In The Absolute Sound’s annual Golden Ear Awards, the US hi-fi magazine’s reviewers select those components which, for them, stand out from the competition. Some are longstanding references that have withstood the test of time, while others are newfound favorites destined to become classics. In either case, the products selected for a Golden Ear Award are special, indeed. 

Selecting German brand MBL’s pioneering 101 X-treme MkII loudspeaker, Jonathan Valin writes, “These truly remarkable omnidirectional loudspeakers have been awarded Golden Ears from me for the past three years (and an Overall Product of the Year Award from TAS in 2019). But since they remain the most realistic-sounding loudspeakers I’ve ever heard, I’m awarding them another GE in 2022.”

“As good as drivers-in-a-box speakers have gotten to be, nothing else, dynamic or planar, sounds like these gargantuan Radialstrahlers, because very little else projects its energy, from top to bottom, throughout a true 360 degrees, like instruments themselves do.”

“Listening to every other transducer is like going to a movie of a concert; listening to the 101 X-tremes is like going to the live event.”

Read the Golden Ear review online at www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/2022-golden-ear-mbl-101-x-treme-mkii-omnidirectional-loudspeaker

Find out more about MBL’s 101 X-treme MkII and track down your nearest retailer at www.mbl.de