Magical music maker

Here’s an often-asked question: What’s the speaker I should buy if I listen to rock (replace it with jazz, soul, blues, classical, opera or anything) music? It’s like saying, shops stock speakers depending on genres. Going by that logic, classical music should sound meh on a “rock” speaker.

The problem is that the world tried to move away from music systems. Wireless earbuds arrived but these got cheaper and cheaper, compromising on quality. A few years ago I asked Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jesse Harris — known for writing the Norah Jones song Don’t Know Why — if it bothers him if someone ignores a sound system in favour of speakers producing tinny sounds. “I think it’s sad. A good stereo system used to be a part of every household, the same way everyone has television. Hearing music that way is so much enjoyable than earphones, laptop speakers or ceiling speakers,” he said.

Invest in a good speaker. And that’s what one of the pioneering Indian companies in the audio space has been doing for decades, since 1970 to be exact. Sonodyne has been a stickler for quality. For some, the company gets associated with its Uranus music system. For me, it’s a company synonymous with innovation and aiming towards producing good vibrations and not hype.

Sonodyne has three new wireless music systems, each a gem — Alaap, Bandish and Malhar. We had the Malhar for review and that too at a time when this particular series is winning awards.

Replicating original recordings

To understand where Sonodyne Malhar comes in, it’s important to understand what a good speaker needs to do. A fundamentally well-designed good speaker is simply a good speaker. That’s the end of story. A neutral design should ensure that the sound will remain top-notch despite the genres that are thrown at the machine. Malhar comes at a time when lossless and high-quality audio are easily accessible via a streaming service like Apple Music. Given time, Spotify too is expected to have top-tier streaming options. I have been listening to music via Apple Music on the Malhar, which is kept around seven feet away from where I work.

It’s a speaker that tries to replicate the original recording. A good neutral-sounding speaker is designed to make a beautifully recorded song sparkle and, at the same time, reveal the flaws in a bad recording, which are in plenty. Be it Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, Beyonce’s Renaissance or Vikingur Olafsson’s beautiful 2022 release, From Afar, they play out flawlessly on the Malhar. Or for that matter the 2022 expanded reissue of the Beatles’ Revolver. At the same time, listening to Rush’s Vapor Trails or Paul McCartney’s Press to Play brings up recording flaws. Playing a good recording, there is an open quality to the sound on Malhar, which is something I have been appreciating over the last few days.

The 180W speaker competes with the who’s who in the market, selling close to the 40K mark (Malhar is priced at Rs 37,500) — Marshall, JBL, Harman Kardon, Bose and Sony. Without getting too much into the weeds about technical details, it’s sufficient to say that there are two woofers, a couple of tweeters and a couple of passive radiators. There are no dynamic limitations in the speaker and even at louder volumes, it can deal with distortion and resonance beautifully.

The wireless speaker comes with a sleek remote control

Steady sound

For a speaker such as Malhar, things like frequency response and maximum sound pressure level matter. Speakers, headphones and so on need to replicate close to perfect frequency response as possible to sound right.

What we perceive as music or speech gets measured in cycles per second, usually abbreviated as Hertz or Hz. Audible to human ears — from approximately 20Hz in the bass to about 20kHz in the treble. A good speaker should be able to deal with a frequency range covering the low, middle, and high tones correctly. On the Malhar you get 40Hz to 20kHz, which, at this price range, is usually 50Hz-20kHz.

The other important aspect is maximum sound pressure level. Max SPL is simply the maximum sound pressure level in dB that a microphone or speaker can handle without giving into distortion. Speakers with high max SPLs are ideal. Something like Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 4 has max SPL of 80dB while on the Malhar, it’s 106dB, which is fantastic. Be it classical, jazz or rock, there is excellent bass extension but not distortion even if you pump up the volume.

Music is something that completely depends on preference. But I wouldn’t like to hear Beyonce’s vocals crack up on Virgo’s Groove, which explores disco and funk. Whatever I have thrown at Malhar, be it Beach Boys or Beyonce, Bach or Bad Bunny, the music remains steady… steady as a rock. Helping the cause is having wood as the cabinet material.

Should you buy it?

I do have small issues with the speaker. The remote is fine but there is no app to go with it. Well, it’s something that I prefer on a Sony speaker… however little the control it offers over the equalizer. Apart from that I am not complaining, be it the design or ports.

I always recommend playing different types of music before buying a speaker. Remember, you may love rock music while buying a speaker but a year or two down the line you may fall in love with jazz or blues. We are humans and human tastes change. Malhar is for all seasons. It’s a speaker that proves that it’s a misnomer to listen to talks about a “rock speaker” or a “jazz speaker”. This is simply one of the best wireless music systems your living room needs. After all, your living room is your hammock. If the music is perfect then Wodehouse’s words will follow: “The snail was on the wing and the lark on the thorn — or, rather, the other way around — and God was in His heaven and all is right with the world.”

At a glance