Adam Audio T7V or JBL 306P MKII. Which one should You get? Short comparison review

Today we compare Adam Audio T7V and JBL 306P MKII studio monitors. Which one is better? Which one gives its owner a better value for money? Let's find out!

Build Quality

Neither JBL nor Adam is super high quality product, each has some flaws and cut some corners when it comes to build quality. Both use plastic on the front panels for example, but I prefere the matte look of Adam to tacky shiny "piano" black of JBL. JBL has higher quality controls on the amp panel, T7V has very flimsy gain knob without any notches that wuld help balance left and right channel at specific level while JBL  has 10 notches on its gain knog scale and the knob itself feel higher quality. Another advatnage of JBL is the LED status light on the front panel, which is much more convenient than having this light on the back panel like in Adam. Unfortunately both of these have quite annoying hiss level, audible over quiet passages of music when listening at low levels.

Sound Quality

JBL, ecept for a big dip at the crossover point (at ca. 1.5kHz) has more neutral tonal balance, exspecially mid range sounds more present and fleshed out and present. Adam on the other hand has a broader dips around 3kHz and 4.25kHz that robs it from a clarity, presence and snap to a snare drums and cymblas. Adam also has a broad lift between 5kHz and 9kHz than gives it sound brighter and more analytical character. Both JBL and Adam have solid bass response down to around 40Hz but Adam feels a bit less tight to my ear. Treble is where T7V has an advantage over JBL thanks to ribbon tweeter that manages to sound more linear and show more nuance and air. Both of these monitors creates very nice soundstage bbut JBL creates a bit more present and more defined images. Both can play very loud if asked for it.

Here is frequency response comparison of T7V and 306P measured in room at 1meter using UMIK1 microphone:

Here is sound comparison video from my YouTube channel:

Conclusion

It is hard to pick one winner in this comparison, as both JBL and Adam have some issues, but if I was to pick one of these for my home studio it would be JBL 306P MKII. Adam is not a bad monitor, but some build quality issues and precieved lack of neutrality let's it down and mean it is second best to JBL today.