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The Wavemaster Two speakers are aimed at the upper end of the mainstream audience – those people who are willing to spend more money to get very high quality audio reproduction. They are designed very much like the original Apple products featuring simple lines and elegant monochrome colour schemes.
To analyse the speakers, we connected them to a test system featuring a Creative Sound Blaster Z, a high quality sound card adopted by a wide enthusiast audience.
We put the Wavemaster Two White Stereo Speakers through their paces in a variety of audio scenarios, including but not limited to; watching blu-ray movies, playing PC games (Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty and Formula 1 2011) and listening to high-quality music from a variety of sources. These were also used as our primary speakers for a period of two full weeks, watching TV and listening to the radio. This delayed the article a little, but there is no point rushing an audio review and finding problems after publication.
These speakers are not predominately designed for PC gaming. If you are a keen gamer you will most likely purchase a surround sound gaming headset. That said, if you also need a pair of speakers to handle a myriad of duties then the WaveMaster Two do deserve some serious consideration.
While gaming we were impressed with the audio reproduction as the Wavemaster Two speakers deliver focused, impactful audio over a wide range of frequencies. They can deliver powerful bass frequencies to immerse you in the game even without the subwoofer that normally accompanies stereo computer speakers.
During F1 2011 we enjoyed the sound of the naturally aspirated V8's as they whined up into the top of their rev range. In Starcraft II both the game commentary and combat sounds were reproduced very clearly. While these are only stereo speakers they do have a depth and surround like feel when playing games.
Realistically however gaming headsets and larger surround sound speaker configurations are able to more accurately pinpoint locations, which is very important to a dedicated hardcore gamer.
We also listened to the whole of Mahler’s 9th Symphony, a glorious orchestration taking full advantage of the extra strength woodwind section comprising piccolo, 4 x flutes, 4 x oboes, Eb Clarinet, 3 x Bb/A Clarinets, bass clarinet and 4 x bassoons. The reproduction was surprisingly beautiful.
After spending some time listening to a diverse range of well recorded classical music we are confident in saying that the WaveMaster Two are able to reproduce audio in a similar fashion to professional studio monitor speakers.
They don't try to alter the sound in any way, projecting a very neutral range of frequencies. A particular strength of these speakers is in the unfailing way that they reproduce acoustic instruments and female vocals. When turning the volume up close to the limit there is no noticeable increase of background noise and hum is kept to a bare minimum.
If the speakers don't sense any incoming signal for a few minutes, they automatically switch into standby mode with a small click. As soon as you start playing music they click back on. This is a great feature to help reduce the electricity overhead.
Another great feature of the Wavemaster Two speakers is the dual audio input, which allows you to plug-in an MP3 player without unplugging the main source. However, our only issue with this is that the 3.5 mm input takes priority, so if there is a cable plugged into this socket nothing will play from the main source (even if the 3.5 mm audio source isn't turned on). You need to remove the 3.5 mm cable before using the speakers again.
We also wish they had a front headphone socket, a convenient addition for computer desktop speakers.
These speakers can be purchased for £229.99 from Overclockers UK placing them firmly in the mid/high end sector. We feel that if these speakers were priced around the £150-200 mark they would really be a must-have purchase. At this price however, don't let the relatively unknown name put you off because they are certainly worth buying.
Pros
- Superb audio reproduction.
- Unadulterated sound quality.
- Dual audio input.
- Automatically turns standby on/off.
- USB port on back for charging devices.
Cons
- Pricey for computer speakers.
- 3.5 mm input takes priority.
- No headphone socket.
Kitguru says: Fantastic audio quality, but it comes with a premium.
