The Transparent One Encore Plus is an awesome speaker, much better than I anticipated. I had considered getting the KEF LSXII. However, the price scared me off a bit, so I went out on a limb with the Vanatoo speaker. I am soooo glad that I did, these speakers sound so much fuller that the KEF. But this isn’t the point of the review. What I really want to stress is that this is a company that truly cares about it’s customers. There was an issue with Amazon shipping and Rick intervened with something that was technically out of their (Vanatoo’s) control and made everything right! This is a company that everyone should support, if not for the kind of service I experienced, then for their quality products.

Nice!

Thanks to Gary for helping me to understand the difference between a Y RCA cable and a subwoofer cable. I now have my Encore Speakers paired with Rogers Sound Lab (RSL) Speed Subwoofer, the audio is smooth, detailed, the speakers and sub sound are one. The musical clarity is outstanding. The OH MY! response is because I originally used bluetooth to play through my Apple TV. The sound quality wasn’t living up to what I read about. It was hard to put my finger on what I was not getting, it seemed the mids were covered with a veil, the overall sound was not uniformly good to my ear, the overall performance wasn’t quite what I expected. I decided to re-connect this time through my lap top. The sound quality was vastly improved. My eyes watered my mouth opened, I said to myself, finally, I got what I paid for and it works as advertised. It turns out Apple TV’s default is Dolby 5.1 which needed to be turned off for the audio to have a more even presentation and be masked. That was news to me. Now I am getting the fullness of the combination of what was intended by Vanatoo and RSL, a combination that punches well above its weight.

I regret my Transparent Encore one Plus purchase. I regret as someone who does appreciate a good audio experience that I waited so long to spend a few bucks more into my PC desktop monitors. I’ve owned ‘better than basic’ systems for a while now, Kanto YU2’s with a sub, a sound blaster Katana before that, Beyerdynamic MX300s. Then, some good Klipsch 8000F’s some SVS equipment and, Sony Quad’s for home theater. The V2’s have absolutely destroyed my basic expectations from high end thoroughly. I’m pairing this with a small 8″ Jambo 808 sub at ear level. I 3d printed some stands to point them better to my ears The shear level of volume, precision in bass , response and all of the other audio-phone snobbery phrases and words used to describe “good noises” are applicable here. I actually cried when I first listened to them. music selection and good wine was important of course . A set of teal Kanto YU4’s was on the order history when I decided to cancel and select Vanatoo’s powered monitors and, I don’t think I’ve ever felt better in cancelling an order. These speakers have all the features, quality in experience, bass weighted profile , build quality, real veneer cherry wood and evidence of passionate people helping them that I’m questioning my whole home audio experience now. Great work Vanatoo, I hope you transition into some bigger towers for home theater soon!

I just purchased a set of T1 Encore +’s and WOW….. just, WOW! Full transparency; I’ve been using the original T-Zeros as computer speakers for years, so I was already a fan of Vanatoo. I was so impressed the Zeros on my computer that I’ve purchased several pairs of T Zeros and Zero +’s as gifts for close friends and family. Because of my experience with the original zeros, I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy the bigger ones for several years. Well, the time has finally come and I couldn’t be happier! I had high expectations and these puppies blew them out of the water! I have them paired with a high-quality 10″ powered sub and the sound is absolutely amazing! I just listed to Master of Puppets so loud that it was painful, without a hint of distortion. I’m not an audio professional by any means, but I appreciate music, and I can tell the difference between good and great sounding speakers….these are great speakers!

I would also like to commend you for maintaining your pricing at a fair level and not “cashing in” on the success of your fantastic speakers. If there was a Nobel prize for integrity, Gary and Rick deserve it. I believe you guys began with a goal to make an amazing sounding powered computer/bookshelf speaker, yet make it affordable. You have succeeded in spades. Thank you for an amazing experience! I will be buying more Vanatoo speakers in the future!

As of writing this, I’ve tested multiple bookshelf speakers and soundbars. I’ve tried Bose, Sonos, B&W 606, Klipsch RP6000, along with some budget amps and high-quality AB/D amps like Pro-Ject and Cambridge.

While I absolutely love my B&W 606 S3, the value and incredible sound you get from the Vanatoo T1E+ is simply outstanding. The imaging and soundstage are great, but the most impressive thing is how big they sound. You can really feel how they fill a small room, enveloping you in sound.

The game-changer, though, was enabling “compression off” and “flat mode” in the DSP settings. (*These are precautionary parameters set by Vanatoo. While I highly recommend enabling them, be mindful of how loud you play your speakers.)

Before enabling flat mode and turning off compression, the speakers sounded… well, average. Honestly, I was disappointed. With all the hype around these speakers, I was expecting more. But then I followed the advice from Z Reviews and unlocked their full potential. WOW—just WOW. The transformation was incredible. These are, hands down, the best value speakers I’ve heard.

I honestly don’t know where else you can spend $600 to get speakers and an amp—or powered speakers—that outperform these. If you’ve been on the fence, like I was for the past 10 years, I wholeheartedly recommend giving these a try. You won’t regret it!

Earlier I purchased Vanatoo Transparent Zero to be played on my desk. Realizing their performance were slice of listening in the sweet spot. It gave me the urge to purchase Vanatoo’s Encore Speakers. The pair rest on sound speaker stands, with a glass base plate on a wooden floor. Beneath the speakers are Iso Acoustics pucks, effectively separating the speakers from the pedestal to prevent unwanted vibrations that can potentially smear sound quality. I have not placed them were they can perform best, I simply wanted to see how they performed, plug and play. When music is piped through high resolution, straight out of the box the buyer will be treated to a quality of music the artist originally intended. It gets even better when you decide where best to put them. Hats off to the Vanatoo team for engineering quality sound at a reasonable price. As a longtime music lover, please accept my heartfelt appreciation for keeping my passion to music alive and well.

This is my second set of Vanatoo speakers, the first are the Transparent Zero series. Have you ever had a slice of cake that melts in your mouth? A slice of mouth watering pep and cheese pizza that tastes even better than it appears? In my opinion the Vanatoo brand is like that slice of cake that melts in your mouth, or that pizza exceeding expectation on the first bite. Vanatoo Speakers are built to handle audio demands just as capably as equipment twice the price; furthermore the speakers can be repaired. This is a beautiful thing when most of what we purchase cannot be repaired in other areas like flat screen TVs, they can only replaced.

I see no reason my Vanatoo speakers could not last for twenty or more years because of the better material build quality, and precise attention to detail. The Encore Series of speakers are a slice of the good life, which never leaves me wanting. For what they are designed and engineered to do at a price point, the musicality of said speakers are brimming with sounds yet to be heard once more. Vanatoo’s Encore’s quality performance will remain sonically relevant and enjoyed for decades to come.

I find translation of music through audio to be therapeutic as well as enjoyable. I remember reading the term “Transparent One.” That tag line resonates with what I need in my life. My line of work has me dealing with the “Transparent One” at end of life working in hospice. The performance and engineering spec with Vanatoo precisely eases my mind and heavy heart at the end of the day. The sense of customer service matters to me also, because I am a people person. On Youtube ‘Joe n Tell’ rated Vanatoo powered bookshelf speakers comparable to brands like Kef and Elac. My take is that Vanatoo speakers are a result of a passion and commitment to every single speaker produced by Gary and “the other half” Rick. They have an old fashioned pride and our accountable for what they put out here representing not only the Vanatoo name, but also the tag line, Technology Serving Art. I have seen and read that both men value craftsmanship, performance and the joy of listening to music as it should be, without interference.

I have found as near field speakers the music is as pristine as emerald water on a sunny afternoon in the tropics. To pursue the point, once I received my initial set of speakers, I listened to Eva Cassidy sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World, I knew then I made the right decision. Please take a moment to read about this lady who passed away at 33 years of age in 1996 as a local talent; whose vocals and guitar skills became realized and appreciated decades after her death. So much so the London Symphony Orchestra has recorded her songs and released her music in 2023 as she sings lead. Point being, the makers of Vanatoo Transparent Zero Speakers honor the gift that Eva Cassidy was to all of us in a superb manner via the precision and efficiency of speaker technology as they know it to be true.

I can only attribute it to the tireless work ethic of both men who love what they do and like her, are masterful. I realize the talent and the high emotional IQ of Gary and Rick’s interpretation of the best speaker money can buy on a a budget, right now. I said to myself, I will make a sacrifice and get another pair of Speakers, The Encore series because these men will be remembered favorably in the audio world and I have will two examples. I recently purchased a second set of speakers the Encore Series.

These are likely the best valued pair of desktop speakers to have ever existed. Admittedly, my experience with desktop speakers isn’t as expansive as some experts, but I’ve heard my fair share. Nothing compares, especially at this price point.

The difference between these and the Audioengine A5+ I used for over 10 years is substantial. The speakers are surprisingly dynamic, balanced, and the soundstage is so much more present than my previous set.

Truly remarkable what Vanatoo has done… It’s refreshing to know that talented small businesses still exist, that can absolutely blow the “bigger” competition out of the water.

Simple. The best desktop/office/computer speakers there are. Period.

I have a medium-sized LP and CD music collection, and playing those through my decent but not expensive audio setup has been my main way of music listening for years (when not streaming music over a phone while doing house chores and cooking). I finally committed to Vanatoo Transparent One Encore Plus to now also have external speakers for my computer (took me a while to get there…). This has made my smallish digital library of CD rips, lossless downloads and a few AAC and MP3 files an equal component of my normal listening, and no longer mainly a means of archiving favorite albums and storing live-music CD rips and downloads for burning to edited CDs.

So there’s that. But appreciating that awakening of the computer-mediated music library came after just loving the sound of these Vanatoo speakers, with amazing, percussive bass (when the music’s low-note transients push the radiators that way) and fairly bias-free sound quality overall. (Though my ears think they may be a little bass-heavy, even. As another reviewer felt, no subwoofer needed.)

I have these in a medium-small bedroom, on a flat table atop IsoAcoustics stands, flanking the computer and display, one of the speakers close to a side wall. After comparing Bookshelf and Flat settings, with and without the DSP limiters, I run them flat with limiters disabled for what seems the clearest sound. Reading a reviewer’s description (at noaudiophile.com) of the various settings tweaks available, and Vanatoo’s Owner’s Guide pages re the same, the tweaking appeared complicated, but it’s really not, and I recommend anyone setting these up to compare the options in their own listening environment. And I think having the speakers on stands is the right way to go.

Happy with these!

Just received my Vanatoo transparent one encore plus speakers today. Within 10 minutes they were set up and running, so easy! The speakers sound phenomenal ! Deep rich base, wonderful mids(vocals,instruments) and sparkling highs! The sound stage and imaging is remarkable! No matter where you are in the room you are immersed in high fidelity audio! Kudos to Gary and Rick for designing and building such incredible speakers. I have always been passionate about music and great quality audio and I know I will enjoy these speakers for many years to come! Thank you Vanatoo!

I have owned my Vanatoo Transparent One Encore Plus speakers for nearly 3 months and have found them to be an outstanding replacement for my large vintage Harman Kardon/JBL home stereo. As I am downsizing from a house to a condo, I was looking for a compact integrated system that provided connectivity for TV, DVD player and Bluetooth and cost less than $700 USD. I was also looking for a reliable product with a warranty.

I have found that the Vanatoo T1E+ is far superior to any soundbars I have heard (JBL, Yamaha, Klipsch, Edifier). The Vanatoo speakers are great for listening to TV shows, live sports, movies and concerts; dialog is extremely clear. The speakers are very musical; they are not harsh and there is no listening fatigue, even after four hours. On well recorded CDs, the speakers become truly transparent and it felt like the artist was in the room with me. The highs are crisp and extremely clear, the mid-range is rich and the bass is sufficiently punchy for small to medium rooms (12 x 18 feet). If you need house shaking bass, then I suggest connecting a subwoofer. I don’t need a subwoofer, as I don’t want to disturb my neighbors.

I ordered my Vanatoo speakers from Amazon.ca. They arrived on time and in perfect condition. The unboxing experience was excellent and similar to opening an Apple product. Each speaker is carefully double wrapped and the box can be folded flat for storage. For fellow Canadians, I recommend ordering on Amazon.ca as shipping was free and there were no customs charges.

The fit and finish of the speakers is excellent. The single, four prong “XLR” type cable used to connect the active speaker to the passive speaker is well made; no fiddling with speaker wires! Their design is similar to powered studio monitor speakers such as Kali Audio, but with more user features. Vanatoo also provides built-in DSP to deliver the best sound whether the speakers are mounted in a bookshelf or on stands. I use the stand-mounted mode (known as “Flat”) which delivers punchier bass in my listening area.

The remote control has a nice texture and enables full access to the tone controls, as well as volume and all inputs. Not all powered speakers offer tone controls on the remote. The auto input switching feature is convenient and nice to have. I have tested all the digital inputs and found them all to be excellent. I would rate the optical TOSLINK connection as the best sounding when playing Blu-Ray discs, the digital coaxial input for CD playback a close second, the USB connection third and the Bluetooth 5 being a close fourth. I have not tested the analog input, as I do not play vinyl records anymore.

I predict Vanatoo to be reliable. They run very cool, even after 5 hours of use at medium volume. They also have a 3-year warranty, which gives peace of mind.

The following reviews helped me to decide to purchase Vanatoo without auditioning them first. YouTube: cheapaudioman, Joe N Tell, Steve Gutenberg, Darko Audio, Joshua Valour; Internet: Stereophile.com (Jason Victor Serinus), noaudiophile.com (Transparent One Encore review/software update).

After much research, I decided to purchase the Vanatoo Transparent One Encore Plus (phew it’s a mouthful). Shoutout to Erins Audio Corner, his in-depth review provided me with the confidence to purchase. Quickly after my order I received a prompt email from Rick and Gary confirming shipment with a nice little personal touch. Now, I do not have much experience with finer audio, my prior expectations were set by Sonos which understanding audiophile culture, isn’t much.

These speakers are a tremendous value! They blow the socks off anything I’ve owned previously. They have a wide range, colorful audio and are very well built. There’s not much else to say about these speakers that hasn’t been said by Erin.

Output: TIDAL via PC

Connected: USB

Speakers: Vanatoo T1E+

Subwoofer: Jamo C912

When I first decided to upgrade my lowly desktop speakers, I stumbled into this brand. The shape of the Transparent Zero was what caught my eye, but it was the detailed holographic sound that caught my ears. I promptly upgraded my main listening room components to try and emulate that 3 dimensionality and it sounded great but somehow I kept getting blown away by the T0. Now that I finally got the itch to upgrade the T0 with the T1E+, I realized that this big brother to the T0 may no longer just be a near field desktop speaker but could now replace my main system. This and The T0 remains 2 of the best products I’ve ever purchased. Thumbs up!!

These are great values for audiophiles. If you are fine with listening to 128 Kbps MP3s or only need to hear voices in teleconferences, these are not for you. Save your money and get something cheaper.

This version of the speaker is relatively new (about 2 or 3 months old as of 11/24/23, if I understood the manufacturer correctly) and has a revised amp. I have never heard speakers handle the bass as well as these do in such a relatively tiny box volume! Treble gives and midrange are also acceptable with good resolution.

The Vanatoos were purchased for near field use on my desk and needed to be compact. The 5.25” aluminum cones are powered by 100-water digital amps (class-D) and the 1” aluminum dome tweeters are powered by 20-watt digital amps. Each speaker also has a 5.25” long throw passive radiator.

Still, these speakers could be used to fill a big room with music under certain circumstances (such as after the addition of a sub, or listening to certain music genres at certain volume levels).

I put the Vanatoos on the Suptek wall mounts and used blue tack to secure them. This allowed me to get the speakers off my desk and allowed tilt and swivel of the speakers. I attached my computer to them with a coax digital cable (the only connection cable not included). I listened to 24-96 Flacs of various genres.

After a short while listening, I attached an extra sub that I had, the Funk Audio 18.1. This sub has an 18” driver with 98db/1watt supplied by an 800-watt (at 1% THD) amp. The sub is huge, very loud, and sounds good with a big port and a beautiful cabinet. I didn’t have freedom to place the sub in the optimal position for music in my office, so I used the REW (Room Equalizer Wizard) and the Room Equalizer APO. I am roughly 40-inches from the Vanatoo speakers.

These speakers, even without the sub, are musical and do a good job – a great job considering their size and price. Voices and instruments are very close to accurate. It does best with small ensembles rather than large orchestras. The bass may satisfy some people, but to me, a sub makes things better. With the Funk Audio sub, the speakers could easily fill a large room with loud music. (If my budget for a sub was only $500, I’d give the SVS SB-1000 Pro Sealed Subwoofer an audition.)

I liked how compact the Vanatoo speakers are. I don’t need to get an amp and find space for that. A DAC is not required for these as it uses digital amps. These are relatively small (10” H x 6 1/2” W x 8 1/8” D). It isn’t wireless, but I am fine with that. Wireless technology often has less sound quality than wired – besides it is nearfield. The wire connecting the active and passive speakers is proprietary (not just speaker wire).

The build quality is what I would expect at this price. I liked the magnetic grills that cover the bright aluminum drivers. The speakers were in a black – not high gloss glaring piano black which would bother me in their nearfield position. The speakers have a three-year warranty.

I did not use any of the other inputs, but there are several: USB, Toslink Optical, Coax (I used), Bluetooth and 3.5mm Analog Inputs with auto-input selection. It includes a nice remote that I have hardly used at all.

Other professional reviews are available for older versions of this speaker from Stereophile and others. Check here and the links provided: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/vanatoo-transparent-one-encore-powered-speaker.32421/page-3

Comparisons: If you just want something for teleconference and background ambiance, get the Creative Pebble. It’s small, cheap, and clear. I tried the Edifier R1280Ts, and these were a huge disappointment to me. I considered them only useful for teleconferences, and for that purpose, the Pebbles were smaller and with a clearer voice.

If price and size aren’t a consideration, then these speakers are certainly not the best speakers for audiophiles. My Focals on stands powered by Musical Fidelity sound much better in every regard. The two places that are of most concern to me is that the large Focals sound bigger (a larger soundscape) and secondly, the midrange is more prominent. With the Vanatoos, the midrange (vocals) sound a bit more recessed than is my preference. This is in comparison to my favorite speakers in their price range – which considering speakers, stands, and amplifier is roughly five times the cost of the Vanatoos. And, of course, even my beloved Focals aren’t the best. I have heard speakers costing $10,000 or so that were clearly better. I am saying this just to reinforce that my rating for the speaker is for the price range and not over all speakers. Not only do the Focals cost more, the system takes up more space.

Summary: If you are looking for small musical speakers at a relatively low price (for audiophiles), I recommend that you give the Vanatoo One Encore Plus a listen! You get a 30-day trial period from Vanatoo.

I pre-ordered a pair of t1E+. After I had it for about a month, something strange happened. The speaker will shut down randomly during play. The only way to fix it is to power down, and power up again. Obviously, I am really annoyed by this. Finally, I decided to reach out to Vanatoo to see if this is a common problem. Gary, from Vanatoo, responded to my e-mail quickly. He asked some questions about my usage and connections, and concluded that the problem could be a result of some weird hardware issue. He offered to exchange my speaker for a new pair, and I accepted his offer. The new pair arrived promptly, and I have had no issue with them thus far.

It is unfortunate that I had problem with the original pair of speakers. Most users would not experience that. However, given that unfortunale situation, Gary, from Vanatoo, goes out of his way to rectify that situation in the best way possible. The company has a good product in their speakers. In my opinion, they have even better customer service, which is second to none. It makes doing business with them such a pleasant experience. I highly recommend the company.

I LOVE these speakers! Easy set up and wonderful depth of sound. I’m not an expert audiophile but I can tell when I feel enveloped by wonderful sound!

This is my first pair of Vanatoo speakers.

I hooked up the T1E Plus to a TV and was immediately impressed with the clarity of the mids and highs, but also the bass – I listen to a lot of bass-heavy music, and the T1E+ seem to put out *much* more clean bass than they should for their size. They replaced a pair of B&W 685 S2 passive speakers, which have larger 6.5″ woofers, and the T1E+ easily get lower and bass than they ever did. I later connected a subwoofer and the automatic bass management is seriously one of the best features about this pair of speakers. It just works.

These might sound slightly different depending on the room you put them in. If it helps, I sit about 10 feet away from the speakers in a small loft room with one side of the room open to a staircase. The speakers are angled in so that they are on axis (pointed directly at my ears). The bass, treble, and volume knobs on the back are set directly in the middle, pointed at 12 o’clock. Volume control with the remote works perfectly and it’s obvious when the speaker is receiving remote commands due to the unobtrusive light flash from the main speaker. They sound amazing and get more than loud enough for my tastes.

I have other powered speakers from other brands as well and these sound light years better and are more convenient to use. You most likely won’t find a pair of powered speakers with this kind of sound quality unless you go with (very) expensive German or Finnish studio monitors, but then you lose the connectivity and convenience. Vanatoo is doing something unique here and you owe it to yourself to try them out if you like ease of use and fantastic sound.

Two thumbs up!