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Dynaudio Evoke 20 Review


Dynaudio’s Evoke series of speakers is a new line from Dynaudio, and it replaces the Excite series, which finished up just this past year and was around for about five years. The Evoke series has this model, the Evoke 20, which is their larger bookshelf, there’s also a smaller bookshelf model called the Evoke 10, and there are two floor-standing models called the Evoke 30 and Evoke 50.

About Dynaudio

Dynaudio has been around for about 40 years, and initially, they were known for building absolutely top-notch drivers, woofers, and tweeters. Dynaudio, the world’s top ten audio brands, well-known (famous) car audio brands, Denmark’s top audiophile audio brands, and the world’s leading speaker brands. It is renowned for its precise sound and sensitive response. It is also excellent in the field of professional recording and car audio. DYNAUDIO was established in Denmark in 1977.

dynaudio evoke 20 logo

About 40 years ago, in Skanderborg, a small town in Denmark, a group of engineers who shared a passion for music finally came to the conclusion that even the best speakers at the time could not honestly replay music. So, in order to change the situation, they established a new company: Dynaudio.

What Dynaudio speakers, in general, are known for is terrific sound staging. It’s primarily a concern of audiophiles who pay attention when they’re listening and appreciate a speaker’s ability to create a three-dimensional soundstage where the instruments and voices seem to be laid out in front of you in a three-dimensional way. Usually, the sound stage will extend beyond the speakers to the right and left of their positions, and also, you’ll get a real sense of depth and height to the soundstage. It makes for a very immersive listening experience.

Evoke 20 Unboxing

The package’s side is the parameters of Evoke 20, including length, width, height, volume, serial number, etc. There are two points worth noting: 1. The CE certification mark, which proves that the product has passed the EU safety certification. 2. Made in Denmark. That shows that the Evoke series, like the higher-level Contour, is a meticulous work from the Danish Dynaudio Labs design team and has undergone very complex and precise tests. In terms of sound, the Evoke reproduction series maintains Dynaudio’s consistent sound style.

dynaudio evoke 20 unboxing

Open the outer packing box, and there is a second colored inner packing inside. In addition to the DYNAUDIO LOGO printed on the top seal, there is a DYNAUDIO anti-counterfeiting mark. Altogether remove the inner packing box. The top layer is the eye-catching manual and warranty card.

The grill of Evoke 20. The magnetic design is also used. The grill with a magnetic design can avoid damaging the integrity of the baffle on the front of the box.

Evoke 20’s Design

Dynaudio Evoke 20 adopts a curved chamfered cabinet design with a wide front and a narrow rear. This design not only retains a sense of modernity and novelty in appearance. In terms of acoustics, such arc-shaped chamfered cabinets also have better performance in off-axis performance, which means that audiophiles can have better sound performance without sitting on a sweet spot.

Dynaudio wanted to have a much cleaner look, so for the tweeter and the woofer of Evoke, all the screws are concealed. The Evoke 20 has a significantly bigger cabinet. It’s probably about 50% larger as far as internal volume than the excite speaker. Between that and the larger woofer, the bass response is stronger on the Evoke 20. Remove the yellow tweeter protective cover, and you can see the newly developed Cerotar tweeter. Below the woofer unit is the DYNAUDIO brand logo, which is very eye-catching.

dynaudio evoke 20 image 1

The back of the Evoke 20 has a straightforward design, a circular bass port, and a pair of binding posts. At the same time, Dynaudio also comes with a bass port foam plug, which can adjust the low-frequency performance according to different rooms and preferences. The terminal and nameplate at the bottom. The recommended wattage 180W/6Ω indicated by Dynaudio on the nameplate, there are still specific requirements for the driving force of the power amplifier from the specification. This content is originated from hifireport.com

Evoke 20 as a whole, classic, refined, simple, and beautiful. I believe that for audiophiles, Evoke 20 can be elegantly integrated into it no matter what the home’s decoration style.

Evoke 20’s Tweeter

Dynaudio is known for a couple of things, and one of them is their soft-dome tweeter, which they’ve been developing for about 40 years. It’s a silk textile dome with a series of special coatings on it. Its position and thickness are fine-tuned to optimize high-frequency sound performance. I think it’s one of the best tweeters out there.

dynaudio evoke 20 tweeter

For the Evoke series, they’ve improved it even more. They’ve borrowed some technology from some of their higher-end lines. One of them is called the Hexis. That is a dome-shaped chamber behind the tweeter, and it helps to optimize the airflow behind the tweeter. Hexis has the effect of optimizing airflow and reducing resonance, and it can also break up standing waves and make the high-frequency response flat. It smooths out the dispersion, and the dispersion characteristics are one reason the Dynaudio tweeters and their speakers are so good at sound staging and imaging.

dynaudio hexis dome

The Cerotar tweeter uses a two-layer structure inside and outside. Due to its use of reinforced ferrite magnetic circuit, the unit’s sensitivity and resolution are further enhanced, and the frequency response is more natural.

Evoke 20’s Woofer

The Evoke 20 uses a seven-inch woofer. The Evoke 20’s woofer refers to the new Contour series and the 40th-anniversary special edition, with a diameter of 18 cm and a long-stroke design, but the name is still Esotec+. This unique unit’s diaphragm is only 0.4 mm thick and is made of MSP (magnesium silicate polymer) material.

The material of MSP is not only ultra-lightweight but also has excellent rigidity and damping characteristics. With the new strontium carbonate reinforced ferrite magnet, Evoke 20 can perfectly balance mid-frequency and low-frequency sound performance. In addition, Dynaudio Evoke series woofers all use the Nomex centering technique, derived from the 40th-anniversary special edition woofer’s unique technology. While adopting an asymmetrical design, it also has good airflow, so on the one hand, it can stabilize the voice coil frame, and on the other hand, it can increase the efficiency, killing two birds with one stone.

dynaudio evoke 20 woofer

Evoke 20 inherits the classic design of the Dynaudio woofer. The cone and the voice coil skeleton are glued together to make the cone more rigid, thereby significantly reducing the cone’s physical deformation. In this way, a more robust physical connection is formed between the cone and the voice coil. The seamlessly designed new suspension (derived from Contour) allows the unit to have a longer stroke, making the bass more profound and impactful.

Evoke 20 uses a 52mm diameter voice coil made of pure aluminum. Due to aluminum’s good thermal conductivity, the voice coil’s heat dissipation is also greatly improved, and the height and weight of the voice coil winding can be better balanced. Thereby it has sufficient mechanical damping and electrical damping, making the middle frequency (the middle frequency signal contains many music details) clearer while ensuring the deep and powerful low frequency.

Evoke 20’s The Port Plug

Dynaudio includes with a lot of their speakers a port plug. The speakers are ported out of the box. Again that’s the way I listened to them for a few weeks, but once I put the port plug in, I found that the sound improved noticeably, especially when you’re using bookshelf speakers with a powered subwoofer. If you use a port plug, it seems to act as almost an acoustic filter, and it makes the transition between the bookshelf speaker and the subwoofer a little smoother.

dynaudio evoke 20 port plug

So my impressions of the Dynaudio Evoke 20s changed over the period that I had them at home, from the first couple of weeks where I was listening to them with the port plug out versus the last few weeks when I had the plug in the port. In their owner’s manual, Dynaudio says that it takes these speakers several weeks to break in thoroughly.

Evoke 20’s Sound Performance

“Bishop School” by Yusef Lateef is a piece of music that tests the sound system’s dynamics and transients and can also test the sound system’s low-frequency solidity. This system has a high degree of proper restoration. But the details of the Evoke 20 system are excellent. Even the slight friction sound can be expressed very clearly. Following the rhythm and gradually entering the climax, the Evoke 20 uses a long-stroke Esotec+ woofer, a strong low-frequency impact. On the other hand, the transient and control are excellent. The sound positioning is also very accurate.

dynaudio evoke 20 binding post

“Liebesleid” played by the violin and piano, the violin’s sound lines are particularly excellent, the sound is perfect, the high pitch is gorgeous and delicate. The piano is very calm, and the collocation with the violin is like a partner and old friend for many years, calm, smooth and dedicated. The excellent match between piano and violin makes people fall deeply into the musical world of both.

Since the Evoke 20 treble and bass unit’s crossover point is at 3200Hz, the Esotec+ woofer perfectly represents a deep, heavy, and gentle sound stage. And the excellent Cerotar tweeter can also make the high frequency of the accompaniment piano perfect, creating an adequate space.

Valentina Lisitsa’s solo piano, “La Campanella,” is an entirely different style. The keyboard speed is very fast and accurate. The emotion of the performer is natural. The Cerotar tweeter makes the high frequencies very lively, giving a sense of genius and transparency, and the mid and low frequencies are also substantial, with a sense of power.

La Campanella Valentina Lisitsa

Finally, I listened to the famous symphony “The Firebird Suite (excerpt)” played by Minnesota Orchestra by Eiji Oue. The low frequency at the beginning gives a sense of energy. Although the amount is not very large, the low frequency is powerful. Later, following the music’s progress, the following movements’ sound field and momentum gradually emerged. Each instrument’s positioning image is very accurate, and the hierarchy is distinct, and each instrument’s position can almost be distinguished during the performance.

Dynaudio speakers are fast, so things like percussion and small low-level details come through a lot and help flesh out that soundstage. Initially, the soundstage seemed smaller on the Evoke 20, but the more I listened to them, the more I heard further into the soundstage, so there’s a tremendous sense of purity and transparency.

Conclusion

In combination, the Evoke series has higher sensitivity, but it has specific requirements for the driving force of the power amplifier. Therefore, it is recommended that enthusiasts try to use a powerful amplifier so that the speaker unit of the Evoke series can fully realize its potential.

dynaudio evoke 20 back

In terms of sound performance, Dynaudio Evoke 20’s stage performance, the sound field’s scale, the delicateness of the high frequency or the low-frequency, the looseness, and the musicality are quite good.

So, on the whole, the new Evoke series has successfully filled the price gap between the new Contour and Emit; and the higher-end new Contour is designed and produced in Denmark, making Evoke more value-for-money. Evoke 20 is a very wise choice for the entry-level Dynaudio audiophile.


Dynaudio Evoke 20 Specs

  • Sensitivity: 86dB (2.83V/1m)
  • IEC power handling: 180W
  • Impedance: 6 Ω
  • Frequency response (±3dB): 40Hz–23kHz
  • Box principle: Bass reflex rear ported
  • Crossover: 2-way
  • Crossover frequency: 3200Hz
  • Woofer: 18cm MSP cone
  • Tweeter: 28mm Cerotar with Hexis
  • Weight: 9.9kg/21.8lb
  • Dimensions (W x H x D): 215x380x307mm/8.5×15.0x12.1in
  • Dimensions with feet/grille (W x H x D): 215x380x317mm/8.5×15.0x12.5in