ESI Unik 08+ Monitor Speakers Review | Reviewer's Revival
A positive upside to our modern-day technology surge is an ever increasing availability of relatively affordable music production software, virtual instruments, and, of course, audio interfaces. For less than $1500, any enterprising musician with a moderately powerful PC (read: Bedroom Producer), can put together a decent home studio complete with DAW, audio interface, 49-key midi controller, microphone, headphones and maybe even a few 3rd party plug-ins.
Then the fun begins (and perhaps some frustration too) as creative musical ideas actually take form and multi-tracked inventions can be shared with the masses. Right?
Well, not if you can’t produce a good mix, young grasshopper.
An experienced engineer will have immediately noticed a glaring omission from the $1500 list noted above --reference monitors. That’s right – I’m talking about studio monitors. Headphones are great for privacy and noise isolation in a bedroom studio or college apartment, but when it comes time to render a good mix, those “Dr. Beats” just ain’t gonna cut it, mate. What you need is a (hopefully) treated room and a pair of good quality, accurate, flat-response reference monitors.
As it happens, yours truly is reviewing a pair of reference monitors that behooves our attention and consideration. ESI has upped their game greater than ever before and now produce a select, but very impressive, range of studio-reference-speakers. Crowning their speaker line is the princely UniK 08 Plus. These 140 watt, bi-amped beauties house a potent kevlar-curved 8” low frequency driver and an exceptionally clear-sounding magnetostactic tweeter.
Spolier Alert: Before we even get into the meat of the review, it is my sincere assessment that these powerful, attractive reference monitors contend very well against competitors selling for twice as much. Each “UniK 08 Plus” retails for $399 (USD), essentially costing about $800 a pair. Notwithstanding, the degree of accurate, detailed sonic quality that these speakers provide, for such a modest price, makes them practically a steal!
