Heavenly Sounds. The RBH Sound Voca Fina MKII Speaker Review.
By Steve Huff
I am listening right at this moment to these brand new 50th anniversary speakers from RBH Sound called the “Voca Fina MKII” (voh-cha fee-na) and after spending weeks with them I am now hearing the at their best. Seems they LOVE Class D power and they have come alive with the new AGD Allegro integrated amp as well as the uber affordable Chorus and Verse setup from LAIV, also Class D.
Honestly, these speakers are so unique and at first I was not sure what to think of them. The design is different and at first glance they look like they are made of marble but this is not the case. Before I dig into these speakers let me go back to what came before them. These are the MKII after all so what was the MKI all about?
The original Voca Fina was made of granite. Heavy as hell with a $15k price tag. RBH Sound has recreated this speaker for modern times and says they made it even better. Now it is half the price and much lighter as they skipped the granite and use an acrylic enclosure that looks like marble. So better sound than the OG for half the cost? Let’s see.
The original Voca Fina looked crazy as you can see above on its custom stand. Due to the weight and price I guess they didn’t sell too many of these back in the early 2010’s when they came out. The good thing about the new ones? They are much lighter in weight and do not look quite as extreme as the OG yet the sound… is truly unreal. I have never heard the originals but I can tell you here and now that the MKII versions are among the finest I have had in my room when it comes to a small 2 way speaker. There are some limitations as there is no one “perfect” speaker but what these do well, they do better than most I have heard when comparing them to other small 2 way speakers.
The new MKII
The MKII use a 6.5″ woofer and an AMT ribbon tweeter. I can say that every AMT tweeter I have heard has been magical, and it is the same here. Beautifully airy and open with some of the nicest imaging I have ever heard from any speaker. The crossover is hand wired with all high quality parts with a more impressive bass quality than one would expect from such a small speaker though they are rated down to 45Hz.
Now, while these are small in size they are very long. Unusually long compared to other speakers that look like a normal box. One person told me these look like a mailbox when I posted sound demos on my Instagram @hifihuffofficial. I see that but truly believe it is the enclosure here that help push these into incredible sound territory. There is magic coming out of these boxes if you are the type of listener who looks for purity, airiness, large soundstage, unreal imaging with depth and layers as well. There are many things going on here with the Voca Fina that make them special. These will not do low 20Hz bass but they surprised me even with EDM and rock.
When these first showed up I was skeptical as I assumed they would be lightweight in sound and bass would be lacking. Well, that wasn’t the case and while they do have a sound, it’s for sure different from what I expected. I will say that if I didn’t purchase the SV Gro speakers a while ago I would be buying these review units up immediately. They are just as good as those $32k boxes in the treble and mids yet come in for 5X less in cost.
Let me warn you, when powered right (they love power and class D GAN amps), these are addictive. Very much so. I have never done any hardcore drugs in life but these could be like audio crack for some of you reading this review right now. I can’t get enough of this sound, it’s incredible but let me stop using these hype words and tell you why.
The 50th Anniversary of RBH Sound
RBH brought these back for their 50th anniversary and therefore, these are a part of that lineup. They created some pretty crazy stuff for the 50th like this one, a huge subwoofer called “The 33”. Wow, now that is a sub! It would blow the windows out in my space!
I will be honest here, I have never heard a set of RBH sound speakers, ever. There are so many brands out there it can be impossible (even for a reviewer) to hear it all. So I had no idea what I was going to get from the Voca Fina MKII but I was about to find out why these are part of the 50th anniversary as they are quite special.
Here is a blurb from RBH about these speakers:
“Bringing back a legend! Originally, the Voce Fina made a splash in the market by having a granite enclosure for near zero resonance! But that came at a hefty price and didn’t make much marketing sense despite their performance.
Introducing the Voce Fina Mk II! Built entirely from the acrylic polymer, well braced, touting a stellar AMT tweeter, and tuned lower all while being significantly less expensive than the originals, the Mk II is aiming to make an impact in the ultra high end space. Available in passive or active configurations!”
So yea they even make these in an active version if that is your vibe. Today I am writing about the passive versions that come in at $7k and is sold through the RBH sound dealer network.
They like power.
The Voca FIna MKII are 88 DB efficient and 8 ohms. Not a crazy hard drive but they do seem to love power. I tested them with big power across four amps. The Burson Voyager Mono amps, the ModWright KWH 225i, the LAIV Chorus amps and the AGD Allegro. The ModWright had these sounding a little bright up top. The Burson was nice and a bit warmer. The LAIV was warmer still and had plenty of punch and brought out some serious bass from these boxes. But they wanted more…and I landed on the incredible all in one from AGD called the Allegro. This amp is designed and made in the USA, in California. It’s magical with these speakers as well every speaker I have here. I loved this combo so much as it elevated everything with the Voca Fina MKII.
The sound with the AGD, which is Class D GaN and exclusive to AGD. They call it “Class AGD” and it sure does sound like a mix of Class A and the very best of Class D. This amp weaved many magical spells with the RBH Sound speakers and I stayed up late every night seduced by the sounds of this combo. When I reviewed the AGD Duet mono amps I declared them “Amplifers of the Gods” as they are THAT good.
The Allegro has a streamer, R2R DAC and the AGD sound from the 200 watt power amp inside. Also had a head amp and can be used as a preamp.
Once settled in with my Matrix NT-1 streamer and the AGD Allegro I couldn’t stop listening to these speakers. As I said, they are like crack for your ears. The sound is supremely divine, airy and floaty. Reverb trails are easily heard, little details that were obscured before are suddenly alive and the soundstage is wide open, with a semi transparency that also has a little warmth in there as well. Smooth, airy, refined and layered. The imaging is some of the best I have experienced.
I listened to all kinds of music from ambient to jazz to classical to opera. I listened to rock and roll, metal and EDM. Bluegrass as well. It passed all tests but these did sound magical with music of the softer variety such as violas, acoustic instruments, opera and ambient. I mean, incredible … best I have heard from any small two way speaker in these genres.
With heavy music like metal and EDM I just wanted a bit more deep bass but even as is, I could easily live with what just the speakers are giving me on their own. There is nice deep bass but not of the big punchy kick ass variety. It’s there and it’s more plentiful than my Fleetwood Helios but not nearly as visceral or explosive as the SV Audio Gro, which are larger floor standers and three way speakers.
As is these are just jaw dropping in sound quality. Refinement is huge as there is no edginess at all, nothing sharp or over cooked. This is one of those speakers that seems to breathe music with an effortless ease but this can also be the amp as this pairing is sublime, even using the internal DAC of the Allegro.
I’d give these a 9/10 for treble performance, 9/10 for midrange and a 7/10 for bass, for their size. When compared to other 2 ways speakers I have had these are quite different. Let’s compare them to the $11k T+A Talis R330 which are huge in sound and big in bass. The Voca Fina MKII sound more pure in the treble, is more open in the midrange and less impactful in the bass. The T+A small 2 way is massive in bass but doesn’t have the effortless liquidity and flow in the mids and treble like the RBH sound boxes do. I would guess that if I incorporated a nice quality subwoofer to the Voca Fina MKII that I would be in for multiple eargasms indeed. Because what come out of them as is, well, it’s just so damn good and sits with the best I have heard in a 2 way, or better.
Music sounds clean but not sterile in any way, it’s almost organic.
Listening Impressions
I streamed “Queen Mary” from Francine Thirteen and was BLOWN AWAY!! This one gets a bit 3D in sound with all of the effects. The vocals are magic, pure so pure. The bass is impressive and provides a beat that had me swaying in my seat. When the 3D parts come in, it caught me off guard. With my SV Gro speakers this track sounds HUGE with clean tight bass I can feel, but those are $32k speakers. The Vica Fina MKII did a slightly better job with imaging and was just as huge and expansive as the Gro but a bit lighter in weight. Less bass impact, which is to be expected.
Again though, what they do well they do incredibly well. Amazing speakers and this track showed me what these can really do.
Going on to really test the bass perforce I put on “Indigo” from SUUVI and wow, just wow.
If you want to hear what your speakers can do with bass, put this track on. The little RBH sound speakers were incredible here and provided a truly visceral bass I could feel all while staying clean and tight. The track had warmth, big body and details were incredible. An organic refined type of thing with zero brightness, bit again, the amp I am using will not allow these to sound bright. The depth of the stage is also quite stunning.
Conclusion.
At the end of my time with the RBH sound speakers I was sad to take them out of the system. They provided me with some incredible listening sessions and while I have speakers that cost more, that doesn’t take away the fact that these cost way less ad provide audio magic as well. The Voca Fina MKII were speakers I did not expect to fall for but I most certainly did. Thet are small but long and have one 6.5″ driver for bass and mids along with the AMT teeter for the top end.
The sound is supremely airy, open and they cast a huge stage as well. Imaging is on par with the best I have heard, ever. Bass is surprisingly deep for a speaker of this size, and better even than the OG version of this speaker. With that said these will not sound like a big bass monster speaker. They can not match my SV Gro but best the Helios in bass. The bass here is rich and brings norm quality than quantity. Listening to all types of music there is enough here for me to be satisfied but for those who want more, a sub or two would take these speakers to truly epic status.
The cabinet is acrylic but looks like stone and the front panel is magnetic, held on by some pretty sturdy and strong magnets. These are also bi-wireable though I am not sure how many do this these days. I do not but this have the capability. The Voca Fina MKII love power and I found that Class D GaN sounded best with them. They sound unreal good with the AGD Allegro all in one integrated amp as well as the Class A Burson Voyager Mono Amps. Be careful though as some amps can excite the treble more than others. The ModWright 225i which is a perfect mate to the SV Gro was a hair bright for my ears with these 50th anniversary speakers from RBH Sound. They loved the 200 watts of power from the Allegro and created magic with this setup.
For me these are some of the best small 2 way speakers I have ever heard and THE BEST when it comes to the treble and midrange for a small speaker. They are addictive and like audio crack and while I have never done or will ever do crack, I codlin stop listening to these. As for low volume? They do better here than my reference SV Gro and can sound intimate and gentle. Listening to some Jazz late night had me closing my eyes and imaging I was in a club, listening to some live music. These make music sound as real as I have heard from any small speaker.
These are indeed worthy of that 50th anniversary launch and I wish I could keep theme here for a long time to come.
If you want to know more about these you can visit RBH Sound’s website HERE.
