Master & Dynamic MA770 - Review 2022

It's not every 24-hour interval you see a wireless speaker designed past a world-renowned architect, but the new Master & Dynamic MA770 is just that. Possibly the fact that it was created by Sir David Adjaye (whose buildings include the recently opened National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C.) helps explain some of the MA770's whopping $1,800 cost. It's ane of the more stunning products nosotros've reviewed—it's a sculpture every bit much as a speaker. Of course, the powerful, rich audio performance is some other reason it'll cost you. For the cost, though, it could afford to exist slightly more than dazzling in the user-friendliness section.

Blueprint

The cloth used for the body of the 16-by-20-by-ten-inch (HWD) MA770 is described past Main & Dynamic as a "proprietary concrete composite." Equally you might imagine, it'southward heavy—very heavy, at 35 pounds. It also has some dampening and resonance-reducing benefits, resulting in fewer vibrations, even when really cranked. Beyond that, the MA770 looks and feels like no other speaker we've tested. Its rear panel, with its sculpted, sloping lines, is arguably more than gorgeous than the front console, though the magnetic grille cover is cute. The grille'south metal work is reminiscent of the exterior of some of Adjaye's buildings, and is somewhat sheer, so you lot still see the drivers through it.

The front face up, which is angled slightly upwards, houses the three forward-firing drivers—dual 4-inch woven Kevlar woofers and a single i.5-inch titanium tweeter combining for 100 watts of total power. The determination to take only a single tweeter is interesting, as our ears perceive direction most hands from higher frequencies, and this is how we put together a solid stereo image. Simply the spacing between the drivers is likewise so close—they sit down clustered in the middle of the panel rather than on the outer edges—that stereo separation on a single MA770 is merely theoretical. You tin can combine multiple MA770s and assign channels via Chromecast, but obviously that's a steep price to pay for stereo separation.

At the bottom-right of the front panel, at that place are 4 buttons: volume up, volume downwards (these work in conjunction with your paired device's principal volume levels), play/suspension, and source. The source push switches between Bluetooth, Chromecast, optical, and 3.5mm aux input. Switching between sources while paired via Bluetooth breaks the connection, and unfortunately, switching back to it doesn't automatically re-pair the speaker with the most recently used device.

On the dorsum console, below the artfully sweeping lines, there are connections for the included power cable, an optical input, and a three.5mm input. In a higher place these connections, at that place's a port to permit air to escape through for more efficient driver performance. Despite its heaven-high price, the MA770 doesn't transport with an optical or 3.5mm cable for the wired inputs. Information technology seems like a missed opportunity to provide a overnice-looking accessory to complement the speaker'southward blueprint, or at the very least, save a trip to Best Buy.

A remote or an app to control the speaker would also take been be dainty. Yes, you tin can employ the Google Home app to switch betwixt multiple streaming audio sources, simply the app is a bit involved if all you desire is a way to switch between, say, Bluetooth and optical remotely. A remote or app that takes care of not merely switching sources but re-pairing previously connected devices is something other companies have already figured out, and something Principal & Dynamic would do well to comprise in future iterations of the MA770.

The lack of an app is also felt when information technology comes to multi-room support. Principal & Dynamic claims the MA770 is the beginning speaker to accept built-in Chromecast support for assigning one speaker to the left aqueduct and the other to the right. That's absurd, merely it'due south not terribly inclusive—the experience when using an iPhone, for instance, is so-so when using the Google Home app, and better when simply streaming via Bluetooth. In Bluetooth mode, however, the multi-room capabilities disappear.

The speaker's high-quality drivers also tend to expose the relatively low quality of many streaming apps. Bose and Sony are 2 examples of manufacturers that have designed apps (with varying success) that simplify the process of switching between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and the adding on of extra speakers. The multi-room capabilities seem limited here without a unifying master app to control everything. Ultimately, though, the speaker is and then beautiful that some of its design shortcomings are overshadowed.

Performance

On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife'south "Silent Shout," the MA770 delivers some palpable thunder, and at moderate volumes, the bass is full and strong. At peak, exceptionally loud levels, the song begins to distort e'er so slightly. It's a bit of a bummer because the price, simply it's not a full daze considering how loud the speaker gets. And at fifty-fifty 95 percent book, we didn't detect distortion—information technology's only at the absolute maximum level that it begins to creep in. And so for the most part, the MA770 does a solid chore of delivering deep bass.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with less in the way of deep bass, gives us a better sense of the MA770's audio signature. The drums on this track tin sound unnaturally thunderous on bass-forward systems. Through the MA770, they have a round, full audio with some definite bass boosting, merely nothing too exaggerated. It's Callahan's baritone vocals that seem to command near of the low frequency attention—they're exceptionally rich and full here. Thankfully at that place's a solid high-mid and high frequency presence to keep things balanced and articulate—the vocals become a prissy treble edge, and the guitar strumming gets a vivid attack. It's a bass-forward sound signature that still provides plenty of loftier-mid and high frequency definition.

On Jay-Z and Kanye W's "No Church in the Wild," the boot pulsate loop receives plenty of loftier-mid presence, accentuating the sharpness of its attack. The loop also receives strong low frequency presence also, giving its sustain a powerful punch. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the shell are delivered with less gusto than you might expect, and the MA770's boosting scheme starts to come into clearer focus—the lows and low-mids get plenty of boosting, hence a bassier vocal on the Callahan track and a beefed-up drum loop here. But the sub-bass realm doesn't really get as much representation—information technology'due south not a thin sound by any ways, simply the MA770 doesn't perform like it has a hidden subwoofer. The vocals on this track are always clear, and never audio too sculpted or sibilant. At times, the drum loop sounds pumped up enough that information technology's almost in danger of overpowering the vocals, simply things never quite get to that intense level.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound fantastic through the MA770. The boosting it does in the lows and low-mids serves to push button the lower register instrumentation frontward in the mix a bit, but non in any way that overpowers the higher register contumely, strings, and vocals. These elements retain their crisp presence, and only get more anchoring and body from the slightly boosted lows. Information technology's a rich, balanced sound that gives solid representation to the orchestra as a whole.

Conclusions

Visually, Master & Dynamic'due south MA770 blueprint is a masterstroke. Operationally, it feels like an honest rookie effort—a simple app would really help elevate the user feel. From an audio standpoint, the drivers sound fantastic, but for the price, we'd like to have seen another tweeter, and maybe some wider separation between drivers.

If you lot take a flexible budget, there are plenty of luxury wireless options worth considering in addition to the MA770. The even more than expensive Blindside & Olufsen BeoPlay A9 is another chat piece for the house that happens to deliver first-class sound functioning. The less expensive (merely still quite pricey) Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Wireless is 1 of our favorite luxury wireless speakers for the dwelling house—a design piece that offers wonderful audio performance.

For far less money, yous can withal fill your room with sound and look stylish doing it—the Klipsch The Three and the JLab Block Party offering solid wireless audio for a tiny fraction of the MA770'south cost.

Is the MA770 worth $1,800? Beauty is in the center of the beholder, and the Primary & Dynamic MA770 feels like a great-sounding speaker inside a lovely sculpture. Together, that will be enough to justify its cost for some, but from a purely audio and operational standpoint, the price feels a niggling high.