It is hard to blow my mind with consumer tech, as I have seen it all. But there are times when this does happen. Like it did recently when I came home to find my teenage son uncharacteristically excited. He asked me where the music in the living room was coming from. The HomePod was not plugged in, and the TV was off. I was a bit dumbfounded. I knew the Xscace Bonsai was supposed to be delivered, but there were no speakers or their boxes to be seen. And certainly, the deep audio quality I was hearing could not come from a small Bluetooth speaker. That’s when my 13-year-old pointed to the small appendage on the window.
This small metal box, not much larger than a 5-star bar, was the Xscace Bonsai. There were two of these speakers fixed on either side of my large living room window, giving the feeling that my entire window had become a speaker. On closer inspection, I saw thin wires leading from the small speakers to under my sofa. There was a subwoofer on the side of the sofa, and below it an amp unit with a display that showed the source of the music, volume level, and Wi-Fi. The amp offers options to add more speakers and wired input sources if needed.
The sleek, metallic design of the Xscace Bonsai is what happens when minimalist design meets functionality. (Photo: Nandagopal Rajan/The Indian Express)
There is nothing to be seen or touched, and this makes Xscace Bonsai an uncomplicated and minimalist product. All you have to do is ensure your smartphone, from where you are streaming, and the amp are on the same Wi-Fi. With the iPhone, I could select the Xscace Bonsai as the speaker while streaming from Apple Music or Spotify.
And once you select the speakers and hit play, you realise size does not matter. This goes against my understanding of how speakers work. Great audio was considered a function of size too, offering the drivers and diaphragms the space to move about. This is where Xscace slim array speakers have their nano resonance technology that puts paid to certain logics of physics. The fact is that once you hear the music, you don’t care much about the technology that is making it happen.
And even with the near-invisible speakers, it is the music that captures your attention. It is at the same time rich, layered, and deep. Again, that is not something you expect from speakers this small. And maybe the 80W Acacia 6 subwoofer has a part to play, but it is not as if this offers a bass-heavy sound profile.
The Xscace Bonsai comes with a compact subwoofer that enhances bass while sitting stylishly blending in the decor. (Photo: Nandagopal Rajan/The Indian Express)
Listening to Mahakatha’s Shiva Dhyana Manthra, I could feel the percussion in the room and the occasional temple bells break this pattern. The vocals were clear and a level above the instruments. The music overall had an ethereal feel, with the drum beats resonating across the room. The subwoofer plays its part, but the bass is not localised to where it is placed.
When Joan Baez’s Let It Be cut through the mellowed March chill, I was convinced this is the kind of speaker that will make me listen to more music than I get time for. On the other end of the spectrum, with Obnimi, the Bonsai stood up as a full-grown tree, filling the room with its deep bass. I was not even playing at full volume, and I felt my neighbours might walk in with a complaint. I quickly switched back to Gowry Lekshmy’s Ajitha Hare, again wondering how this speaker managed this versatility so well.
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The Xscase amplifier discreetly delivers high-quality sound from beneath the couch. (Photo: Nandagopal Rajan/The Indian Express)
Since this speaker has been designed primarily for audiophiles, I wanted to see how it performed with some Apple Music Classical hi-res lossless files. Beatrice Berrut’s Abracadabra has some great compositions that test any audio product, switching from highs to lows in a split second. As the piano hit a crescendo with the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, I was convinced the Bonsai is a worthy investment for those who love their music, as well as the aesthetics of their home.
Another aspect that left me impressed was the simplicity of the entire rig. The Bonsai stayed connected at all times. And since this is playing directly using Wi-Fi, incoming calls and messages don’t bother you one bit.
At Rs 47,800, the Bonsai might be a bit pricey for many. But if you have a home with interiors that you love to flaunt, then you don’t need speakers that eat into its aesthetic appeal. The Xscace Bonsai delivers high-fidelity audio that’s heard, not seen. Period.
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