Equipment Reviews

Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.

Truly new concepts are extremely rare in audio. Generally, new ideas aren’t welcome, unless they manage to develop some sort of inorganic viral buzz. And wildly different topologies are looked on with active suspicion. I wish this weren’t the case, but audiophiles tend to be a stodgy lot.

I first saw Sphinx Audio Engineering’s Element 3 loudspeaker at High End 2025 in Munich, and I was startled by it. I found myself caught between being captivated by its extremely distinctive appearance and by the excellent sound its larger brother, the Element 5, cranked out while playing difficult, decidedly atypical music, the sort you don’t often hear at shows.

Show coverage requires fast action, and at that time I didn’t quite gather how unique these speakers actually were. That same summer, I visited International Audio Holding (IAH), the Netherlands-based parent company of Sphinx, Siltech, Crystal Cable, and HMS Elektronik. There, I got to dig deeper into the Element speakers, and their complexity unfolded for me in real time.

Aziz! Light!

The Element 3’s appearance is somewhat polarizing. I qualified that statement because, for the most part, all the visitors to my space who experienced the Element 3 during the review period were at least okay with its looks. Many people loved its appearance. My own first impression, and the one that stuck with me, was to be reminded of a scene from near the end of the movie The Fifth Element, where Leeloo actually becomes the ultimate weapon and shoots some kind of energy beam out of her mouth. From that point on, the Element 3 became Leeloo in my mind, which further endeared the design to me.

It’s extremely figured, is the Element 3. The creamy-white synthetic marble looks almost edible, and in person, it’s smooth and cool to the touch. I found myself stroking it each time I passed by. The sides are scalloped and feature a light-bronze metal insert. The base follows the Art Deco style, as does the Egyptian-sphinx-like tweeter module. It’s an Erté sculpture come to life.

The Element 3 should be more polarizing than it is. There’s nothing else like it in the world of audio—for design and topology reasons also, but we’ll get to that—so you’d imagine someone would find its design distasteful. But that wasn’t the case. As I said in both my Munich show report and my factory tour, I really like the Element 3’s appearance, but I’m surprised to have found no one who hated it.

Even visitors who weren’t in love with the Element 3’s looks found something endearing to say about its appearance. “They look like the seahorse soaps my grandmother used to put in the bathrooms when company came,” neighbor Rob said wistfully.

Multipass

Priced at US$47,500, CA$62,500, £40,000, or €45,000 per pair (GBP and euro prices include VAT), the Element 3 is a premium speaker, and that’s clear the minute you see it in person, the second you touch it. There is so much going on inside this speaker that it’s hard to know where to start.

Let’s begin with the cabinet. The actual chassis is composed of an internal MDF core, sheathed in a layer of synthetic stone. Weighing in at 124 pounds, this makes for a heavy, extremely inert cabinet, especially considering its relatively compact size. The acoustic design is quite complicated. Sphinx refers to the alignment as Zero Gravity Bass architecture, which can be described as a variation on a transmission line. Behind the single 6″ woofer is a long channel that folds back under itself, rising up and terminating at a port that’s just beneath the driver. During my visit to IAH, I spent some time chatting with acoustic R&D engineer Marko Licanin. Licanin invested considerable time and research in designing the Element speakers, going through many iterations and prototypes of the bass-alignment architecture.

The Element 3’s driver complement is fairly uncomplicated. It’s (obviously) a three-way design, with a 0.75″ soft-dome tweeter, a 4.75″ paper-cone midrange, and a modest 6″ woofer, also featuring a paper cone.

And now I must do my best to explain the exponentially more complex crossover-and-amplification topology of the Element 3. If you get confused here, don’t question your intelligence, and please don’t blame my explanation. It took me many readings of Sphinx’s white paper and several discussions with S. Andrea Sundaram, our technical expert here at the SoundStage! Network, to come to terms with this counterintuitive design.

Sphinx describes the Element 3’s guts as a PAC Hybrid Crossover design. That’s a passive-active crossover. The active part means that, yes, the Element 3 needs to be connected to power, and Sphinx kindly provides an extremely nice power cord (not surprising, as IAH is primarily a cable manufacturer) for this purpose. At this point you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Element 3 is an active loudspeaker that only needs a line-level signal. That’s not the case—but again, no worries if things aren’t yet clear.

Even though the Element 3 is equipped with three internal class-D amplifiers, it is also fitted with traditional binding posts and requires a traditional amplifier. Here’s Sphinx’s own summary: “The electrical architecture of Element 3 is neither a conventional passive network nor a classic active speaker. It is a passive-interface, buffered, and amplifier-assisted system designed to solve specific, well-known limitations of passive crossovers while maintaining the familiar amp + speaker topology.”

So the binding posts feed a passive crossover that Sphinx describes as a Balanced Passive RC filter. That crossover network feeds a low-gain buffer stage that sorts out the signal to each of the three low-gain amplifiers, which in turn power the three drivers. This means that the external amplifier (your amplifier) sees an extremely easy load. According to Sphinx, that load is an even 16 ohms right across the audioband. Couple that 16-ohm load with a high-ish 94dB sensitivity spec, and you really don’t need much power for this speaker.

I can see you shaking your head as you try to wrap your brain around this passive-active design. “If it’s got its own amps, why do I need my amp? What’s the point? Isn’t my own amp redundant?” Good questions. I’ll do my best to explain.

First off, the Element 3 offers some of the benefits of a fully active crossover. The three separate internal amplifiers provide each driver with an optimized signal that doesn’t have to pass through a crossover, so that’s good. Furthermore, Sphinx has designed the Element 3 so that audiophiles can still tailor its sound to their preferences. The user-supplied external amplifier sees an easy, resistive load, but it still delivers the voltage gain and power gain, and, according to Sphinx, the sound—the flavor, if you will—of the external amplifier will be reproduced by the Element 3.

I feel like I’m getting too deep into the technical weeds, but I don’t have any choice. Here’s an analogy that might help. Think of it as—in a conventional system—replacing a solid-state preamp with a fruity tube preamp. If the amplifier is a neutral solid-state design, you’ll definitely notice a change in the sound at the speakers. The nature of the new preamp will shine through. Same with the amplifier that’s driving the Element 3. According to Sphinx’s literature, the easy impedance and high efficiency of the Element 3 allow the speaker to accurately represent the true nature of the external amplifier. And that makes sense; most speakers present the driving amps with wildly varying impedances. Those impedance swings don’t intimidate chunky solid-state amps, what with their innately high damping factors, but the frequency response of most tube amps can be noticeably affected by impedance fluctuations.

With that in mind, I diverged from my usual reviewing methodology. For the most part, my practice has been to use my Hegel Music Systems H30A amplifier for speaker evaluations. The Hegel is a brute, delivering over 300Wpc with grace. It measures impeccably, and I can’t imagine there’s a speaker that this amp couldn’t drive with ease. I also like to keep things consistent and use the same amplifier with every speaker that cycles through my system. However, the Element 3’s unique topology, coupled with Sphinx’s claim that it will reproduce the flavor of whatever amp is driving it, demanded that I expand my review parameters.

Fortunately, fate cooperated with this review. I still had on hand the Audio Research D‑80 I recently evaluated, a fairly straightforward but excellent pentode-tube amp. And, just arrived, another special guest star: the Engström Arne integrated amplifier, which is about as far out to left field from the Hegel as it’s possible to get, what with its two 300B tubes on each channel and 30Wpc on tap. Given the Element 3’s high sensitivity and legs-in-the-air impedance, I had great hopes for this combination.

Other than an on-off rocker switch on the rear panel, the only other controllable feature on the Element 3 is a toggle switch that raises the level of the bass by 3dB. Of note here is that the feature does not rely on passive components. Instead, the switch raises or lowers the gain of the woofer amplifier. Speaking of bass, Sphinx has fitted the Element 3 with two layers of protection circuitry—which is valuable, as that single 6″ driver is tasked with producing bass down to 25Hz (albeit at a ‑10dB level). Rest assured I tested this feature out. In my room, I preferred the +3dB position, but keep in mind my room absorbs a lot of bass, and I do like bass.

Setup of the Element 3 was straightforward. Each speaker arrives well protected in a solid cardboard container with sturdy, comprehensive foam. The only part of the decanting process that made me nervous was making sure that I didn’t poke the exposed tweeter. The tweeter’s dome is proud of the cabinet surface, so this was a valid concern. Ideally, Sphinx should provide a removable tweeter guard.

Internally, the Element 3 is wired with International Audio Holding’s silver-gold cable, which is used in a number of Crystal Cable and Siltech products. As I mentioned earlier, Sphinx provides an extremely high-quality power cord, which I plugged into the AudioQuest Niagara power conditioner (review forthcoming).

The Element 3 ships with a set of extremely nice machined spikes, but given that my floor is tiled, I left them in the box. The bottom of the speaker is fitted with high-quality rubber feet, which worked extremely well in my setup.

Despite having built-in amplification, the Element 3s behaved just like regular passive loudspeakers. At no point during the review period did they make any untoward noises, nor did I experience any startup delays or dropouts during play. The Element 3s’ electronics were essentially invisible in use.

Speaker cables were exclusively Siltech—the Royal Single Crowns I reviewed a while back, alternating with Ruby Crowns.

Bada boom!

The first amplifier out of the gate was the Audio Research D‑80, only because I’d just finished the review and it was still hooked up. After turning on the speakers but before powering up the amp, I got my ear right up close to the Element 3s and listened for any noise. All six drivers were silent, so that was a good start. And after energizing the D‑80, I listened again; once more, there was no noise, which reflects well on the Audio Research.

As I stated in my review of the D‑80, it’s exceedingly neutral and not at all colored. It does have some tasteful tube sweetening in the midrange and up through the treble, but nothing overt, so it felt like a good place to start. Up to this point, I’d still been listening to the Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signatures with the matching DB2D subwoofers, so I’d had access to essentially unlimited bass, and perhaps the best-sounding speakers I’ve hosted in my room so far. For the duration of the Element 3 review period, I unplugged the DB2D subs.

The Element 3s spun that experience right round the backside and served up a delicious aural banquet so different from the 805s that in some ways it didn’t even sound like the same music.

To unpack. The 805 delivers excitement! Engagement! It’s a roller-coaster ride, Space Mountain, bungee jumping! The Element 3 is nothing so coarse. It’s a refined, clever speaker, one that conveys the delicacy and inner light of the music, but it doesn’t beat you about the head and neck. This is a sophisticated speaker. I recall my first experience with the big-brother Element 5 at Munich’s High End 2025 show. As I walked into the room, I felt a sense of rightness, of correct, accurate, utterly listenable sound. In my room, the Element 3 reproduced this effect.

Replacing the mirrored-glass-and-chrome, hyper-realistic, science-fiction 805s with the Element 3s brought me into a warm, richly decorated private library. Warm red walls, brown leather chairs, antique Persian rugs. I was folded into a cozy cashmere sweater and sheepskin slippers.

Come on, Thorpe! What the hell are you talking about? Fair. I do digress. What I mean is that the Element 3s, via the Audio Research amplifier, didn’t so much project a soundstage as draw me forward into a musical world. I think that soft-dome tweeter was responsible for much of this refinement. It’s a delightful driver that did not call attention to itself. It still recreated instruments with crisp attacks when warranted, but it’s smooth, it’s silky, and it helps the Element 3 recreate a sense of refinement that’s at the core of this speaker’s identity.

I’ve been on a Police kick for the past couple of weeks. Not the early stuff—that’s too raw for me. Ghost in the Machine is one of my favorites, but it’s been squeezed out of the top spot by Synchronicity, specifically the 2003 remaster (16‑bit/44.1kHz FLAC, Polydor Records / Qobuz). This record was panned by just about every critic when it came out, and even today it’s considered a bit of a clunker, but what do they know? “Miss Gradenko” is a fantastic, jump-oriented tune, and the Element 3s just snapped out Stewart Copeland’s syncopated drumming. That soft-dome tweeter distributed Copeland’s ride cymbal like a fine mist, almost aerosolized. Rather than stripping skin off my face, the Element 3s’ tweeters moisturized me, made me want to turn up the music, to lean into it.

The Element 3’s depiction of high frequencies is clear and extended, so despite my description of this speaker as comfortable, it’s missing nothing up top. On the contrary. Backing up a couple of tracks, I re-listened to “O My God” and found myself focusing on Copeland’s heavy-handed ride cymbal, which popped out into the foreground. Clear and extended, yes. But more importantly, that cymbal had a sexy shimmer to it, one that excluded any hint of dirt or grit.

The Element 3s image voices and instruments superbly. I don’t recall who recommended it to me, or if I found it organically, but I’ve really been enjoying God’s Country by Chat Pile (16/44.1 FLAC, The Flenser / Qobuz). This is aggressive, nightmare-inducing metal, evoking a low-ceilinged subterranean passage with machine-shop grinding and sawing. It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure, but via the Element 3s I found myself immersed in sharp iron and steel, with sparks flying and hammers banging. The louder I played it, the better it sounded. “Why” is full of start-stop distortion, deep, unsettling bass, and angry vocals, and the Element 3s projected an expansive, wall-to-wall picture of minor-chord misery.

God’s Country is really well recorded, and the Element 3s took full advantage. The band’s members use pseudonyms and I’m not going to try to relay them, but the vocals were rendered as a huge presence, just behind the plane of the speakers. At several points in the album, the singer moves slightly forward and back in the soundstage—an effect I hadn’t previously noticed—which the speakers relayed with astonishing clarity.

I have to give a shout out to Sphinx regarding the Element 3’s bass. I spent quite a while listening to both pairs of Element 3s and Element 5s when I visited IAH last year, and I was startled at the depth and power that those two models generated in the company’s large listening room. The smaller Element 3s did get a touch lost in that huge space, but it would have been surprising if they hadn’t. A pair of speakers, each with a single 6″ woofer, should sound a bit light in a large room.

But in my room, the Element 3s did things that should have been impossible. My usual torture test for low, low bass is Colin Stetson’s New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges (LP, Constellation CST075‑1). Two favorite tracks, “Awake on Foreign Shores” and “Lord I Just Can’t Keep from Crying Sometimes,” rely on the ability of a speaker to lock up the bass, to physically soak the room in low frequencies. Remember, I’ve had two Bowers & Wilkins DB2D subwoofers, each with two 10″ drivers, on point for the last few months, and they are the bomb. But airdropping in the Element 3s and unplugging the subs did not leave me wanting for bass. While the overall sense of grinding power was—obviously—lessened, there was still that feeling of room lock, of a massive instrument moving large amounts of air. Think of the import here: two 6″ woofers replacing four 10″ drivers, and still plenty of satisfying bass. This was an accomplishment that Sphinx should be proud of.

And it wasn’t just bass weight and overall extension. The Element 3s’ bass was quick, lithe, and tuneful. Switching over to top-rent Canadian rock proved instructive. Day for Night (LP, Universal Music 7747461) is one of the Tragically Hip’s best records, but I feel conflicted by how thrashy it can get. Tracks like “Fire in the Hole” leave me cold, as they’re just too abrasive and all over the place. But there’s also magic here. “Grace, Too” is a journey, with Gord Downie’s vocals leading the way. The underpinning of this track is its power, coming from the confluence of Johnny Fay’s kick drum and Gord Sinclair’s driving bass line. If those two elements aren’t in the correct balance, the whole thing falls apart, and you’re left with a tipped-up, abrasive mess.

Here, listening to this giant recording, the Element 3s nailed it. Again, the bass was just so correct that it sounded as if this record was tailor-made to show off the Sphinx speakers. Same goes for “Greasy Jungle,” which is another fist-in-the-air roller-coaster ride. The underpinning of the bass and kick drum blended flawlessly into the lower midrange, and then smoothly into the midrange, highlighting, rather than obscuring, Downie’s voice.

I stated near the beginning of this review that the Element 3s are warm, comfortable-sounding speakers, ones that encourage long listening sessions at high volumes. That they do, which I found endlessly endearing. Just as important, though, is these speakers’ low-volume prowess. During late-night listening sessions, the Element 3s remained clear and open-sounding. Thanks to SoundStage! music editor Joseph Taylor, I recently found out about a new half-speed-mastered version of Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden. I ordered that right sharpish, and it’s on its way as I write this. So I just had to throw my version (EMI E1‑46977) onto the VPI ’table. Sometimes I crank this album, but often I’ll play it at low levels, letting it wash over me. Playing this album at low volume, where some of the quieter passages faded into the background, I was captivated by how the balance of the album’s overall presentation was preserved. The bass was still in line with the midrange, and that silky treble retained its definition and resolution.

It’s not easy to get good dynamics at low listening levels, but the Element 3s managed to dredge up a good dose of dynamic shading. Just the other day, I was lying on the couch with a digital version of Spirit of Eden playing through the Meitner MA3 streaming preamp. This is perfect nap music, and sure enough, it lulled me into a shallow sleep. I don’t recall which track it was, but at one point, the Element 3s let out a ripping blast of distorted guitar that rose well above the general floor of the music. It was like an electric shock jazzing its way up my spine and into my brainstem. I remained just beneath consciousness, but I was now floating in a world populated by one of my favorite albums.

So what we have here is a speaker that does it all. Bass? Check—deep, tuneful, and melodious. Imaging through the midrange? You bet; see above. Airy, non-abrasive highs? For sure.

I’m leaving for last one of the initial questions I had regarding the Sphinx speakers. They’ve got that zany, powered-not-powered architecture. This is a speaker with internal amplifiers that still needs a power amp—so what’s up with that?

I spent most of the review period using the Audio Research D‑80 to power the Element 3s. It’s a good-natured, excellent-sounding amp that’s got plenty of juice and worked exceptionally well with the Element 3s. About halfway through, I threw in my Hegel Music Systems H30A, which is a solid-state log-splitter of an amp. It’s totally neutral and my reference.

Nearing the end, I also spent a short while using the Engström Arne integrated amplifier (review forthcoming). I was already committed to the Element 3s before I’d arranged the Arne review, but if I wanted to evaluate wildly different amplifier topologies with the Element 3s, I couldn’t have lined up any better candidates than these three amps.

There wasn’t a huge difference between the Element 3s’ sound via the Audio Research and the Hegel, but then again, I didn’t expect much change, given that the D‑80 is exceptionally neutral. I could hear some of the same midrange richness and very slight treble sweetening that I had described in my review via the Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signatures, so that was a qualified confirmation of Sphinx’s claim that the flavor of the driving amplifier will come through and out the other side of the Element 3s.

The Engström Arne made my job easy. I swapped in the Arne, and instantly I was soaking in a warm bath, rose petals sprinkled over the water, cucumber slices on my eyes. The bass was still tight and expressive, the highs still extended and silky, but the midrange! Holy hell, the Arne added a sensation of texture and inner light that left me feeling all tingly. So as to not get too precious, I’d like to refer you to Tom Waits and his beastly Bad as Me (16/44.1 FLAC, Anti‑Epitaph / Qobuz), specifically the title track, which is distasteful in its grinding sound and its lyrics. Via the Arne driving the Element 3s it wasn’t quite as unpleasant. The backing instruments gained an enticing sense of depth and texture, and the rasp in Waits’s voice, while just as abrasive, gained more emotional depth and roundness, and therefore made me feel sorry for him, rather than angry at his very existence.

So yeah, I’d say that Sphinx is well within its rights to claim that the Element 3 clearly reflects the sound of the partnering amplifier. And given its high sensitivity and easy impedance—and especially given my experience with the Arne—I’d also say that this speaker may well be one of the best partners for low-powered tube amplifiers.

Supergreen

To say I’m impressed with the Element 3 would be an understatement. It’s a physically attractive, distinctive speaker, one that certainly stands out in a world filled with rectangular boxes. At the same time, it sounds just wonderful—it radiates an easeful, detailed musical picture that covers all of the audiophile musts. There’s nothing to dislike here, nothing for me to criticize—that’s rare, as I can usually find something to complain about.

The Element 3 is a complicated speaker, one that presents us stodgy audiophiles with an entirely new way of looking at what—up to now—has been a rigidly differentiated technology. Used to be you’d choose a passive speaker if you owned an amplifier, or an active speaker if you wanted to dispense with that sort of thing.

Sphinx Audio Engineering’s new passive-active technology works very well, doing exactly what the company says it does. But like I said, audiophiles tend to be suspicious of anything that doesn’t fit in with the established worldview. The question of whether audiophiles will adapt to, and adopt, this new topology remains to be seen.

My message to those audiophiles who remain uncomfortable with the idea of Sphinx’s new speakers is this: change comes for us all, and sometimes it brings great things. I think this speaker is one of those great things.

. . . Jason Thorpe
jasont@soundstagenetwork.com

Associated Equipment

• Turntables: VPI Prime Signature, European Audio Team Fortissimo S
• Cartridges: European Audio Team Jo N°8, DS Audio DS 003, Goldring Ethos SE, Ortofon Cadenza Black
• Phono preamplifiers: Aqvox Phono 2 CI, Hegel Music Systems V10, EMM Labs DS‑EQ1, Meitner Audio DS‑EQ2, Mola Mola Lupe
• Preamplifiers: Hegel Music Systems P30A, Meitner Audio Pre, Simaudio Moon Evolution 740P
• Power amplifier: Hegel Music Systems H30A
• Integrated amplifier: Hegel Music Systems H120, Engström Arne
• Digital source: Meitner Audio MA3
• Speakers: Focus Audio FP60 BE, Aurelia XO Cerica XL, Totem Acoustic Sky Tower, Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signature, PMC MB2 SE
• Subwoofers: Bowers & Wilkins DB2D (2)
• Speaker cables: Siltech Royal Single Crown, Audience Au24 SX, Nordost Tyr 2, Crystal Cable Art Series Monet
• Interconnects: Siltech Royal Single Crown, Audience Au24 SX, Furutech Ag‑16, Nordost Tyr 2, Crystal Cable Diamond Series 2
• Power cords: Siltech Royal Single Crown, Audience FrontRow, Nordost Vishnu, Audioquest Thunder
• Power conditioners: Quantum QBase QB8 Mk II, AudioQuest Niagara 5000
• Accessories: Little Fwend tonearm lift, VPI Cyclone record-cleaning machine

Sphinx Element 3 loudspeaker
Price: US$47,500, CA$62,500, £40,000, or €45,000 per pair (GBP and Euro prices include VAT)
Warranty: Five years, parts and labor

Sphinx Audio Engineering
Edisonweg 8
6662 NW, Elst
The Netherlands
Phone: +31 481 374 783

Email: info@internationalaudioholding.com
Website: sphinxaudio.com