Listening to Tom Waits’ “Get Behind the Mule” through the Dynaudio Focus 10 speakers is an immersive experience in my modest sized listening room. These tiny 7-inch wide x 10.5-inch tall (180 x 310mm) speakers deliver a sonic sneak attack that you won’t see coming. Yes, there are a lot of small, powered speakers on the market, but nothing that delivers this kind of musical experience. Keep in mind these are the smallest of the current Focus lineup – the Focus 30 and Focus 50 floor standing speakers are also available, with more LF extension, and more ultimate sound pressure capability. But the Focus 10s are truly a triumph of engineering expertise.
Unbox and setup
You might think that just shy of six grand with stands, (and you really want the Dynaudio stands because A: they look awesome, and B: you can fill them for more mass (and they include a disposable plastic liner for said mass, BTW, which makes for cleanliness all around), which equals higher quality bass response, is somewhat spendy for these small speakers. We are definitely talking quality in every aspect. Remember, you aren’t buying a $6,000 pair of mini monitors – you’re getting four power amplifiers (280w to each woofer, 140w to each tweeter) a DSP crossover/preamplifier and streaming DAC to go with.
I know it makes the cable people crabby, but you won’t need speaker cables or interconnects here. Or an equipment rack. If you’ve longed for high-performance audio performance, but didn’t want the ancillaries, the Dynaudio Focus speakers are the way to go.
Those not living a solitary lifestyle usually require a certain amount of partner acceptance when bringing new things (especially electronic things) into the home, and again the Focus 10s are a 10 plus in my household. If you don’t need anyone to sign off on the purchase, what are you waiting for? Now the only decision left is Blonde Wood, Walnut Wood, Black High Gloss, or White High Gloss. In our living room the review samples in White High Gloss are the bomb. Now if we could only get white grilles!
Review listening was done with a set of filled Sound Anchors stands, because that’s what’s here. Had I known how excited both of us would be about these (Yeah, I’m buying the review samples) I’d have asked Dynaudio to send a set of stands too. Consider the Focus 10s a #toneaudioapproved product. While we’ve managed to put together a few really good systems in our living room, we’ve never had anything that sounds this good and is this compact.
Nominal setup takes five minutes, and three of those five minutes is how long it will take you to install the Dynaudio app and link it to your speakers. Plug them in, turn them on, and follow the app’s menus. It will find the speakers, connect to your WiFi network, and ask a few questions about speaker placement in the room, and if you prefer a bright, natural, or dark overall tonal balance. DIRAC will take a little longer should you decide to go there. Once set up, you can also use the compact and stylish remote if your phone is not close by.
Those with more difficult environments also have access to DIRAC with the Focus 10s – an incredibly nice touch. I’m not a fan of a heavy hand with DSP, however if you live in a nearly impossible audiophile apartment with multiple shiny surfaces, too much furniture, or no way to put your speakers anywhere near where they should be for decent tonal balance and imaging, the benefits of DIRAC far outweigh the drawbacks.
Even though the Focus 10s are incredibly easy to get out of the box and start listening to right now, a bit of time with the setup parameters and speaker placement will deliver even more performance.
In addition to streaming via your favorite wireless service, or consolidating it all with ROON (they are RoonReady certified), you can connect additional digital sources with coax, and optical inputs at your disposal. A single analog input exists, should you want to hardwire a phono preamplifier and your favorite turntable – and the Focus 10s certainly deliver enough performance to connect a decent turntable to them. More on that later.
Why these speakers rule
For the pedantic ones in the crowd, these are not truly “wireless” speakers, as they do require a power cord, and if you want native 24/192 processing from the internal DSP and DAC, you need to connect the two speakers together with a single digital interconnect – otherwise the wireless connection maxes out at 24/96. I chose the power cord only approach as 24/96 is more than fine in my living room Just to suit my own OCD tendencies, a pair of Cardas Iridium power cords (about $250 each) were substituted for the factory cords, with a reduction in digital grain, and more smoothness up on top.
Closer inspection of the cabinetry reveals a level of fit and finish that does not exist in speakers costing half as much or less. With 280 watts powering the 5.5-inch proprietary MSP woofers and 140 watts powering the 1.1-inch soft dome Cerotar tweeters, dynamics are never a problem.
Further listening
Having owned a number of Dynaudio speakers over the years, and the privilege to live with their flagship Evidence Platinum speakers for some time, I’m very fond of the natural tonal balance that Dynaudio speakers always bring. Their proprietary coated soft-dome tweeters deliver extended, natural highs that can deliver incredible dynamics with zero fatigue. The Cerotar tweeters in the Focus 10s mate perfectly to the 5 1/2-inch woofers and thanks to the built in DSP, can deliver solid bass down to the upper 30Hz region without a subwoofer. Dynaudio’s John Quick points out that the DSP allows them to extend to 22Hz at lower listening levels up to 85dB. Impressive.
Corner placement takes advantage of room gain and will offer up a bit more bass, though you will have to give up a bit of ultimate imaging performance, with a bit of mid bass bloom added to the mix. There are separate DSP curves for freestanding, wall, and corner placement to make this even easier. Your listening preferences and whether you use DIRAC will determine the final placement.
Tracking through a number of hip hop and electronica cuts, these tiny speakers are impressive. They offer weight, speed, and definition in the lower registers, and can play very loud before the woofer cones reach the limit of their ability. When adding a sub, you can engage an 80Hz high-pass filter to limit the travel of the woofer cones. The Focus 10s software knows how far the cones can move at all time, so you will run out of volume before the cones bottom out.
From Mozart to metal, the Focus 10 speakers reveal musical detail you’d expect in a much more expensive system, with no fatigue. Vocals are true to life – male or female, and acoustic instruments take on a realistic character. Remember, Dynaudio builds a lot of studio monitor speakers – they know what music is supposed to sound like.
The only variable in what the Focus 10s can deliver – imaging size and depth will depend on how much leeway you have in room placement. The closer you can get to a standard audiophile setup, with the speakers slightly out in the room, toed in and paying careful attention to fine tuning the rake angle delivers a big, broad, three-dimensional sound field. This will impress the hell out of you even further that all this sound is coming from these two little speakers.
That said, the Focus 10s do an incredible job just thrown in the room corners and this is perhaps even more impressive. Thanks to their wide vertical dispersion, they do an excellent job disappearing in the room wherever you put them. They are only slightly limited in their horizontal dispersion downward, so pay attention here. Move your head up and down a bit from their position and you’ll hear a dramatic cutoff. Then, just adjust the rear of the speaker stands a bit and it’s all good.
Additions to the system
Dynaudio makes more than one great subwoofer that you can connect to the sub out of the Focus 10s. Not having one on hand, I tried the three I had here. The SVS 3000 Micro at $899 is not a bad sub to mate with these speakers, keeps the small, white vibe going, and offers its own DSP and app-based setup. This punchy, dual 8-inch powered sub really rocks, especially in the small-ish room at my disposal. REL’s Classic 12 works well with the mid-century vibe of my house, takes a bit more room, but a certain redhead that I share my world with insisted on being matchy-matchy. Keeping with the white theme but a bit more expensive was a REL S/510.
This nearly $3,000 subwoofer adds almost 50% to the cost of the system, but does it allow the Focus 10s to rock the house. Using the high level LFE input via a 2.5-meter Cardas Crosslink cable and about ten minutes of adjusting the REL’s crossover for center placement pays massive dividends.
To be clear, you do not need to purchase a subwoofer to enjoy the Focus 10s at an incredibly high level. However, adding a premium subwoofer takes these incredible speakers beyond their already class defining performance. Or maybe just get the Focus 30s or 50s. Audiophile decisions – aaaah. Yet, without a subwoofer the Focus 10s really set the bar for what you might have thought possible out of a $6,000 music system.
Playing records
Vinyl through the Focus 10s is also a treat. We set up two system variations to give it a try. The more expensive route was with the new Technics SL-1200G ($4,299) a Hana SL Mk.II ($850) along with the new Manley Oasis Phono ($3,999). At this point, we are considerably above the original “system” cost, but it shows how spectacular the little powered Dynaudios are that this system does not feel unbalanced in any way.
Going in a more reasonably priced (and more wire free) direction, the new Cambridge Audio Alva MK.2 direct drive table with MC cartridge and Bluetooth capability is pretty cool. Yes, playing vinyl via a digital, wireless interface will be so heretical to many, but the convenience is tough to beat. You can place the turntable way across the room, and honestly the sound isn’t all that much of a compromise.
Those who’s musical tendencies are a bit more storied, and the manical audiophiles will appreciate this. And the Focus 10s will accept up to ten Bluetooth connections too. So even if you’re not discussing the vinyl playback options, your friends can all plug into your Focus 10s when it’s party time right now.
In the end
I’m so excited about these speakers because in addition to great sound, they show a real dimension of human engineering. This is a great product that can be enjoyed in so many ways. For those of you that only read the conclusion – the Dynaudio Focus 10 speakers are beyond awesome. I love em, I’m keeping em, and in addition to the #toneaudioapproved award, they will be one of our 2025 Product of the Year award winners in January for The Audiophile Apartment. I can’t think of a speaker I’d suggest more to a friend who’s either downsizing from a mega system, or moving up from Sonos and soundbar world to real hifi.
If the current crop of wireless, powered speakers leave you cold, consider a pair of Dynaudio Focus speakers. Dynaudio actually refers to them as a “wireless music system.” Having visited the Dynaudio factory on more than one occasion and seeing the level of dedication to every aspect of speaker design and manufacture – I knew these speakers were going to be great. After living with them for some time, they’ve exceeded my already high expectations in every way. When you are ready to get off the upgrade treadmill, consider a pair of Dynaudio Focus speakers. –Jeff Dorgay
