Q ACOUSTICS 3010i

Among the finest bookshelf speakers you can buy at this level

We now live in a world where the latest smartphones come with four-figure price tags and Cadbury Freddos no longer cost 10p. By comparison, ₹30k for a pair of hi-fi speakers seems to buy more quality than ever.

There has long been decent choice at this sort of price and, as the years have passed, the competition has become more intense as manufacturers manage to squeeze even better performance from their speakers.

Take the Q Acoustics 3010, for example. This bookshelf speaker was a key part of the company’s five-star 3000 AV package.

But now there’s a new and improved version to replace it, the 3010i. It’s the baby in Q Acoustics’ Q3000i range, and among the finest speakers you can buy for this money.

The ‘i’ brought with it an extra sonic maturity with it, making its predecessor sound comparatively crude and less detailed by comparison.

The 3010i demonstrate greater clarity and refinement, and prise open the soundstage that bit wider so instruments can site themselves more securely in it.

We play Lord Huron’s When the Night Is Over and discover the bass plucks are more textured. And there’s also a more obvious fullness we wouldn’t automatically expect from a speaker of these small proportions.

Sparkling treble