Shootout: Devore O/93 vs. Zu Soul Superfly

There's been a number of folks that start threads wanting opinions on Zu speakers, understandable since they only sell direct. I also read about folks wanting to hear Devores but there aren't many dealers there either unless you live in a large city. I live in Iowa, so I feel that pain. I happen to have both Zu and Devore in my home right now, so I thought some might find it helpful if I posted my listening impressions.

The Background:
I've been a Zu guy for about 3+ years (all in my profile). Started with Superflys and a year later added Defheads in my bedroom. The Defheads are the better speaker, as they are the top half of Zu's flagship Definition speakers, minus the subwoofers. The difference in cabinet construction quality is audible, and they have the massive Radian tweeters, which are killer, putting Cal Tjader or Milt Jackson front and center in your room with no shrillness. The Defheads are perfect in my bedroom, but bass only goes down to about 45hz and I want deeper bass than that in my living room.

I've had a bit of a wild ride with the Superflys. They are very revealing of upstream gear and as I entered an audiophile hell of amp/preamp upgrades I started to wonder if the Superflys were the problem, as the sound I was getting was decent enough, but lean and uninvolving. I bought a Zu Undertone subwoofer thinking that might be the ticket to happiness but the results were so wildly inconsistent in my room that I had to return it to Zu (and Zu was totally cool about it). The savior arrived in the form of a 1971 Sansui AU-666 solid state integrated amp, which woke the speakers up as if they were goosed. This amp had sat in my closet for a year, ironically because it sounded veiled and muddy with my Defheads. I hooked it up on a lark to the Superflys and it gave me just what I wanted: deep, fast bass, huge dynamics and rich, meaty tone. And non-fatiguing sound at loud volumes.

However like many of you I have a wandering eye and the Devore Orangutans looked mighty cool. Nothing but glowing reviews everywhere, and many positive comments from forum members here. The O96's are out of my price range but the O93's were do-able. Maybe it was time to look outside of Zu? Could the O93's be my forever speaker? I pulled the trigger on a used pair, and here we are....

The system:
Sansui AU-666 integrated amp
Yamamoto YDA-01 DAC
Marantz SA8003 cd player
Rega P3-24 TT with Zu Denon DL-103
Manley Steelhead phono stage

The results:
I'll begin by saying these are both great speakers, and my winner may not be your winner. If I point out a strength of one, it doesn't necessarily mean the other is weak in that regard. This is a friendly shootout. My goal is to give you an idea of how each of them sound to help you decide for yourself if you are considering Zu or Orangutans. The easiest way for me to do this is scorecard-style...

Bass:
These speakers are both rated to go down to about 30hz, and they both sound like they are hitting that. However, the Superfly's bass is faster and deeper than the O93's. Listen to "Other Voices" from the Cure's 1981 album, Faith. The track features a low galloping bass line intertwined with rolling floor toms. The Superflys give you the attack of both the pluck of the bass strings and the drum hits, making the bass palpable and lifelike. Ditto for the low end on Sly's There's a Riot Goin On. The O93's bass is fully present but slow and thuddy by comparison, and thinner. Spoon's "Do I Have To Talk You Into It", from their latest album Hot Thoughts has a slamming, syncopated beat that the Superflys will hit you square in the chest with (paired with the right amp). The O93's can't summon that kind of low end power. Any album by Afrobeat god Tony Allen sounds delicious on the Superflys, every beat present and fleshed out.

Dynamics:
No question, this is Zu's wheelhouse. When things kick into gear on say, "Dance Yourself Clean" by LCD Soundsystem, or the slowly building crescendos of Tame Impala's "Be Above It", it's a purely emotional listening experience on the Superflys. Dynamic realism is one of the audio traits I value most, and it's tough to beat any Zu speaker in that regard. That said, the O93's dynamics are quite good, and better than most other speakers I've heard. This is what a high efficiency design gets you.

Soundstage/imaging:
The Devores win easily here. If soundstage and imaging are your priority, then Zu is probably not your next speaker. The O93's put out nice 3D soundstage across my room with pinpoint imaging. Listening to Jeff Tweedy's new solo acoustic album Together At Last you can pick out exactly where Jeff is at. The O93's simply sound more expansive than the Superflys, although the Superflys scale bigger. Headtrip albums like Kid A, In A Silent Way, and Wish You Were Here are presented very well by both speakers but if you want that trip into outer space, you want the O93's for that over the Superflys.

Placement:
I wouldn't describe either speaker as particularly fussy in placement. With that said, the O93's do like a bit more space from the rear wall than what I'm able give them in my room. The Superflys are only pulled about 9 inches from the wall and it doesn't bother them at all. However, for nearfield listening (6 ft), the O93's are still quite usable. The Superflys are a bit overpowering at that short distance.

Treble:
The O93's top end is smooth and non-fatiguing. It's better than the treble on the Superfly. Neither are better than the Radian tweeters on the Defheads.

Tonality/midrange:
Here's what will determine whether you stay on the Zu train, or get off at the next stop. The tonality and presentation on the Superfly is totally different from the O93's. Take the Tweedy album; on the Zu's although you don't get the nice soundstage with Jeff perfectly placed, you do get Jeff's voice front and center and full-bodied. As opposed to hearing exactly where Jeff is located in the soundstage, instead it sounds like Jeff is simply in your room singing into a microphone. The Superflys give you more of a physical sound from instruments like a baritone sax. We each have our own definition of what lifelike sound is, and what "live" sounds like. This might be yours, or it might not.

Looks:
I was curious how the fiddleback on the O93's would look in person. Funny thing is they look exactly like they do in photos. They look spectacular at night. Both my Zus look better in person than in photos, and look even better in sunlight. Coincidentally, the black finish on the rear of the O93's is nearly identical to Zu's standard Ghost Black finish... very nice, especially in sunlight.

The verdict:
This is where the whole full-range driver vs. two-way speaker comes into play. It's going to boil down to personal preference of how you want the midrange to sound. Rich and robust, or pretty and detailed? After a few years of listening to Zu's crossover-less design, I can hear the crossover on the Devores pulling apart the sound, even though it sounds more open and expansive. It almost sounds unnatural to me now. Flipping from the O93's back to the Superflys also takes adjustment. Things sound congested at first until my ears adjust and then to me the sound gets more cohesive. Stereo versus mono, anyone?

The O93 is a great all-around speaker. It does pretty much everything well, and like the Superfly it has a wonderfully textured tone. It's forgiving and yet detailed, and very amp friendly... a true music lovers' speaker in that most everything will sound good on it. It's difficult to imagine any amp of say 8-10 watts or more not being able to drive it. It has great bass and dynamics for a speaker of its size, and it looks sharp. I see/hear it as kind of a midpoint between a modern speaker design and a vintage high efficiency design. Had I not come to it from a high efficiency design like Zu, I'd probably be jumping up and down with joy.

But I have, and every time I play the O93s, I find myself missing the Superflys, and I miss them more than I miss the Orangs when the Superflys are hooked up. I will keep the Devores for a while longer, but I'm not sure if they will have a permanent place in my home. There might be some Druids in my future. I would love to hear the O96s, but they're out of my price range. FWIW my girlfriend prefers the Devores, but she prefers the Defheads over either of them. I had an audiophile buddy over and although he likes the Superflys, he also prefers the Devores. I would guess that 65-75% of the people reading this would also prefer the Orangutans, although I'd be remiss in not pointing out that the O93s retail for more than double the Soul Superfly.

Regardless of which speakers I keep or how much money I blow in the process, this comparison has been helpful to me in discovering what I value as an audiophile. After all, as audiophiles we are all our own mastering engineers, each of us with a sound in our head that we are after. And what I've learned is that at least for now I value tone and dynamics over detail and soundstage. I've learned like a textured sound and I don't mind colorations.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading.

 

Nice comparison of two very different speakers.
The kind of comparison you have done is a big part of way I visit Stevehoffman and other similar sites.

 

Very nice report. Thanks for sharing your experience and conclusions.

 

Nicely done

 

Thanks for your review and opinions. I apologize, I haven't heard either speaker so I don't have any input to add. I think it would enhance your review to add some pictures of the speakers and their set up for those of us on the sidelines though. Please give us a final review and outcome when you reach a final verdict.

 

Great write up.

 

Very nice. I own the ZU Omen Defs and love them. Glad to hear how much Amp choices play a big difference.

 

Wow! A challenge to my preconceptions.

I have yet to hear any Zu speakers, but O/93's were, quite simply, the best speakers I've ever experienced (or at least they were in the context in which I heard them.) They (driven by Leben/Line Magnetic kit) simply sounded more like live music than anything else I've heard. Hope to hear Superflys sometime; what's the price for a pair?

 

Awesome post! Thanks for taking the time.

 

Thanks for this write-up, very interesting stuff. I too did a shoot out with my O/93's and a pair of restored Quad 57's. It was fun switching back and forth, and I agree with your overall impressions of the 93's. Ultimately I found that in comparison to the Quads, the O/93's lacked the Quads shockingly lifelike tone and texture, and sounded slow and much less exciting overall. Apples to Oranges I know, but I ended up moving the O/93's along pretty quickly.

Would love to hear some Zu's someday!

 

Was it Sansui that made that monster-sized 200 watt per channel receiver?

Anyway, great review. I'm curious about something you didn't mention-how about the relative EFFICIENCY of the two speakers? I read someplace that Zu's sensitivity, like unfortunately many others (not to mention any names [Klipsch]) is overstated. I'm curious which of these needs more power, or if they are similar.

 

Hey gang, glad you enjoyed the review. To answer some questions...

Currently Superfly starts at $4000, compared to $8400 for the O93's. Which is why I nearly always buy used gear.

As far as efficiency, both speakers played roughly equally loud, with the Superflys playing maybe a tiny bit louder. I didn't really have to adjust the volume when flipping back and forth. Given that the Superfly is rated at 101db efficient and the O/93 is rated at (derp) 93db, you could read that as Zu inflating their specs. However, keep in mind that the O93 is a 10 ohm speaker and the Superfly is a 16 ohm speaker, so the amp is delivering less power to the Superfly, so do with that info what you will. As a side note, I run a 3 watt tube amp in my Defheads (also 101db, but 8 ohms) and that little guy plays very loudly.

 

No way is a consumer direct radiator speaker doing 101 dB at 1 watt at 1 meter, absent some kind of horn/waveguide...and probably not even then. Probably not even a pro speaker. Certainly not a 16 ohm, since Richard Small's efficiency equation has the DC resistance on the bottom. So I call bullpoop on Zu's spec, however much I like their speakers and their "here play whatever you want from this huge row of vinyl" demo girls. 93ish like the DeVores is I guess more like it...that's not amazing, but a lot higher than most speakers any more.

 

Thanks for the report. I have Druids in the house. I do monitor the Zu site for new speakers. The Mark VI Druids were just released. I like the Druids, but wonder about adding more bass. I also have a Sansui AU-717 that I am not currently using and need to send out for cleaning and updates. Perhaps it's time.

 

Thanks for taking the time to do the write-up. Really helpful. As another poster said, posts like this are why I come to steve hoffman.tv.

Best, Alex

 

I saw that comment too about the added bass on Druid VI. Interesting, I wonder if it's to appeal to the folks that run Zu subwoofers with their Druids. I do hope that the Druid VI is a smashing success so that the used market is flooded with Druid V's sold by owners wanting to upgrade.

I should note that my Sansui is recapped. It was done before I bought it.

 

Nice write-up.

I was curious about Zu for quite a while and finally scratched the itch a few months ago with a pair of their entry-level "Dirty Weekends." They are tremendous speakers and are my favorites among the 10-12 pairs of speakers I have owned (including Magnepan 1.6, Revel Concerta F12, Klispch Chorus II with Crites tweeters and upgraded crossovers, Triangle Celius 202 and Paradign Studio 100 v3).

Strengths are Tone, Musicality, Midrange, Texture and Dynamics.

Great company, ridiculous value for these speakers. Real nice, organic sound that presents music as being performed "live" more than any others I've heard. And that's the cheap-o, taster model!

 

That cheap-o taster model is nothing to sneeze at. Here's a recent Dirty Weekend review written by someone who also reviewed Druid V... and preferred the Dirty Weekends!

Part-Time Audiophile Mini-Review: Zu Audio Dirty Weekend Omen Version II

Also, this new review popped up yesterday doing a Zu/DeVore comparison like I did, using Gibbon X/Druid V/O96 as the subjects:

Part-Time Audiophile Review: DeVore Fidelity Gibbon X

 

Thanks for info...

 

Update:

As I've gone back and forth between the two speakers, I've realized I did not have the O/93's dialed in properly. First, the apes really do need space to play. I would not recommend buying Orangutans unless you either a) can give them at least 2 feet between the back of the speaker and the rear wall, or b) have quite a bit of open space to the side walls. Mine aren't that close to the side walls but there are enough objects between the speakers and the side walls that I have to pull the O/93's out in front of my entertainment center to dial them in. So in my room, 2 feet of space (3ft from wall to front baffle) from the wall, about 7 feet apart, and about 7 feet from me, with each speaker toed in to point over my shoulders. Also, I needed to dial down the tone controls on my amp to flatter settings. The Superflys like a lot of flesh on the bone from the amp, the O/93's don't need as much.

With the O/93's now dialed in, they hold pretty much every advantage over the Superflys from about 50hz on up. Warm, immersive, glorious sound. The feeling of kinda missing the Zu sound when I listen to the DeVores is mostly gone now. The Superfly still has the edge in deep, detailed bass and dynamics, but that's about it. There are occasions where I hear say, a baritone sax or a floor tom or even a close-miked voice and I know how physically present the Superflys can make those instruments sound, so I'd consider tonality a draw based on personal taste. But I'm at a point where I can appreciate each without longing for the other.

Lessons learned:
Ease of placement is no small thing. I have two boys, and my living room is my listening room, so it's not feasible for me leave the Orangs pulled out to optimal placement all the time. On the other hand, ease of amplification is no small thing either. While both speakers are highly sensitive and can be driven by about anything, I think Superfly requires more careful amp matching than the Orangutans. As I mentioned earlier, I struggled with amp combos for years with the Superflys that would get me from "good" to "great". Although I've only used a couple amps with them, the Orangutans have this sense, when fed any kind of healthy juice, of saying to you, "I got this". They make really easy, effortless sound as compared to the liveliness and speed of the Superflys.

The evaluation continues...

 

I too have a pair of Omen Definition's MK-1 (bought used on eBay). Efficiency IS the key to real dynamic sound.

I have them sitting right next to a pair of Polk LSiM707's, connected to a speaker A/B switch.

I usually always end up going back to the Zu's.

If you think the Zu's are realistic, you need to take a listen to the Altec Lansing modded A7's with ALK crossovers, a JBL baby cheek's super tweeter and a commercial sub (driven by an 1,800-watt Crown amp. The A7's are driven by an all tube preamp and separate power amplifiers. Currently using a PrimaLuna Proloue Five, with KT88's.

Great Review!

 

Enjoyed the read, thanks!

I have a pair of the original Omen's I bought about ~8 years ago. They replaced a pair of Meadowlark Ospreys and from first listen I really never looked back. Their biggest drawback (originally) was a bit of 'boxiness' (that's a technical term, lol) that needed taming. After reading some posts about some mods to the Omen's that Sean Casey recommended for the DIY folks, I plunged in and painted the insides with QuiteCoat, added a 1" oak dowel between the back wall and 'bridge' between the 2 driver cutouts and flipped the ERSE Caps to some Mundorphs,... It made a huge difference. Most of that 'boxiness' I heard was gone,.. Since that time I have rolled in (and out) and number of amps, generally the next nicer than the last and have finally landed on a Line Magnetic 219. A very revealing amp with the right speakers,... It has brought back out the some of what I feel are the inherent weaknesses of the original Omens,. namely some slight congestion in the mids and not the cleanest top end.. I have/had been really looking at retiring the Omens to HT use and finding another pair of speakers that would overcome these weaknesses I felt the Omen's had. Plus, I really love their dynamics, tone and ability to really emotionally pull you into the music.

I decided to write Sean an email, explain to him where I was with my gear and get his take on it. Long story short, he felt that there was a lot I could with those speakers to practically turn them into new/different speakers and over come what I felt were their shortcomings. His suggestions will see me upgrading all drivers to their top of the line 103ND/G1's and ASD1001 tweets. The FRD's (103's) are the same drivers used on the Def MKIV and Druid V,.. tweeter is not the Radian but apparently the ASD1001 is a far cry better than the APT50 I am currently running. I will also be adding 4x 1" Oak dowels in each vertical corner (top to bottom) that will be epoxied in place with a custom formulated epoxy that they use on their upper end cabinets. According to Sean this is basically the same thing they are doing in the cabinet of the new Druid MKVI and apparently strengthens the cabinet tremendously and goes a long way to reduce mechanical noise within the cabinet. This was one of the things he really felt I was 'hearing' in my Omen's (mechanical/cabinet noise).. I will also be replacing the original wool damping material that sits at the top of the cabinet with a cross section foam they now use and installing the metal T-Nuts from the backside of the baffle so that the speakers are no longer attached with wood screws but are now attached via compression to the baffle.

I will say that Sean has been more than helpful and seemingly excited that I would consider taking on this project. All in all what is being done is not difficult, just requires a little time and patience. I couldn't be more excited. I have loved these speakers and don't really feel I have the proper $$ it would take to significantly better them.. If I were to move up in Zu's line I would look at the Soul Supreme with the Radian Tweet and it's ~$5K new,.. these mods all in will only cost me $750. Sean feels like when they are done my speakers will be/sound very close to the Supreme's, and obviously for a lot less $$.

If anyone owns Zu speakers, enjoys DIY stuff and feel like you could get a little more out of your current Zu's, you really owe it to yourself to contact Sean and talk to him. He is a great guy to deal with and it might just be the ticket to better sounding speakers.

I hope for the upgrades to be in sometime next week and will start work on them immediately.. I will post back and give an impression once finished!

 

I found a pair of their Omen Definitions, MK I, and I like their sound signature, very dynamic and forward.

I was considering doing the same thing.

 

That's really cool that you're doing that. You're essentially going to have a pair of Superflys in an Omen cabinet. My Superflys have the latest drivers and the QuietCoat, with ClarityCaps. Your Omens are going to sound radically different.

I finally got to hear a pair of Omen DW's. Really good sound for the money. They actually remind me more of the O/93's than the Superflys in a way, like a poor man's version of the O/93 (that's a compliment). The Orangs take everything the Omens do and do it better across the board. The Superflys follow a path towards the Zu house sound of max tone and dynamics. Anybody who owns Omen DW, I would highly recommend the easy and inexpensive ClarityCap DIY upgrade from Zu to smooth out the treble.

 

I'm really curious as to how much difference the cabinet/dowel bonding is going to make. I very well may do it first and put the original drivers back in just to see. I agree that the new drivers should change the sound pretty radically,.. hopefully i'll like. Sean seemed to think that with my amp it was the way to go vs the new 260ND they use in that speaker. Im not sure but I think the omen cab. Has a little more vol. as well and that should make for a little difference along with the dowel bonding vs. the superflys. Would love to find a pair of Superflys to hear for comparison. You dont live near Erie, PA do you? Lol