Nanoxia Deep Silence 2 Case Review: Trimming the Fat
by Dustin Sklavos on February 14, 2013 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- quiet
- ATX
- Nanoxia
Conclusion: The Case So Nice They Made It Twice
It's funny; while reviewing the Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 felt like a revelation, the Deep Silence 2 has left me feeling strangely cold. Make no mistake, the Deep Silence 2 is another excellent case, but it feels like Nanoxia played this one too close to the vest.
The tradeoffs Nanoxia made in engineering the Deep Silence 2 proved mostly to be smart ones, though I continue to lament the loss of the removable drive cages. The DS2 does what a good product often should: offer performance comparable to its predecessor at a lower price. They've trimmed a lot of the fat off of the DS1 while maintaining a pretty high standard of build quality. Like the DS1 before it, the DS2 is a heavy, solidly built case with a nice fit and finish, and it's a welcome change of pace during a time when case manufacturers continue to trim their budgets on building materials.
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Thermal performance is competitive without being exciting, while acoustics are potentially excellent. The DS2 is likely going to be the standard bearer for quiet cases under $100. That assumes Nanoxia hits the price point in the States that they're targeting, much as some of the DS1's success rides on that same factor. Yet the DS2 sells for 89 Euros (and the DS1 for 119), and when looking at how component price tags transfer over to the American dollar, it's not too hard to see them hitting their targets.
At the same time, though, the Deep Silence 2 doesn't really feel different enough from the Deep Silence 1 to really merit a purchase. Yes, you'll be able to save $20, which for some users is going to be worth the tradeoffs. I'm not really a fan of buying a slightly inferior product just to save a paltry sum of money: if you're already this close to the top, why start being stingy? It's like the used games at Gamestop that go for a whole $5 less than new. What's the point?
Getting a case under $100 has a certain cachet to it, though, and that may be enough to justify the existence of the DS2. As I said before, this is by no means a bad enclosure. Quite the opposite, if you want a quiet system it's hard to do much better than the Nanoxia Deep Silence 2 without spending a lot more money. Given the choice between the DS2 and the more feature rich DS1, though, I'd take the Deep Silence 1 every time.
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saf227 - Thursday, February 14, 2013 - link
.... and still no US availability?Dustin Sklavos - Friday, February 15, 2013 - link
They're working on it. That's actually part of why I elected to review Nanoxia's stuff. You guys were interested, the products are actually really good, and the review helps them make a case (no pun intended) with American distributors.Zak - Thursday, February 14, 2013 - link
Boring. Looks like a small refrigerator...nassaux - Thursday, February 21, 2013 - link
One good reason to choose DS2 could be if you cannot squeeze a 230mm case in your computer hold. I know it might sound silly to some of you, but that is a real problem for me now and that "wide" case I've got. I was lookig for a nice quiet and thin case for about 6 months now. I think I've found it.JNo - Monday, February 25, 2013 - link
"The DS2 is likely going to be the standard bearer for quiet cases under $100. That assumes Nanoxia hits the price point in the States that they're targeting, much as some of the DS1's success rides on that same factor. Yet the DS2 sells for 89 Euros (and the DS1 for 119) .... At the same time, though, the Deep Silence 2 doesn't really feel different enough from the Deep Silence 1 to really merit a purchase. Yes, you'll be able to save $20"Firstly, that'll be closer to a $30+ cheaper using your implied exchange rate. It may not sound much but when you're trimming $30 here and the case, $50 on a cheaper soundcard, $50 on an i5 instead of an i7, $20 off a cheaper PSU etc etc it all adds up. $30 isn't nothing.
"It's like the used games at Gamestop that go for a whole $5 less than new. What's the point?"
Er... because all the 1s and 0s are the same anyway? All those $5s add up and can soon be spent on another game. Or, you know, food and bills and stuff.
You've got to remember just because you're a tech enthusiast who won't skimp, there are plenty who are still enthusiasts but trying to cut costs where they can...
Affectionate-Bed-980 - Monday, February 25, 2013 - link
The 820? 620? You spend time reviewing those, giving gold and bronze awards, and then you don't include them in the benchmarks? You also mention NZXT in this review too. It's like talking about the Nexus 4 right after the iPhone 5 release and not comparing two flagship phones...Affectionate-Bed-980 - Monday, February 25, 2013 - link
Sorry. Better analogy might be HTC One and SGS4. I'd imagine two flagship Android phones would get heavy comparisons, but if you were to do a review without accounting for the other, that would be an epic fail.pudl - Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - link
I recently got this case and am not happy with it. It has thin cover plates which tend to vibrate defeating its Deep Silence acronym. There are also some tiny rust spots bulging through the white paint while a cage on the inside has a more significant amount of rust. :SI think it's a cheap copy of Fractal Design's cases.
tahelia - Monday, April 8, 2013 - link
I haven't read all of the comments, so I don't know wether it's mentioned, but where the review states, that the front intake has no filter, that's not true. There still is one to the front, though that's not as easy accessible as at the DS1, and there is one at the bottom, of course.