Bowers & Wilkins 606 speakers vs Dynaudio Emit M20

For most listeners the Bowers & Wilkins 606 is the pick, and it is not a close call across the sonic qualities that matter most. I would only take the Dynaudio Emit M20 instead if stretching a tight budget matters more to you than outright detail.

Buy the Bowers & Wilkins 606 if your listening is about hearing into a recording. Midrange and treble are where it pulls furthest ahead, with voices and strings arriving with a forward, in-the-room presence that took me a while to adjust to and then made everything else sound veiled by comparison. It has the better low end of the two as well, with enough weight and shape in deep guitar and flute notes to feel complete, even if it is not the last word in punch against a dedicated bass specialist. Its clean, modern cabinet is the more attractive of the pair to my eye and slots into an ordinary living room without argument. The longer warranty is a small thing, but it points the same way.

The Dynaudio Emit M20 is the better value of the two, and it earns that standing. Paired with a capable amplifier it throws a wide, deep stage and reads jazz and ambient electronica with real accuracy, well past what its asking price suggests. The catch is that it needs the right partner and the right room. It runs bright through the upper midrange, particularly on a four ohm rated receiver, and the low end is lean enough that bass-led music can sound undernourished. The cabinet is the plainer of the two, and I understand why some listeners call the styling bland, though I find the minimalism easy to live with. Choose it if you already own an amplifier you trust, listen mostly to acoustic and small-scale material, and want the most performance for the money. I would still audition first, or buy somewhere with a return policy.