“Usually, an inherently astringent string sound and lossy encoding would be a recipe for earache. Some blurring attendant to the track resolution was indeed apparent at high volumes, but the Audioengines kept the music listenable enough for me to sail through all four movements. Sticking with Beethoven and the Berlin Philharmonic—but switching to Symphony No. 9, Claudio Abbado, and FLAC 96/24—got me a more refined string sound that held up better at high volumes.” —— soundandvision.com