As a professed subwoofer addict, I find myself inexorably drawn to any box that promises to produce bountiful, beautiful bass. It is in that vein that I took a moment at CES 2016 to check out GoldenEar’s latest subwoofer, the $1250 SuperSub X. It is the second model in the SuperSub series—following the SuperSub XXL—but according to GoldenEar the X was the original focus of the SuperSub project.

The SuperSub X features dual-opposed 8” drivers as well as dual-opposed 10” x 11” passive radiators—all packed into a compact cube measuring 12.5” (H) x 13.5” (W) x 12.5” (D)—that’s only 1.2 cubic feet. A 1500-watt amplifier provides the power to produce bass that drops deeper than you’d ever expect from such a small enclosure—GoldenEar claims a frequency response of 12Hz-200Hz.

The Supersub X is not merely compact, it is cleverly constructed so that force cancellation occurs between its dual-opposed woofers and passive radiators. No matter how loud the sub played, the enclosure exhibited no vibration whatsoever—as proof a nickel sat undisturbed on the sub's enclosure for the duration of the bass-heavy demo of various video clips. For what it's worth, a SuperCinema 3D Array XL handled the front channel duties and SuperSats served as surrounds during the demo—that means the SuperSub had to handle all of the bass reproduction for the system.

GoldenEar states that the amplifier used in the SuperSub X came from the company’s famous flagship, the Triton One speaker system. The company specifically touts the power of the DSP used in the system—it’s a 56-bit device with a 192 kHz sample rate that features extremely low latency, making the SuperSub X suitable for use in systems that don’t offer the option to measure and adjust delay, as is the case with many 2-channel audio-centric systems.

The performance of the SuperSub X did not necessarily come as a complete surprise to me, given my past experience with GoldenEar’s subwoofers. Indeed, I currently have the SuperSub XXL in my studio—for review—and there’s no question the dual dual-opposed design is effective.

Currently, GoldenEar sells the ForceField 5 sub for $1000 while the SuperSub XXL costs $2000. At $1250, the SuperSub X offers a significant upgrade in aesthetics over the ForceField 5, as well as delivering the performance advantage of force-cancelling drivers. It may well be the most appealing subwoofer in GoldenEar's lineup, in addition to being the most compact.