Marty,
Please take my biased opinion for what its worth. I am on my second pair of Giya G1, been listening to them continuously for the past seven years. The Giya speakers in general are considerably faster than the Magicos and the Wikson MAXX that they replaced. While the S7 has pretty decent bass, its not as well defined & articulate as the Giya G1 (which is world class, IMHO). Due to the fact that all the Vivid drivers are made from the same material (aluminium / magnesium alloy), all are ultra low distortion driven by an over sized motor / magnet, these are the most coherent speaker systems from top to bottom; utterly seamless. The S7 has better integrated bass than the Q5 and shares Magico's precise sound, albeit considerably sweeter.
If the G1 is too large for your listening space, you might consider the G2 or even G3; the smaller speakers have less bass, don't play as deep nor have as explosive dynamics but still offer the same speed, precision & mid-range clarity. Its a testament to the remarkable design that Laurence Dickie was able to scale the original design four times
There is no wrong choice, both Magico & Vivid produce fine speakers; the ideal would be to hear both in your own listening room, but given the problem with logistics etc, normally impractical. At least try & evaluate both speaker systems with the same electronics & cables. Bring your own music with you to the auditions. In the end, it really depends on which speaker system cries out to your soul & adds magic to your favourite music. You've made the right decision when you find yourself staying up late at night, revisiting your old music collection, exploring old treasures & unearthing minutiae that you've never heard before.
Please keep us updated on your quest.
cheers
Philip
