Best Reference Subwoofer – Honorable Mention

By now, Perlisten’s THX Dominus-rated Reference series subwoofers should need no introduction. Their high performance, low distortion, and low group delay in dual-driver push-pull design have smitten home theater enthusiasts who want a subwoofer that can deliver the goods with movies and music. While the D215s is the best measuring subwoofer our own James Larson has ever come across, the D215’s footprint is massive and makes it very difficult to manage in a domestic environment.

Compared to the D215s with it’s dual 15-inch carbon fiber drivers, the D212s sports 12-inch carbon fibre drivers with the same low distortion, low group delay, and high performance found D215s—but in a smaller footprint and won’t play as deep as the D212s. That in no way means that the D212s is a puny subwoofer. On the contrary, this subwoofer’s performance is nothing short of reference. The Perlisten D212s needs to be experienced to be appreciated.

And here’s the real secret. The D212s has both brawn and brains. The D212s comes with Perlisten’s mobile app which gives you complete, granular control over just about every aspect of the sub’s performance including three banks of 10 PEQ settings, phase and polarity, group volume control, and so much more to fine-tune the D212s into your setup. No other subwoofer comes close to the Perlisten’s sophistication to fine tune it to your environment.

Audioholics’ own Theo Nicolakis took four Perlisten D212s into his review setup and paired with the Anthem AVM90 8K with stunning results that shook even Shane Lee to his core. We’re therefore giving the Perlisten D212s our honorable mention as the best reference subwoofer of 2023.