Feniks ESSENCE – high end desktop audio

Feniks Audio has just launched its ESSENCE active sound system on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform. This new range promises “high end” performance.

The Finks Audio ESSENCE is touted as offering the ultimate in desktop sound quality and is one of the smallest high-end speakers on the market. This is quite a lofty claim, especially after we have reviewed the quite remarkable Eclipse TD-M1 at the end of last year.

Feniks say that the ESSENCE has been made using the highest quality components and features a cabinet of special grade die-cast aluminium.

The ESSENCE do look pretty good I will give them that. They have a compact and modern design and the speakers appear to have a wide selection of inputs including; USB, Toslink and analogue, which means that the system is capable of catering to a wide range of devices.

With an integrated 24-bit/96kHz DAC designed by world-renowned electronics specialist Gordon Rankin, and a custom-designed coaxial driver unit, each speaker consists of three panels with a series of sealing grooves along the joints. This design should reduce unwanted resonances to a minimum and result in clarity of sound.

The ESSENCE has an integrated volume wheel at the top of the active unit which is handy.

Robert Kwolek, VP and Design Director at Feniks Audio, comments:

Feniks Audio was founded with the aim of providing the best listening experience and exceptional quality to as many customers as possible without compromise. With the shifts in listening habits over the past decade away from tradition [sic] hi-fi to computer and all-in-one devices, we noticed a gap for a really high quality computer speaker… While the performance of the Essence is firmly in high-end territory, it was of utmost importance to us that it be accessible to anyone, so the system is fully plug-and-play. Featuring unique engineering solutions like no other loudspeaker on the market, the ESSENCE is more like a precision instrument than a traditional speaker.”

The Kickstarter campaign will run through April and May for 45 days, where the ESSENCE will range from Fr 1,199 (approximately £846) to Fr 1,599 (approximately £1128) in four standard colour options, with custom colours also available.

It will be interesting to hear the Feniks ESSENCE should it make it to production. As you can imagine, with the amount of audio goodness that comes through Gadgety HQ, we tend to be extremely curious when products promise “high end” audio.

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