors. But these little creatures (ultra nearfield monitors, or UNF for short) simply don't have enough volume, and have a lot of distortion at high volume levels. These are primarily professional or semi-professional tools for working with sound, and they are comfortable enough to use for other tasks as well. But only if you sit directly in front of them. If you need stationary acoustics (even small ones), you should look for acoustics that have been designed with room-appropriate frequency response settings to compensate for the typical errors that occur in the form of room resonance. So, before we dive into the main part of our ADAM Audio D3V review and take a closer look at its main features & talk about all the nuances, let's familiarize ourselves with the specifications of this unit.
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Best Price on ADAM Audio D3V Monitoring System
The ADAM Audio D3V is a compact, active desktop monitoring system engineered to deliver professional-grade audio performance in a small form factor. |
Classic Package
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The big advantage of this model is the size and weight of the speakers - 3.58kg without the stand. If you've never had to carry full-size monitors (5" or more) to the post office, believe us - it's tough! It is impossible to carry two fairly large boxes at the same time, and their weight will stop you every 50-100 metres on your way to the office. These "crumbs" from Adam Audio fit into a small box that is very easy and convenient to carry. The box with loudspeakers is placed in another box made of dense cardboard - this is a standard packaging to protect studio monitors during transportation (at least we received Adam Audio D3V monitors in this format). Therefore, we have no complaints about the box of the product, nothing dangles or wobbles, and everything is very securely packed.
Amongst the handful of cables, there is a sufficiently long power cable that comes with the power supply unit, a good length of cable to connect the second speaker (as the right speaker is connected to the left by a special cable, the distance between them may be limited by the length of the cable) and the UBS-C interface cable with a UBS-A adapter, which is very lovely - we are catered for and understand that connection scenarios may be different.
It should be added that there are no 6.3mm balanced instrument cables in the kit for connection to audio interfaces or other devices, so these should be ordered in advance.
The most pleasant thing about this device (apart from the loudspeakers themselves) is, of course, the presence of the legs (stands), which have a 15-degree angle of elevation, allowing you to point the monitors directly at yourself. Their great advantage is that the feet have a sufficiently thick base of dense anti-vibration pads. This prevents the monitors from sliding across the table and absorbs vibrations very well, so your table doesn't resonate with the vibrations of the speakers. It's also important to note that raising the angle of the stand off the table prevents low-frequency reflections from tables that don't have a table mat to dampen the reflection of low-frequency waves. This is the case with all studio monitors whose stands are very low and parallel to the table, so it is usually tried with stands that are either raised off the table or acoustically "decorated" with a large table mat.
The manufacturer has provided us with several connection options. First, the non-obvious one for those who have used studio monitors in their lives - it's the UBS-C, where the built-in DSP does all the audio processing, and you just need to plug one end of the cable into the left monitor jack and the other wherever you want (phone, tablet, computer, etc.) and start listening to your material. There is one drawback to this, though: if you wish to 24-bit audio, it's not possible - only 16-bit 48kHz playback is available over USB-C. A rather unpleasant and strange decision. The manufacturer emphasizes that this step was forced in order to have the widest possible range of compatible devices. We certainly believe, but perhaps really, for situations where you want to play some tracks or podcasts for the background, such parameters will be enough. We haven't found any professional use for this, unless you personally have new synthesizers, digital pianos with UBS-C outputs that can send the signal directly to your monitors. Usually these are just 3.5/6.3mm outputs, nothing more.
The second scenario is the familiar instrumental balanced 6.3mm TRS. They can be either TRS or XLR. It's a good thing we have enough of these types of cables in our studio, because when you open the box, you won't find them (as we said, you'll have to buy them). Switching between modes is done by double-pressing the volume button. A single press mutes the output sound, and a long press turns it on/off.
A light indicator comes in handy with such options. It is quite simple, but by its color you can immediately understand which of the connection scenarios is active, or maybe some action is taking place. A steady green color tells us that the device is connected via TRS cable, a steady blue color tells us that the device is connected via USB-C, a flickering red color tells us that the device is powered on or off, and an orange color tells us that the device is currently performing an action (switching channels, changing the way it is connected on).
Both cables from the audio interface or mixing console (or maybe a processor or synthesizer) go into the left speaker, but despite the fairly long cable (as opposed to the short one that comes with the Kali LP-UNF), you're still somewhat limited in how far you can spread the monitors.
However, here's a feature we haven't seen from the competitors that makes placing these speakers even easier in some scenarios. We're talking about when you can't possibly have power on the left side of your desk. Since the volume encoder is active here and you can use it to toggle between connection types, the manufacturer has added another useful feature: if you press the button three times, you will see the orange color flicker and the left monitor will become the right one and the right one will become the left one. Now, all the controls can be located on the right side if the ergonomics of the table requires it. By the way, after installing the loudspeakers, don't forget to check yourself (there are tests of L-R channels on YouTube), because if you don't read the manual the first time, you can switch the channels and then find out (as we did the first time) that the left one is no longer left and the right one is not on the right side.
We almost forgot to tell you that on the bottom of the monitors, where the stem is attached, there is a thread that matches the standard threads of most microphones and other standard monitor stands. Therefore, if necessary, it won't be difficult to find a large number of mounting methods compatible with the model, so that it will be possible not to put them on the table, but to place the stands outside, and even to attach them to holders in the walls.
It is very important to note that each ADAM Audio D3V speaker has a pair of passive drivers on the side of the monitor that help "push" the air, which is why these small monitors have very good woofers. These monitors mustn't be close to the side walls, blocked by neighboring speakers, or anything else. If this rule is not followed, unpleasant resonances will occur at the woofer and some distortion of the sound will be unavoidable. This is not the same as with rear phase inverters, where you need at least 0.8-1.0 m from the wall, but at least 30-40 cm. For both corner locations and small tables, the equalizer can be adjusted right on the speakers - three clear and convenient switches explain what they do and why. The first controls the bass, the second the midrange, and the third the treble. In our situation, for example, the woofers were set to the middle position, as the highest position caused noticeable resonance, and the midrange and treble were set to the top position (maximum). Approximate graphs of these adjustments were presented by the manufacturer in official documents (and we will provide them to you below).
Now we come to the most important part of our ADAM Audio D3V review. Of course, everyone wants to know how the monitors sound. The main characteristic of studio monitors is, of course, their sound, the accuracy of reproduction of the material. It should be noted that the manufacturer DOES NOT POSITION D3V monitors for work in the final stage of music production. That's it! And it is immediately clear why - small dimensions and D-ART 1.5" hand-folded tweeter / 3.5-inch woofers & dual-sided passive radiators do not give the opportunity to reproduce in such detail everything that happens in the mix. Sometimes an audio mix consists of hundreds of tracks, where circumstances require you to turn up the volume to hear certain details. Monitors with smaller drivers, no matter how much you want them to, can't do without a lot of distortion at high volumes, and the amount of information they transmit is drastically reduced. The literal limitations of frequency range and dynamics do not favor compact near-field and ultra-nearfield monitors.
The common threads to describe the tonal balance are the perfectly flat frequency response and the powerful bass, which is provided by the 3.5" woofers & double-sided passive radiators on the side panels of the monitors. As with all small monitors, this model has a slight attenuation of the bass from the beginning of the operating range to 120 Hz. Normally, it's a good idea to have a subwoofer working in tandem with the monitors to compensate for this effect. But here, the dispersion of the sound streams is quite even and controllable throughout the working range. It should be noted that this applies specifically to the ultra-close field of application. Precisely because of the nature and purpose of the device, you will not hear any significant resonances in the room, except for the bass (at the very beginning of the range, as shown in the graph below).
The Adam D3Vs are small monitors, so they can't boast the complete absence of distortion of full-size monitors with large drivers. But their output is more than adequate for their core business - we emphasise again that these are not speakers for casual room listening!
This is true not only for Adam, but for all other companies that have launched products with a clear understanding of their limitations. These are excellent instruments, with a level of accuracy that ordinary loudspeakers simply cannot match, because of their characteristic frequency response, their focus on very different needs & very different people. The principle of detailing in studio monitors is that at each separately selected frequency, you will hear the neighbouring frequencies quite clearly, precisely because of the small difference in range (within a difference of ~0-1.5 dB). In other words, the approach of equal volumes for all frequencies gives maximum readability. But for critical listening at a professional level, for editing individual tracks or a whole mix, UNF monitors are not suitable. You need full-size, professional, accurate devices from 6" upwards, with properly manufactured phase inverters, tuned to specific frequencies, and in some cases even subwoofers, and a proper room for all this.
However, with these monitors we had a lot of fun listening to our favourite music. That's right, for listening while working or watching videos, music videos, concerts, these monitors were just perfect. They take up almost no space on your desk, and they deliver well-detailed sound very strongly and quite loudly.
In terms of frequencies, the perception of bass on the monitors is quite different from the kind of bass we look for in headphones. While headphones can sometimes be criticised for not being able to reproduce bass frequencies below 20 Hz, the 45 Hz range that monitors are able to reproduce is very natural and, above all, pleasant to listen to. Thanks to the passive radiators on both sides, the bass on these monitors exceeds all expectations - believe it or not, you do not expect that much bass in quantitative terms.
Watch out! Some frequencies at arm's length can go into counterphase, where the woofers seem to disappear somewhere - this is true of absolutely all monitors and speakers when used in the near field. It's not a problem with you, it's just physics - move your head around and you'll see what we're talking about, and it's important to remember the points where the sound is as detailed as possible. These are called the "sweet spots". If the sweet spot for mids and highs is wide enough (because of the shorter wavelengths) and if you move your head sideways you can only hear certain changes by moving your head a sufficiently noticeable distance, then for low frequencies it is important to move your head back and forth because of the long enough wavelengths (from a few centimetres to tens of centimetres / from 1 to 4 inches).
We also recommend that you check out all the graphs of measurement data & measurement reports on the manufacturer's official website, which will help you get an idea of how these monitors sound.
As far as the sweet spot of high frequencies is concerned, the main limitation is the way the tweeter is made or how open it is. The magnificent handmade film tweeter is the pride of ADAM Audio, it's almost their symbol, on a par with their emblem, but it's not only important to give a detailed, fast sound range and its reproduction, but also to direct this sound to where it needs to go. This is why the most productive types of dispersion are horn tweeters, where the tweeter itself is placed at the base of a cone and the sound is directed in all directions immediately after it leaves the tweeter. Such tweeters can be found in monitors from JBL, Presonus, M-Audio, Alesis, etc. But not in UNF type of monitors. In order to achieve such a performance, you need some space in the cabinet, and the manufacturer did not want to create a mid-range monitor killer. That's why, if you place the monitors at a distance of 0.8-1.0 m from each other and hold them at arm's length (as in the picture below), you'll be able to get a clear sound image at a distance of 30-40 cm from the centre left and right. Further away, the image will already have an altered frequency response and no longer correspond to reality. And the up and down dispersion of the sound stream will give you the opportunity to move about 15-20 cm relative to the exact centre.
Do not be intimidated by this description of monitor placement, as it is largely relevant only to those who are doing critical listening in video production or making important adjustments to their demos. It is not so critical for casual listening. What's more, it works the same way in your home consumer audio system, but most people don't think about it. And yet, a number of studio monitor manufacturers have begun shipping their high-end solutions with microphones and software that allows you to adjust the sound at a specific point in the room for a better listening experience.
Now that we've mentioned video production, it's worth elaborating here. In fact, this is one of the main focuses of the Adam Audio D3V monitors, and it fits perfectly in every way. Editing any type of video content with sufficiently accurate detailing of the audio component is not only possible, but is strongly recommended due to the excessive detailing for this purpose. Perhaps this is better covered in the comparison section, but as it stands - there is no point for a content creator to take large monitors if there is no reason to realize their size indoors. These smaller monitors will exceed all your needs in this regard.
We would definitely recommend these monitors for beginners, as many practices on different instruments are rather monotonous repetitions of the same thing, and your family and neighbors will not be happy to hear you chasing your twelve-inch guitar cabinet day and night with a 50W (or more?) amp. Whether you're a guitarist, piano player, or someone who likes to play software synthesizer plug-ins, this size of monitors is a much better fit. The same can be said for vocalists, who often use pianos to warm up and accompany themselves during rehearsals. But not for bass guitarists - the edge of the range and detail of low frequencies is not enough here, in our opinion - it is better to put on headphones, plug into the front port of ADAM Audio D3V monitors (try to find in any of the other manufacturers!), which also has a good amplification. But in general - music creation is possible, you just need to understand what is a priority for you.
Regardless, these monitors are perfect for songwriters - creative people do not need a lot to get their ideas across. Just in time to have handy tools that help with their simplicity and flexibility. Сontent creators, streamers, and gamers will find in Adam D3V a tool not only for personal realization, but also for personal enjoyment.
The soundstage of these monitors is right in front of you, has a very good spatial positioning of sounds, and does not have a feeling of bloat or, on the contrary - excessive intimacy.
At the beginning of our ADAM Audio D3V review, we mentioned that Adam is far from being the first to introduce such solutions with compact 3.5" or even smaller drivers. There are a number of brands out there, and almost all of them have followed the same path - they are simply smaller copies of their larger products, sometimes without even the phase inverters to push the air to have any hint of substantial bass. And this model had a mission to cover the near total lack of serious bass in a compact form factor. Presonus, JBL, M-Audio, and many others lose out in this product segment precisely because they have not worked enough on the realization of the bass sound.
Among the really worthy names to be mentioned are IK Multimedia iLoud Micro, Kali LP-UNF. These are the models that ADAM Audio had in mind when they released their product, and it is somewhere between these models that the D3V lands. Not a direct competitor, but the ADAM Audio D3V monitors have their own niche, their own vision, and their own approach.
IK Multimedia iLoud Micro - some say better, some say worse. We can only find similarities in the price tags, but Adam D3V is still significantly cheaper, and in our opinion, the reproduction of the floor is impressive given the smaller size. Like the iLoud Micro, the D3V has all the same trump cards, but with an additional one in the form of compactness. Based on our experience and in our opinion, the monitors from IK Multimedia could have better detail, but this is a situational characteristic and not necessary for everyone. For listening to music and browsing the Internet - definitely not. And for final audio production IK Multimedia is not enough either - this product is also positioned for beginners or enthusiasts. Therefore, ADAM Audio D3V with a more affordable price and a set of wide acoustic characteristics and features will be a more obvious choice for many buyers.
Kali LP-UNF - can truly be called "studio monitors" (not "desktop monitoring system" as in the case of ADAM Audio D3V), which are focused on accuracy and detail. With these monitors, you can do a pretty good mix and post-production that you won't be ashamed of. This is just a bias away from Adam's solutions with their portability and versatility to the accuracy of material reproduction, accuracy of positioning, and width of the soundstage. Yes, the Kali's stage is very wide and the positioning accuracy is noticeably better. But you have to pay for everything, and the price is significantly larger dimensions of studio monitors. Controversial is also the location of the crossover at 1950 Hz, where there is a lot of critical information (on Adam it is 4 kHz, where there is a less critical zone). If you compare the Kali LP-UNF to mid-sized nearfield monitors, it's the kind of competitor that can replace your older 5-6 inch monitors, especially when paired with a subwoofer. But we afraid it will never occur to you to use these monitors without rather large stands, which take up a lot of space, when Adam D3V can be thrown into a bag or suitcase and go somewhere to work, having with you a very powerful tool to control your audio series in video production, or any other author's material. And this is what everyone who has used the new Adam monitors has noticed. But let us not forget that the Kali LP-UNF has Bluetooth. It's not a big deal, but who knows your needs and desires better than you?
ADAM's new product landed not on the heads of its competitors, but in its own niche, which turned out to be empty. To develop it, they just needed more analysis, more time, and more original engineering solutions. And as a result, positioning where there is no direct competition and this is nothing but a cold calculation of the company, which is not the first decade of producing studio monitors. These monitors are a complete contradiction to their main professional lines, and their essence is something new and bold for a company of this caliber.
Finally, we've reached the end of our ADAM Audio D3V review, it's time to summarize the results. When we picked up a small and rather light box with monitors at the post office, we had no idea that this product would impress us. The company's approach to design (not only visually, but also functionally) is, to put it bluntly, unusual. But the uphill angled stands, 3.5" woofers, dual-sided passive radiators, and the signature tweeter together with all the other strong solutions make this product super interesting, and we can recommend it for purchase without prior listening! Because the range of benefits you get for this really low price surpasses what you can get from many headphones in this price range. Yes, you can't do without headphones or a subwoofer to control the sub bass with any monitors, but we hope you get the idea. And many people find it difficult to listen to audio material in headphones for long hours, but don't want to sacrifice quality - for these people and many others, this is the product to choose.
We hope you enjoyed our review of the ADAM Audio D3V desktop monitoring system. Please feel free to leave your comments, questions, and suggestions in the section below. We will be happy to answer them all as soon as possible. If you already own ADAM D3V and have used it for a while, don't forget to share your impressions and tell us what you liked or disliked about this monitors.
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