Performance

To test the Qinpu V-1.8 mini speakers I hooked them up to my Travagan's Green amplifier which is able to push out 5 Watts into 4 Ohms. The Travagan's 2" mini speakers are used as reference. Compared to the Travagan's speakers the Qinpus are quite large and do of course feature two 50 mm drivers instead of just one in the Travagan's design. The design traits of the Qinpu V-1.8s enables them to deliver a broader frequency response without a dip in the lower mids or midbass as the Travagan's 2" speakers suffer from. This is a very noteworthy improvement, and makes the music sound fuller.

Before I did some serious listening I had the speakers burning in for well over 100 hours which should be enough to get the crossover and drives sounding the way they are intended. All of the listening tests were done at my desk with the speakers approximately 50 cm from my head. The position of the speakers was not ideal since I did not have any speaker stands to raise them to ear level. Because of the way the speakers are designed you have to sit quite close to the units to get the optimum sound quality. During the course of my testing I found that the sound quality begins to deteriorate drastically when you are more than one meter away from the units. This goes for most mini speakers.

The Qinpu V-1.8s have a remarkably nice sounding warm midrange. The sound signature of these mini speakers is incredibly pleasing and for the price they really give you a nice experience. Compared to the Travagan's mini speakers these have a much warmer signature, but still retain a lot of detail, even more than that of the Travagan's speakers. When taking the size of them into account the sound is upright amazing, the midrange is right where it needs to be and the high frequency extension is not half bad either. The highs are still a bit rolled off, but not to the same extent as the Travagan's speakers.

When it comes to midrange detailing, the Qinpus do a real nice job at conveying those with proper amplification. If you hook these up to a cheap T-Amp they probably will not sound as good as with a proper class A or A/B desktop amplifier. The tonality is very pleasing to listen to, it is warm, but not too laid back. It is still crisp and with good attack even in the lower parts of the midrange. Sound stage wise these can in no way compete with bigger full sized speakers which can fill a room with sound. The midrange is lively and believable, which benefits vocal and guitar based music. Listen to Nils Lofgren's Acoustic Live and you are in for quite a thrill, the Travagan's speakers lack the linearity in the lower midrange to give you that same sense of presence and intimacy.

What came as a surprise was just how well defined the midrange spectrum was on these speakers. It is really nice and gives you a good dynamic sound, this was what the Travagan's speakers lacked. Pair the Qinpu speakers with a solid performing amplifier and you are in for quite a near field treat. Depending on what type of sound you like you could go for either a tubes or solid state based desktop speaker. The Travagan's Green which I used to test the speakers is quite analytical in its sound with a good balance across the spectrum.

Bass wise these speakers are almost as crippled as the Travagan's 2" mini speakers. However, their low end extension is a bit better, and the lower drop off happens at a much lower frequency on the Qinpus. The specification list states that the frequency response is 90 Hz - 16 KHz. When doing frequency sweeps the speakers began producing noise already at 60 Hz and at 90 Hz and up they began to achieve good linearity, which is quite impressive for a speaker of its size.