Skip to main content

GoldenEar shows off its new Triton Reference flagship loudspeaker

GoldenEar Technology Triton Reference
Image used with permission by copyright holder
With its Triton line of speakers, including the flagship Triton One as well as the SuperSub X — which impressed us last year — GoldenEar has quickly gained the attention of value-minded audiophiles. The company’s slogan is “We make high-end affordable,” and while that doesn’t mean its products are cheap, GoldenEar aims to provide listeners more for their money. This year, the company is aiming even higher with its new Triton Reference loudspeaker.

The Triton Reference begins to impress before it plays even a single note, with a striking one-piece cabinet and a hand-rubbed lacquer finish. The sleek skyscraper-styled look of the speaker may look simple, but there is a whole lot of audio technology packed inside.

Though GoldenEar already had plenty of quality components produced for its other Triton speakers, everything inside the Triton Reference is new. This includes the active sub-bass drivers, upper-bass/midrange drivers, and high-velocity folded ribbon tweeter, all completely designed specifically for this new model. These drivers are matched with a newly designed crossover, as well as a subwoofer amplifier and 56-bit DSP control unit built on the technology used in the Triton One loudspeaker and the SuperSub-series subwoofers.

The new 6-inch by 10-inch active low-frequency drivers have 40 percent more surface area than the drivers used in the Triton One, which combined with a larger voice coil and magnet makes for more full-sounding low end. On the high end, the new Reference High-Velocity Folded-Ribbon (HVFR) tweeter uses 50 percent more rare-earth neodymium magnet material than the company’s other HVFR tweeters, for better efficiency and improved transient response.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

To ensure that the Triton Reference speakers sound great with nearly any high-end amplifier, they offer a sensitivity of 93.25dB, which also aids in achieving excellent dynamic range. GoldenEar says that lows extend down below 20Hz, while highs can make it all the way up to 35kHz.

The GoldenEar Triton Reference sells for $4,250 each, and the company aims to deliver the first models in spring 2017. The company is offering a first listen of the speakers this week at CES 2017, and Digital Trends will be there to take it all in. For more information, see the GoldenEar website.

Kris Wouk
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…
The Beats Pill is back, baby!
A pair of Beats Pill speakers.

In what's been one of the worst-kept secrets of the year -- mostly because subtly putting a product into the hands of some of the biggest stars on the planet is no way to keep a secret -- the Beats Pill has returned. Just a couple of years after Apple and Beats unceremoniously killed off the stylish Bluetooth speaker, a new one has arrived.

Available for preorder today in either black, red, or gold, the $150 speaker (and speakerphone, for that matter) rounds out a 2024 release cycle for beats that includes the Solo Buds and Solo 4 headphones, and comes nearly a year after the Beats Studio Pro.

Read more
Ifi’s latest DAC is the first to add lossless Bluetooth audio
Ifi Audio Zen Blue 3 DAC (front).

Ifi Audio's new Zen Blue 3 wireless digital-to-analog converter (DAC) will officially be available to buy for $299 on July 9. When it is, it will be the first device of its kind to support a wide variety of Bluetooth codecs, including Qualcomm's aptX Lossless, the only codec that claims to deliver bit-perfect CD quality audio over a Bluetooth connection.

Admittedly, there are very few devices on the market that can receive aptX Lossless (and fewer that can transmit it), so it's a good thing that the Zen Blue 3 also works with the more widely supported aptX Adaptive, LDAC, and LDHC/HWA codecs (all of which are hi-res audio-capable), plus the three most common codecs: AAC, SBC, and aptX.

Read more
The new Beats Pill might replace Sonos on my back porch
The 2024 Beats Pill and an aging Sonos Play:1.

If I were to build an outdoor stereo in 2024, I'd do it with a pair of portable Beats Pills instead of Sonos speakers. Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

In 2017, after more than a decade in our home, my wife and I added a pool. With it came a covered deck, making what basically was a new outdoor room. Not uncommon at all in Florida, but new to us.

Read more