Tim, I heard my first pair of Magico speakers called the V2 at a local dealer. I directly compared them to pairs of Verity and Rockport speakers, all three pairs selling for around $20-25K. We switched speakers around and the source from vinyl to digital. When we switched the speakers, the Magico had considerably more resolution and nuance with far greater spatial information than the other two. I had the sense that the other two were somehow restricting the information from the recording coming through. They lacked resolution and sounded colored to me. When we switched the source, the differences were more evident through the Magico than they were through the other brands.
Another time, I was at a demonstration of either the Magico Q3 or Q5. We switched from CD/HDCD to streaming HiRez to vinyl. The differences were much more clear and pronounced here than when people have demonstrated these kinds of differences with mediums to me before.
Going to shows, when I stopped by various rooms in which the same model speaker was demoed, in this case either a Magico S model or Q model, each room sounded quite different because the upstream gear was different while the rooms were more or less the same. At the same shows, when I stopped by rooms with other brands which also had the same model speaker or ones very similar, the rooms had a more similar sound.
Having learned my lesson from another recent thread, I'd rather not mention brand names and start a food fight. I'd prefer to focus on the topic of Magico in this thread and what I think this brand does well rather than criticize some other brand that people prefer. I'm sure many people disagree and that is fine. Some think it is all marketing and reviewer hype, that is fine too. This is my general impression of the brand as opposed to other brands that I have heard. I am not saying they are the most transparent or lowest in distortion and noise speakers available today. I'm just saying that in my mid level models range where I dwell, this has been my experience.
There have been a number of accounts here where people have shared their impressions that they have not liked Magico because of the brands of upstream gear, mostly electronics, that they have heard the speakers paired with. This argument has been made with many brands, but it supports the notion that one is listening to the amps, or cables, or source when listening to these speakers.
KeithR just completed an extensive year-long search for a replacement speaker. He does not like the Magico brand so did not include it in his list of brands to audition, but if he had, he could have shared a valuable perspective of how they sound relative to the very many other speakers he spent significant and quality time hearing.
Honestly, you seem quite interested in this thread and Magico in particular, yet you have written that you do not have much experience with the brand. Rather than taking my word for it or continuing to ask me what I think or how I would defend my opinion, I respectfully suggest you go out and hear a couple models for yourself. The Magico S5II and M2 models would be a good place to start, in my opinion.