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On multiple occasions the Epikore has left me in awe when listening to some of my favorite tracks and albums. Rather early in the review process I played Kraftwerk’s Geiger Counter / Radioactivity from their 3D Catalogue and described it as goosebump territory to my fellow Headfonia writers. Bass on this track is fast, tight and big in sound. I was lucky enough to see Kraftwerk live in Vienna in front of the Schönbrunn palace last year, and the Epikore 3 transports me right back to that magical concert. My neighbors probably also enjoyed seeing me dance in my apartment to this track.
Lower end instruments have wonderful texture and body. Strings are reproduced to the finest of details, where you can almost hear them vibrate during the recording. A fine example here would again be Brandt Brauer Frick’s Mi Corazon. The bass notes come across with density, body and excellent weight while also fully delivering on resolution and texture. It always baffles me how perfect the Epikore 3 can achieve this.
The DALI transports a wonderfully rich and full sound from the upper bass to the lower midrange, which gives deeper male vocals and lower key synthesizers perfect shape and body. The lower mids sound dense, heavy and weighty. However, I never had the impression of them sounding too thick or dark at any time. Deeper male singers in the likes of Frank Zappa or Leonard Cohen sound impressively rich, convincing and emotionally engaging.
Generally, the mids are life-like, organic and come with a warmed-up tonality. They also transport enough transparency and detail not to sound compressed. The instruments sound organic and lush. The DALI captures them with emotions and a grand shape. It’s a room filling sound with perfect layering and precision. Each instrument comes across with a full body and exemplarily natural weight.
Tracks like I am the Antichrist to You by Kishi Bashi are displayed with room filling emotions and perfect structure. Each layer is precisely separated, and the vocals sound grand and lush. A pure joy to listen to. Another great example would be Polyesterday by GusGus or A Violent Sky by Apparat. Especially the former is a song that I have played on heavy rotation.
Female vocals are beautifully rendered with an airy and emotional character. They always sport excellent levels of richness and finesse. The entire midrange is so wonderfully rich and lush, it’s almost mouth-watering.
Where the Epikore 3 truly strikes in my opinion is also in its technical abilities. It renders a superbly fine picture with excellent imaging and separation. The Epikore creates a large sound stage, where the musicians appear in a holographic scene in front of you. It stretches wide and deep, creating a large venue. It has a sound stage height that is truly fantastic and enables the Epikore 3’s grand scene. Instruments are placed with highest care left and right. It handles complexities like they are nothing. During all scenes the Epikore 3 stayed in control and displayed the music with ease.
The DALI Epikore 3’s stage and arrangement sound very polished, with excellent dynamic range and jaw-dropping contrast between the background and musicians. On Beat Connection’s Another Go Round for example each instrument is perfectly highlighted and separated. The same goes for orchestral or big band pieces.
The treble on the DALI extends very well into the highest registers. Highs are soft and delicate, but precise, fast and energetic. The Epikore manages to produce a treble that’s crystal clear, detailed and silky. Higher pitched string instruments and tones are portrayed without ever sounding harsh, there is no sibilance in the sound at any point and I have never had an issue with them becoming hot or aggressive. Au contraire. The Epikore 3’s top end is supremely detailed and rich, as best heard in Sunshine Underground by the Chemical Brothers, Manchester by Kishi Bashi or Time by Pink Floyd.
Comparisons
In this section we will focus on how the DALI Epikore 3 compares to other speakers currently on the market. However, I can only compare them to speakers that I have direct access to at the time of writing. This chapter hopefully gives you a better understanding of how these speakers sound.
The Epikore 3 will step in the ring against its smaller sibling – the Rubikore 2 – as well as the KEF R3 Meta and the Radiant Acoustics Clarity 6.2. All of these speakers are considerably cheaper than the Epikore 3. The Rubikore 2 comes in at 2,598€, while the R3 Meta costs 2,200€ and the Clarity 6.2 leaves the counter for 3,998€.
My stereo chain has stayed the exact when the comparisons were drawn. Only the speakers were replaced.
DALI Rubikore 2
Both the Rubikore and the Epikore, share a lot of similarities in their signature. You can definitely hear the DALI house sound in them. The Epikore though does take everything to the next level.
It reaches deeper with higher impact and thunder in the sub-bass regions. The Epikore has a fuller and weightier low-end than the Rubikore, which in turn sounds a little lighter and looser compared to the Epikore 3.
Both speakers have beautifully lush and organic mids, but the Epikore does edge out the Rubikore on sheer detail retrieval and resolution. Instruments sound higher resolved and especially cleaner separated on the Epikore 3. The Epikore also creates a grander sound scape with a more room filling emotional and vocal presence. To me, Epikore delivers a bigger wow-factor. The Epikore 3 has better precision and dynamics than the Rubikore. It delivers a more polished sound with nicer instrumental separation and imaging values.
In the treble there are some key differences between the Rubikore and the Epikore. The Rubikore doesn’t have the same extension into the top registers as the Epikore. Given that the Epikore 3 has an additional planar treble driver, this is only normal. The Epikore has a cleaner and clearer treble that pushes more air into the lower spectrums. The Rubikore has a darker tonality, due to the faster rolled off highs.
Both speakers are excellent propositions and feature DALI’s wonderful tuning. Those who want to take the Rubikore a step or two further will find the Epikore 3 to be the better solution. The Rubikore 2, however, is still an excellent value speaker!
Find out how the Epikore 3 compares to more speakers on page three!
