Die Transparent Zero klingen excellent, sowohl bei Sprache (Fernsehen über eyetv), als auch mit AppleMusic.

Die Anschlussmöglichkeiten sind vielfältig. Über USB vom iMac klingen sie tatsächlich noch besser als über Klinke.

Leider haben die neueren Macs kein TOSLINK mehr, so müssen die Transparent Zero (leider nur) über USB angeschlossen werden. Es gibt immer zu wenige USB-Anschlüsse an den PCs, leider.

Egal, auf dem Schreibtisch optisch kaum auffällig, da sehr klein, aber der Klang ist Spitze, zudem zu diesem Preis…

Wenn ich mal Ersatz für meine Lautsprecher im Wohnzimmer/Küche/Schlafzimmer brauche, werden Vanatoo-Lausprecher auf die Shortlist kommen, vielleicht gibt es dann auch T2 oder T3. Die können dann per TOSLINK via meine alten AppleTVs (die haben noch TOSLINK) angeschlossen werden. PCs über AirPlay 2 anschließen ist nicht so prickelnd (Latenz), zum reinen Musik hören schon.

Grüße aus Luxembourg

Erich

___________________________________________________ Translation_________________________________________________________________________

The Transparent Zero sound excellent, both with speech (television via eyetv) and with AppleMusic.

The connection options are diverse. They actually sound even better via USB from the iMac than via a jack.

Unfortunately, the newer Macs no longer have TOSLINK, so the Transparent Zero must (unfortunately only) be connected via USB. There are always too few USB ports on PCs, unfortunately.

It doesn’t matter, it’s hardly noticeable on the desk because it’s very small, but the sound is great, and at this price…

If I ever need replacements for my living room/kitchen/bedroom speakers, Vanatoo speakers will be on the short list, maybe there will be T2 or T3 as well. They can then be connected via TOSLINK via my old AppleTVs (they still have TOSLINK). Connecting PCs via AirPlay 2 is not that great (latency), but just listening to music is.

Greetings from Luxembourg

Eric

After getting a nice set of headphones, I wanted to get some speakers for my computer setup that would sound equally as good. I did a fair bit of research, and in the $400 and under range, the T0s were consistently recommended, so I got a pair of B-Stock a little over a month ago.

Out of the box they sound incredible for such a compact speaker, with outstanding imaging, and a wide soundstage. Wonderful mids and highs, and even decent bass, though loud deep bass will constrain the midrange a little, as one would expect.

I am extremely pleased with the quality of the speakers just by themselves, and they are head and shoulders better than any other speakers I have used with my computer, and sounded very close to my dad’s (not inexpensive) hi-fi system when I was a kid.

But then I added a good quality subwoofer to them, and now they are simply incredible. Moving the deep bass to the sub allows the 4″ woofer in the T0’s to focus on the mid-low and midrange, and they just sing now. After proper balancing, they sound absolutely amazing. Now the speakers sound better than my Sennheiser headphones.

Make no mistake – the T0s are outstanding speakers with or without an additional subwoofer…it’s just that adding the sub moves them from fantastic to astounding. Well worth the asking price.

Recently purchased the Vanatoo Transparent Zeros. They are an absolutely amazing pair of speakers! I also need to commend Vanatoo on their customer service. I had a rare defect with my first pair and they were able to get me a replacement in a reasonable amount of time.

Well I suppose I should have said something nice about these speakers the day I plugged them in. I was really impressed. Been an audiophile since I was a teen (I’m 54 now). Had all sorts of cool equipment over the years but have mostly whittled down to smaller setups. If you’re thinking getting really good sounding speakers, stop looking now. Based on my experience over the years, these sound as good a speakers costing 3-4 times. You just can’t go wrong. If I can only describe how great they sound right now playing Spanish instrumental guitar, I would.

A number of years ago, after months of looking and review reading, I purchased as pair of Vanatoo T-0’s and fell in love with them. I made sure to make the speaker setting changes needed to the factory settings to get the best sound for my ears. I drove the speakers from both my computer with a USB cable and also from my iPhone by Bluetooth all from iTunes. The sound was outstanding and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. However, in 2020, I decided to upgrade these T-0’s to a new set of T-1 Encore speakers since I moved into my new home office which had more physical space. Again, I made changes to the factory speakeer settings and continued driving these new speakers from both my computer and iPhone from iTunes. In an effort to enter the 21st century, I converted all of my songs, 9K+ to FLAC and added JRiver for my player/interface for my computer. I cannot describe the change in sound that is now coming from my T-1 speakers. I thought that they were great before, now they are exceptional!!!! I’m hearing sounds in songs I have never heard before, the clarity, depth of the base, openness, and all the other audiophile terms that I can think of are there. These speakers are used everyday and I can’t imagine not having my Vanatoo speakers providing me with soooooo much audio happiness. If you are thinking of adding a set of powered speakers to your audio collection, don’t hesitate in making a Vantoo purchase! Tweek your speakers to your liking, convert your files to a lossless format, get a highly rated interface player and sit back and enjoy the best sound available from a set of powered speakers! You won’t be sorry!!!!

I don’t have the most experience with audiophile speakers, but these are outstanding. You’d be hard-pressed to find a speaker that’s the whole package at this price point.

It took some searching because I wanted nice speakers all in one speaker setup without breaking the bank. I know the hobby can eat up wallets and speakers were a thing I stayed away from for a really long time. But I wanted a way to relax and listen without headphones or iems, and I wanted a great audio product, not that rinky dink plastic speaker that larger tech companies sell, with only a 3.5mm in. These were a bit more than what I wanted to spend, but I’m glad I got them and I don’t see myself ever needing to upgrade

Na samym początku chciałem dodać że przetestowałem ponad 50 modeli głośników (większych i mniejszych, droższych i tańszych). Żaden z nich nie był tak inteligentny jak Trasparent Zero. Pomysłodawca pomyślał nawet o natężeniu diody, trybie uśpienia i wielu innych aspektach (maskownice magnetyczne, wsporniki, możliwość obracania) wspaniały pilot – naprawdę super. DSP jest tak skontruowane że można słuchać cicho i głośno nie tracąc walorów. Dyspersja jest znakomita, każdy utwór brzmi inaczej – tak jak zamyślił sobie artysta, dźwięk jest słyszalny prawie z każdej strony, a słuchając ich z 1 metra brzmią jak monitory studyjne ( np. Focal Evo 65 alpha) gdzie wielkość jest znacznie mniejsza. Ogólnie jakość fantastyczna. Polowałem na nie wiele lat – bo nie można było ich kupić w Polsce, ale w końcu się udało i zostanę z nimi tak długo jak pojawi się ich następca:) Gratuluję wszystkiego bo to wspaniały projekt.

______

At the very beginning, I wanted to add that I tested over 50 speaker models (bigger and smaller, more expensive and cheaper). None of them were as intelligent as Trasparent Zero. The originator even thought about the intensity of the diode, sleep mode and many other aspects (magnetic grilles, brackets, the ability to rotate) a wonderful remote control – really great. The DSP is so structured that you can listen quietly and loudly without losing its value. The dispersion is excellent, each track sounds different – just as the artist intended, the sound is audible from almost every angle, and listening to them from 1 meter they sound like studio monitors (eg Focal Evo 65 alpha) where the size is much smaller. Overall fantastic quality. I hunted for them for many years – because they could not be bought in Poland, but in the end I made it and I will stay with them as long as their successor appears 🙂 Congratulations on everything because it is a great project.

I’m very impressed with how these sound with an external sub connected. Paired with B&W ASW608 sub, this is a formidable system that seems to punch well above the price point. Bluetooth capability is a nice bonus. Love the optical input and customizability. The product designers clearly understand that not everyone can have the active speaker on the right or want automatic input detection (potentially an issue when used with a PC setup/multiple computers, etc). Well done fitting all of this into a small package!

The T0s are the perfect desktop speaker – they sound great, the integrated DAC and inputs work seamlessly, and the active crossover for sub integration is awesome! I have them paired with an SVS 3000 Micro and the blend is excellent. The angled form-factor removes the need for stands in most cases, and helped me fit somewhat larger speakers in a height-limited space. The sound is non-fatiguing like some studio monitors I’ve tried, and the soundstage is much larger than expected. Really impressed with the T0s!

For the price, the Transparent Zero speakers punch WAY above their weight class. Quite literally–it’s a real pleasure cranking up something with bass and watching that passive radiator on the top bounce all over the place. In any other lesser speaker one would expect that to result in messy, sloppy, farty bass–but NOT here, these are as tight and clean as can be. These also really seem to love it when you give them the beans. They sound great at low volume, but they REALLY seem to open up when you crank ’em a bit–like they’re just edging for more. Clearly the designers /engineers put some real thought and care into making these bonkers little monsters sound the best they can for their size.

In my experience they do tend to take a little getting used to though. Curiously they sound better the longer you listen to them. In my experience it’s as if my ears need a minute or two to adjust and then everything is just fantastic. At first they seem a little like the tweeters are “behind something” in the highs (even with grills removed), but then all of a sudden I’ll start picking out sounds and textures that I just simply flat out missed when listening to he same content on other speakers/headphones and I realize just how clear they are.

100% would buy another pair if I needed them and would recommend them to anyone considering desktop speakers in this price range. Hopefully sometime I can pick up their bigger brother the T1e and give those a whirl as well.

I have had my Transparent Zero’s for 3 years. They are as beautiful today (in every way), as the day I took them out of the box.

I did 3 months of online due diligence trying to find the perfect set of speakers that would transform my work environment.

It was time well spent!

When I listen to them I can close my eyes and can point to where the players of every instrument is sitting on the stage in front of me .

It is like being at a live concert in person.

When I listen to my favorite classics, a tear rolls down my cheek!

Thank-you guys at Vanatoo and hats off!

Thank-you, thank-you!

HK

I don’t care what anyone says. If you need computer speakers or something for a small bedroom and are space/budget limited these are the ONLY choice. For such small speakers the T0s sound incredibly natural with just the right amount of detail and stupid good bass that hits the sweet spot between not being over done and bloated like a lot of small bluetooth speakers and still surprisingly strong. If you want more thanks to the sub out and DSP magic these pair very well with even inexpensive 8″ subs.

What I’m even more blown away by is the sound stage and imaging. Transients come from several feet to the side of each speaker and form at times a soundstage that is wider than 180deg. When properly set up the soundstage height and depth is also mind boggling. In addition to that both transients and the center image have an incredible 3D quality to them with a lot of space around them. These are really the only speakers I’ve heard that I find myself consistently snapping my neck to the side thinking a sound actually came from within room or even just beyond the room boundary and this is after owning them for years. The center image in the meantime is so realistic you feel like you can reach out and strangle the vocalist.

The fact they are powered, have bluetooth, don’t need a DAC, and have all inputs you could ever need is just icing on the cake. That paired with the myriad of customization settings and remote control makes these suckers probably the best deal in the entire audio market. And that is really my only complaint with these. They are so good you have to spend several orders of magnitude more money on a full sized system to beat these at least in terms of throwing a massive holographic sounding soundstage. Both the T1 and T0 cost about the price of a low-mid tier DAC alone. Every single person on planet Earth should own a pair of these even if you have a more impressive full size system. These are hands down the best desktop speakers ever considering their size and price to performance ratio.

Gary, Rick I really don’t know how the heck you did this or what black magic you are using. Only thing I can come up with would be very smart design decisions coupled with a DSP amp thereby bypassing the phase distortion and efficiency loss inherent in passive crossovers because I have spent 1000s trying to replicate how your speakers image in a larger living room system to no avail and its getting a bit frustrating. =) Unfortunately the T1 and T0 are just a little too small to fully energize a large room and no one else seems to make speakers like these in larger sizes. I know designing and manufacturing a new product is expensive particularly one with larger parts. But please for the love of all that is holy, or rather saving me from years of tinkering and book learning to DIY something, make a bigger stand mount speaker or even a tower!

Forever a fan and eternally grateful/mad you got me started on this horrible addiction called audio.

My first experience with Vanatoo was the purchase of their Transparent Zero speakers, that I’ve been using on my computer desktop. From the beginning, I’ve been thrilled with their sound, appearance and build quality, far better than any desktop speakers that I’ve owned, over the years. I was drawn to the Transparent Zeros by their 87% 5 star rating here and glowing professional reviewer reviews. My desktop audio system has been my primary listening equipment, other than some excellent headphones powered by an external DAC and amplifier, from JDS Labs. Truthfully, the Transparent Ones quickly became my go to equipment.

Wanting an away from computer desktop and more traditional stereo set-up, I was drawn to Vanatoo’s Transparent One Encore speakers. Exemplary reviews, ratings and trust in the Vanatoo company, I purchased a pair of these remarkable speakers. I use the Transparent One Encore pair on 30 inch pedestal stands, about 18 inches away from the opposite wall from my desktop and Transparent Zeros. I love and use both of the models but am enthusiastically enjoying the sound of the Encores. Soundstage is amazing, as the speakers all but disappear, when playing a good quality stereo recording. I love hearing sound stretching wider than and above the speakers. Music seems to float, with excellent instrument and vocal placement. Often listening for hours, I also am constantly amazed at the quality of the bass response, especially considering the Encore’s compact size. That holds true for all frequencies, with the resultant sound much bigger than the speakers. Plenty deep for my office, bass is tight and detailed, thanks much to the passive radiators, on the rear of the speakers, to enhance quality. I’ve grown to really appreciate those, now preferring them to bass ported speakers. The Encore’ present a lifelike, exciting and alive sound. Vocals, both male and female are astonishingly real sounding, most often positioned above the speakers. Love the “air” present in the female vocals. I opted for the cherry finish and the speakers are beautiful and very solidly built. I really appreciate the generous inputs available… USB, coaxial, optical, analog and good bluetooth. The speaker audio settings available is amazing. The owner/designers truly seem to have thought of everything a listener might desire. Even the easily removable speaker grills are impressive, as when re-mounting them, magnets firmly and precisely snap them into place! The very functional remote control is user friendly and contains controls for seemingly every adjustment parameter.

As you can probably tell, I’m completely satisfied with and sold on the Vanatoo speakers. The Transparent Zeros are perfect and amazing desktop speakers. The more expensive Transparent One Encore’s, for me, have been totally worth their cost, easily besting any speakers I have previously owned. The 2 owner/designer partners stand behind their products and even seem to always be available for phone calls and quick reply emails! Highly recommended! Note: the Encores have been used by many satisfied purchasers as desktop speakers as well.

My first experience with Vanatoo was the purchase of their Transparent Zero speakers, that I’ve been using on my computer desktop. From the beginning, I’ve been thrilled with their sound, appearance and build quality, far better than any desktop speakers that I’ve owned, over the years. I was drawn to the Transparent Zeros by their 87% 5 star rating here and glowing professional reviewer reviews. My desktop audio system has been my primary listening equipment, other than some excellent headphones powered by an external DAC and amplifier, from JDS Labs. Truthfully, the Transparent Ones quickly became my go to equipment.

Wanting an away from computer desktop and more traditional stereo set-up, I was drawn to Vanatoo’s Transparent One Encore speakers. Exemplary reviews, ratings and trust in the Vanatoo company, I purchased a pair of these remarkable speakers. I use the Transparent One Encore pair on 30 inch pedestal stands, about 18 inches away from the opposite wall from my desktop and Transparent Zeros. I love and use both of the models but am enthusiastically enjoying the sound of the Encores. Soundstage is amazing, as the speakers all but disappear, when playing a good quality stereo recording. I love hearing sound stretching wider than and above the speakers. Music seems to float, with excellent instrument and vocal placement. Often listening for hours, I also am constantly amazed at the quality of the bass response, especially considering the Encore’s compact size. That holds true for all frequencies, with the resultant sound much bigger than the speakers. Plenty deep for my office, bass is tight and detailed, thanks much to the passive radiators, on the rear of the speakers, to enhance quality. I’ve grown to really appreciate those, now preferring them to bass ported speakers. The Encore’ present a lifelike, exciting and alive sound. Vocals, both male and female are astonishingly real sounding, most often positioned above the speakers. Love the “air” present in the female vocals. I opted for the cherry finish and the speakers are beautiful and very solidly built. I really appreciate the generous inputs available… USB, coaxial, optical, analog and good bluetooth. The speaker audio settings available is amazing. The owner/designers truly seem to have thought of everything a listener might desire. Even the easily removable speaker grills are impressive, as when re-mounting them, magnets firmly and precisely snap them into place! The very functional remote control is user friendly and contains controls for seemingly every adjustment parameter.

As you can probably tell, I’m completely satisfied with and sold on the Vanatoo speakers. The Transparent Zeros are perfect and amazing desktop speakers. The more expensive Transparent One Encore’s, for me, have been totally worth their cost, easily besting any speakers I have previously owned. The 2 owner/designer partners stand behind their products and even seem to always be available for phone calls and quick reply emails! Highly recommended! Note: the Encores have been used by many satisfied purchasers as desktop speakers as well.

It’s only been two days since I purchased the Vanatoo Transparent Zeros for my computer work station and in one word, AMAZING! I’ve tried MANY different manufactures computer speakers and these by far exceed my most stringent tests. To say they are clearer than any others I’ve tried is an understatement. Very powerful and no need for an external sub! I cannot speak highly enough of these. I absolutely love and highly recommend them!

I just purchased the Vanatoo Transparent Zeros. I had read the reviews. I thought the Zeros would probably work for my desktop sounds. WELL… that is an understatement. The zeros are just outstanding. Sound is clear. Sound is detailed. Excellent frequency response and range. Imaging is first rate. The quality of the bass is simply stunning for such a small speaker. I connected the Zeros to my ELAC 1010 subwoofer. Again… the sound is stunning. Connecting the sub allowed the Zeros to be even more detailed, that is probably because they don’t have to worry about the low bass anymore. I just played Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones… I didn’t believe I was listening to two little speakers and a very modest priced Subwoofer… I was sure somebody had slipped a big tower speaker into the room instead. The Vanatoo Transparent Zeros are recommended without any reservations of any kind… Oh… get a Subwoofer… and the sound… I didn’t believe it… You won’t either. ENJOY.

I’m a big Klipsch speaker fan and loved the Promedia 2.1 speakers paired with my desktop computer. However, after many years of heavy use, they finally gave out. A few years ago, I remembered listening to a review of the Transparent Zeros by Joshua Valour and began researching them further. The reviews I found are consistent. I purchased a pair and set them up, about 40 inches apart, on my desk and paired them with a Klipsch R-100SW on the floor. All I can say is WOW, the sound was pure magic right out of the box using the recommended setup instructions (which automatically set the crossover for the subwoofer). These speakers are small and fit perfectly on my office desk, but you’d never know they were so small from the full and crisp sound they provide! I have them connected to my desktop computer through my Topping D90/A90 combo, but sometimes I just use them via Bluetooth from my iPad. Whether just listening to music, watching video, or playing games, I couldn’t be happier with this purchase!

I love music. I am not an audiophile. I just know when the music sounds like it should. I have a friend who spends a fortune on audio equipment, so I tapped him fo a recommendation for replacing my “old school” speakers with more compact ones. Without hesitating he mentioned VANATOO. When the box came I opened it and starting with the packaging I was impressed. The “quick-start” instructions couldn’t have been any easier to follow. I was up and listening in less than 10 minutes. The speakers are elegant and the sound blew me away: Rich, crisp room filling distinct and transporting. I am not an audiophile, I did not know what to expect, but I do know when it sounds right. I highly recommend these speakers to anyone who loves listening to music. They are perfect in every way.

I first came across these at the Axpona audio convention years ago. I was walking by the Vanatoo room and heard the clarity and sound bellowing out from the door. When I walked in I expected to see some large towers, but saw the Transparent Zero’s. I sat and listened for a while and was blown away. I got them for Christmas and they sound even better than I remember! These speakers sound far beyond what they are priced at and I would HIGHLY recommend them!

I searched the internet for the best desktop speakers. Something that was not too large for a true desktop application more in line with near field listening and found the typical recommended speakers to be of the bookshelf type that overpowered my setup and did not aesthetically fit my needs. Then I ran into a review of Vanatoo’s Transparent Zero speakers. I was blown away by the fact that the speakers are bi amped with a 48-watt dedicated amplifier for each 4-inch aluminum woofer and each 1-inch soft dome tweeter (who does that for a speaker under $400). I was ok with the price for all the features the unit comes packed with.

Bluetooth wireless

USB, Toslink Optical, and analog inputs

Full-featured remote control

Auto input switching

Volume, bass and treble controls

Subwoofer output with Autosense

Magnetically attached grills

Vanatoo isolation pads

3-year warranty

30-day trial Return policy

The imaging, clarity and soundstage is unreal at any price point. I stream music from Tidal using Audirvana for the ability to take advantage of Hi-Res files. A sub is not required for most genres of music but when you get to listening to Hip Hop (80’s/90’s, Reggae, Dance Music (70’s/90’s), House Music (80’s/90’s) and Jazz (Traditional Jazz pre 1969, with some exceptions, Sorry Kenny G) A sub is a must in order to reproduce those lows that are must have. I have my T0’s connected via a OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock S/PDIF connected to the T0’s Toslink Optical going to a GoldenEar Forcefield 3 Sub comprising of One 8″ long-throw high-output bass driver and One 9″ x 11″ quadratic planar infrasonic radiator rated at 1000 watts (class D amp) with a frequency response of 18h Hz – 250 Hz connected to the LFE output. The speaker volume level is set between 2 and 3 o’clock which leaves me with tons of headroom in the sub that simply is not needed beyond this point but great to know that it is there in the event if I really want to go crazy. The match between the T0’s and the sub are a match made in Heaven. I feel that if I continue to tweak the placement of the speakers and play with a few settings I may be able to get a slightly better sound out of them but frankly the image is so centered to my dual monitor setup that there really is no need to do anything at all other than enjoy them as is. These speakers are enjoyable at all levels. I typically enjoy my music loud but often find myself listening at lower/moderate levels for some reason the soundstage is more enjoyable. When it comes to audio components, I know I’ve found the Holy Grail when I find myself listening to music and not listening to the equipment and that is the case with the T0’S. The only negative I have with Vanatoo is that I am limited to as high as 24bit/96KHz with the internal DAC and not able to bypass with an external DAC. I have a large collection of 24bit/192KHz music files that I would love to listen to in a nearfield setting but can’t due to this limitation.

If you are in the market for dedicated desktop speakers, look no further, take Vanatoo up on the 30-day trial period and see for yourself. I have not spent as little as $350 on many things in my 55 years, but this was THE BEST $350 spent thus far. I plan to do what you are supposed to do with great music and that is sit back, listen and enjoy.

I found the Transparent Zero speakers after looking around a bit on the internet. I was specifically looking for a smaller form factor speaker for a desk set up that did not sacrifice build or sound quality. After some deliberation (and reading of various audiophile reviews) I decided to order a pair.

And I was not disappointed. After some testing with my media, including lossless rips and vinyl, I was pleasantly surprised. The Transparent Zero speakers have a robust sound despite their size, and have clarity that I have never heard out of a speaker this size. Nothing sounds muddy here.

Feature wise, I appreciate the remote and the several options for connectivity (Bluetooth is very welcome!). One criticism I have is that the knob and VTB switch for utilizing the special functions is a little arcane to say the least, but this does not detract from the overall quality of use and listening experience these bring.

I have been using the T0’s for more than a month now and I’m blown away every time I use it.

I previously used the Edifier S1000DB as my main speakers for my computer but it was just taking too much space on my desk and I wanted to use it for my tv and after doing a lot of online research I landed on Vanatoo which was an unknown company to me, but on the recommendations of Zeos and Jashua Valor I pulled the trigger and I don’t regret it a bit.

To be honest I had some unrealistic expectations when it came to the low end frequencies, as my S1000DB paired with the ifi Zen Dac had some really punchy bass even at relatively low volume, which I enjoyed while listening to some soundtracks which the T0s physically can’t do (but i am comparing it to a speaker 4 times the size of it to be fair) but what it delivers in the low end is a really tight and precise, and the fact that with the help of the passive radiator the bass shakes my desk giving the impression of a lower extension.

The mids and highs are clear and sharp and in no way fatiguing, the sound is very detailed and there is good separation in frequencies, and the separation of instruments is unreal for any speaker regardless of the size, especially when listening to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles sound tracks.

Sound stage and depth, OMG I seriously am not exaggerating, for near field listening the T0’s have a sound stage (sounds from right to left) similar to open back headphones but also an amazing depth to the sound (front to back) which really places instruments in a 3D space and the stereo separation is very precise also, making this speaker amazing for gaming.

I’m not a huge audiophile but I have my share of headphones and speakers, and the closest thing I have to compare to is the Sennheiser/Drop PC38X, wide, detailed, pleasant. It is not as “crispy” as the DT990 pro, or as boomy as the Sr125e, but it lands in a nice middle ground between the two with an added depth to the sound.

Some tips

– for placement make sure the speakers are not pointed directly at your ears, like 3-4 inches away from you ears, you will sacrifice a tiny bit of high end detail, but you will gain massively in sound stage.

– sound of the USB was great but I did perceive noticeable improvement in sound quality when paired with a dac, the Fiio E18 and Topping E30 gave a “cleaner” sound but I again preferred the Zen Dac for the truebass button to give an extra push in low frequencies when im listening at low volume (around 55-60 db)

Overall I give high praise and I look forward to what Vanatoo will come up with next.

I am an audiophile used to stellar audio reproduction. I can honestly say the T0s defy logic. Put them up off the table or desk a few inches. The small iso acoustics stands are perfect. You don’t need anything else. Perfect stands for desktop. Set the T0s on flat, turn off the limiter, connect with toslink. Truly amazing performance will greet you. High end worthy sound in a near field mini monitor. Astonishing!

I am cheap. I like good value.

When I told an audio enthusiast friend I was interested in some of the more common desktop speakers they told me to check these out.

I thought to myself how good could they really be compared to the cheaper options?

I hemmed and hawed for weeks, but the 30-day return window finally put me over the edge. No real risk, right?

Well, I am utterly blown away. I have had them for several weeks now and am happily outside my return window. These things are unbelievably good.

Don’t really know what else to say.

Incredibly good value.

Like many others, I spend a lot of time at the computer. I listen to all different kinds of music from electronic to metal and I really do love my music. I had a pair of JBL Studio Monitors and they were taking up my entire desk, and I also needed an audio interface for them. I don’t like clutter, I’m a minimalist, so I went looking for something better and landed on these. The requirements were that they needed to sound the same, or better, and take up less space. Well, after a few days of use, I can confidently say these speakers are nothing short of incredible. It sounds like the area around you is filled with sound. Hard to explain. They don’t need a sub, but I want to see how good these sound with a sub, so I ordered one.

Sniffing around the web last year for some serious desktop audio quality, it wasn’t long before I picked up the scent of the Transparent Zeros, because they are so widely praised by those who own them.

I began saving for them, sustained by that Vanatoo website photo of a cold glass of beer sweating in front of a PC desktop rig that includes a set of T0s. That photo got me through the winter.

After the pennies were saved, and the order was placed, and the speakers arrived, I set them up on my desk, poured a beer, placed it in front of my setup, and took a picture. I emailed it to Gary as a tip of the hat.

Then I drank my beer as I gave the T0s their first test drive.

It was worth the wait.

Soul, funk, jazz, classical, choral, bluegrass, sacred, even drum and bugle corps — my playlist is eclectic. From Tower of Power to the Penguin Café Orchestra to Pat Metheny to Union Station to The Chamber Choir of Europe to the Casper Troopers, these speakers open up detail that I had been missing in my favorite tracks. Among its many reviewers, much is made of the T0’s expansive soundstage and precise voicing location within it, and I’m here to add my +1. The sensation in the ears, even at higher volumes, is of easy power — not the familiar sensation of pressure boring into the brain. I have logged continuous hours of worktime listening without fatigue. Even the endless videoconference calls that now define our days are less exhausting.

When the Zooms are done for the day and I ask the T0s to stretch it out, they reach down and deliver the sub-bass pedal tones of the 1755 Silbermann pipe organ belting out Philip Glass’ “Mad Rush” (Mark Steinbach, Glass-Bach Dresden EP, 2021 Orange Mountain Music OMM0150). I can only imagine how a subwoofer would extend the depth — not that I felt I was missing anything. With a flurry of quick jabs they land the tight kick drum and bubbling bass line of The Preatures’ “Is This How You Feel?” All the joyful musical chaos of Snarky Puppy’s “Lingus” is articulated with precision. Each heartbreaking harmonic interval of Morten Lauridsen’s “O Magnum Mysterium” has its own life. The brass and sax of ToP’s “Squib Cakes” is punchy, bright and clear. The brass bell tones of the Troopers playing “Battle Hymn of the Republic” raise the hairs on my arms. I haven’t found anything I can’t throw at them, and they’re still playing in.

At the moment, the T0s are arranged on the desk as recommended by the manual, streaming Spotify through my PC at 320kb/s, and using the USB connection. I notice that the soundstage feels more 3-D, and the *chit-chit* of the hi-hat achieves an extra sparkle, depending on where I position my ears in relation to the speakers. As I lean in on the speakers, toward my PC monitor, these qualities of detail are enhanced. As I move away, back toward a normal sitting position, some of that crispness and spatial separation diminishes *slightly* into more of a blur. My aging ears are losing their grip on the higher frequencies, so this may have more to do with my equipment than with Vanatoo’s. I have been tinkering with the treble adjustment to compensate, and I suspect I have not yet found the perfect alignment of these speakers. The experimentation is part of the fun.

The build on T0s is top-notch; the quality of these units is as evident in the fingers as it is in the ears.

My recommendation: Save your pennies, then raise a glass to your new Transparent Zeros. Cheers.

I needed a paid of small speakers for my desk, mostly for when I make videos (trainings, tutorials, etc) and to listen to some music in between videoconferences. I didn’t want them to take too much space but I wanted them to sound decent, after having heard so many hollow-sounding cheapos. I didn’t want to have to deal with a subwoofer neither, I hate clutter. 🙂 As Vanatoo does not deliver to Europe I used a freight forwarding company (myus.com) and they did a good job. Be aware though that you will incur import taxes depending on your country and also additional costs if you have to send your units back. Rick at Vanatoo took the time to unpack my speakers and test them before shipping, just to make sure. Nice service!

So, the speakers themselves. They’re pretty hefty small units and connecting them is simple (I used USB). Vanatoo provides small damping foam pads to avoid vibrations and help keeping my Iroko desk scratch-free. Thanks! Out of the box they sounded quite muffled but nothing that the internal equaliser couldn’t fix and I suspect that a bit of run-in will help too. I set them up using my B&W CM6 S2 as reference, which was really unfair. But even though they won’t blow my hair away with bass (but still impressive given their size), they have a very good presence and the mids are very well defined. They really excel on vocal jazz and I just finished listening to a Leonard Cohen track and the best I can say is that I had the impression that Lenny was my coworker for three minutes.

Really very capable little units that won’t take over your desk and will provide a good quality soundtrack to my work days!

I’ve had my Vanatoo Transparent Zero set for four days now and have spent the majority of each of those days at my computer desktop, constantly astonished at their audio quality and flexibility, in terms of getting their sound “dialed in”. The speakers are two-way and bi-amped, with a 48 watt dedicated amplifier for each 4 inch aluminum woofer and 1 inch soft dome tweeter.

Decades ago, I was an obsessive “audiophile” painstakingly assembling my system, growing more interested in constantly upgrading equipment, wires, cables, speaker stands and room placement etc rather than just enjoying the music. When life circumstances changed and I moved to a smaller home, I decided to sell all my stereo gear and start over. The starting over never really materialized except for a fairly recent foray into high quality headphones, headphone amplifier and external DAC. Deciding that I wanted to get some desktop speakers, fairly small in size but not wanting to spend a lot, I purchased and used some JBL 104s. Great little speakers but to me noticeably missing that “alive”, detailed and exciting quality.

Thru Google and YouTube searches, I learned about Vanatoo and their Transparent Zeros. I ordered a set and since their delivery and set-up, feel very much like I’m listening to “audiophile” quality sound, seemingly greatly surpassing their size and cost! I did have a subwoofer that I was using with my JBLs and although VERY satisfied with the Zeros by themselves, pairing them with the subwoofer produces audio quality magic! Whether fairly loud or comfortably soft, these are a constant revelation! Sitting at my desk listening, more often than not the Zeros seem to disappear. Highly detailed, everything seems to play awesomely through this “system”. I hadn’t heard air and breath around female voices on speaker playback in a long time. Can’t say enough good things about Vanatoo and their speakers. Universally very positive reviews, these are definitely a winner and certainly are reminiscent of my “audiophile” days, except that I now have no need to or desire to upgrade. Well done Vanatoo! Highly recommended!

I’ve had my Vanatoo T0s for a month. I have to say these things rock. So much awesome sound from a great form factor. I highly recommend. If you are looking for a versatile awesome sounding set of monitors in a neat form factor package, look here.

The Transparent Zero slays. The fidelity and near-field coverage is incredible for such small speakers. As some interviews below said, I too spent a lot of time combing through audiophile reviews of desktop speakers – your only option to get great sound in a small package? The Transparent Zeros. Really glad I spent the money on these: you won’t regret it. They’re really well made. You can tell a lot of thought went into the entire package. I’d probably pair it with a sub at some point down the road if I wasn’t in an apartment, but I have other applications for that in the meantime. The perfect desktop speaker.

Like many of us I have spent most of 2020 working from home, as such I decided to upgrade my speaker setup. I spent many hours poring over various forums and subreddits before finding my way to these speakers (shout-out to r/budgetaudiophile for showing me the light). Before purchasing I corresponded with Gary about a subwoofer pairing and he was very helpful. After receiving the speakers I was immediately impressed. They have brought life to my daily grind, improving my tunes and even podcasts and TV shows. With the external sub they are more than loud enough for my small bedroom office, I have never turned them up more than half way. Beyond the amazing sound quality I love their adjustability and amount of inputs. I use all of them on a regular basis and rarely have to manually change them. The remote is also an awesome touch. My only slightly negative comment is that changing settings on the speakers themselves is kind of a learning curve but it’s not too bad with the supplied documentation. Overall, I can’t recommend the speakers highly enough, hopefully I’ll have a space large enough to justify their big brothers some day! Also, don’t be afraid of the refurbished models, I have encountered no issues with mine.

I can’t assume everyone falls into the same trap as me, but I would think some do. For me, when I buy some new speakers or headphones, I am left wondering, “what would have happened if I spent just a little bit more money?” Often I would wait a year or two until the itch becomes so great and I break down and buy said incremental upgrade hoping to find that perfect setup. Long story short, I think with the T0, there just isn’t anything better for desktop listening.

I have had my T0 for about 6 months now. I have them paired with a Paradigm Seismic 10. I do everything on my computer from games to music to TV. While 90% of their use is near field, I do also play them louder to fill my whole basement so I can workout to some music. I can’t give some fancy audiophile jargon filled rant, but I will say that these things are very accurate and detailed. When I first set them up, I thought something sounds off. I looked closer at them and notice one speaker was angled just a couple of degrees more than the other.. and my ears knew it before my eyes did. I like bass (but not obscene amounts), and while these things are decent for their size, I think they need sub. God, they sound so much better with a sub. The transitions from high to mid to low and hand-off to the sub is seamless. I don’t think I have heard anything as seamless. Everything sounds right..

Anyways, I am quite satisfied that I have acquired an endgame setup. There is simply nothing better for desktop, near field listening for anything close to this price (and size). At least I am not aware of anything better. The personal sales support from the top guys at Vanatoo make these a hidden gem I wish I found years ago. If only I could skip the incrementalism and went straight with the T0, I would have saved so much money and never wondered if I could do better.

Thanks Vanatoo.

Right to the point, these speakers are really quite nice in a smaller room. The sound is clean, detailed, and has reasonable bass, but to me the key to getting the most out of these speakers is this….. I added a reasonably priced Polk PSW111 8″ sub which easily plugs right into the Vanatoos and WOW!, this system is absolutely outstanding! Amazing for the small size! I am particular about my sound and it is such a sonic pleasure to listen to music in my office with these gems. You don’t need a 10″ or 12″ sub. In fact, that may be overkill and could create unbalanced sound. Just get a nice 8″ sub and the whole system explodes with deep clean sound. Also great to have a bluetooth option, simplicity of installation, and numerous options for both hook up and fine tuning bass, treble, etc. Damn satisfied! I did a great deal of research before purchasing and this was my choice. What I don’t understand is why these speakers are not on every “best of” list. I have owned some decent desktop speakers but these are clearly the best and a pleasure to use. Owned since Christmas 2019.

Thank you to the developers of this amazing product 1000 times over

One of the most quality purchases I’ve made and one of the most helpful companies that I have made communication with

Standalone speakers were more than enough to bring great sound to my work station, but I added a sub for more base. Truth be told, the speakers and sub became overkill for my needs, so in retrospect, I would not have purchased the sub. I opt to keep the sub now that I have it because I do get the added pleasure of getting more highs out of my t0s

Truthfully, when I first bought my Zero’s, I didn’t think they were a big improvement over my old 2.1 Altec Lansing system (with an external Opp headphone AMP/DAC …..used as DAC only) system on my computer. Probably because of my built in corner desk location in my small kitchen / living room.

This was my original reason for this purchase. So depending on set up, your sound experience could vary.

Ok …..so now what???

My living room was set up with a Huge Emotiva 80 pound amp driving two Magnapan MMG’, and a 10 inch Emotiva sub. The MMG’s were eventually replaced with Elac tower speakers. For reasons unclear, probably because of my 12×20 room/s size, they never seemed to sound as good as my expectations.

Flash forward, and these Zero’s are on speaker stands,paired with my older Emotiva sub. The resulting combination…Heavenly !!!

Listen all day…no fatigue. (Spotify , wireless to chrome cast audio > 3.5 optical in.)

And, plugged into my TV head phone jack out to the analog in on the Zeros, it sounds great for movies and TV. (really)

I will say though, a proper sub, adds SIGNIFICANTLY to the musical experience of these speakers.

No more amp….No more pre-amp ….No more cd player….No more squeeze box….No more cluster of wires….. Not missed

Rugged?? I had my Zero’s a year plus before moving to the Philippines. Packed in a u haul box, these speakers made a long hike across the ocean on a container ship. The box arriving ,looking like 12 rounds with Mike Tyson.

Now plugged into 220 volts (no converter needed) and, as I write this , playing beautifully here for more than a year 🙂

GJM

These speakers sound great, especially for their size, and are a pleasure to listen to music through.

As the usual conferences and meetings I had were changed from in-person to virtual, I needed computer speakers that had good intelligibility. The Vanatoo Zeros fit the bill. I had heard them at an audio show a couple of years back and was impressed with their sound for their small size. They’re easy to set up. I prefer using the Toslink connection. I recommend the Amazon Basics as inexpensive and works well. Sounds good for streaming music, a nice bonus. I left them at the initial, default settings. Easy to adjust with the remote or manually. Only annoyance is as they reactivate, there’s a very slight “popping” sound. Easy to eliminate by leaving them activated all the time, but I decided to save a bit of power and live with it. Another potential annoyance, if in a bedroom, is the bright blue light on the back. Again, adjustable and can turn off, if one wishes. In an office environment, the blue light is a reminder that the speakers are on. The bass goes deeper than one usually hears in a speaker of this size, so the small pads underneath are necessary so they don’t move around! I also bought the matching stands. Using as computer speakers, it turned out to be unnecessary. For this application, they angle up towards the listener’s ears. The handle at the back makes moving them simple. Having the external volume control also on the back of the speaker was initially off putting, then easy to reach by feel after a few uses, also nice aesthetically. The magnetically attached grills are a nice touch. All, in all, a worthwhile purchase during the pandemic and a pleasant surprise in audio quality in small powered speakers.

I’ve really been enjoying these speakers. Overall, they sound extremely good. I doubt you can beat them at this price point. The speakers excel at bass response, big soundstage and clean volume. When I see a passive radiator I assume the bass is going to be muddy but these have a really clean distinctive bass response. The passive radiators mostly seem to enlarge the soundstage explaining why a lot of reviews mention that these speakers sound bigger than they look. Sound volume is really clean; no clipping when you crank these up. I’ll also mention that every detail of these speakers has been thought out to the gnat’s ass, from the packaging to all the included cables and allen wrench for the handles to the way the speaker covers attach (magnets! who’dathunk?) to the programming functions. And what a nice feel to the remote. Where’d they find that thing? So back to gear and sound, a few years back I’m in Hawthorne Stereo (great shop) sitting on the couch in the high end listening room waiting to test drive some speakers when the guy in front of me put’s an old jazz album on the Rega turntable hooked up to about $15K worth of Naim gear. We’re all nodding and murmuring in hushed tones but I’m thinking, wow, that really sounds like crap, nothing but bass. What we got here is a bad case of inappropriate gear, that album was mixed to be played on one of those all-in-one RCA phonograph cabinets. Led Zep? How about a stack of JBLs and maybe an old Kenwood. Today’s streaming services played from an app? Try these.

In a way, I’m misusing the T0’s but they perform perfectly nevertheless: I’m presenting a video at meetings of our conservancy and decided to look for something that could produce a big sound from a relatively small box that I could lug around portably and the Vanatoo’s came to the rescue! My only complaint is that the various adjustments are rather byzantine in their complexity. I know there isn’t a lot of real estate on the back panel to do this more obviously, but perhaps you can design a smartphone app that will make this simpler.

So even going in with high expectations I’m beyond happy with the T0. Sonically they are doing things I didn’t think possible on a desk. I am hearing width, depth, articulation, everything. My normal favorite sound qualities from vandersteen/thiel is coherency and from tekton enzo 2.7 is the immediacy. The T0 gives me gobs of both of those.

The Vanatoo approach is so good Im kind of questioning my audio hobby approach in other rooms because “lab matched” driver/x-over/DSP/amp achieves so much more per dollar . 🙂

I had high expectations for these speakers, based on reviews, and those expectations have been surpassed; the speakers are incredible. I have owned studio monitors from some very high end brands and I can genuinely say that these Vanatoo speakers perform better than speakers costing twice as much. I will be recommending these speakers to everyone I can, because this company really deserves to flourish.

I spent A LOT of time looking for powered speakers to go in my office. I needed a smaller speaker and looked at companies like Kanto and Audioengine before seeing that Vanatoo kept showing up in comments (Reddit mostly). I went with the T0 and have since tested them out at my desk, for my tv, and paired with a turntable. They’re amazing. Seriously. I hope someone reads this and it ends their search because for the size of these speakers you’re not going to do better anywhere. Sound quality aside, you can tell they have put a lot of thought into these with the little things like the remote, magnetic grills, etc.

I could not be happier with the Vanatoo t0s. These speakers punch way above their price point, and I’d say they are the best value for your money when it comes to bookshelf speakers. I would not say I am an audiophile, but to my ears, these speakers sound incredible. My dad has a pair of B&W 700s, and while maybe not at the same level, the t0’s get pretty close(especially when paired with a good sub). Additionally, you can tell that Rick and Gary put a lot of hard work and love into these things. The attention to detail for even the smallest facets of this unit is top notch. I don’t think I’ve ever seen included functionality that allows you to adjust the blue-tooth light brightness on any speaker. These things are easy to set up, versatile, and in my opinion look pretty badass. If you are in the market for a new set of bookshelf speakers, I highly recommend these.

I just spent the last hour setting up my Vanatoo’s perfectly around my desktop. Now I’ve got a BB King Mastered Album playing through Tidal and my hands and keyboard are shaking with excitement and bass. Oh my gosh, how will I get any work done today? I can’t stop smiling, my face is feeling the sound as much as my ears. It’s so deep and crisp. Having listened to my internal speakers for the last 4 years, this is an incredible upgrade and experience.

I purchased the Vanatoo Transparent Zero’s (T0s from here on) for use on my computer desk as near field monitors connected to my RODECaster Pro mixing unit. I had researched Audio Engine, Edifer, Kanto and other options for active speakers. Reviews on YouTube and in writing were highly positive about the T0s, so I took a chance and placed an order for set sight (and sound) unseen. First, I was incredibly surprised when I received an email from one of the company founders thanking me for the order, very impressive, and appreciated. Second, when the shipment arrived the packaging was first rate. A heavy duty exterior brown cardboard box, inside the outer box was a white cardboard box with a carrying handle, and the Vanatoo logo, contents identification and serial number of the contents placed on the outside of the white box. Inside the white carton was form fitting foam protection, with cutouts on top of the foam right under the lid of the white carton for holding a plethora of interface cables, the quick start guide, a small Allen wrench to remove the screws securing the handle on each speaker (so as to allow moving the handle to the opposite side if desired for mounting/desktop usage with the front of the speaker aimed directly at the listener). The power supply and power cord, and two foam vibration dampening pads for under the speakers when placed directly on your desktop finish out the accessories. Under the top foam piece are the speakers, firmly nestled in form fitting cutouts in the foam insert, each speaker was double wrapped, first in a clear plastic bag, then in a thicker white protective bag. The magnetically attached speaker grills are also in this section of the packaging.

The speakers are very solid, surprisingly hefty for the very small size. I used the analog 3.5mm input to connect to my RODECaster Pro monitor out via a dual TRS ¼” to TRRS 3.5mm plug cable, hooked up the interconnect cable between speakers, and the power supply, and immediately had audio from the monitor outputs on the RODECaster Pro. The sound was very full, a surprising amount of bass for such a small speaker, and more volume than I can imagine anyone needing in a near field desktop scenario. I fired up a Phil Collins concert from the web and the sound was very impressive. Articulation was very good, voices were clear, instruments were full bodied and easily identifiable in the mix. In the near field, with the speakers aimed appropriately at my seating location the center was rock solid, the sound seems to be coming right out of the monitor, not from the speakers to the side of the monitor. I then watched the opening minutes of “Den of Thieves” on Netflix at my desktop location. The opening scene of attacking the armored vehicle had a very broad sound field, sirens of approaching police cars were far to the left of the actual speaker, dialog was rock solid in the phantom center channel, reverberation in the space the truck was taken to was all around the desk, extremely good performance for such a small set of speakers. First impression was very good.

Next I moved the T0s to my family room/kitchen area and connected them to my 65″ LG OLED TV via the fiber optic connection (after I first flipped the plastic handles to the opposite side so as to have the face of the speakers aimed directly at the seating location, with the tweeter and passive radiator at the top of the speaker). My first test was watching the Loreena McKennitt “Nights from the Alhambra” concert DVD on the 2 channel PCM audio option. This concert has a large number of different, and very unique stringed instruments, and the T0s did an amazing job of delineating the tones and characteristics of each of the different instruments, it was easy to distinguish the individual instruments. Next I tried a movie via my AppleTV 4k (HDMI to the TV, then still the fiber optic cable from the TV to the T0s). All of the various sounds made as I navigated the menus and selected a movie to watch were heard, but as soon as the movie started no sound at all! I checked that everything was still hooked up, went back to the DVD and had sound, hmmm. After scratching my head a bit, I thought about the audio settings in the AppleTV 4K, I checked and the AppleTV 4K was set to Dolby Atmos, I changed the output format to two channel stereo only and restarted the movie and had full audio (moral of this story is that the speakers internal decoder for the bit stream from the TV via the fiber optic cable was unable to make sense of the multichannel feed for the Dolby Atmos mix, which is totally reasonable for what is obviously only a stereo pair of speakers).

My normal TV setup is a Sonos Playbase, with the Sonos Sub, and two Play1 speakers for the rear channels. I have been thinking about needing a change as I find it difficult at times to hear nuances in the sound track of a complex movie, voices often times buried in the mix, and many times closed captioning indicate that something like a doorbell rang, but I was never hearing it (in fact closed captioning is turned on partly due to the difficulty in hearing low volume voices and effects in the mix coming out of the Sonos Playbase). With the T0s the sound was very intelligible, all the small background sounds were present, doorbells, items dropping on the floor, etc. I never saw a closed caption comment about some background sound that I did not actually hear. Panning sounds from left to right were well placed. The impact of things like bullet shots was well defined. Again, for no subwoofer at all, and the diminutive size of the speakers the bass was surprising good, certainly not gut busting, wall shaking bass from a full on subwoofer, but very impressive and usable. The room my TV is in is a quite large space, and the listening chairs are about 6 feet away from the TV. The T0s were able to play as loud as we wanted to listen with no sense of stress (to be fair we were not listening at lease shattering levels, but at volumes that were more than loud enough, certainly not at THX reference level, but for an average home and circumstance more than loud enough and I never attempted to see what the maximum volume was, it was satisfying loud enough below maximum). The one shortcoming was that with the speakers much further apart (on each side of a 65″ TV) and given the locations of our seats the listener is biased more towards one of the speakers, rather than in the dead center as was the case at my desk in my initial listening. In the setup with my TV there is a loss of the strong center focus, making sounds that clearly were mixed to be center focused appear to be coming from the speaker closest to the listener. I suspect this is partially due to the speaker being likely intended for use as a near field speaker, rather than a far field speaker, at 6 plus feet from the speaker I was certainly not in a near field situation and again to be fair, my listening location geometry is not optimal for two speakers, especially this small, to try and create a strong phantom center channel. But what was clear is just how much we are missing with the Sonos Playbase system (even having tuned the room with the True Tuning function in the Sonos app). I will certainly need to make a change to the system being used with the TV, the day of using the T0s connected to the TV, even without a strong phantom center channel, killed the Sonos Playbase listening experience.

I put the T0s back on my computer desk and have to say I am very impressed. Certainly these are not $2000 KEF LS50 Wireless equivalents, but for the cost of the T0s, and the size of each speaker, the sound is most impressive. Add in the remote control, the myriad of input options, the flexibility in mounting and changing the angle of the face of the speaker versus the listening position by moving the plastic handles to the opposite of the speaker and this is an incredible bargain of an active powered speaker system. And clearly, I need to make a change in my primary TV audio setup! Add in that Vanatoo is based in the Seattle, WA area, as am I, and I am very pleased with my decision to purchase these.

All in all, very pleased and I would recommend these to anyone looking for a physically small, but powerful, highly flexible input options and mounting options, and amazingly affordable set of speakers.

When buying electornic gear it is quite important to clearly think through what you are trying to accomplish.

I currently spend much of the day at home working at a desktop computer. I listen to classical music almost all the time while working, essentially all of it streamed (Idagio, WQXR, Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall, Met Opera On Demand) The computer speakers and quite old powered speakers attached throught the headphone port where clearly inadequate. The desk where I am working is in an open area, open but not a great acoustic enviroment.

I have a moderately high end home theatre with excellent electronics and speakers in excellent acoustic environment. However, this is not where I spend my time working and I am not about to try to duplicate this.

So, I needed good speakers to sit beside a computer while working. I decided to look for a pair of powered speakers with a built-in DAC. After spending much time on reviews, I choose the Vanatoo Transparent Zero. Great choice for this application. They fit well on the desktop and look great. Wonderful detailed sound, good base and high end. I have put it through its paces with favorite arias (e.g. Catalani, Ebben? Ne andrò lontana, Callas, 1954 recording), keyboard music (e.g. Brahms Intermizzi op. 117 #1, Radu Lupu 1970 recording) , music with a lot of bass (e.g. Bach Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor). I was pleased with all. For my application I do not see the need for an additional subwoofer.

Overall a great purchase and great value.

I was looking for a set of powered speakers for my new computer room and did not want typical low cost and trivial computer speakers. I was searching to fill my bedroom size computer suite with near audiophile quality sound without high end cost. I have a very satisfying audio system in my study and still wanted sound I wouldn’t grow tired of for music and watching movies as well as YouTube lectures and quality documentaries. I searched the net and read and watched many reviews eventually taking the plunge for the Transparency T 0. Of course one takes a risk since watching a review can no way represent the sound live. Unboxing immediately impressed me with the speakers apparent finish quality and how it complimented my computer environment. My computer output supported Toslink optical cable and the whole system was ready in 5 minutes. Searched Youtube for some audiophile music and BAM I was blown away from the start. My room was filled with extremely pleasing high and mid-range and the surprisingly concise bass from 4 inch aluminum speakers. From the start, before listening, I was considering adding a sub-woofer which the T0’s support. After 4 months of use, I feel no need to do so since I’m consistently pleased with the bass performance. For my use the Vanatoo T0 speaker system has fulfilled my acoustic needs beyond expectations with high quality sound, a range of controls options and Bluetooth that should fulfill anyone’s needs including a quality remote control and 3 year warranty. I’m sitting here very content.

As my first “audiophile” speakers these little speakers blew me away with what they can do. The amount of low-end they can produce is crazy. Highs are crisp and vocals are Cristal clear. I have never experienced imaging this good outside of headphones. They get really loud with no distortion. I’m 100% happy with my purchase.

Hello Everyone!

I am writing this review because I think you will be hard pressed to find another set of powered monitors that are this good at this price point. I am not going to sit here and spout to you what I think of the treble, mid range, and bass, there are enough people doing that. No, I am here to say that these just sound good. My previous setup consisted of some giant kenwood tower speakers that I found at goodwill for 50 bucks and an old sansui receiver that a buddy gave me and these blow those out of the water while taking a fraction of the space. As someone who is normally budget oriented I am so happy I decided to spend just a little bit more and pick up these beauties and I hope you do too.

Also… I got these delivered to me about 2 days after I ordered them even during the quarantine in Washington, definitely a big plus!

Use Area – I have a computer desk with PC monitor/keyboard in the middle and a small TV at the back and right corner. And just to the left and right of my cluttered desk, I have a pair of floor standing loudspeakers that tower 12” above the height of the desk. They probably shouldn’t be there, as they are only used as stands for a lamp and various odds and ends… room is too small (11×13) to be used as they are intended.

Setup – So, I place the T Zeros at each end of said cluttered desk, about 12” from the front of desk and 18” from the back of desk/wall. They are perched on top of 9” high yoga blocks about 42” apart, toed-in and tweeters at ear level. The result is amazing… sound isn’t coming from THEM, but rather from the CENTER of said cluttered desk. How can this be?

Aside – Okay, so I occasionally visit my eastern-influenced chiropractor (acupuncture/gentle chiropractic). I have often referred to her as my Voodoo doctor, as her methods are mysterious but yet very effective and quite magical. Yes, it is mysteriously effective and magical that these small speakers can be so accurate in bass, midrange, and highs… with sound stage, imaging, and volume that is astonishing.

Gentlemen, you have created some kind of Voodoo with the Transparent Zero… and I thank you!

Example track evaluations –

– America Holiday album, the clarity and sound separation of Hollywood is amazing. Analog from turntable sounds great.

– The acoustics from Nils Lofgren Acoustic Live album, Keith Don’t Go… is absolute ear ecstasy.

– Billie Eilish COPYCAT… even with speakers on EVA foam blocks, Bass is powerful and vibrating the desktop surface.

– The Morricone Duel, is like sitting front and center in the balcony. Add visual Blu-Ray DVD with optical TOSLINK connection, Wow!

– Helen Merrill whispering up close in the microphone? Yes, she is right there in front of me.

So “What’s New”? A re-awakened appreciation of all types of music. Thank you Team Vanatoo

From someone who does his homework before buying, there is absolutely nothing out there that competes with the Vanatoo Transparent Zero, for its size and price point…..nothing! For those of us who are tired of all the audio components, cables, wires, settings, and cost of typical stereo systems, this is as good and simple as it gets. Superb sound and connectivity options at an unbelievable price. I attached a small compact Orb Audio sub that I had and the sound is superb. One viewer mentioned the Niam Mu-So qb2 which is a different product altogether. It is one speaker not intended to put out stereo sound. Think of it as an Apple HomePod on steroids….absolutely amazing for what it is. In their category, the Transparent Zero and qb2 are excellent sounding, quality products. Keep doing what you are doing Vanatoo and I wish you continued success.

Needed a wireless speaker to set in a bookcase in my small home office where there’s no room to setup proper left/right speakers with space between them. I set them right next to one another and configured them in mono – this was my preferred setup. Sounds great! Love the remote and bass/treble controls. Sounds better than the 3 other wireless speakers I noted in the Title in my application. Highly recommended. Also using the IsoAcoustics stands which are a must!

I have never in my life heard a pair of speakers able to deliver sound like these do in such a small package any where near their price range. These turned out to be exactly what I was looking for and I could not be any happier. These speakers are small enough to fit perfectly on my computer desk, they are self powered, and they even include their own DAC. The fact that you can keep these speakers hooked up to three different audio sources at once is a huge plus to me so I don’t have to route everything through my computer monitor’s terrible interference inducing audio ports just so I can easily switch the Inputs. Instead, my computer (which I use for critical music listening) can remain connected directly to the DAC while my game consoles are routed through analog inputs and I can even use my phone’s bluetooth when I’m running around cleaning my house, and the fact that these speakers actually come with a dedicated subwoofer port is a gigantic plus to me when it comes to keeping the setup as simple and clean as possible for each mode of audio input that I use. These speakers accomplish absolutely everything I wanted in new audio setup and they are worth every penny.

Having seen the reviews I was anticipating something decent. I wasn’t expecting great – for the price. As a professional live sound engineer and commercial A/V designer, these deliver exactly what I’m looking for in a small package. Put it together with a quality sub and it is simply hands down the best desktop speaker system I’ve heard for the price. It cannot be beat! If you’re debating, stop. Buy them, today.

I bought the T0 mainly for my bedroom and it’s more than adequate without a subwoofer, but once a subwoofer was added, it gotten louder. Outside of the highs, mids and lows, what stood out was imaging. It’s crazy how with the right toe in and height adjusted, you feel as though there’s truly a singer performing it live in front of you. I’m using this as my desktop setup and it’s excellent choice as it contains all the inputs you could possibly want and not clutter the desk with any separate amp/dac. I miss nothing about my big O bookshelves speakers. This sound just as good, if not better. Plenty of power for a bedroom desktop setup, glad I didn’t need to step up to the T1E. Thanks Vanatoo for creating this affordable but awesome sounding product. Keep up the good work, would be awesome if you created a subwoofer as well.

I have these on my desk, using them for my computer. I love the sound. These are really really fantastic speakers. I added a Klipsch R-100 sub (10″ woofer and 150/300w amp) and the combo is flat out killer. (Vanatoo recommends setting the amp crossover to full but I found that didn’t suit this setup. I went with the crossover set to about 130-140hz, which is about 2-3 o-clock position, and the gain at about the 10 o-clock position.) It’s rich, clear, full, detailed, and just overall sweet as. The Vanatoos were properly packaged with a nice compliment of cords, and the remote is fine. Very happy with these!

i’m no “audiophile” in the pejorative sense of the term as someone who is foolish enough to spend hundreds of dollars on simple RCA type interconnects, but i am fussy about sound quality, and have owned some decent gear. Played some flacs on the Transparent Zero speakers, and they are extremely clean sounding, differentiating between instruments very well, and their imaging is also excellent. you hear the voice as if the singer was in front of you and the instruments as they were recorded. i replaced some Grace Digital BT speakers with these and, while those produced higher volume, the quality of the sound of the Vanatoos is much better. i have used it with the USB connection as well as with an external USB amplifier from my laptop (because my laptop does not put out much volume) that then connects with a 3.5 mm male-to-male. i haven’t listened enough to notice a difference between the two types of connections.

First time I heard this speaker was from the NY Audio Show 2019, and I was amazed by the highly capable, highly articulate upper mid bass, the fabulous sonic image, the lush highs that don’t bleed your ears.. When this small mighty team up with a 10 inch Speedwoofer from RSL ( Rogers Sound Lab ) at the show really impressed me, and I just ordered the same combination and had it all setup within few days. I can pretty much sum up this speaker like this.. “You can get the $10k Sound from this $800 combo, and you will have the ultimate desktop speaker..

All my HD FLAC files sent through the USB cable sound amazing.. Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” kicks you in the chest, Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean” made my dishes danced, Jesse Cook’s “Cancion Triste” – sweet yet sad guitars/cello will draw tears from your heart.

The image is big and wide.. reminds me of my Martin Logan’s large image.. I am still amazed by how this little pair can accomplish this trick.

I have tried out many different genres of music, and spent over 3 hours listening to all the details, and articulate kicking thumping bass lines. The speaker came with a 4 inch passive radiator, and the Transparent Zero really shines. This passive radiator really adds weight and authority to all the percussive sound and I can tell you from my 15 years of playing drums, the bass and drum sound are pretty convincing.

This little speaker pair has many inputs connectors for your needs. It can take in Blu-tooth, RCA, mini headphone jacks, Fiber, USB, so if you are looking for a small but highly capable powered speaker that also comes with internal DACs.. and don’t want to spend a fortune.. then look no further.

These Transparent Zero’s are absolutely fantastic and I’m in love with them! I read several positive reviews & bit the bullet with the anticipation of experiencing audio nirvana. I went ahead and ordered a subwoofer to go along with them. I wasn’t as picky about the quality of sub that was necessary to match the Vanatoos, so I got the Polk Audio PSW10…choosing value over performance in that department.

The speaker box is packaged inside a shipping box, and when I opened the shipping box, I was shocked at how compact the actual speaker box was. I immediately pulled everything out and set the speakers up on my desk with a USB connection to my computer & tuned in to Sirius XM streaming content.

I felt like Ralphie in “A Christmas Story” getting a Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle! My dream was about to come true! I pressed play expecting immediate gratification. What I got was…meh. Yes, “meh.” I experienced every emotion from anger to disappointment to sadness & regret. What was wrong?! Then I remembered that I could manually adjust bass & treble…and I could also tweak my Windows 10 sound properties. After a few bumps to the bass & treble…Whoa! Excitement! Awe! Joy! Disbelief!

These speakers are…! I was speechless. I wanted to tell all of my friends and family. They HAVE to experience these things. The clarity, the imaging, the sound stage, the bass! The Bass? I never hooked up the subwoofer! I went through another round of emotions…why did I get this stupid subwoofer? I don’t even need it! Crap! I waited 3 days to hook it up while I considered sending it back. In a moment of weakness…I plugged it in to see what the full system would sound like. OMG! Nope, I’m not sending anything back…the experience got even BETTER! The Vanatoos sensed the subwoofer and a second or two later, they got LOUDER and the subwoofer took over the job of pushing out bass that, like voting for Pedro, made all of my wildest dreams come true.

Good luck prying me away from my desk now. I feel like I need to listen to every song I’ve ever listened to in my entire life allll over again. I’m hearing minor details that, for some reason, make all the difference between a good song and a great listening experience. Like what? Like hearing someone’s breath in a moment of silence in a track. Like distinctly hearing the “Tih, Tih, Tih, Tih” of the drumstick lightly tapping on a cymbal. Like hearing the 3-dimensional space of vocalists and instruments. You wanna hear something fun? Listen to “Time>Breathe Reprise>” by Greensky Bluegrass. (They’re on Spotify) You’re welcome!

I can’t say enough about these speakers. When you get them, tweak the levels to your preference then prepare to get pulled into the experience like a tractor beam from the Death Star…Death by Vanatoos? Yes, please!

Originally three years ago when searching for a good pair of headphones for CS:GO I bought a pair of Audio-Technica headphones. I didn’t realize it then, but this purchase turned me into an audiophile. Recently I changed offices and could fit a pair of speakers on my desk, which sent me to find the best value speakers available. Through a myriad reviews and trying out other reference speakers like the JBL LSR305’s, I came across the Vanatoo Transparent Zero’s. The sound on these blew me away and the connectivity is top notch. If you are looking for a pair of sleek, functional, multifarious, audiophile speakers – look no further. Save yourself the time and energy by making the right choice the first time with these speakers.

I was looking for a pair of small active bookshelve speakers but didn’t want to compromise sound quality. After reviewing all of the options I decided to give the transparent zero’s a try and couldn’t be happier! They put out amazing sound for such a small footprint.

My only recommendation would be to pair these with a sub if you’re going to be using them to watch movies or listen to a lot of music with deep base. Don’t get me wrong the bass is awesome (very tight and clean for being so small), but I still think a dedicated sub helps balance the listening experience. Luckily the designers planned for this and there is a dedicated sub-woofer out with the ability to set the crossover on the speakers themselves depending on your listening position and preference.

Thanks Vanatoo for making such a great product!

Powered computer speakers are not supposed to sound like the Vanatoo T0 — not even close. Remarkably clear and clean, with layering and imaging (both lateral and depth) that is uncanny on the desktop. Vocals are spot on, very natural sounding with rock solid placement between the speakers. Musically satisfying in category bending ways. Bravo!

At the time of this review, it has been about a month since receiving these and to be honest it’s I have zero regrets. I could not be any happier with this purchase. The sound of these two speakers is outstanding the sound stage these two speakers create is fantastic. I’m surprised that I don’t miss my Sub from my original 2.1 setups do yourself a favor try them out. I have been listening to most of my music and gaming from a pair of Sennheiser HD 58x with DAC and AMP combo (Magni and MODI) had I have been really enjoying them but how I missed listening from a pair of speakers and what pair these Transparent Zero turned out to be.

In that I live in Ireland I had to wait till the power supply would accomodate 240v. When they, I purchased on Amazon and I had a friend who was in NYC bring me a set in his luggage. This was a slight risk as to a possible return. But my faith in this product based on a phone call with the company made me fine with the potential risks. I have had my T0s for a year. They do it all and then some!

I’ve had several pairs of desktop speakers over the years and was never truly happy with the sound. So, about a month ago, I started my search for a new set and came across the T0’s. After watching a few reviews on youtube specifically reviews from (Z Reviews & Joe N Tell) I had to pulled the trigger and purchase them. Let me tell you, once they arrived I was blown away by these little guys. I don’t know what kind of Voodoo Vanatoo used on these things but they created desktop gold! The low end these produce is simply mind blowing!! Anyone who picks up the T0’s will be a happy camper…period! I will most likely be buying the T1 Encores for my small to mid-sized living room at some point after having bought the T0’s. I couldn’t be happier with my decision and thank Vanatoo for creating the BEST desktop speaker I’ve ever heard.

These T1E speakers are phenomenal and while they were playing at full volume in the living room, I went into the bathroom and experienced the same visceral sensation I would get if I were in a bar bathroom while live music was being played 50 feet away. Listening to them is just short of a religious experience for me and although I didn’t see God, I think I heard applause from heaven when I was blasting the Old School tune “ Spirit in the Sky”. Once again Vanatoo has surprised me by improving upon a nearly perfect product and I can’t wait for my fourth set of speakers so hurry up guys. By the way, in my experience as a repeat customer, dealing with the guys at Vanatoo is always a pleasure, whether I needed technical advice or help when UPS lost my shipment, they did whatever it took to help me out and that is priceless.

I was looking for a good set of speakers for my office. I don’t have a large desk so I needed something to fit into the available space but I also didn’t want to sacrifice sound quality. I checked several reviews of various products and then I found these babies. The bass that these put out for something so small just blows my mind and it is vibrating my desk as I type this review. I wasn’t hugely price conscious in making my decision for what to buy and I would have been willing to pay more for these speakers based on how they sound. I have Audeze LCD-X headphones and when I feel like taking them off to listen to these speakers I don’t feel like I’m sacrificing anything which is an amazing accomplishment.

To Vanatoo, thank you for these speakers and please consider making a surround sound set of speakers as I would love to replace my living room setup with your products.

I am beyond impressed with these little speakers. I have them on my desk with a powered Velodyne Sub and the sound quality is amazing.

On setting up the pair, I had some issues. I was shocked that I received a personal reply quickly. Gary covered a fair number of things I could check and was very interested in seeing that I had the best experience.

It took some digging but I located my problem within my computer. Once adjusted the T Zeros simply worked.

I use them as computer speakers, music listening and for my flat screen TV. All connections were straight forward and easy to set up.

My main system is a B&K amp paired to a set of Vandersteen 1c’s. The clarity of the T Zero’s equals my main set up and they are clearly on par with the Vandersteen’s.

I can not recommend these more.

I replaced some large studio monitors with my Vanatoo Transparent Zero speakers and they sound fantastic!! The frequency range and imaging are very impressive, and the versatility in setup and adjustments are one of the main factors that led me to go with this brand/model. My one complaint is the slight clunkiness of the adjustment procedure for the (many) features. It would be nice if the tweaking process was more intuitive, but it certainly gets the job done. I’d also love it if Vanatoo incorporated a way to get some kind of feed back on the current settings of the speaker (sleep mode, DSP, bass, treble, etc.)

Other than those slight critiques of the setting up process, I cannot be happier with these speakers.

4-1/2 stars!!

I don’t normally go out of my way to write reviews but for this product I feel compelled to. I had a few complications related to my order and Rick really went out of his way to ensure the best service possible. The speakers themselves are perfect for a desk setup, providing great sound and are jam packed with features. Given the price, these should be a no-brainer choice for speakers in this category.

My Audioengine A2’s have been the longest surviving piece of kit on my desk at 12 years. For 12 years, nothing could displace their sound quality…for the size. However, the Vanatoo T0’s finally took the A2’s out. The T0’s bests the A2’s in soundstage, vocal clarity and clean bass by a healthy margin. Now, no speaker this size is going to kill larger hi-fi, but the engineering needed to work within the size constraints is thoroughly impressive and the T0’s set the new standard as to what is possible in a super small cabinet. Bravo!

Auditioned A2+ and other best seller competitor in class. Zero won out.

Best-in-class compact speaker for price and versatility.

Holding out purchasing in hope another iteration is coming in near future.

Zero sounded best mounted on suitable speaker stands w/appropriate spacing.

Like the settings choices.

Want: option to bypass Zero internal DAC. Have Chord Hugo 2 for use with audiophile headphones. Like to use the Hugo 2 through Zero.

Want: Finish besides black. White would be really cool and take even more sales away from Audioengine.

Be nice to have for occasional use: Bluetooth protocol that matches up with better external DACs.

Bottonline: Well though-out compact speakers.

Here’s a letter I sent to Rick at Vanatoo – it says it all.

Rick – WOW!!!

These speakers are just amazing – such pure and well balanced sound. I find myself pausing and sinking into the music from time to time. Songs I have heard many times before take on new dimension. Music has the ability to move us, and these speakers move mountains. I also love the ability to dial up and down the Bass & Treble, enables finding that perfect balance for the song/music type, and loudness levels. And the stands are magical – and I got a kick out of the video you did to show how clean the sound gets when the speakers are on the stand. A whole new level of listening.

Bravo!!

I was in the market for speakers for my MacBook pro that I have hooked up with a 4k monitor. I wanted some real quality speakers that I could play music, watch my movies and also have the ability to play music from my phone or iPad. My research led me to Vanatoo T1 but they were out of stock. And so I called the number on the website. I talked to Gary like he was an old friend for about 20-30 minutes and based on my needs he recommended that I get a pair of T0s with a subwoofer. Now mind you, I was willing to wait and pay extra money for the T1s when they came back in stock. He suggested that for my needs the set up he recommended was more than enough.

I got my speakers today and I plugged them with a polk audio subwoofer. I played Thunderstruck by AC/DC and my teenage son came running down to my office surprised at the quality of the sound. Needless to say we were both blown away by the sound quality. The Bass is awesome, the clarity is fantastic and the balance is just perfect. Gary was right on money about these T0s being more than adequate for my needs.

I am so glad I bought these speakers. Outstanding customer service! Outstanding speakers! these guys know what they are doing and they are not out there to just make a sale. I recommend them highly for anyone in speaker market. You will not regret.

What’s NOT to love, I broke down and bought the Zero even though I own the Transparent ONE system. More than impressed, fabulous sound, incredible frequency response. I am comparing them to Martin Logan Sequel 2s my standard stereo speakers for listening to music. Unfair? Yes, but the only thing missing is the sound of DEEP bass for movie soundtracks, it’s there just not as deep and room shaking. The Vanatoo company is friendly and responsive, do yourself a favor BUY the Zero! If your poor get B stock and save some cash.

These Transparent One Encore Pluses also sound so good from my bedroom when I’m in the kitchen, which is a short hallway away.

Bought in Nov. 2021… listened to, pretty much daily on a Nad transport…T1E such a gr8 set of speakers… I added set of RSl speedwoofers, 1st a 10s, then a 10sm2, to balance the room acoustics, still run the T1E in “flat” and “uncompressed”…as I have only cds from the past 6 decades, everyday is a new listen!! Gr8 pair of speakers!!

Recently bought Transparent One Encore speakers to be used in a desktop PC setup. After much research and checking out a few setups, I ended up buying these. The positive professional reviews and the owners on reddit are all correct — these are amazing speakers. Just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for making a product this great! I highly recommend these for desktop setups like mine.

Well I suppose I should have said something nice about these speakers the day I plugged them in. I was really impressed. Been an audiophile since I was a teen (I’m 54 now). Had all sorts of cool equipment over the years but have mostly whittled down to smaller setups. If you’re thinking getting really good sounding speakers, stop looking now. Based on my experience over the years, these sound as good a speakers costing 3-4 times. You just can’t go wrong. If I can only describe how great they sound right now playing Spanish instrumental guitar, I would.

A number of years ago, after months of looking and review reading, I purchased as pair of Vanatoo T-0’s and fell in love with them. I made sure to make the speaker setting changes needed to the factory settings to get the best sound for my ears. I drove the speakers from both my computer with a USB cable and also from my iPhone by Bluetooth all from iTunes. The sound was outstanding and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. However, in 2020, I decided to upgrade these T-0’s to a new set of T-1 Encore speakers since I moved into my new home office which had more physical space. Again, I made changes to the factory speakeer settings and continued driving these new speakers from both my computer and iPhone from iTunes. In an effort to enter the 21st century, I converted all of my songs, 9K+ to FLAC and added JRiver for my player/interface for my computer. I cannot describe the change in sound that is now coming from my T-1 speakers. I thought that they were great before, now they are exceptional!!!! I’m hearing sounds in songs I have never heard before, the clarity, depth of the base, openness, and all the other audiophile terms that I can think of are there. These speakers are used everyday and I can’t imagine not having my Vanatoo speakers providing me with soooooo much audio happiness. If you are thinking of adding a set of powered speakers to your audio collection, don’t hesitate in making a Vantoo purchase! Tweek your speakers to your liking, convert your files to a lossless format, get a highly rated interface player and sit back and enjoy the best sound available from a set of powered speakers! You won’t be sorry!!!!

I don’t have the most experience with audiophile speakers, but these are outstanding. You’d be hard-pressed to find a speaker that’s the whole package at this price point.

It took some searching because I wanted nice speakers all in one speaker setup without breaking the bank. I know the hobby can eat up wallets and speakers were a thing I stayed away from for a really long time. But I wanted a way to relax and listen without headphones or iems, and I wanted a great audio product, not that rinky dink plastic speaker that larger tech companies sell, with only a 3.5mm in. These were a bit more than what I wanted to spend, but I’m glad I got them and I don’t see myself ever needing to upgrade

I have used various sound systems over the years while working at my computer. Just before buying the Transparent One Encore I was using a 5.1 system. It was good/fine but nothing to write home to Mom about, if you know what I mean. I saw a review on Youtube and the Encore speakers seem to check most if not all the boxes. They simplified my speaker setup in both numbers of speakers and hook up. So I pulled the trigger on a set and boy, did I get my money worth. I got them in cherry so they look good. Put them on a couple of small stands to bring the speaker’s tweeter up to a good height and … Bliss.

Whether I am listening to ELO, Alan Parsons, Gregg Allman, Roy Bachanan, Dave Brubeck, Boz Scaggs or Eva Cassidy, this speaker delivers.

The confession of a fusspot who has returned speakers after home audition a few times: The sound on these small bookshelf speakers is just beautiful. The highs are natural and extended, the midrange sweet and lifelike, and the bass is tuneful, lively and extended. The imaging is very real. Listening to The Weight, the blended voices of Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel come from three distinct locations. Reviews that discuss bass treble balance are more about the reviewer’s room acoustics and speaker placement than about the speakers. You can get different sounds by moving the speakers around. This is a speaker created for a broad audience. You can forget the manual (well except to learn about an important button on the remote), connect the speakers and be happy. Or you can learn about the dual purpose of the labeled knobs and buttons on the back and tweak anything you can imagine plus things I didn’t imagine. But the important thing is the sound. Wow.

TIE ENCORE. These speakers project bass x infinity. Connection wise every possible way to connect. The Solid build quality of these speakers I do not see in other brands ,and I’ve had them all. The sound from these speakers are unbelievable. I play these speakers on flat but you would never know it. The power behind these speakers are solid to the max. Volume can fill a large room. The mids and highs are very balanced. Bluetooth is excellent. Simply the best speakers I’ve ever owned. My big sub woofer is collecting dust in the closet.

Why do I have a sub. What is a sub. Should I send my 300Watt sub back! You don’t need it with The Vanatoo TIE. Nope These speakers defy Einstein’s law of everything. The 5 1/4 Speakers produce bass that is twice the size woofers do. I had Fluance Kanto every speaker. These speakers blow the doors off them. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Not only this. My cds sound like I’m streaming on Tidal. I never go to the cds I’m a Tidal master streamer or vynil. I broke our Deep purple Machine head cd blew the windows out. Outstanding!!!!

Very good speakers in its area of small size category. I think it can compete with other bigger bookshelf speakers in terms of audio quality which is superb at least on my desk setup, I think it can work as TV/Movie speakers as well but Vanatoo Encore might be the best fit. Audio connection options are superb (coax, usb, analog, optical, bluetooth) which covers most inputs versus other speakers that doesn’t have usb specifically. DAC and AMP, I can’t really speak on it as I’m not technical in audio devices, though I’m wondering if I can connect it to my fiio K5 pro which is already a DAC AMP, I’m still exploring it. Really happy with it 🙂

I don’t care what anyone says. If you need computer speakers or something for a small bedroom and are space/budget limited these are the ONLY choice. For such small speakers the T0s sound incredibly natural with just the right amount of detail and stupid good bass that hits the sweet spot between not being over done and bloated like a lot of small bluetooth speakers and still surprisingly strong. If you want more thanks to the sub out and DSP magic these pair very well with even inexpensive 8″ subs.

What I’m even more blown away by is the sound stage and imaging. Transients come from several feet to the side of each speaker and form at times a soundstage that is wider than 180deg. When properly set up the soundstage height and depth is also mind boggling. In addition to that both transients and the center image have an incredible 3D quality to them with a lot of space around them. These are really the only speakers I’ve heard that I find myself consistently snapping my neck to the side thinking a sound actually came from within room or even just beyond the room boundary and this is after owning them for years. The center image in the meantime is so realistic you feel like you can reach out and strangle the vocalist.

The fact they are powered, have bluetooth, don’t need a DAC, and have all inputs you could ever need is just icing on the cake. That paired with the myriad of customization settings and remote control makes these suckers probably the best deal in the entire audio market. And that is really my only complaint with these. They are so good you have to spend several orders of magnitude more money on a full sized system to beat these at least in terms of throwing a massive holographic sounding soundstage. Both the T1 and T0 cost about the price of a low-mid tier DAC alone. Every single person on planet Earth should own a pair of these even if you have a more impressive full size system. These are hands down the best desktop speakers ever considering their size and price to performance ratio.

Gary, Rick I really don’t know how the heck you did this or what black magic you are using. Only thing I can come up with would be very smart design decisions coupled with a DSP amp thereby bypassing the phase distortion and efficiency loss inherent in passive crossovers because I have spent 1000s trying to replicate how your speakers image in a larger living room system to no avail and its getting a bit frustrating. =) Unfortunately the T1 and T0 are just a little too small to fully energize a large room and no one else seems to make speakers like these in larger sizes. I know designing and manufacturing a new product is expensive particularly one with larger parts. But please for the love of all that is holy, or rather saving me from years of tinkering and book learning to DIY something, make a bigger stand mount speaker or even a tower!

Forever a fan and eternally grateful/mad you got me started on this horrible addiction called audio.

My first experience with Vanatoo was the purchase of their Transparent Zero speakers, that I’ve been using on my computer desktop. From the beginning, I’ve been thrilled with their sound, appearance and build quality, far better than any desktop speakers that I’ve owned, over the years. I was drawn to the Transparent Zeros by their 87% 5 star rating here and glowing professional reviewer reviews. My desktop audio system has been my primary listening equipment, other than some excellent headphones powered by an external DAC and amplifier, from JDS Labs. Truthfully, the Transparent Ones quickly became my go to equipment.

Wanting an away from computer desktop and more traditional stereo set-up, I was drawn to Vanatoo’s Transparent One Encore speakers. Exemplary reviews, ratings and trust in the Vanatoo company, I purchased a pair of these remarkable speakers. I use the Transparent One Encore pair on 30 inch pedestal stands, about 18 inches away from the opposite wall from my desktop and Transparent Zeros. I love and use both of the models but am enthusiastically enjoying the sound of the Encores. Soundstage is amazing, as the speakers all but disappear, when playing a good quality stereo recording. I love hearing sound stretching wider than and above the speakers. Music seems to float, with excellent instrument and vocal placement. Often listening for hours, I also am constantly amazed at the quality of the bass response, especially considering the Encore’s compact size. That holds true for all frequencies, with the resultant sound much bigger than the speakers. Plenty deep for my office, bass is tight and detailed, thanks much to the passive radiators, on the rear of the speakers, to enhance quality. I’ve grown to really appreciate those, now preferring them to bass ported speakers. The Encore’ present a lifelike, exciting and alive sound. Vocals, both male and female are astonishingly real sounding, most often positioned above the speakers. Love the “air” present in the female vocals. I opted for the cherry finish and the speakers are beautiful and very solidly built. I really appreciate the generous inputs available… USB, coaxial, optical, analog and good bluetooth. The speaker audio settings available is amazing. The owner/designers truly seem to have thought of everything a listener might desire. Even the easily removable speaker grills are impressive, as when re-mounting them, magnets firmly and precisely snap them into place! The very functional remote control is user friendly and contains controls for seemingly every adjustment parameter.

As you can probably tell, I’m completely satisfied with and sold on the Vanatoo speakers. The Transparent Zeros are perfect and amazing desktop speakers. The more expensive Transparent One Encore’s, for me, have been totally worth their cost, easily besting any speakers I have previously owned. The 2 owner/designer partners stand behind their products and even seem to always be available for phone calls and quick reply emails! Highly recommended! Note: the Encores have been used by many satisfied purchasers as desktop speakers as well.

These speakers have blown me away and am very happy with them. Very nice and compact with lots of features and doesnt skimp on quality. Everything has been great so far, I cant stop talking about them when people are over

My first experience with Vanatoo was the purchase of their Transparent Zero speakers, that I’ve been using on my computer desktop. From the beginning, I’ve been thrilled with their sound, appearance and build quality, far better than any desktop speakers that I’ve owned, over the years. I was drawn to the Transparent Zeros by their 87% 5 star rating here and glowing professional reviewer reviews. My desktop audio system has been my primary listening equipment, other than some excellent headphones powered by an external DAC and amplifier, from JDS Labs. Truthfully, the Transparent Ones quickly became my go to equipment.

Wanting an away from computer desktop and more traditional stereo set-up, I was drawn to Vanatoo’s Transparent One Encore speakers. Exemplary reviews, ratings and trust in the Vanatoo company, I purchased a pair of these remarkable speakers. I use the Transparent One Encore pair on 30 inch pedestal stands, about 18 inches away from the opposite wall from my desktop and Transparent Zeros. I love and use both of the models but am enthusiastically enjoying the sound of the Encores. Soundstage is amazing, as the speakers all but disappear, when playing a good quality stereo recording. I love hearing sound stretching wider than and above the speakers. Music seems to float, with excellent instrument and vocal placement. Often listening for hours, I also am constantly amazed at the quality of the bass response, especially considering the Encore’s compact size. That holds true for all frequencies, with the resultant sound much bigger than the speakers. Plenty deep for my office, bass is tight and detailed, thanks much to the passive radiators, on the rear of the speakers, to enhance quality. I’ve grown to really appreciate those, now preferring them to bass ported speakers. The Encore’ present a lifelike, exciting and alive sound. Vocals, both male and female are astonishingly real sounding, most often positioned above the speakers. Love the “air” present in the female vocals. I opted for the cherry finish and the speakers are beautiful and very solidly built. I really appreciate the generous inputs available… USB, coaxial, optical, analog and good bluetooth. The speaker audio settings available is amazing. The owner/designers truly seem to have thought of everything a listener might desire. Even the easily removable speaker grills are impressive, as when re-mounting them, magnets firmly and precisely snap them into place! The very functional remote control is user friendly and contains controls for seemingly every adjustment parameter.

As you can probably tell, I’m completely satisfied with and sold on the Vanatoo speakers. The Transparent Zeros are perfect and amazing desktop speakers. The more expensive Transparent One Encore’s, for me, have been totally worth their cost, easily besting any speakers I have previously owned. The 2 owner/designer partners stand behind their products and even seem to always be available for phone calls and quick reply emails! Highly recommended! Note: the Encores have been used by many satisfied purchasers as desktop speakers as well.

I’ve been a happy owner of the original Transparent One for about 6 years. Based on recent reviews in the audiophile press, I decided to upgrade to the T1 Encore. Wow, am I glad I did! This new version is a fabulous upgrade from what were already great speakers for their size and price range. And the new features, such as BT, remote control, and more flexibility among programmable options are a real plus. Kudos to the very talented gentlemen at Vanatoo!

I purchased a pair of the T-One Encores last October and was so impressed by the soundstage, imaging and versatility of the set I bought a pair of the T-Zeroes in November.

Both systems check all the boxes; clean crisp highs, great mid-range tonality & deep bass that you don’t really need a sub-woofer (unless you’re a bass-head). You can customize the treble and bass settings manually or with the remote control that comes with speakers.

Everything is well thought out & the fit and finish are impressive. They connect with Bluetooth, Toslink Optical, USB, Co-Ax & Analog.

Lastly, the T1-Es had a power issue so I contacted Customer Support. Gary emailed the next day with the following response “The T1E is our new flagship product, we’re proud of it, and we stand behind it.” He attached a pre-paid UPS label, I shipped the active speaker & had it back within a week.

How many Company President/CEOs do you know that would respond in person & so quickly? If you’re in the market for a terrific powered speaker system look no further than Vanatoo.

While most reviewers will be raving about the audio fidelity (and I agree with them) I most want to share how the speaker remote control handset is a really useful tool. This controller has those elastic material buttons which protrude (stick out) a long way so I’m egetting a great tactile feel.

With those buttons all I need is a light press and I’m getting a 100% reliable response.

I’ve given away two sets of speakers simply because they had those flat “membrane action” remote controls, where I would spend a few minutes trying to get the audio levels to change, and the buttons would engage only intermittently (fresh batteries, close to the unit or further away – no improvement).

The Vanatoo remote works from every angle, from every distance, and only requires a soft push. Loving it !

Loved working with these guys and their helpfulness in making my purchase. Love using these as a combination desk/ living room speaker. Plenty of clear sound whether loud or quiet, and excellent host of features.

I have several Vantoo speaker products and they have always performed flawlessly. So I was surprised when my T1E passive speaker quit working after I moved the speakers to a new location. I’m a pretty technical minded person, so I spend some time troubleshooting and wasn’t able to resolve. I emailed Vanatoo to ask for assistance in troubleshooting. Gary responded with the likely cause and provided an immediate solution. He sent me replacement parts in less than a week, which did fix the issue. I am absolutely thrilled! I can’t thank Vanatoo and Gary enough for this outstanding customer service. Did I tell you I purchased the T1E in January 2019 as part of the early shipment of the new design? WOW.

I’ve bought two sets of the T1E’s now. They’re just fantastic. On the second set, I was late on ordering them for my wife’s birthday. I called the mainline and Rick answered the phone. I told him the situation and he promised to get my order out ASAP. I got a tracking number confirmation within 30 minutes of making that order and they arrived at my house a day early. Not many companies I can think of that give that level of service.

The speakers themselves are truly excellent. The clarity they offer, especially on vocal tracks is unmatched. I paired mine with subwoofer because, well, I like loud bassie music sometimes, and when turned up the sub really helps match the punch that the T1Es put out in the higher ranges. If you plan on using these for home theater applications, I would highly recommend a sub. But if not, the T1Es have very respectable bass on their own, and that might do it for you. Best advice is probably to just buy the speakers only first, see if that works for you, and then decide on sub.

Set up was an absolute cinch. The materials are clearly written and easy to understand.

I also REALLY like the remote control. Why? Because they made the volume button a different shape from every other button so it’s easy to find by touch when in the dark. Well done, Vanatoo. Well done.

I am blown away by these speakers, rather this all-in-one speaker system. I have spent the last many years hunting down components that offer the highest level of sound quality for the lowest cost, and the T1E system is the culmination of that effort.

The most expensive speaker system I have owned and listened to over a long period of time is: a PS Audio DSD DAC, PS Audio M700 Monoblock amps, KEF LS50 Meta speakers, with AudioQuest William Tell Zero speaker cables, AudioQuest Sky (v1) interconnects, an AudioQuest Niagara 1200 power filter, AudioQuest NRG-4 power cables, and IsoAcoustic isolators under everything, all fed by Roon over USB. Every one of these components are class leaders, represent the highest sound quality per dollar available (IMHO), and together present music in the most natural, balanced, and effortlessly detailed manner I have experienced. I am providing the details of this system so that you can understand the context of my thoughts and to act the baseline for my sonic comparisons.

The Vanatoo Transparent One Encore system, in my room, properly set up on IsoAcoustic isolators and fed by the AQ Niagara 1200 and a Mac mini running Roon (via USB with AQ Jitterbugs), consistently reminds me of the system detailed above. Over and over, well-known song after song, I keep mentally connecting these two systems. It’s akin to freshly experiencing a nostalgic smell, of something well-known from childhood. Your brain instantly links your present experience with those of the past and all the memories wash over you anew. In fact, the T1E gets so close to achieving the sound of the former system, I am selling all my other speaker components and keeping the T1Es. This is the highest review/recommendation/accolade I can personally provide.

To add to the sheer sonic prowess of this overachieving system, it also is highly compact, convenient, connected, and beautifully finished. It has 5 inputs: USB, coax, optical, 3.5mm analog, and bluetooth. It offers auto-switching among these inputs, for convenience I’ve never had with any other audiophile system. To top it all off, the speakers’ fit-n-finish is at home with the best components available at any price.

Most (every?) speakers and systems have downsides, and the T1Es are no exception. They won’t play uber loud and would not be appropriate for a large room. Their bass extension is commensurate with their cabinet size and won’t dig out the lowest lows, but neither will the KEF LS50 Metas. Also, They aren’t the last word in resolution, accepting up to 96/24 PCM signals, and downsampling everything to 48/24 for internal DSP functions. And speaking of bits, since they sound much better via bit-perfect playback, it’s unfortunate that Vanatoo doesn’t provide a Windows ASIO driver. So, you’ll have to find a third-party driver, or use a Mac instead (which offers bit-perfect playback natively).

Even with their limitations, the T1Es represent the absolute last word in value. I will be recommending them to every music lover and audiophile I know. Why? Because everyone I know CAN afford them and SHOULD own them if they love music. Why? Because they go so much farther down the audiophile rabbit hole than they have any right to, for their asking price. Also, they are so small and well-connected that they should easily fit into anyone’s space and lifestyle. And treated like the audiophile component that they are (with proper placement, isolation, source, and power), they provide a high level of musical enjoyment and refinement. They are THE ONLY all-in-one true audiophile speaker system available for everyone.

I bought a pair of Transparent One Encores a couple of weeks ago to replace a wife-approved sound bar/wireless sub combo that wasn’t remotely making it for me with music. I knew that size was going to be a concern for my home-fashion-conscious wife so I couldn’t go any bigger than the T1Es in our townhome’s living room. I was instantly floored by the fidelity, clarity and imaging of the Vanatoos. I simply can’t believe the bass definition and depth coming from such small speakers, even at background volumes. Songs such as Come Fly With Me by Holly Cole are absolutely stunning. I have seen her live and she has followed me back into my living room via these speakers. Everything is in perfect balance from top to bottom and there is no listener fatigue at any volume. I tried hooking up my Tannoy TS2.10 sub to the T1Es and while there was definitely more and deeper bass, I felt that the sub took away some of the magic from the Vanatoos. While I have owned many far larger and more expensive speakers over the decades, I have zero nostalgia for any of my previous systems. I thought from reading the reviews that the T1Es would be a no-brainer upgrade from my $900 (Canadian) sound bar but I just can’t believe the difference. I will be recommending these speakers to any friends looking for a sound bar or surround-sound alternative. I phoned Gary with a couple of questions and was super-impressed that he showed a genuine interest in chatting with me. Vanatoo is a 100 percent class act. Bravo!

I’ve had my T1 Encore’s for ..wow, almost 2 years now. Writing this review now because even after 2 years, just now when I started listening to them I was so impressed and pleased. Their sound is so tight, accurate, and detailed. The bass is very satisfying as well, even at low volumes – I’m amazed at the amount and depth of it that comes out of these little things. I use them both for desktop listening and to fill the room with music, and they excel at both. I also use them for movies with a computer/projector – in that application I use the bluetooth input and am happy to say there’s no lag. The amount of input options, and being self-contained (self amplified) makes these the best option for a wide variety of people. Really a home run, just wish the Vanatoo name was more well known so that more people could enjoy these. One suggestion would be to be able to adjust settings/programming via a simple phone app. The current programming technique is not ideal, but also not a big deal because you basically set it once and forget it.

As a not very wealthy lover of music, I’ve spent half my life listening to music with whatever I could afford (or was small enough to cart with me), which meant mostly headphones, of which I own some decent ones. Was not till a few years ago that I made the decision to try to build/purchase an actual speaker system of some sort, and like most ignorant people, read a lot of reviews and not nearly enough how to’s. Ended up with systems that were either too large for the room, or near field exclusive, nothing that met my needs. I’ve been fortunate to be able to resell some of the equipment and I finally managed to acquire a pair of Vanatoo t1e, and they are perfect for my needs, excelling at near field, yet still very good at filling my room (which is part computer room, workshop, library, game room).

Started with shelved dsp setting and just set on my desk with some pieces of angled foam, and then a set of 5 inch desktop stands, adjusting the dsp setting away from shelved, and then finally some 9 inch Soundrise stands. I’ve experimented with various positions, toe in, toe out, straight out, ended up with about 18 degrees of toe in set 4 feet apart for best near field and room filling sounds. I don’t own a subwoofer, so I was experiment that route, though I would never add one because of lack of bass, these put out some quality bass that can be felt across my room. I did test out the speakers with a dummy plug attached to sub out so I could test if the mids improved substantially like I have heard in other reviews, but hard to tell with the volume increase and with the bass cut out. Still its great to know I have that option if I ever acquire a quality subwoofer, though it certainly does not lack without, tested with some fairly bass heavy material.

As for what music these are good for, I would again apply the word versatile as the main adjective. With solid quality bass and precision treble, and a well programmed dsp, these have stood the test with what music I have available, mostly flac or straight from my teac cd player, I have listened to Sibelius, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Holst, and some Ravel, using performances I am most familiar with, they have been absolutely all that I could hope for. I switched to jazz, Grover Washington Jr, Vince Guaraldi, Coltrane, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and Bill Evans, and found they are slightly too revealing for some of the poorly mastered cd’s that I have, but sounded stellar with the rest, though I would be the first to say that I have some old recordings of Bill Evans that are nearly unlistenable on almost any system, more’s the pity.

Changed gears to more modern sources, and while I again ran into some issues with some poorly mastered cd’s, as these speakers played whatever they were fed, I could still enjoy the bulk of my rock and roll collection, not going to mention all the names tested, but I have definitely spanned the bulk of a century at any rate, neglecting only content from the last decade or so. Even tried some metal, though again mastering of old/new metal is questionable, still had some good sounds, particularly opeth and tool.

Bass I tested with what bass laden content I have, which is Beastie Boys (very very good), Tron:legacy soundtrack, and some more milder compositions that were Cello heavy. These have no issues with bass, accurate to the content played, could really be cranked, if that is your thing, with the included, and highly functional, bass and treble adjustment knobs. Which I should more than mention, I’ve rarely found an eq supplied with any speaker that made much of a difference, but the ones on the Vanatoos were exceptional, if anything they were a little too aggressive, a small turn of the knob makes a huge difference, really allows a lot of adjustment.

I have a very limited selection of country music, and would be a poor judge of its accuracy, that goes for a lot of the music produced in the last couple of decades, though I try not to artificially limit myself based on preconceptions and am always on the lookout for something worthwhile. I’ve tried a few times to get into electronic music, but with how fast it has blossomed and no set route of distribution, I have found myself left behind and uncertain how to navigate to find quality examples. I’m sure someone else here can/have be a better judge for anyone reading these reviews looking for particulars.

One last note, I do like the auto source algorithm, at least for how I use them. I keep these off when not in use and rarely switch sources in the middle of a listening session, but turning them on and no matter what source I decide to use at that particular time, they are very quick to pick up on and they keep on it for the remainder of my session. Perfect for me, would not change a thing.

Going to cut this short, too much to do and so little time, thanks for a great product, hope to enjoy it for years to come.

I’ve owned numerous speakers, however, none with the combined versatility and sound of the Transparent One Encore speakers!

I recently purchased the brand new, Audioengine HD4 speakers. When my notebook was placed next to the powered speaker, a terrible feedback happened . I contacted support and their solution was to, …move them away from the power source 🙂  Also, no treble or bass settings on the HD4’s and the sound simply wasn’t great. These Encore’s on the other hand – all I can say is WOW! For approx. $150.00 more than the HD4’s and/or about the same price as the HD5’s, ….if you’re unsure, I would highly recommend to simply try them. I’ll wager a bet you won’t be returning them! Fantastic, small remote, excellent input options, Bluetooth has worked seamlessly, ….and again, the sound is amazing! I have a SONOS set-up in my living room, which I’ll now be retiring and replacing with another set of these speakers!! I couldn’t imagine the sound if you added a SUB! Way to go Vanatoo, keep up the great work!!  BTW – what Audioengine has going for them is slick marketing and advertising – with an inferior product. If you picked it up a notch with your online presence (coming from someone who builds websites, i.e., your website is weak), ….you’d see Audioengine in your rear view mirror 🙂

I found these giant killer(Transparent One) speakers at the Washington DC audio show. I am an audiophile, my systems include Klipschhorns,Mcintosh,Parasound,Quad Z4 and others.

During the audition I kept thinking I must have been drugged as I couldn’t believe the sound coming from the little things. The production was still several months away but I quickly purchased two pair. I carry one pair around like a puppy just to blow my other audiophile friends 3 to 5 k systems away. If you only have 500 bucks, this system is the biggest bang

for the buck I have found. Gary and Rick, Keep up the great work.

I’ve had my Vanatoo Transparent One’s for about a year now and I still love them. Over the past year Vanatoo updated the driver software and it definitely improved the mid-range. They are always available by phone and are über helpful. At their price I think it would be hard to find anything better especially if you want bass extension.

I’d like to mention two tweaks. 1) I got the isoAcoustics stands which improved the sound. 2) I first tried with USB but had a Peactree X1 USB to SPdif converter. I do think there was a clear improvement using SPDIF through a coaxial connection. The peachtree converter broke and I was able to buy the inexpensive DOUK Audio “U2” USB to SPDIF converter which has an XMOS ship to decrease USB flutter and this works great to improve the sound over direct USB connection.

It is so nice to see that there are still companies out there putting love into their products. My Vanatoo speakers blow my mind every time I turn them on.

A loudspeaker has to been really good for me to listen for hours on end, day after day. My new T1Es have passed that test with ease, after a month of daily use. I’ve been involved with audiophile systems since the 1950’s and have lived with many great systems and listened to many others at audio shows and dealers. The T1Es are very musical, reveal lots of subtle details, and have at times startled me with what sounded like something was happening in my room. Yes, for a LOT more money a person with a discerning ear could say the reproduction is even better, particularly if your room is really large and you like to listen at high volumes, but even then adding a good subwoofer might be enough to keep you happy. Kudos to Rick Kernen and Gary Gesellchen for fine ears to assess it all and the engineering and product delivery chops to make it happen.

I used to have – and love – Apogee Calipers, ribbon speakers with an amazing presence. Those days are long ago, and I was looking for a transparent sound with great imaging without dedicating my life and living room to speakers, amp, pre-amp, and cables. I did a lot of research, and it seemed like these would fit the bill. (And the 30-day guarantee didn’t hurt.) I was thrilled from the moment I heard the beginning notes of my audio test recording (Frederica von Stade singing “Una voce poco fa” from Mozart and Rossini Arias on Philips). I could hear the breath; everyone was in the proper place, spread out in front of me. I followed that up with Mel Torme singing “Too Close for Comfort” (Verve Compact Jazz), and it was just as good. And that was cold, out of the box. They have only improved with time, and my listening experience is so much more enjoyable now.

I had some questions as I was considering the purchase and called Vanatoo. Rick returned my calls and was very patient with me and extremely helpful.

I’m so happy that I purchased these! Thank you, Vanatoo.

(These are sitting on IsoAcoustics ISO 155 stands, set up on my desktop, with backs exposed to the room.)

You know, in our world of excessive consumption, we often times regret our purchases, looking back. Perhaps it seemed right at the time, it was enticing, it was new. You wanted it. But once the shine wears off, all you’re left with is a piece of plastic and a hole in your pocket. I really didn’t want to fall into this trap, and so I made sure to do a very thorough research before I purchased a set of powered speakers. And let me tell you something…

I’m so glad I did. My purchase of Vanatoo’s T1E is honestly the best decision I’ve made recently. I believe it’s been around a year since I got them, and the amount of joy they have brought into my apartment is infinite. I never felt a sliver of regret.

They’re very easy to handle, look beautiful and have an excellent sound quality to them. My classic trance playlist is done full justice by these speakers. Only thing that slightly bothers me is the blue light on the back of the left speaker that beams a little too bright.

All in all, simply a masterpiece.

As a longtime audiophile I was a little skeptical about ordering the Transparent One Encore without having listened to them before. I decided to trust the positive reviews and the 30 day money back guarantee offered by Vanatoo, and give them a try. Right from the start I could tell that this company was first rate: Ordering process, email communication and timely shipment went smoothly (in the middle of COVID 19 lockdown).

I got these speakers primarily for near-field music listening on my desk, in my second home. I‘ll just go out and say I couldn’t have made a better choice. Attention to every detail has been placed in designing this product. They look great, they are easy to operate, and above all sound transparent and true to the music, specially when connecting to the USB digital input from my laptop. It’s not even been a month yet but I have spend endless hours enjoying all kinds of music on these special little music makers.

Keep up the good work!

These speakers are so good. I really am in awe. The sound quality is extraordinary and the ease of use and wide range of connections makes them super versatile. Very happy with this purchase.

I’m not an audiophile but like getting good sound. I before had a SA 1550 column speaker and NAD3020 + DAC Hi Fidelity + Tidal.

I get tired of those system that need a minimum volume to get all sound out even if they are very good when out. I use it for near field listening on my desk but have tried on living room it fill the room pretty good with Quality sound. With Just this Speaker using USB or BT I havent really felt any quality loss. it streamline the entrire sound quality and as a result I’m now listing at much less volume and the details is just good. i listen Classic for Working and Cool Electro house to chill out and all sound texture is so well rended / highligted all sound work / mix is very well rended. I really enjoy.

I start to be anoyed by previously unoticed noise like AC starting or LAptop fan starting since you have such low back ground noise you really enjoy the dynamique. focus on pianissimo part then get the amplitude of a forte surprising you.

Dont know what to say if not supporting those people dedicated and driven by passion of sound. their 30 days listing is as well a commitment and trust in their product.

Thumb Up.

Holy cow! I thought the Vanatoo T1Es were great for blues that I normally listen to. I was wrong. They are even better for jazz. I’m listening to Miles Davis and Miles is in the center, some kind of high-pitched drum is on the right, and a softer wind instrument is on my left. I’ve NEVER heard such instrument separation before and I feel guilty at the pleasure. How do the speakers manage to place the center image so precisely between the speakers emanating from my PC screen where there is nothin?!

Beginnings of a Vanatoo T1E review.

The box is really neat, did not have to be cut or destroyed so it can be used indefinitely to store or move the speakers and comes with a carrying handle built-in so can be easily carried. Very smart engineering.

Each speaker double wrapped in soft cloth-like paper as well as plastic. Love the cherry wood (not vinyl but real wood). Looks very expensive. Don’t tell Gary but after seeing them, I would have paid $1599 and not $599 for them. Might I say looks just like the expensive PSB cherry models.

Straight out of the box, they sound better than any speakers I’ve had. This is with factory bass/treble and all other factory settings. I haven’t attached the little isolation pads or purchased Isoacoustic stands, nor played with toe in.

The speakers are 4-5′ apart on a desk, 1-1.5′ from front wall, and 5′ from side walls. I’m about 3′ from each speaker and I pointed them straight at me. Connected by USB out from my PC.

As far as I can tell, toe in doesn’t make a difference when I altered it hugely, which is a good thing. I mean the sweet spot is huge and there seems to be no bad way to point them. The bass is very good–gives a lot of presence to the music that I was not getting earlier. Painful lead guitar blues is not painful/fatiguing but very pleasing. How do they do that? Vocals are very very good and centered. My desk gives very pleasing vibrations to my finger from the music as I type.

Sound is natural, not processed. All this is with my hearing aids off. I guess it’ll blow me out of the water with them on but I’m just testing slowly for now.

The official pictures on Vanatoo’s website are very bad and misleading compared to how beautiful the speakers are in person. Which amateur took these pics, guys? Why is the beautiful black baffle photographed so poorly on your website. I almost didn’t buy the T1E due to these pics and expected to have to keep the grills on all the time. I haven’t unpacked the grills yet and don’t intend to!

I just received the Vanatoo t one encores and couldn’t be happier. I’ve had for the last three years the JBL ls305’s and in my living room they sounded ok. I couldn’t put them where they really needed to be. In the open about three feet from any wall they sound great. But I had them in a entertainment cabinet on the ground even though they’re rear ported. Needless to say they sounded boomy in that spot. Also had them connected to a powered homemade subwoofer but the mix never sounded quite right. Fast forward to last Saturday when the Vanatoo’s arrived. same exact position same subwoofer without changing any of the optional settings. HOLY COW! literally they sound amazing. Our living room is 25ft long and 14 feet wide with very high ceilings and just using Bluetooth sounds amazing. Thanks so much for the great product, couldn’t be happier to be honest.

After 2 months of ownership I lost count of how many times I drifted off to sleep to amazingly nuanced mids, highs and satisfying bass that enveloped the entire apartment. I love closing my eyes and visualizing all of the sound sources because the imaging is so good ( even at soft volume levels ). These speakers truly are transparent! Especially on speaker stands, flat DSP settings and disabled compressors.

After finding the magic speaker position that coupled them with my living room – the bass response out of these tiny enclosures is shocking. I am using them as my main HT/Music system, with a mix of Netflix and EDM/Jazz/Hip-hop from Amazon HD.

I re-watched the first two seasons of “Dark” just to hear it again. It’s unbelievable how good of a cinematic experience you can get with just 2 speakers when you have this kind of imaging and transparency. I am able to sit anywhere in our living room and hear dialog that lines up with mouths. I get awesome dispersion and sound stage with minimal toe in. The bass extension is so good that thunder sounds believable, with enough power to pass the “adjacent room” test.

Speaking of power, these will get your neighbors complaining even without a sub (ask me how I know). They are very energetic, so any small to midsize room will “sing” and amplify bass response down to the mid 40s. These are astonishing figures, for any 2 way bookshelf speaker, regardless of size. So you will find that these will get as loud and as low as you can reasonably expect for apartment living.

Whenever I will decide to upgrade these, I would have to be looking at something like KEF LS50W, Buchardt S400 or Dynaudio Xeo 10/20 to be worth the SQ gain and ONLY if my next living room is significantly larger than my current one. The speakers I listed cost over $2000 and not all are active, because NOTHING under 2k can even get close to the combination of size, performance and versatility that is Vanatoo T1E.

There are speakers out there in the 600$ range that might be as musical, but they won’t be as good for home theater, or they might be good for home theater but not as musical. Most likely they will be much bigger and won’t have the kind of tight and powerful bass combined with the amazing imaging and transparency. These speakers have awoken the dormant audiophile in me after a 20 year hiatus and now im shopping around for high end speaker stands 🙂

Speaking of speaker stands, my only gripe is the lack of detachable power chord. Because most stands on the market have routing that is far too narrow for a power plug.

A small price to pay for otherwise phenomenal system.

Also, these are underrated on Amazon because some of the reviews are written by ignorant users who don’t know how to setup speakers and blame Vanatoo for Bluetooth limitations which apply to all brands. So don’t spend too much time dwelling on them.

If you’ve seen some of the video reviews on these, you already know these speak for themselves. At this price range (and honestly even over $1,000) for this form factor and size. You’re getting something I can barely rationalize. Only now are companies starting to offer something somewhat similar to what these are capable of. The amount of convenience and creature comforts offered here are simply wonderful. The connectivity options alone sell these speakers. And for anyone looking to get great audio without the rabbit hole of amps, dacs, pre amps, and all the requirements that comes with getting and having the capacity for such setups.

I love the enclosed cabinet, and the bass that is produced as a result, and by extension it makes the dedicated Subwoofer-out connection almost redundant for people like me living in a New York City apartment.

The DSP options in place do a nice job of keeping the speaker tamed to avoid damage to the drivers when really pushing these to/and beyond their limits. But for those who want to take such risks, such settings can be disabled and you can go out and tinker to your preference.

It’s very perplexing to try and pigeon-hole these speakers to a specific use-set. When in fact you can use them for critical listening when set up properly. Or basic living room TV watching, the quality of sound is there, and (again) the ease of use also is there to facilitate laymen use. On a side note, anyone even remotely considering getting a sound-bar should avoid them at all costs. Not really because they’re all terrible (compared to these, they pretty much are though), but the fact these exist at such a price – soundbars have almost no place in the living room provided you have a few feet of space to place these on the sides of a television.

One bonus is the easy grill on-and-off magnetic mechanism. Very useful for those times you want them to not stand out, but taking the grill off, and you’re greeted with a very attractive contemporary look. Oh and the remote control is perfect in my opinion. Feels nice and has all the controls I need right there (really good job with that).

The experience of these now makes me want to spring for their desktop Transparent Zero speakers to replace a bunch of useless desktop speakers from years ago.

I was on the hunt for a new set of computer speakers. I had the 5.1 THX Creative Lab speakers… They were nice, but I wanted something better for music. Something I could listen to while working, that could also be used for gaming. Something to give that awe factor where I would want to listen to higher quality recordings. I had a Sonos Play 5. I wanted more.

After reading a number of reviews online, I decided to try out the Transparent Zeros. They were amazing! Great bass and clarity for the size. I was blown away. I also loved the Bluetooth functionality. After researching more, I came across the next step up, the Transparent One Encores. I had read how a subwoofer was not needed. I bit the bullet, and I decided to upgrade.

After receiving the One Encores, I realized how right the reviews were. The sound coming out of these speakers are unreal, and Vanatoo outdid themselves again.

I listened for a good amount of time with the speakers by themselves, and just now added a subwoofer. Simply plug and play, the speakers detect the cable, and pass the lower frequency to the subwoofer. The speakers sound amazing with, and without the subwoofer (SVS SB-1000). In all honestly though, the subwoofer may go back. These speakers are that good without them.

Great job Vanatoo. What is included with this package is definitely worth more than the price you are selling them at. I even sold my Sonos Play 5. That was my old “main” speaker in the bedroom/office. These have taken over, and are so much better. Thank you for making these.

Because music listening enthusiast come from different backgrounds, I think it’s important to explain how I personally started. Going back to college I began with a pair of Logitech Z-2300 and these were a lot of fun for a couple of years, but when a roommate blew out the left satellite speaker i decided to try out a pair of Klipsch ProMedia 2.1. Now both of these respected 2.1 computer systems have already been reviewed numerous times and what is commonly said is 100% true. The Z-2300 8 inch subwoofer punches very hard but the satellite speakers left something to be desired. While the Klipsch were the complete opposite, in that the satellites were super bright and clear but the 6.5 inch subwoofer always felt lacking, which was unfortunate when it came to Saturday nights.

Fast forward a few years later and I’m living in a downtown apartment and decide to acquire a “surround sound system”. At the time, space was limited so I went with the Vizio SB4551. While it’s described as being a 5.1 it’s really a 3.1. A 45inch soundbar with two rear satellite speakers that plug directly into a flat 8 inch subwoofer that goes underneath the couch. While getting everything connected to the wifi was a pain in the butt, once completed i was very happy with the new set up. When it came to watching sports the Vizio’s did a great job of immersing you with the noise of the crowd, and action movies were even better when you get to sit directly on top of the sub. That being said, I always considered the musical performance of the Vizio’s as being just good, and that was only after extensively tweaking the settings on the Vizio smartcast app for weeks. I should also mention that by this time in my life I had friends with true Polk & Klipsch 5.1 systems and there was simply no denying the quality difference in sound, but as I already stated the space was not there.

Now in present day I’m living in a different city with a slightly bigger apartment but the itch for stereo quality speakers has finally consumed me.The good news for myself and anyone with a smaller living space is in 2018 powered bookshelf speakers that you could plug in and play started to become a more common offering. But after conducting a fair amount of research the remark I continued to see was that these speakers still needed a subwoofer to complete the overall sound. To be specific, I’m talking about the Kanto YU6, Audioengine A5+, and SVS Prime wireless. But come this past July/August i start to see reviews about the Vanatoo T1 Encore, and specifically noticed the comments about the unique passive radiator subwoofer design that was allowing for deep bass that had not been heard in this segment before. I continued to monitor the internet for the next several weeks and what I saw was everyone coming to the same conclusion. The Vanatoo T1 Encore can really do it all and so I ordered them with knowing there’s a 30 days return policy.

After they were delivered my very first impression was lifting the box and thinking dang these are heavy. Then when it came to the setup it was extremely easy and in about 10 minutes I connected the bluetooth to Spotify on my phone (Audiophiliac gasp as i’m not using Tidal or taking advantage of the usb or optical inputs ). But guess what? I’m not that guy and after the first week I could not be happier. My expectations have been exceeded and with the little space that these speakers occupy I’m amazed with the variety and level of sound that they can produce. When you read about speakers a lot of times you’ll see them referred to as either being flat (Elac) or bright (Klipsch). In my opinion the T1 Encores have figured out a way to do both. It’s hard to explain but listening to Fleetwood Mac or Tom Petty the acoustic guitar and vocals are super clear and neutral, but when you switch over to Drake or Travis Scott these speakers come alive with sound that you can actually feel.

Now my current listening space is a 9ft X 15ft family room with the speakers being 9.5ft from the couch and am thoroughly impressed with how even at lower volumes the T1 fill the room with clear instrumental sound. No lie, I believe if you were to blindfold a person and tell them they were listening to surround speakers they would believe you. Out of everything that this setup has to offer the soundstage is the most impressive part. For two speakers that are just under 11 inches they seriously make you wonder how is this possible? Which brings me to my next point, some mainstream audio reviewers are calling these desktop speakers, and the sweet spot is 3ft away but any further it’s not the same. I would have to disagree and say you’re grossly underselling these speakers to the average consumer. While I understand their footprint would give most people the impression they’re meant for a desk, these speakers will sound great in any small or medium size living room. Scouts honor.

Ultimately the reason why I felt compelled to write this review is because I believe there are a lot of other people like myself who are craving a better listening experience but if you go to a store they will either try to sell you a more expensive sound bar or tell you to purchase a receiver, tower speakers, subwoofer, etc. to get the desired performance. So what happens is we don’t do anything and continue to settle for what we have. I’m here to tell you that unless you don’t have the budget there is no longer a reason to settle. There’s not doubt in my mind that Vanatoo is going to upset a lot of Audiophalic purists because what Rich & Gary have created are speakers that are cheaper, easier, and sound just as good for a quarter of the price.

Okay, let me start with a disclaimer, I don’t profess to be a “audiophile” — but I know good music when I hear it and good equipment — like Transparent 1 Encore speakers in this instance — when I hear them. So I spent this past winter/spring researching; then purchasing, all the best equipment I could afford to set up a home recording studio for my pianist wife. I started from square one and spent around $9K, which I state only for the purpose of assuring you if I needed to spend more to get top notch “studio monitors” I would have done so. Yes, it was in my research for transparent studio monitors that I stumbled across Vanatoo, a company I’d never heard of. I’ve never shied away from purchasing sound system components directly from manufacturers (if comfortable they stand behind their products) as I’ve had great success in doing so throughout the years and would sooner pay the researcher/developer/manufacturer a premium (if necessary) than support a store front that needs to tack on all their sales & overhead costs. So I called Vanatoo a couple of times, and ended up speaking with Gary and Rick (the co-owners) answering their own phones each time — very impressive! With the assurance that these guys know and stand behind their products I had no issue with giving the speakers a whirl for their intended use as studio monitors, my greatest concern being the recording studio area being 24 ft. square and whether or not the Transparent One’s could fill it? With very little tweaking the speakers presented a fabulous sound stage and would have checked all the boxes for great studio monitors — the LAST equipment I intended to purchase. Unfortunately (for me) the Vanatoos not only filled the room with sound, they were way to MUSICAL not to wish to play my other recorded music (previously restricted to my home theater equipment/room) through as well:>) So back on the phone to Vanatoo requesting their suggestion for a sub-woofer that could keep up with the Transparent Ones. No only was their recommendation immediate, it was another company, RSL, I’d never heard of. I’ll save my glowing recommendation for the RSL Speedwoofer 10S (and that company’s top-notch owners) for their web site but suffice it to say these Vanatoo speakers and that Speedwoofer are a marriage made in heaven! If one were to put on Spyro Gyra’s ‘Heart Of The Night’ or ‘Breakfast At Igor’s’ (as mere examples) and remain in their seat, check your pulse, chances are you’ve passed!

I was looking for a sound bar for the TV in the family room plus I wanted to play music through it when the TV was off

I did a lot of research and came across the Vanatoo speakers so I started reading the reviews. The Transparent One Encore

are second generation speakers so I figured that if there were any bugs they would be worked out by now . I received the

speakers this last February and wanted to give them a good workout before writing a review. These speakers are awesome.

When watching a good action movie it puts you in the scene as if the sound is coming right at you.

Playing music through them is also a great experience. You can adjust the base and treble, plus a whole lot more, from the remote for your listening pleasure

if you are looking for great speakers that will fit anywhere in a room with great sound these are the ones. They have a subwoofer option

but you probably won’t need it

In October of 2018, I wanted to replace an old set of speakers and a receiver with a set of powered speakers. I found Vanatoo on the net. I sent an email inquiring about the purchase of the T1s. Rick Kernen replied that those were out of stock, but the T1Es would be available in the Spring of 2019. Based upon what I read about Vanatoo and their products, I preordered the T1E speakers. These speakers are very good. You will not find other speakers with the sound, build quality, and functionality at Vanatoo’s price. Thanks guys.

Well, after much anticipation I received these on 3/25. I didn’t have time earlier in the week to test them out but yesterday I did. After putting the T1E’s through their paces I’ve decided I made the right choice. My listening room is 15×12 so I wanted something to fill that. These do with ease. I set the treble and bass knobs up all the way with the main volume at roughly 10 o’clock. Started with the bluetooth option and played some tracks I thought would be good tests. The big, airy drum sound Neil Peart has on Animate by Rush had an almost concert hall-like feel. Angel by Massive Attack had the ribs thumping from the bass. One reason I picked these speakers as an upgrade from my Edifier 2.1 set was the hope that I wouldn’t need a separate subwoofer and to keep the tangle of cables to a minimum. These speakers check both of those boxes for me. Maybe in time I will add a sub but for now I think the bass is more than adequate. I switched over to the usb input to try some songs on my computer. At first I was unimpressed, it didn’t seem as loud as I imagined. But, after tinkering with some sound settings (PC owners – check the “loudness equalization” option, it makes a huge difference) I achieved the desired effect and was happy yet again. I’m sure these will last me a long time, the heft of the speakers even had the UPS guy saying he was going to send me his chiropractor bill. So congrats on a well made product, Vanatoo.

I needed another set of speakers last October, and choosing Vanatoo again was a no-brainer. The only downside was waiting 3 months for my pre-ordered T1Es to arrive. Now they are here, and — as I expected — it was worth the wait.

I now own 3 pairs of Vanatoos: 2 T1’s and now the T1E. Both models are fantastic speakers: audiophile quality in a compact format without the hassle or expense of separate components, expensive cables, etc. Other speaker systems, which are only so-so in audio quality, are marketed heavily for convenient streaming and will even sell you expensive special-purpose streaming boxes. But you don’t need that with Vanatoo: just plug your old laptop into it via USB and you’ve got an instant audiophile streaming home stereo!

Or drive the speakers right from your phone: the T1E now has built-in Bluetooth and an input-switching remote control — both things that were obviously lacking on the original T1. I sometimes watch movies on my laptop, with sound through the Vanatoos. The T1E hooked up through Bluetooth sounds great, and performs perfectly in audio/video sync tests on my MacBook. For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucZl6vQ_8Uo . Again, this is a step up from the original T1s, where I used a long USB cable to watch movies because of unacceptable delay in the external Bluetooth.

Other than the new Bluetooth, the T1E also has a better and easier speaker wire connecting the two. That is nice, no need to fiddle with old-style connecters anymore, just plug it in and screw it down. I’m sure the T1Es sound better too; but I’m not counting, both sound excellent. My one nitpick is the T1E now has a built-in power cord, vs. the plug-in power cord of the T1; this is less flexible, for example, if you need a longer power cord or if the original is damaged. Overall, I am 110% satisfied; all the minor downsides of the original T1 have been fixed. Not to mention the solid and beautiful wooden cases. If you care about top-flight engineering and excellent sound quality, Vanatoo is the way to go.

These T1E speakers are phenomenal and while they were playing at full volume in the living room, I went into the bathroom and experienced the same visceral sensation I would get if I were in a bar bathroom while live music was being played 50 feet away. Listening to them is just short of a religious experience for me and although I didn’t see God, I think I heard applause from heaven when I was blasting the Old School tune “ Spirit in the Sky”. Once again Vanatoo has surprised me by improving upon a nearly perfect product and I can’t wait for my fourth set of speakers so hurry up guys. By the way, in my experience as a repeat customer, dealing with the guys at Vanatoo is always a pleasure, whether I needed technical advice or help when UPS lost my shipment, they did whatever it took to help me out and that is priceless.

Took a bit of a chance on the Vanatoo T1E speakers; they’re the nicest speakers I’ve ever purchased, but I’m completely satisfied. No regrets at all. I’m still going through my playlists and trialing speaker placement, but I’m so impressed with (as best I can describe it) the lifelike sound– something about the clarity, balance, and soundstage comes together to bring the musicians to the middle of in my room.

I don’t normally go out of my way to write reviews but for this product I feel compelled to. I had a few complications related to my order and Rick really went out of his way to ensure the best service possible. The speakers themselves are perfect for a desk setup, providing great sound and are jam packed with features. Given the price, these should be a no-brainer choice for speakers in this category.

I was shocked that these speakers sounded better than the Transparent Zeros. Yes, I expected a little more bass, but the Transparent One Encore is simply a more refined-sounding speaker. It produces a large sound with deeper and tighter bass and a more delicate top end. Don’t misread that last comment. It’s only the top end that is delicate; this speaker sounds big and bold.

Given their price, and all the negatives associated with Bluetooth technology, these speakers sounded shockingly good. The Transparent One Encore represented a big musical leap forward in terms of refinement, smoothness on top, and image size, but the little Transparent Zero did quite well on the satisfaction scale. Given the speaker’s extension and sound, and the fact that it produced bass without aid from a subwoofer (such as the one in the photo, which was not in use), Vanatoo earned my “Bargain Price Powered Loudspeaker of [AXPONA] Day One” Award.