Devore Gibbon X or O/96?

I spent about an hour each, listening to the O/93 and Gibbon X last week, both powered by a Devialet 120 although in different rooms. I'm actually going back to listen to the O/96 next week, I liked the O/93 so much. Few caveats: the Gibbon was not broken in when I listened, and the room it was in may have had more issues. I think they're both very capable speakers, but from what I could tell, voiced differently. The Gibbon struck me as more neutral with a larger soundstage and presence, whereas the O/93 was a bit more intimate, involving, with explosive dynamics. Me personally, I'd much rather live with the latter. But I can see how some would prefer the Gibbon, especially if once broken in it sounds much better (my experience was a bit harsh, brittle, and the room has some bad resonances too, making the sound a bit congested).

Congrats ladok, after going back to my dealer for another full day of listening to the O/96 paired with the Line Magnetic 501IA, I've almost come to the same decision. Unfortunately Devore's wait list for a new O/96 is stretching out to almost half a year, eek!

I listened to the O/96 back-to-back with the Magico S1 and S3, same room and amp, and the O/96 felt the more magical to me, more convincing of the instruments and musicians actually being in the room with me, revealing more details that I just didn't hear on the Magico's. It feels very illogical, when you compare the Magico's sealed, completely inert, solid aluminum enclosure to the O/96's half-the-weight MDF ported enclosure... based on every rule in the speaker handbook the Magico should handily win. I suspect much of the Devore's strenghts are due to it's high sensitivity and impedance, and how that interacts with the power amp. In any case, it seems the right trade-off's were made, the end package was simply amazing to my ears, the only other speaker I've heard in the same category is the Raidho D1, and that's over 50% more (and with nowhere near the bass, but it does have some other great qualities with the ribbon tweeter).