Hands on: Ruark Audio MR1 MK3 review

Do you know how we would describe the Award-winning Ruark Audio MR1 MK2? Charming. From their effortlessly musical sound to their stylish and compact design, they are a lovely pair of diminutive powered desktop speakers that have all the key bases covered at their price. If you want serious performance for an enticingly small outlay, you could do a lot, lot worse.

The MR1 MK3, then, may be small, but our expectations are big. The MR1 powered speakers have received five-star ratings in both generations we have tested, and a third iteration has been long overdue.

Back-to-back wins are tricky, but a threepeat is a real achievement. So, can Ruark retain everything we loved about the previous models, while also offering a genuine step up in the new MR1 MK3 speakers?

We were invited to an exclusive preview of the new speakers at the British brand's headquarters in sunny Southend ahead of their official launch. Here are our first impressions of our afternoon's demonstration.

Price

Ruark's new MR1 MK3 desktop speakers are set to cost £399 / $579 / €479 / AU$899.

Considering, as we shall see, the MR1 MK3's improved array of features and design tweaks, it's impressive that the price tag hasn't climbed higher, especially in the UK. The long-running, five-star MR1 MK2 launched at £349 / $379 / €499 / AU$749, so Ruark has clearly done its best to keep prices from rising too much this time around.

Build and design

To look at, the MR1 MK3 are Ruark speakers to the core. The charming blend of the retro and the modern returns for this third-generation set, with the walnut-enclosed demo pair looking particularly natty when housed within Ruark's demo rooms. The braided-fabric front grilles return which, when contrasted with the wooden cabinets, offer a lovely contrast.

There are changes from the outgoing units, of course. The handcrafted wood cabinets now aim for a more sophisticated look with their smoother profile and bevelled front edges, even if the general design and size have remained broadly similar.

The new speakers are hardly giants, but the MR 1 MK3 are slightly larger than the second-generation model, clocking in at 20.2 X 13.5 X 16.5 (hwd), with an expanded enclosure designed to allow for more optimum volume for Ruark’s new NS+ Bass/Mid drivers. For context, the MR1 MK2 are around 18.5 x 13 x 14.5cm (hwd).

As before, the right speaker houses the main controls, featuring a top-mounted control dial for selecting Bluetooth, USB, auxiliary and phono inputs. We liked the dial of the previous generations, and again find these third-gen controls to be smooth and easy to operate with pleasingly judged levels of resistance. It's the little things, after all.

Internally, Ruark has put work into optimising its latest speakers' crossover and tuning their bass reflex system, resulting in what promises to be a "significant leap in acoustic performance".

The new desktop powered speakers also promise deeper, more controlled bass and a clear, detailed midrange thanks to the inclusion of the brand's custom 20mm silk-dome tweeter working alongside an 85mm long-throw natural fibre woofer.

Features

The Ruark MR1 MK3 are designed to be a convenient, do-it-all system that will appeal to entry-level novices alongside more ingrained enthusiasts, so there's no shortage of inputs and features on offer.

As before, they offer an optical input for handling hi-res audio up to 24-bit/192kHz, combined with a 3.5mm auxiliary input and a subwoofer if you crave a bit of extra bass.

We said we'd have liked a USB input when we reviewed the MR1 MK2, and Ruark has kindly obliged by placing a USB-C input around the back of the right-hand speaker. Another big addition is the inclusion of a moving-magnet phono stage, if you want to connect a turntable directly and create a neat vinyl setup.

The new speakers offer Bluetooth streaming with aptX HD support, meaning they should be capable of wirelessly transmitting 24-bit hi-res audio from compatible source files. The preceding units were capable of Bluetooth transmission but didn't support any form of aptX connectivity; a nice step-up for the newer iteration, then.

Sound quality

We had a chance to listen to the Ruark MR1 MK3 speakers in Ruark's demo room, along with the outgoing MR1 MK2 on hand for comparison. We'll dispense our usual caveat here that we listened to these speakers in an unfamiliar demo room so our sound impressions are just that – an initial impression rather than a confirmed final verdict.

The very personable chaps at Ruark picked out a few choice tracks to get the demo up and running, but soon they were more than happy to give us free run of their Tidal account to see what the new MR1 MK3 speakers can do.

It's always a good sign when a team is happy to let you deviate from the playlist they have meticulously curated for a new product. It displays a certain confidence that it can handle anything that might be thrown at it.

We also had the older MR1 MK2 next to the newer speakers for comparison, meaning we could flit between the two pairs, old and new, whenever we fancied. Bouncing back and forth from second-gen to third-gen reminded us of the former's considerable qualities, but it also revealed how the newer speakers' larger cabinets have added considerable weight to the sound, especially in the bass.

It felt like a full, meaty presentation, and while the cabinets have indeed expanded, the scale and fullness of the music belie what is still a compact set of desktop units. Massive Attack's Risingson was powerful and imposing, with a forward momentum that triggered a collective spur of head nodding from the small audience.

The fuzzy bass hums sank to impressive lows, but rarely did we feel as though the MR1 MK3 are unbalanced or that their bassier output came at the expense of clarity or cohesion elsewhere – and we are keen to see if further testing confirms such suspicions.

It was the subtle, musical nature of the MR1 MK2 that made them such coveted Award-winners, and our test time with the third-gen speakers has us cautiously optimistic that such qualities have transferred over to the newer units.

The presentation of Radiohead's Burn the Witch brought out the unsettling urgency of Thom Yorke's falsetto wails, all while grabbing hold of those Psycho-esque strings as the track built to its pulse-quickening denouement.

We threw as much as we could at the MR1 MK3; they seemed to be capable of keeping up with anything, bending and flexing with the music. We were engrossed in a rendition of Jeff Buckley's So Real thanks to the authenticity of the tune's bluesy guitar sound and the subtle sweetness the speakers brought to dear old Jeff's vocals.

In fact, the speakers seem comfortable handling whatever they are charged with. While an afternoon's testing isn't enough time to have them run the full musical gamut, it's impressive that, whether we were playing sludgy grunge or a funky slice of Tina Turner, the Ruark appear to have the adaptability and musicality to give each track its own distinct flavour.

Verdict

Our demo time with the MR1 MK3 has left us excited, and the promise of its new features and updated performance is one we have been waiting years for – the MR1 MK2 came out in 2017, after all.

We'll need to get our hands on a final review sample and conduct our in-depth testing with comparisons in our dedicated listening rooms, of course, before we can reveal our final verdict.

What we can tell you now is that our preview with the new Ruarks has left us wanting more. The prospect of putting the MR1 MK3 through the full What Hi-Fi? review process is something we look forward to. Stay tuned for our forthcoming full review in due course.

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