Audio Pro Addon C10
This is another barnstormer of a wireless speaker from a company that can seemingly do no wrong just now.
That familiar Audio Pro driver configuration, featuring the koala design that has become these speakers’ distinguishing feature, is present once again, here coupled with a reflex port to the rear and an 80W digital class D amplifier.
The Addon C10’s connectivity diet is the same as the rest of Audio Pro’s multi-room family. You can feed it via wi-fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and Airplay, as well as through its physical inputs for aux and RCA.
There’s also the benefit of Spotify Connect, but we’d be more inclined to use the Audio Pro control app, where you’ll be able to set up multi-room facilities for all the C-series products. However, it’s just as intuitive for a single speaker, offering easy access to a number of major streaming services, including Spotify, Tidal and Qobuz.
It’s also where you’ll be able to temper bass and treble frequencies. It’s a basic, two-way control, rather than offering full EQ settings, but could be useful if the Addon C10’s generous low-end becomes overpowering.
The beauty of these Audio Pro speakers is that they resist the temptation to overcomplicate
things – part of the reason why three of them took home What Hi-fi? Awards last year. While relatively feature-laden, their design is geared towards unfettered sonic performance, and that is where each rises effortlessly to the top of its class.
The Addon C10 is not only the biggest-sounding of Audio Pro’s offerings, but also one of the best. We play Nils Frahm’s All Melody. The scale of the sound is instantly impressive, digging down into the low frequencies with an assured combination of warmth and punch, but also affording the presentation an extra dimension in terms of layering. Timing is excellent too.
The Addon C5 is a notably mature performer, revealing all the textured detail from instruments, but even its own performance appears to be quite forward compared to the three-dimensional organisation of its bigger brother.
Despite its size and muscle, the Addon C10 is also equally adept at capturing the subtler, more nuanced performances on this record.
Summary
At some point, Audio Pro’s supremacy in the wireless-speaker market is bound to wane, but with each Addon release, that date seems to be further off in the future.