Dynaudio C1 or S25?

Have you had a chance to audition these two models side by side in the same system? I'm considering upgrading my Dyn S1.4s to one of these two. I've heard the Special 25s which I love. I haven't heard the C1s yet. I like the more conventional looks of the S25s better. Did the C1 do anything better than the S25s in your opinion?

Based on my experience, I wouldn't recommend running Dynaudio products (especially the S25s) with the tube amps you mentioned. I tried the S25s with tube amps of similar power/current and they were unable to make the S25s sound excellent. Switched to the Sim W5 and a Musical Fidelity offering (forget which one) and the magic was back.

I did audition both speakers with SIM and audio research power. The audio research was the VT100MkIII. It sounded noticibly better. The C1's were the favorite. The audition was over four hours and I think my mind was starting to play tricks on me. I remember the S25's being worth another listen. I want to try them both at home. I also want to hear the new Linn 200w/chakra. My budget for the amp is ~$3K. Upgrades would continue through the year for preamp. I will use my Linn classik for now.

Dynaudio drivers require power. Using less than adequate power will produce boomy bass.
I believe the S25 are harder to drive than the C1.

A poster named Simple did a review of the C1 a while back where he compared the two. He preferred the C1, but it could be just a case of "new-speaker-titus". Link is below. Technically, the C1 is a better speaker, being time-aligned and all, but it all depends on tastes and your listening room.

Confidence C1 review

Sincerely,
Mal (owns the C1s)

Thanks for the comments! I was just curious if anyone actually prefered the S25 over the C1. Everthing I have reviewed has the C1 on top. As mentioned it could be new speakeritis. I'll take a good look at SIM and Linn amps when the new Linn C2200 comes out.

Thanks again

I have both the C1 and the S25 on hand right now, and frankly, I'm having a difficult time deciding which speaker I prefer.

The C1 is definitely the smoother of the two. The S25 can sound a bit forward and therefore slightly fatiguing on certain material that is not well recorded. However, this slightly forward character can make the S25 more enjoyable for rock and electronic music. It really gets your blood pumping. The S25 also has much more powerful bass on its own, and can be played loudly without having to worry about bottoming out the woofers.

I feel that the C1 is the more accurate speaker. The treble is absolutely gorgeous, and the mids are pure and uncolored. Really, the only area where the S25 beats the C1 is in the bass, in both extension and power. I don't know how else to describe the C1 other than I feel that it is a very accurate speaker. The fact that I can't think of any adjectives to describe its sound is indicative of this trait.

I'll try to sum up quickly and simply. If you like to "rock out" with rock or dance and/or any other type of hard-hitting, dynamic, rythm driven music, and have a larger size room, the S25 is probably the better choice.

If you have a smaller sized room and you like acoustic music, vocals, string quartets, piano etc., and are looking for as accurate reproduction as possible from a monitor speaker, then the C1 is probably the better choice.

I could live happily with either one. Both speakers have that beguiling quality that makes Dynaudios great.

Here is my associated equipment list:

Denon DVD-5900 (transport)
Proceed AVP2 (DAC and preamp)
Simaudio W-3 (amp)

That's interesting information Tim, thanks for that. Have you had a chance to audition the C2 or C4? What do you think of them in comparison to the C1? How's the imaging/soundstaging, it will be compromised obviously due to the size, but does it suffer too much? And of course, how's the bass? Since the C1 goes down to 40hz quite well in-room, and since 95% of music only has bass above that, do you notice much of a difference? I'm thinking it might be easier to upgrade to the C2 or C4 instead of adding a subwoofer to my C1s, that's all.

Thanks!