Adam Audio D3V Review

I've had the Adam Audio D3Vs on my desk for 2 weeks.

I've been testing them in a small room with minimal acoustic treatment, and honestly, the results have surprised me.

Let me tell you about the first moment I plugged them in, because it's what sold me on them.

That First Listen

I plugged them into my audio interface, pressed play on a track I know really well, and went "Wo!"

It didn't feel like the sound was coming from the left or the right speaker.

It felt like the music was completely in front of me, like I was at a gig or in a club.

Most monitors, especially small desktop ones like these, can sound directional.

You can point to the left or right speaker and say, "The sound's there."

That's not what happened here.

The reason for that is the design.

Passive Radiators: What Makes These Different

Instead of traditional bass ports that shoot air from the front or back of the speaker, the D3Vs have passive radiators on the sides.

These move the bass frequencies and create a really even stereo field.

If you push one radiator, the other side moves too.

They're working together to extend the bass without making the sound directional.

It's a clever bit of engineering, and you can see it happening in real time.

That design is brilliant.

But in an untreated room, even the best design can sound terrible.

So the next question is how these actually handle a real-world space.

The EQ Switches on the Back

On the back of the D3Vs you have 3 switches.

I'll be honest, on most speakers these switches don't really do much.

On these, they actually make a difference.

The 3 options are:

Speaker position: stand, wall, or corner. Mine are up