So what does R3.5M sound like?

First impressions.

Nxgen Digital Audio may be relatively new kids on the block but don’t let that fool you. This is a properly serious system that they have put together and it reflects in the price tag.

In short one doesn’t just “acquire” a system worth R3.5m unless you happen to have that lying around as spare change. You could do a lot worse than this system however. Configured as it is with the Vivid Audio G1 Spirit loudspeakers at R1.3m a set. This is the first set I have personally heard and so I was expecting good things. These are driven by the Aussie derived Halcro monoblocks at around 250W a channel each – with the distinguishing feature that they offer zero distortion. Ever. Price? Well, if you have to ask…

Whilst you digest on that the amps are in turn being fed by a Dutch delight from Mola Mola, a pre amp, which is capaciously supplied by a complete digital front end from Rockna. Source music was streamed via Roon and Tidal.

This is a listening impression and not a critical review. There are many things that I would tweak for personal preference but that said the system as it is on the day presents one with some unassailable truths. Of course its going to be good – there is no weak point in the system that is easily identifiable from just looking at it – from state of the art power conditioning through to Sound Structures furniture and cabling that, well, looks like it could tow an outback Aussie road train with ease.

Time was limited and what there was of it disappeared in what felt like seconds. The first over-riding impression I got from the system was the sheer ease with which it exudes a power/presence combination. It never gives the impression of being pushed almost irrespective of SPLs and I do enjoy my music on the louder side of the spectrum. The other sense I was left with was the way in which the speakers disappeared – and with levels of depth and detail that position music that have to be heard to be believed.

What rammed this home to me me was in listening to Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here – it had me actually checking to see when the track was remastered from when I had last heard it because I have never heard the opening guitar become so alive and so present. It’s a track I know well and yet it had me questioning myself!

It was down hill from there with Norah Jones presenting as pleasant. I maintain that if a system can make Norah Jones pleasant it has to be something exceptional. Norah was in fact so far beyond pleasant in this particular guise that my marriage might be in trouble should she ever come knocking on the front door. It cuts both ways – if Jon Bon Jovi ever came knocking I’d be out on my ear and if my wife ever heard him on this system I might be out on my ear even if he didn’t come knocking…

The complexity of the sound is made simple with high end systems like this. You get drawn in, your ears start to deceive you because the sheer quantity of musical information starts to resemble real life, real sound, real music and your brain starts to re calibrate to a new normal. And that’s when time starts to stand still and the sheer enjoyment of the music, and not the system, is what takes over.

Absolutely jaw droppingly staggering. I’ll be back to get more.

William Kelly