Upgrade to Dynaudio or Paradigm?

To Jeff Fritz,

Great review, as always, on the Dynaudio Focus 360. Thanks again for doing us audiophiles who can't audition everything a great service. I have a pair of PSB Synchrony Ones and I am ready to upgrade my speakers. I'm thinking about upgrading to the Dynaudio Focus 360 or the Paradigm Reference Signature S8 v.3. Can you offer any advice as to which one would be the bigger upgrade? Or, maybe neither would be much of an upgrade from the PSBs? Thanks very much!

Dave L.

Well, the first thing you should know is that the Focus 360 has been replaced by the Focus 380. From what I can gather it does seem to be subtly upgraded in several areas and is likely an overall better speaker than what I reviewed.

Your dilemma is an interesting one: the PSB model you have is a SoundStage! Network favorite and is considered an overachiever for the price. The Synchrony One competes with speakers costing twice as much, and twice-as-expensive speakers are what you are looking at. If I had to generalize I'd say that the Paradigms have a better tweeter than the PSB and, therefore, would be slightly more extended in the highs while having the ability to play with a touch more authority. The Dynaudios may be a smidgen more refined in the highs too, with that really good soft-dome tweeter they use. The 380 also has a much larger, more robustly built cabinet and would likely play with greater weight and depth.

So, yes, I do think you'd find reasons to upgrade if you were able to audition the speakers you're considering. But I also think the PSBs might just be close enough that you might not think it worth the additional expense. Close call. . . . Jeff Fritz