I get a chuckle that folks keep recommending the Orangutans....as I actually picked the Gibbon X over them. Just a more modern sound with better bass in my view that is more aligned with my music preferences. And since super low powered amps aren't my cup of tea, the Xs were a perfect decision three years ago.
But moving onward to the big Wilson vs. YG demo (at SoCal dealer Alma Music & Audio in SD)
First, this is a large room folks - like 30' x 20' at least. The Sonjas might have been at an advantage probably just based on that as the Alexia 2 is more likely the perfect speaker for that room. However, the Sasha DAW wasn't impotent in the bass or anything. I auditioned the Sasha DAW and Sonja on digital only - MSB Reference dac w/ passive preamp module directly to ARC Ref 160m amps. I'm an ARC fan with my Ref 75SE so its a sound I like (modern ARC, not ss-ARC from the 80s-10s). And it would naturally be what I would want to consider with the Wilson. On the Sonja, I had the Dagostino Momentums inserted - and before everyone goes crazy, this is totally the right thing to do because:
1) I have heard the 160s on YG before while demoing MSB options and felt they needed more power/current
2) with YG I would be purchasing an SS amp, likely high power as discussed earlier in the thread, as large power tubes aren't for me
Both speakers were placed in positions optimized for their respective designs (ported vs sealed bass, etc).
The Sasha DAWs had a very nice, warm sound as evidenced on Jason Isbell, Blake Mills, and other such americana tracks that I demo with. Instruments really had a nice weight to them on strings and guitars in particular and played well in space. I did find the overall sound however somewhat subdued and lacking sparkle on cymbals (see Dzihan and Kamien's "Stiff Jazz"). I felt that while the bass was improved over previous Wilson designs, it was still a bit muddy in the upper bass region - I also heard this before at a different dealer. But what *was* good was that I didn't hear boominess like previous Wilsons. Bass seemed definitely a step up from my Devores at home in my room and articulation was decent, but not near what the Rockport demonstrated ported bass could do. Dynamics and soundstage are traditional Wilson hallmarks - and on the first point, seemed excellent in my audition. Soundstage was good, although as we shall see - nowhere near what the YG could do in the same room - it was definitely more "in between" the speakers (although certainly not small) but height seemed good. Coherency is definitely much better than prior Wilsons as i heard in my first Sasha DAW demo, although despite dynamics and tone, I still feel the Wilson is a slightly mechanical sounding speaker on electronica or even on simple piano music, which while timbre seemed nice - it just didn't feel quite right. (if you go hear a pair of 3.7s you'll understand, and, recall I've owned full range driver speakers for 6.5 years so have quite a lot of experience).
Turning to the YG was interesting - as I expected the contrast was going to be with a much brighter speaker and I didn't get that at all. I had the Carmel 2 in my room in fact and the tweeter could be a hair harsh on certain material. Not so with the new Sonja! In fact, the speakers totally disappeared in the soundstage and the continuousness and flow in the midrange was just sublime with excellent decay. Electronica was enveloping as it should be, but also with a very "alive" quality. Ironically, my Devores do something similar on the musical genre (and neither YG, Gamut, nor Devore use internal stuffing/cabinet deadening). The Sonja was smooth sounding without a hint of brightness. Your mind just totally relaxed into whatever music was being played. While I didn't really focus on transparency the entire audition, I subsequently did feel a lens had just been removed from the soundstage - but not in the traditional "i can hear a pin drop in seat 3, row 4 of the orchestra" sense. In fact, I didn't focus on detail my entire demo. On my piano torture track, the YG just seemed clear with no discontinuities or emphasis on parts of the frequency curve and didn't feel mechanical at all. I began to wonder if YGs superior on/off axis performance and unique crossover design was the culprit? Dynamics were a shade lower than the Wilson - particularly micro dynamics on Andrew Bird violin plucking - which I anticipated. I also like sealed bass from my Zu days and this was no different - just taut and articulate as hell on my string bass tracks.
So as you might expect, the YG was a superior sound to my ears on that day - and considerably more expensive. I am looking forward to hearing the Hailey 2 next month to see if it replicates the enveloping sound of my Sonja audition. The Hailey 2 is also $10k more than the Sasha, so it still represents a steep premium. Coming back to the Gibbon Xs, I don't feel the Wilsons are an actionable improvement but that YG was definitely a jump to a different level that requires a significant amplifier investment (and possible system reconfiguration which i just optimized a year ago) and will likely be less dynamic. I plan on evaluating dynamics more closely in my next audition but both speakers seemed more dynamic than the Rockport (which I still feel was underpowered and would like to revisit with a different amp).
Next installment will be in a totally different arena: horns