Dayton Audio M6 Powered Desktop Loudspeaker Review

Dayton Audio has a range of speakers available, but, as far as I know, they haven’t had a powered loudspeaker specifically intended for desktop systems. However, their new M6 speaker system changes that. There are a lot of powered desktop speaker systems out there, but I took special note of an offering from Dayton Audio in this arena since they tend to put a lot more attention on acoustic engineering than is typical. The M6 does make some departures from the norm in this space in terms of acoustic engineering. Firstly, it uses a somewhat larger woofer than normal for a desktop speaker system. Second, it is a sealed design, hence the need for a larger woofer. A sealed loudspeaker can be an optimal design for a smaller space, such as a desktop environment. This piqued my interest, so I asked Dayton if they would be interested in a review of the M6, and that brings us here. In for review today is Dayton Audio’s M6 Powered Desktop loudspeaker system. How well does Dayton Audio’s unique approach work for a desktop environment, and how does it fare among other speakers in its class? Let’s dig in to find out…

Dayton Audio M6 Packing and Appearance

  

The Dayton Audio M6 powered desktop speakers arrived at my doorstep in a double-boxed package. Inside the boxes, closed-cell foam blocks sandwiched the speakers to protect them from shocks and impacts. The speakers themselves were covered with cotton sleeves to protect them from moisture and scuffs. Packing will be important since most buyers will receive the M6 speakers by parcel delivery. The good news is that the M6 is packed fairly well.

 

Once unboxed, the M6 speakers have a clean and minimal look, a good idea given their application. They can be had in either a matte white or matte black, and I received the white finish. The enclosures have a slight rounding at all edges. Aside from the drivers, the front baffle is simple and nearly featureless. The active unit has a single knob and a status LED light under the woofer. The drivers are both very simple-looking, with the mid-woofer having a clean, concave cone. The front baffle can’t be hidden by grilles, since these speakers do not come with grilles. That’s just as well because they have such a clean and uncluttered look that I don’t think anyone would object to their aesthetic. The only problem is that they are a bit larger than typical desktop speakers, and that alone will preclude them from being a part of a number of desktop systems. Aside from the systems that simply do not have space for the M6s, some people might not like how prominent these speakers can be on some desktops on account of their size. They aren’t huge speakers, but most desktop speakers are small things; many readers might remember the popular Logitech desktop speakers that used full-range 2” drivers. A mention here should also be made about the speaker cable connecting the active speaker to the passive unit: it’s pretty nice with a thick woven jacket. Most other powered speaker cables are very basic by comparison.

Dayton Audio M6 Design Analysis

 

Dayton Audio’s M6 speaker is a simple two-way design intended for desktop systems. As we mentioned, it is on the larger side for desktop systems, so it is a candidate for those who want more dynamic range than the typical tiny desktop speakers. For that same reason, one would also expect deeper bass than a typical desktop speaker, so maybe the M6 is the one to get for those who don’t want the space usage or complexity of adding a subwoofer. So how does the M6 go about accomplishing these goals? Let’s start our discussion at the top of the frequency range with the tweeter.

The M6’s tweeter looks to be a pretty typical 1” silk dome tweeter. That’s good news since it is such a well-known design type that the expertise needed to manufacture a good one is widespread. Much of what would determine the tweeter’s performance, such as motor topology and design parameters, are hidden from us, so we can’t know how good it is from just a glance. On the other hand, the woofer comes from a known series, the Dayton Audio Signature line. These have been tested by third parties and are shown to be high performers for the money. This one uses a 6” concave anodized aluminum cone which is attached to a Kapton former. It uses a cast aluminum basket, surely better than what this application requires. Venting is done through the pole piece as well as under the spider. The motor has an aluminum shorting ring in order to lower inductance, thereby raising linearity. The surround has a smooth tapering to the roll instead of an abrupt transition, and Dayton claims that this will improve the frequency response and reduce distortions at high excursions. 

  

The woofer looks like a good driver, but it needs to be since the M6 is a sealed loudspeaker. That means low frequencies are entirely on the driver to produce, and it doesn’t get any help from ports or passive radiators. Loading a port or passive radiator can be a big boost in efficiency in generating lower bass, from two to four times as much as a bare driver. And the demands for deeper bass get onerous very quickly for the driver alone; to maintain the same SPL for every lower octave, the driver must quadruple its excursion. This is why the M6 uses a 6” woofer in a desktop speaker application; it needs the extra surface area of the woofer to help displace air.

So why not use the driver to load a port or passive radiator with such a major efficiency advantage? One reason is how the low end of the response falls off between these design types. Loading a port or passive radiator will increase low-end efficiency, but only over a narrow frequency band, below which output falls off precipitously (at a 24dB/octave rate). A sealed system will start to roll off its response at a higher frequency but at a much shallower rate: 12dB/octave. So a sealed system won’t have as much bass around the resonant frequency of a ported/passive radiator system, but it will have more output capability below that band. That can be a better solution in a cramped environment like many desktops, since all of the nearby surfaces will acoustically reinforce the lower end of the response, thereby boosting it. In other words, the lower output but deeper response of the sealed system will get shored up by the acoustics of the desktop environment to have a natural sound. By contrast, a ported system can easily get too much acoustic gain in the ported bandwidth and end up sounding too bass-heavy or boomy. In this case, the simpler sealed design may be a better solution than using the driver to load a port or passive radiator. Audioholics has recently posted a YouTube video on the phenomenon of room gain that can be seen here:Understanding Loudspeaker Room Gain and Bass Boost.

A 75-watt RMS class-D amplifier powers the speakers. Only one speaker has a plate amp onboard, and it uses a speaker cable to power the other speaker. This necessitates a passive crossover circuit, although DSP equalization can still be used to smooth out the response on top of the system’s intrinsic response created by the crossover circuit. The crossover frequency is 2.4kHz. The front-mounted knob controls volume, input select, and standby mode. Connectivity includes left/right RCA inputs, USB Audio, and Bluetooth. There is also a subwoofer output. The M6 has a speaker position select switch that changes the left/right signal, so the speakers can easily be adjusted to have the correct positioning. There is also a Bluetooth pairing button on the backplate, as well as an on/off switch, but that is the extent of the backplate controls. A remote control has the rest of the controls, which include a bass boost button, a mute button, volume control, track skipping and pausing, and input select. 

 

The enclosure is a simple affair: ½” MDF panels all around, but no internal bracing. There is a smattering of acoustic stuffing to help damp internal pressure waves. A six-element crossover is mounted at the bottom of each speaker. Dayton Audio has included optional adhesive rubber feet that the user can apply.

 

All in all, the M6 speakers are a simple enough physical design that should work well, but how they sound will depend greatly on how the DSP is utilized for controlling their output. Let’s investigate how well they work in some real-world listening sessions…

Dayton Audio M6 Listening Sessions

 

Most of my listening with the Dayton Audio M6 speakers was done in an office room with the speakers placed about three feet in front of me and facing me directly on an office desktop. I used some desktop speaker stands to angle the speakers to face my listening position. A desktop environment is not the ideal space for speakers, but it is one of the intended environments for the M6s, and many people will use the speakers in similar setups. (Those who want to get the best sound out of a desktop environment should refer to our article: Audioholics Guide to Getting Good Sound Out of a Desktop Sound System.) I decided to evaluate the M6s in the environment they were intended for. No equalization was used. No subwoofers were used unless noted otherwise.

Music Listening

One of the most challenging tasks for a desktop speaker is to create a large sound in a small space. To see how the M6 speakers could handle this, I put on a spectacular recording of Verdi’s Requiem performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Verdi: Requiem was released in 2017 by LSO Live. As the label name would suggest, this is a live recording of this performance at the London Symphony Orchestra’s residency at London’s Barbican. This is a fiery performance of Verdi’s famous work and is not short on operatic fireworks or dynamic range. I streamed this recording on Qobuz in a 96kHz/24-bit resolution.

The first track, “Kyrie,” starts softly and gradually ramps up to a swelling choral summit. The M6 speakers presented a clear portrait of the performers, both vocal and instrumental. The soundstage was expansive, not as much as I am used to in my main listening room, but the acoustics were to blame for that, not the speakers. Nonetheless, the speakers provided an articulate presentation with comprehensible imaging of the performers. The second track, the famous “Dies Irae,” started off with a bang, and the dynamics startled me with that first kettle drum strike. To be fair, the speakers shouldn’t be strained at such a short listening distance of around an arm’s length, but it’s nice to have that verified. Subsequent tracks place more emphasis on the lead singers, and they imaged with a surprising exactitude, especially given the acoustic environment of a desktop. The singers and instruments appeared to be tonally balanced, and I didn’t notice anything amiss, with the exception of the omission of some low-end grunt. The lower end of the kettle drums and bass violins wasn’t as powerful as in larger full-range speakers, although the bass was present. However, I don’t know of any desktop speakers that can do justice to the lowest octave, since they would need to be very large to do so. The M6 speakers managed to make the epic Verdi: Requiem sound good from such an uphill battle against the acoustics, and that is no small feat. Symphonic music lovers looking for a desktop system have a great choice here.   

  

For something with a greater emphasis on a sole vocal, I put on a new album from Cynthia Erivo titled I Forgive You. Erivo is better known for her work as an actress, but she is an accomplished Grammy-winning singer. I Forgive You is her second album and is largely R&B, but covers a gamut of styles. The constant in this diversity of musical styles is her control over her mellifluous voice. This album receives a lush and very polished production that is befitting of such high-caliber talent. I also streamed this album from Qobuz in hi-res.

Erivo’s voice takes center stage here, and the M6 speakers provide a terrific rendering of her talent. Imaging of her voice is dead center, again, surprising given the desktop environment. The M6 presentation of her voice is liquid smooth, and a great track that exemplifies that is “More Than Twice.” It covers a wide range of her vocal abilities, and the M6 speakers simply reproduce the recorded content and stay out of the way. The track also has some real bass, which is given strength by the M6 speakers. The bass certainly wasn’t overpowering, but it was present and not weak either. Another gorgeous track for demonstrating Erivo’s voice was “Save Me From You,” in which she is backed by a choral group. It’s an emotive piece that once again exhibits the M6’s capacity to project the singer without adding or subtracting anything. Instruments were nicely balanced against Erivo’s voice as well as her backup singers. The soundstage was well-defined, and I could easily discern the placement of all the instruments and singers, even with the wide spacing of the speakers forced by my widescreen monitor. I don’t have anything bad to say about this presentation of I Forgive You by these speakers. It just sounded great. The bass might be a bit light for some listeners’ tastes, but I thought it was balanced and provided enough of a foundation for the higher ranges. It was a joy to listen to.

One of the great television scores was Angelo Badalamenti’s music for the classic surreal crime drama Twin Peaks. He returned for the surprising 2017 sequel Twin Peaks: The Return with another amazing score, and I thought this would be a good exhibition to see what the M6s could do for such an eclectic album. Aside from Badalamenti’s haunting main theme, there is a variety of styles present including rock, jazz, orchestral, and moody electronic ambient. As with the show, it hits a lot of different emotions; could the M6 desktop speakers convey them all?

The album opens with the iconic music from the opening credits of Twin Peaks, a song that many know well. On the M6 speakers, it sounded good and did not embellish the music at all with any flourishes. It sounded like it was supposed to. Another iconic piece, “Laura Palmer’s Theme,” sounded similarly straightforward. The moody electronic strings punctuated by the deep piano were reproduced with an evenness that sounded as I would have expected. A short and unexpected pleasure was track 5, “Grady Groove,” which is largely just some jazz percussion with an eerie bell. The M6 speakers recreated the cleanly-recorded bass drum, toms, and hats with the articulation I would have expected of a much more expensive speaker. Another absolute gem of a track is “Windswept” by Johnny Jewel. I hadn’t really noticed it before, but holy smokes, for some reason it floored me on this listen. You know how when a song hits you and you just know you are going to be listening to it a lot in the future? “Windswept” just did that for me. Its low tempo, shadowy atmosphere, and seductive saxophone make it a perfect fit for Twin Peaks. The M6s gave a rich and crisp account of the sax. Successive tracks vacillated between minimalist dark ambience and noirish jazz, and it all sounded fine on the M6 speakers. Listening to this music with such a delightful presentation makes me want to rewatch Twin Peaks: The Return. The Twin Peaks series have been one of the high points of television, and the music helps it achieve those artistic heights, so it certainly deserves a high-fidelity sound system to hear it on, like what Dayton Audio has provided with these speakers.

  

To see how hard the M6 speakers could be pushed, I selected Where Only the Truth is Spoken, a metalcore album by Malevolence. I don’t normally use metal for this segment since the recording distortion effects are so extensively used that it can be difficult to discern the recorded music from distortion emanating from the sound system, but this album has a cleaner sound than many while still being a raucous listen. It certainly doesn’t take turning the gain up too much for this music to get loud, which is why it is perfect for this exercise.

The first thing I noticed when I cranked this music was how quickly the low end compresses on the M6 speakers. While the low end on the M6 speakers was fine for lighter acoustic music, it didn’t stand a chance for music this heavy. Upon turning up the volume, the bass was just left behind. The rest of the frequency range could get fairly loud at the near-field distance from which I was listening, but those 6” woofers ran out of excursion quickly when pushed. Luckily, the M6 speakers have a subwoofer output, and I had a Hsu Research ULS-15 (mk1) nearby. With the sub hooked up, I could properly rock Where Only the Truth is Spoken. The guitars shredded with ferocity, and the percussion hit with a tactile thump. The lead vocalist bellowed and barked with a daunting force. The M6s delivered this brutal music with a punishing intensity. Without the sub, it sounded thin and shouty, but with the sub, it sounded full and furious. It’s possible this could have been somewhat remedied by making the M6s ported loudspeakers, but that would have added to their size, and probably only would have helped a bit, not likely enough to do justice to this music. I enjoyed being pummeled by Malevolence’s music on the M6s, but I did learn that a sub is required for anything with heavy-duty bass for these speakers.

Movie Watching

A new release on the Shudder channel is Ash, a 2025 sci-fi horror movie that looks to have a pretty wild sound mix. It concerns a young woman who wakes up on a spaceship that landed on an alien planet. She has no memory of who she is or why she is there, but she finds the entire crew has been viciously killed. The trailer looked intriguing, so I decided to give it a go to see what the M6 speakers could do for something scary. I find that horror movies can utilize spatial effects more than most movie genres since skilled filmmakers know that the scariest stuff is audibly implied rather than shown outright.

Ash turned out to be a pretty wild ride, both visually and sonically. Visually, the movie used raw primary colors as much as possible, which some people will find delightfully psychedelic, but others will find to be eye-scorching. Similarly, the sound mix relies heavily on bizarre electronic noises that blend music into the movie’s effects sounds for an otherworldly feel. The music has a John Carpenter feel, but more spaced out and heavy-duty at the same time, so it was very bass-heavy. For that reason, I used a subwoofer, since the M6 speakers could not fully reproduce the sound mix on their own. With the sub, the speakers gave a vivid account of the strange and aggressive sound mix. Aside from the music, there was some very strange dialogue that was the most stand-out element of the film’s sound mix. Without spoiling any plot points, it was spoken in a monstrous and thundering voice, and the M6s gave it a striking definition. Dialogue intelligibility was always good, except for that one voice, but that was not spoken in English (and was thankfully subtitled). Ash isn’t for everyone, but those with a taste for the stylishly grotesque will certainly find much to enjoy here, and if they do give it a go, a good speaker system like the M6s will substantially elevate their viewing experience. 

  

A new movie on Netflix that I was excited to see was Havoc, an action movie from Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans. Gareth Evans is responsible for the Raid series from Indonesia, a pair of some of the greatest action movies from the entire genre. He has also tried his hand in horror with superlative results as well. He hasn’t made anything less than terrific so far, so I knew that Havoc would be a sure bet for an action movie. Havoc stars Tom Hardy as a corrupt cop who attempts to protect a politician’s son after he is falsely accused of a mass murder in a botched drug deal. This movie should give the M6 speakers a chance to show what they can do for a rowdy action movie sound mix.

Havoc turned out to be a wildly violent movie, much more so than I was expecting. Perhaps I should have expected as much given the filmmaker’s previous efforts, but I was surprised, nonetheless. The M6 speakers were up to the task of delivering all of the ferocious action scenes, albeit with the inclusion of a subwoofer. One interesting aspect of the sound mix was the gunshot sounds; most of the gunshots were quite bass-heavy, much like the revolvers from Raiders of the Lost Ark. The action scenes were heavily stylized, as were the sound effects — not realistic at all, but still a lot of fun. Havoc opens with a car chase, and the M6 speakers conveyed all of the crashes, skids, and revving engines with fervor. The movie also had one of the most violent club shoot-outs since John Wick 4, with the M6 speakers supplying the many shootings, stabbings, and clubbings with a nicely gruesome level of detail. Shotguns were given an elevated status by this movie, as can be seen in their massive destruction to human anatomy. The M6 speakers, abetted by the subwoofer, provided shotguns with a thunderous punch that was exceedingly satisfying. Orchestral music scored by Evans regular Aria Prayogi gave all of this action and suspense a restless undercurrent that constantly moved the movie forward; it was given a full-throated presentation by the speakers, which lent weight to the unfolding events. Again, dialogue intelligibility was all very good, even by Hardy, who tends to mumble a lot. In the end, I enjoyed watching and listening to Havoc with the M6 speakers; this movie definitely should be seen with a heavy-duty sound system.

Gaming

I don’t normally use games as audio evaluation material, although I make an exception for desktop speaker reviews since that is a likely use for this type of speakers. One game I tried was Quantum Rush: Champions, an arcadey racing game where the user races futuristic levitating craft over extravagant tracks. I was a big fan of the original F-Zero for the Super Nintendo back in my youth, so I have always had a soft spot for futuristic racers. I have had Quantum Rush: Champions for a while but hadn’t played it yet. It looked to have the typically exciting sound mixes that characterize this genre.

 

I tried some races in “Arcade Mode” for some instant gratification. Quantum Rush: Champions had a bit more combat than I was expecting, with the usual slate of weapons found in this type of game. The weapons were mostly energy pulses and didn’t have the heavy thuds of bullets and shells, but they still sounded fun on this speaker system. Many of the sound effects were various rushing sounds from different types of acceleration, whether from boost strips on the track or overdrive thrusters from the engine. Air brakes also helped the crafts to corner better with a nice whooshing sound. It all sounded fine on the M6 speakers, but it was given more life when I brought in the subwoofer. The aural highlight had to be the music, which was the futuristic breakbeat music that followed the template of the “Wipeout” series. High-tempo electronica accompanied the racing, which added a greater sense of adrenaline, and it sounded radiant on the M6 speakers. The game was fun to play and fun to listen to, and it benefits from a competent speaker system like Dayton Audio’s M6 speakers.

One newer game that has received a lot of praise is Robocop: Rogue City, a first-person shooter that strives to recreate the look and feel of the original movie as much as possible, so much so that Peter Weller returns as the titular character, even though the actor is well into his 70s. The production looked to be top-notch, and the game runs on Unreal Engine 5, so it should have much of the latest and greatest in terms of software technology. In the chronology of the movies, the game takes place after Robocop 2 and before Robocop 3. I hadn’t yet played it but was looking forward to seeing how well the developers could capture the magic of the original classic film.

 

I played the first chapter up until the point where Robocop apprehends ‘Soot,’ leader of the Torch Head gang, which is about four hours into the game. It was pretty stunning how much the game recaptures the atmosphere of the first two movies down to small details, including aural ones. The sound of Old Detroit was realized with lifelike realism, and it was gloriously realized by the M6 speakers. Vagrants and lowlifes populated the streets, and the player could often overhear their hilarious conversations. The action was also enthusiastically reproduced by the speakers, including Robocop’s famous Auto 9. The iconic sound of that gun, as well as its leg storage mechanism, was beautifully recreated by the sound system. Did you ever want to shoot at the same practice range as Robocop with the same gun from the first film?  Robocop: Rogue City allows you to live out that classic scene. All of the firearms were period-appropriate from when the movies were made, so we have lots of Uzis, Tec-9s, Mossberg shotguns, SIG-Saeur 9mm pistols, and other staples from 80s action movies, and they all sounded visceral on the M6 speakers at a high volume. The music score was another highlight, and when the main theme kicked in, I had a sense that I was witnessing a proper sequel to the franchise after part two, displacing the awful part three, which needs to be flushed out of the series canon (imagine my disappointment as a child going to Robocop 3 on opening weekend as a huge fan of the first two…). Again, I have to mention that I was using a subwoofer for this playthrough, because the M6 speakers on their own just didn’t have enough bass to do the Auto 9 justice. But when the sub was added, everything sounded terrific. I can’t wait to play the rest of the game, and I will definitely be using the M6 speakers for that experience.

Another game I tried was Welcome to Kowloon, a short atmospheric horror game made with the latest iteration of the Unity engine. This game allows the user to explore Hong Kong’s infamous walled city of Kowloon. However, the game character is not alone and is hunted through the labyrinthine maze of what was the world’s most densely populated city in its era. This game looked to have a good use of sound, not only of the city’s ambience but of the dangers that lay in the many shadows and darkened corridors.

As we start the game, we wander down the corridors and narrow alleys looking for our newly-leased apartment on the fourth floor. Even before any scares, the sound design of this game is already impressive, with sounds emanating behind every locked door: shouting matches, babies crying, dogs barking, parties with music, blaring televisions, and so on. It all blended together to create a sonically rich environment, and the M6 speakers projected a razor-sharp soundstage of this environment. Not long after our character tried to get settled in his apartment, he got stalked by something in the shadows. The sound cues we reproduced with meticulous imaging, so even though we could not see what was awaiting us in the dark, we could certainly hear it. The game’s few jumpscares were perfectly executed, and I was still startled by them even though I was already bracing myself for a shock. The dynamic range of the M6s helped to make it possible, as they had no trouble getting loud. The game’s sound mix was very deep-bass-heavy, and so a subwoofer is required to get the full effect. But the combo of the sub plus M6 helped to make this short but intense game into a memorable experience. Those looking for a brisk and atmospheric horror game ought to try Welcome to Kowloon, and I recommend they do it with speakers on the level of the M6s.

Dayton Audio M6 Powered Desktop Loudspeaker Measurements

 

The Dayton Audio M6 speakers were measured in free air at a height of 7.5 feet at a 1-meter distance from the microphone, and the measurements were gated at an 11-millisecond delay. In this time window, some resolution is lost below 250 Hz, and accuracy is completely lost below 110 Hz. Measurements have been smoothed at a 1/24 octave resolution.

 

The above graph shows the direct-axis frequency response and other curves that describe the speaker’s amplitude response in a number of ways. For more information about the meaning of these curves, please refer to our article Understanding Loudspeaker Measurements Part 1.

The measured responses for the Dayton Audio M6 show a remarkably neutral sound signature, with the on-axis response and especially the listening window response (which is the more important between the two) being very linear. This speaker simply reproduces the incoming signal with very little deviation. This is an excellent response, especially from such a low-cost loudspeaker. The Sound Power curve and Total Sound Power directivity index do show a slight directivity mismatch between the woofer and tweeter, but it is not severe, and I wouldn’t expect that to characterize the sound nearly as much as that ruler flat Listening Window response. Overall, these are unexpectedly good results!

 

 

The above graphs depict the M6’s direct-axis and horizontal dispersion out to a 90-degree angle in five-degree increments. Information on how to interpret these graphs can be read in this article: Understanding Loudspeaker Review Measurements Part II.

Again, we see what a beautifully flat response the M6 boasts, both on and off-axis. We can see the tweeter start to narrow its dispersion above 5kHz, and above 10kHz, the listener will need to be within a 20-degree angle of the tweeter’s aim to get hit with high treble. This is very common with dome tweeters, especially when they are not mounted into a waveguide. The M6 tweeter has a waveguide, but a very small one that likely is not affecting high treble frequencies. We can also see that the tweeter widens its dispersion just a tad above the woofer’s frequency band. It is extremely mild, and from this, we know that the small directivity mismatch seen in the ‘spin-o-rama’ family of curves above mostly does not originate from the front horizontal angle, which is by far the most important region of acoustic output.

 

The above polar map shows the same information as the preceding graphs but depicts it in a way that can offer new insight regarding these speakers’ behavior. Instead of using individual raised lines to illustrate amplitude, polar maps use color to portray amplitude, and this allows the use of a purely angle/frequency axis perspective. The advantage of these graphs is that they can let us see broader trends of the speaker’s dispersion behavior more easily. More information about interpreting this graph can be read in this article: Understanding Loudspeaker Measurements Part II.

In the above graph, we get a better look at how the dispersion of the tweeter narrows in its top octave. The good news is that even out past 20kHz, we still get a +/- 20-degree angle of solid output, and that is more than we have seen many dome tweeters do in the past. Below the point where the tweeter starts restricting dispersion, we do see a fairly wide angle of coverage. The M6 holds solid output out to 70 degrees, which then starts to narrow above 5kHz. That might make the in-room response to sound a bit warm, since not as much energy is reflecting off of sidewalls at those higher frequencies, but higher frequencies tend to get absorbed much more easily anyway, so I don’t think that dispersion pattern will make a significant difference in many interiors anyway. It should make much less difference when considering the near-field application of the M6 speakers as desktop speakers.

 

The above graph shows the M6’s response behavior along its vertical axis, where zero degrees is directly in front of the tweeter, negative degree values are below the tweeter, and positive degree values are above the tweeter. One interesting aspect we can see from this graph is that the M6 has a relatively wide vertical angle of a smooth response before the cancellation nulls kick in around the crossover frequency. This is a very good attribute for a desktop speaker, where listening height can change so widely, even for the same person in the same listening session.

 

The above graph shows some individual responses along the vertical axis. In this graph, we zoom in on the angles surrounding zero degrees from the previous graph so we can get a better look at just how well the M6 maintains a stable response over such a wide angle. We can see that the M6 holds its response shape better at lower angles than at higher angles. At 10 degrees above the on-axis response, the crossover cancellation is already taking a bite out of the response. However, the response stays nicely flat all the way down to 20 degrees downward. That means that listeners should stay at or below the tweeter’s “aim” for a neutral sound. That should be pretty easy to accomplish with some desktop speaker stands. The M6’s breadth of good vertical coverage is much better than average for its class of loudspeaker. Something that may aid in bringing the listener within this angle is Dayton Audio’s DS6 stands, which are made for the M6 speakers (Dayton Audio DS6 Desktop Speaker Stand). These affordable stands angle the speaker upward, thereby ensuring listeners are listening at an on-axis or just below, which is ideal for the M6s.

 

The above graph shows the M6’s low-frequency response captured using ground plane measurements (where the speaker and microphone are on the ground at a 2-meter distance in a wide-open area). The M6 has a pretty solid response down to 60Hz, where it rolls off at a 2nd-order slope that is typical of sealed speakers. The M6 has a good bass response for a small sealed speaker, although it does run out of steam quickly when pushed, which is why I would use these speakers with a subwoofer. However, if you aren’t listening to content that is bass-heavy, the speakers can get by without a sub.

Dayton Audio M6 Conclusion

Before bringing this review to a close, I will briefly go over the strengths and weaknesses of the product under evaluation, and, as usual, I will start with the weaknesses. So what are the weaknesses of the Dayton Audio M6 speaker? In my opinion, it doesn’t have any serious shortcomings. There are some features that I wish it had, but considering the price and performance, it’s understandable why they were left out. For example, the inclusion of HDMI ARC would have been pretty nifty, but that would have entailed a considerable price hike. Optical S/PDIF would have been a nice feature as well, but that feature is negated by USB Audio as a desktop speaker. Still, that could come in handy for those who would want to connect the M6 speakers to their television or maybe some streaming device that has digital outputs.

 

In my listening sessions, I noted many times where the M6 speakers don’t have much in the way of dynamics for deep bass, but that criticism is blunted by the fact that no desktop speakers are able to do deep bass well. However, the M6s are bigger than many desktop speakers, so some users might expect more deep bass performance out of them. But getting deep bass dynamics out of powered speakers the size of the M6s would require a much more powerful amplifier as well as a very different type of bass driver. And all of that would make it a much costlier loudspeaker. Thankfully, Dayton Audio has made it very easy to integrate a subwoofer with the M6s with a subwoofer output jack on the amp panel.

Possibly the only nit that I can pick that carries any weight is that, for desktop speakers, they are on the large side. This is going to rule them out for desktops that are short on real estate, but making the M6 speakers significantly smaller would reduce their dynamic range, so the size is simply a trade-off. For those buyers who need a smaller speaker but want some of the same characteristics, Dayton Audio has the M4 speakers (M4 Powered Loudspeaker Product Page), which are largely the same except for a smaller woofer and thus smaller enclosure size.

There isn’t anything else that I can fault them for, so let’s now talk about the strengths of the M6 speakers. In my opinion, their foremost strength is their sound quality. The M6 turns out to be a very neutral and accurate loudspeaker. They do not add their own flavoring to the sound playback; they just faithfully reproduce the source signal, and that results in a well-balanced sound character. Users looking for a straightforward speaker that doesn’t have any oddness in the sound have a great choice in the M6 speakers. A major advantage that they have in this respect is that their balanced sound holds over a wide angle both in height and width, so users who tend to change their posture while seated at a desktop can still be in a field of even sound coverage.  

Their dynamic range is good too; while they won’t do deep bass with much oomph, they have more than enough midbass slam for almost anyone when used as a desktop speaker. I think they could also be used as speakers for a small room, such as a bedroom, but don’t expect them to rock hard in a home theater room or larger area, since that is not their intended application. Within their intended application, they have a lot of headroom.. 

Outside of their audio performance, they look nice, although perhaps not wildly over-styled. I don’t think many desktop speaker shoppers are looking for something very flashy, so I think many shoppers will appreciate their minimalistic appearance. Their build quality is fine, not exceptional for the class but not below average either.

 

So what other speakers compete in this segment? AudioEngine and Kanto have a plethora of powered desktop speakers around the same pricing, too many to list here. They are the major brands for hi-fi powered desktop speakers, and both brands have a history of releasing solid loudspeakers with good performance. So what separates the M6 from offerings from these brands? The M6 has a larger woofer within a sealed cabinet, which confers some advantages in its favor, namely dynamic range above deep bass frequencies. The M6’s sealed design may also couple better to acoustic conditions in a desktop setting for a less boomy bass response. The other brands do have wider connectivity options, with some Kanto speakers having HDMI ARC compatibility. Another $400 desktop speaker worth mentioning is Monoprice’s MTM-100 which we reviewed. We found it to be a high-performing desktop speaker, but it was huge, even when compared to the M6 speakers.

Dayton Audio has built a great speaker in the M6 powered desktop speakers. They deserve close attention from anyone shopping in this segment who has the desktop space for them. They are a speaker designed with sound quality as their highest priority, and this is evident in both the acoustic measurements and in listening to them first-hand. Perhaps this shouldn’t be so surprising coming from Dayton Audio, which has always placed so much emphasis on acoustic performance in their products. I enjoyed my time with the M6 speakers (and am still enjoying them since I am listening to music on the M6s while writing this), and I am sure buyers will be very happy with the results should they choose these speakers.

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Imaging
Dynamic Range
Fit and Finish
Performance
Value