Genelec G2: why I bought it, how it sounds, and why you shouldn't
Outside of work and study, my only hobby is listening to music. I've been moving around a lot these past few years without a fixed home, but I've still spent a fair amount on this hobby. Besides going to music festivals, concerts and small live venues for the fun of it, I've never stopped buying speakers, headphones, mics and the like.
I recently moved into a slightly roomier place. The idea was to give my wife a nicer place to live, but riding on her coattails, I finally got a little space of my own. Once I had the space, my old Bluetooth speaker never felt like enough. A few days ago, the moment I saw the new HomePod go on sale, I couldn't hold back the urge to buy and went straight to Bilibili and Xiaohongshu to research. The verdict: the new HomePod has been downgraded, and the old one has a design flaw. So I started looking at alternatives and ended up setting my sights on the Genelec G Two. The way I talked myself into it: I'll be using them for years anyway, so I might as well pay more for a professional product. After getting the go-ahead from the boss at home, I finally brought this pair of limited-edition blue ones home
Once I got them home, I compared them with my old friends, a Charge 4 and a Soundlink mini 2. Without a doubt the Genelecs sound better and more real (kind of like moving from row 20 to row 18 at a live show, roughly that feeling), and there's a bit more detail (very, very hard to notice: after a comment pointed it out, I stopped listening to the music and focused on just that one spot, and only then could I faintly hear it. Just quietly asking, are all your ears really that sharp?). All in all, I'd say the difference is so small it's almost imperceptible. Maybe it's because I'm too much of an amateur, but I couldn't reach a "night and day" verdict. I feel like 6 times the price got me only 1.5 times the experience, and most of that improvement came from stereo, not from the speakers themselves being better. It seems that for a non-professional user like me, a decent portable speaker is plenty, and if that really isn't enough, set up a stereo pair and you've probably hit the ceiling. Push any further and, like me, you'll find marginal utility falling off a cliff.
"A penny buys a penny's worth; a dollar buys three cents' worth." I hope you can learn from my experience and spend sensibly. When you buy something, start from what you actually need. If you don't have professional needs, there's no need to blindly chase high-end gear.
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Update:
I picked up a secondhand Apple router to add Airplay2 to the speakers, which made them a whole lot more convenient. If you need it, search for "sspai wireless speaker" for reference.
With the upgrades done, I looked at the gear on my desk, listened to music that sounded about the same as before, and suddenly realized that all this fiddling was just me refusing to let go of sunk costs, patching things up and doubling down on a mistake. Right now, I only want to say one thing:
I really miss my Soundlink mini2!
#Genelec #speakers #Bluetoothspeakers