ADAM Audio D3V Desktop Studio Monitors
ADAM Audio’s new D3V Desktop monitors are some surprisingly small monitors with a shockingly good sound, and proved more power than just about anything else in their class.
How do they stand up to the other options out there? That’s what we’ll look at today.
I’ve tried these little speakers at length, and compared them extensively to the competition. I can now safely say that they are easy to recommend to anyone looking for super compact desktop speakers.
This incredibly compact footprint make the D3V potentially ideal for producers and sound savvy musicians in smaller rooms, or even for professional engineers looking for a secondary or travel reference monitor.
While I am partial to the ADAM sound, there may be some listeners who prefer other models from other brands, and I’ll give detailed notes on who might be better served by these or other choices.
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ADAM D3V – The Pros
There are 5 major standout features where the D3V meet or exceed expectations relative to the competition:
1. Low frequency performance
2. Power output
3. Frequency balance
4. Connectivity
5. Size and placement considerations
Let’s look at each of these in turn.
1. The Lows
The first big selling point for me is that these speakers extend down to as low as 45 Hz when measured at a 6dB rolloff and 48 Hz for a 3dB rolloff.
Such massive bottom in such a tiny speaker is due in part to two side-mounted 3.5″ passive radiators that perform a similar role to speaker ports in more conventional designs. These radiators move in tandem with the main 3.5″ woofer, acting almost a little bit like a pair of supplemental subwoofers.
Just 10-15 years ago it was practically unheard of to find even 5″ speakers that could go this low, much less a super-compact 3.5″ driver desktop monitor.
But today, the ADAM D3V are one of three options in this price and size bracket that can extend this deep. And they arguably do it even better than the rest.
The similar sized and priced iLoud Micro Monitors use conventional speaker ports and offer just slightly less depth in the low frequencies. The iLouds go down to 45 Hz when measured at a 10dB rolloff, and only 55Hz at a 3dB rolloff. While still impressive for such small speakers (and lower than some rooms can handle!) the ADAM D3V do edge them out in this department.
Things are a little less cut and dried when we compare against the substantially larger (but still quite small) Kali LP-UNF desktop monitors. The Kali’s 4.5″ driver goes as low as 38 Hz when measured at a 10dB rolloff—but just 54 Hz with a 3dB rolloff. So there is a bit of a more gradual slope in the lows, with the ADAMs having a bit more energy overall in the 40Hz range.
But just as important as how deep the lows are is how trustworthy they are.
The lows in all these speakers are so much better than prior generations had available in this size, but out of the three, I give the slight edge to the ADAMs for my tastes.
Compared to the iLoud Micro monitors, the lows in the ADAMs felt ever so slightly cleaner and less resonant in my listening tests.
It’s splitting hairs, as both had very close low end performance. But on bass passages I knew well, it felt like the ADAMs “recovered” just a little bit more quickly in the low end, possibly due to their passive radiators.
The lows were quite good in the Kali LP-UNF as well, but because they were voiced a bit darker than the other monitors overall, the bottom stood out a little bit less from the rest of the signal, which gave them a less “impressive” sound in the lows. But they win high marks for unhyped neutrality.
While I can’t say there is a clear and unequivocal winner in this area, the ADAMs had my favorite low end of the three major choices in this area by a small margin.
2. Power Output
One area where the ADAMs win out is in sheer power. With 240 Watts of combined bi-amped power, they have the more powerful amplification in their class on paper, beating out the iLoud’s 50 Watts and the LP-UNF’s 160 Watts.
In practice, these kinds of differences don’t necessarily yield a dramatically higher max SPL, but there are other potential benefits to higher powered amps, all else being equal, including additional headroom for potentially lowered distortion, and higher slew rates for potentially faster and more accurate transient response.
Any of these speakers will go surprisingly loud, and all of them can start to compromise performance when maxed out in level. On paper there is not much of an SPL difference between the three models, but in practice, the other monitors started to max out in a place where the ADAMs still seemed to have some room to boost left in the dial.
3. Frequency Balance
For my tastes, the ADAM D3V are possibly he best compromise in their category for the balance between the perceived quality and overall usefulness in frequency response.
They D3V sounded very similar to the iLouds, but just a touch less bright and scooped. They were just a little bit fuller in the lower midrange, with slightly deeper low frequency extension.
For music production and mix checking purposes, I had a slight preference for the ADAM D3V’s cruve. These kinds of listening preferences are very personal, and some listeners may prefer the sound of the iLouds, perhaps even finding them a little “prettier” for pleasure listening.
But for my purposes, I not only liked the ADAM’s balance for listening pleasure, but found their curve more potentially useful in a music production context.
By retaining a fuller and thicker sound in the low mids and putting less emphasis on the top end, the D3V encourage the listener to cut more in the low mids and add more top in the mix. This is often welcome for producers and engineers, who on average tend to mix a bit darker than where the final release will want to end up.
The outlier in this area were the Kali LP-UNF which felt substantially darker on top and than either of the smaller speakers, with an even more neutral, un-scooped and un-hyped sound. The D3V strike a nice balance between the extra sparkle of the iLouds and the relatively dark and unhyped response of the LP-UNF.
While none of the monitors in this class are an ideal replacement for full size higher end studio monitors, if you get to learn them well, you could do serviceable work on any of them as a primary personal production monitor or a secondary mix reference.
4. Connectivity
The ADAM D3V has a smart layout for connectivity with professional quality balanced TRS inputs, as well as a digital USB input, which allows them to instantly be recognized as an interface if desired.
Both of these are welcome features that are not found on the iLoud Micro, which includes only and RCA and 1/8″ connector for hardware input. (To its credit, the LP-UNF did include both of the options the D3V does.)
One of the big pluses not seen in either of the other brands is that the ADAMs include a headphone connection right on the front of the speaker, so they can fully be used as an interface alone without any other devices.
Used in conjunction with ADAM’s H200 headphones, it’s easy to go back and forth between headphones and monitors without huge jumps in level or tone. Neither of the other brands offered this feature.
The only thing that the D3V lacked relative to the competition was bluetooth connectivity. However, for a studio-focused monitor, it’s hard to see this as much of a liability. However, if you were buying a set of super small monitors for personal listening in a living area, this feature might be welcome. An additional bluetooth receiver would be required to wirelessly connect and disconnect the D3V from a variety of phones and other mobile devices.
5. Size and placement
The tiny size of the ADAM D3V really is remarkable, and if you need a monitor that is as compact as possible, they easily win out over the substantially LP-UNF in that regard.
In addition to their small size, they also include optional desk stands—small attachable feet that angle the speakers up at your ears—as well a microphone stand thread for mounting on to mic stands as speaker stands.
These features were also found on the iLoud and are a welcome inclusion here. All three models in this price bracket offered basic correction options depending on whether the speakers are mounted on a desk or stands, near a wall or in a corner and so on.
Summing it Up
The bottom line is that at $349, the ADAM Audio D3V are easily one of the best choices for super compact desktop monitors. If size is a major concern, they are probably my personal favorite option in this class.
While I might prefer the relative lack of compromises in a full size 5″ model for critical listening applications given the space and budget for them, I have no doubt that the D3V are one of the best options of their type ever made, not only in their size bracket, but also in their price range.
Ultimately, any monitors are a deeply personal choice, and you should ideally hear the models you’d like to choose between. But even without that opportunity, it would be hard to go wrong with the D3V as a producer, a sound savvy musician, or even as a professional engineer looking for a secondary or travel reference monitor.
Justin Colletti is a platinum mastering engineer and creator of the Breakthroughs series of mixing courses. He runs SonicScoop.
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