US magazine The Absolute Sound has revised its annual Editors’ Choice Awards for 2025, splitting the Awards into two separately-timed categories. The March Awards will now showcase hi-fi products best suited to larger systems in dedicated listening spaces, while the November Awards, launched in the current issue, will focus on hi-fi designed for the typical home listening / living room. Either way, German brand MBL features in the mix.

MBL’s famously pioneering ‘Radialstrahler’ omnidirectional loudspeakers have always featured heavily in the big award line-ups, including The Absolute Sound‘s Editors’ Choice and Golden Ear Awards. However, readers might be surprised to see them in the new ‘listening / living room’ category, assuming that they’d be more suited to the ‘larger systems / dedicated listening space’ Awards. While we fully expect MBL’s flagship models to appear in the latter in March, it’s great to see the brand’s smaller Radialstrahlers and Cadenza Line electronics being recognised as being perfectly accessible for those seeking immersive, high performance sound in home spaces.

The brand’s entry-level omnidirectional loudspeaker, the MBL126 three-way standmount, “contains much of the DNA of its bigger, upper tier siblings, but brings the cost of acquiring MBL magic way down.” You’ll hear “the sweetest, smoothest upper octaves imaginable with effortless openness, detail and delicacy,” while the 126s “also reach deeper into the lower octaves than expected”, and deliver an overall coherence that’s “exemplary”. “What’s not to love?” asks reviewer Neil Gader.

That said, if you have the budget to move up a notch, the MBL 120, also a three-way standmount and one that’s specifically engineered for medium-sized rooms, sounds “fabulous”, says Gader. “The soundstage it throws has never been more holographic or enveloping” and, for his money, it’s “the best small MBL yet.”

MBL’s beautifully crafted electronics come in three series: the top-of-range Reference Line, the innovative Noble Line and the elegantly compact Cadenza Line. Unsurprisingly, it’s the latter that’s particularly suited to the more compact home listening / living room, and so November’s Awards feature three Cadenza Line components.

The C11 preamplifier is “a joy to use” with its “civilised sonics, both airy and open, dynamics that are lively, and dimensionality and imaging that are exceptional.” It also features “one of the most sonically transparent analog volume controls that we’ve come across.”

The C21 stereo power amplifier is “an amp that can proudly stand next to the best in class,” sounding “more like a fine linear amp than the hybrid-switching amp it is.” It offers “much of the sweetness, air and texture” of MBL’s Reference Line 9011 amps, with a “smooth and extended” top end and “elegantly controlled” lows.

Or, if you’d prefer to go all-in-one, the C51 integrated amp is “a tour de force” and “a triumph”. It’s also a looker and hence perfect for the home living space, with its “soft, understated lines, svelte controls, versatile connectivity and jewelry-like finish.” Underneath its outer elegance, the C51 delivers “depth, complexity and sonic excellence” in spades. “It has the touch of the classicist in the emphasis it places on the finest inner details; its resolution of acoustic space is almost eerie in specificity.” And “It’s top-end is top notch.”

Discover more about the full MBL range and locate your nearest specialist retailer at http://www.mbl.de/en

For full details of The Absolute Sound‘s new Editors’ Choice Awards, pick up a copy of the November 2024 issue.