Wharfedale DS-2

I used them to stream music from my phone, and eg Spotify.They look amazing and are very sturdy in build quality.Paired in seconds.The sound quality is amazing, and everything is crystal clear.Vocals are superb, and they handle bass cleanly without being 'muddy' or distorted.The sound absolutely blew me away. I can imagine them as PERFECT studio monitors, especially when vocal clarity is required.Wharfdale have done it again with these babies!

I was looking for a decent pair of small speakers for my study on my desk. They shouldn't be too big and should be easy to connect without a lot of wiring. That way I stumbled into the DS-2. I read some nice reviews and gave them a try. When I unpacked them, I was disappointed about the relatively cheap plastic look and touch. The bluetooth connection with my MacBook Pro worked without any problem at all and done in a second. And they sound very nice for the money! They have a decent bass and a clear and subtle sound. I like the sound very much. But please don't expect anything to fancy coming out of the two little boxes ;-) Usually I listen to music with a Naim and Linn system so I know my way around speakers a little bit. It is very good value for the money. I am just giving them four stars as the housing is worth an upgrade.

Great build quality but sound quality not as good as expected.

Excellent

These Wharfedale DS-2 speakers are exactly what I wanted.I've had big passive speakers so I knew these tiny active speakers would not blow me away with their sound. However, they produce a very satisfying sound at the volume I use.They are not biased towards bass which I find tiring to listen to with many speakers. I want to play detailed music while I work at my desk and I also want to fill the room with sound when I am doing things away from my desk and these do both these things with aplomb.I am able to hide the wires so the 3.5mm jack is the connection I use and my computer sends a good signal, though the bluetooth is also fun to use with my phone and also works fine.I ordered black but was sent white, however I decided to keep the white as they brighten my environment.They are beautifully made and well worth the £139 I paid in total.

Bought these for sound accuracy and for use in my office over AptX Bluetooth from my laptop. And they’re good in that dept. Unfortunately like my Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 speakers they are boomy in the mid to low range. This can mean vocals in pop/rock, or classical music in general suffers. So here’s a tip. These speakers have a circular bass reflex port hole at the back that’s causing this booming. Just put a tissue into it on both speakers. Don’t stuff it in. Just wad up the tissue a little and insert it gently so it rests in the hole. This really helped for me — everything just sounds clearer and lighter — but I do listen almost exclusively to classical music.Other than that I think a reviewers comment that these speakers lack presence is correct. This is hard to explain. They just don’t throw the sound out into the room as well as they could. But I value accuracy of reproduction much more than this and these speakers (as with my Diamond 9.1 speakers) are a winner in my eyes for that reason. It’s like you’re in the concert hall listening live. Accuracy seems to be something Wharfedale does well.

Beautiful looking pair of speakers. Well engineered and very practical design. There is no remote but for a PC you don’t need one.Refined, detailed sound, imaging is excellent. Bass is light, these are more like studio monitors than home hifi. Hiss is a little heavy and audible from two feet away (that's not uncommon in this price range). Musical performance is understated. I think other reviews have used the words "lacking presence" and they are right.The speakers use 2W when idle, but they are supposed to go to sleep but as yet I have not seen that happen (I was told they go in to sleep mode in one minute but they certainly do not.). I had a power meter on them and they just sat there consuming 2W from the moment the music stopped until, well, forever.Overall these are a great looking pair of speakers but tonally I think many people would prefer some more bass. Recommended with reservations.