How far we come...20 years ago I was mixing and matching.amps, preamps, DACs, transports , cables...now just LS50 Wireless II.

@robinmarples5198

3 ай бұрын

Still need a cd transport.

I love it when a company listens to their customers and makes real improvements to the new products. Not having to play the amplifier lottery seems like a really huge deal. Thanks Darko.

kef genuinely taking the piss not making the app backwards compatible. customers paid 3 thousand dollars, kef should take care of them.

@batdroid2705

3 жыл бұрын

It's truly horrible

@gnomadification

3 жыл бұрын

Isn’t the problem that the Version 1 speakers are lacking some the functionality/licensing required for the new app? I’m a Qobuz user and have to hardwire my Mac whereas the Version 2’s can stream directly.

@CrazyAboutVinylRecords

2 жыл бұрын

You are assuming that the hardware in the LS50 Wireless is compatible with the LS50 Wireless II. It could be they are entirely different and incompatible platforms. Do you expect the manufacturer of your car to give you a new engine or update your car if they make improvements in the next model year?

I think I was never that excited to watch a new youtube video pfff. Really well made review, thank you

Well there you have it , the best review you’re ever going to see or hear about these new speakers. Just superb.

Great review as always, John. And good good job. These KEF are really a clever sound system.

I've been waiting all week for this! Great job!

John, we just opened our new KEF LS50 WII speakers! It's the most expensive music purchase we have ever made and we don't regret it. With your guidance, we made a sound purchase that is filling our home with warmth, tranquillity and beauty (We're currently listening to Tripping with Nils Frahm). Thanks to you & your team for all your hard work. It's forever changed the listening experience in our home.

john i gotta say i really love your videos, the way u point all the important things and visuals is so dope

Amazing speaker system.... Amazing Darko review.... again.

Thank you for active speaker reviews. Definitely the way I am headed.

Absolutely superb review. Really informative and well structured. An easy to follow review that non audiophiles can understand. Job well done!

@DarkoAudio

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you see it that way because this was exactly my intention. In fact, I worried that the techy details might have been too much.

@timafken2297

3 жыл бұрын

John Darko I think that was obvious. Great review as allays . Guess the new ones have also that 200hr breakin period

John I really appreciate these reviews on the “Sonos generation” products. The fact is most of the music people will listen to is on a digital streaming platform and there’s not enough HI-Fi reviews on these products. I’m especially interested in the Naim mu so, Martin Logan crescendo B&W wedge. All HI-Fi products that get left out of the conversation for casual listening which 80% of what people do.

These are incredible little speakers. After listening and comparing a few pairs I was really impressed with the metas.

As an LS50W Gen I owner, anyone tempted to pick up a pair on the cheap: DO NOT. Spend the bucks to buy the Gen IIs. The Gen I apps are awful. I could not get the speakers to connect to my plain vanilla mesh network and had to buy a Bluesound Node 2i to do the job instead, bypassing the KEF’s DAC and streamer. KEF seems to have fixed all of the problems. My bad luck is your good fortune.

@HungryEatNow

3 жыл бұрын

I sold mine after 3 months in may

@brandall101

3 жыл бұрын

I've had a pair since 2017 and remember how freakishly bad things were back then... their successive improvements have fixed my personal issues with them (lots of drop-outs, initialize setup was crazy flaky), but I don't use a mesh network in my house. I only use them with Roon and they work pretty well, just wished they would auto-turn on like my LSX system in my bedroom. I'm interested in these mainly for sonics and am trying to find out if it's worth it to upgrade. The problem is I don't *use* my living room system all that much, maybe 5-6 hours per week for pure listening.

@catherinelugg4321

3 жыл бұрын

I had to do the same. One year out, I am really impressed by Bluesound Node 2.i. KEF, not so much. I *DO* like the sound of these speakers, but the APPs were and remain garbage. I should not have had to spend an addition $500 to stream Qobuz. It's a harsh lesson on the LIMITATIONS of all-in-one systems. And to reply to Mr. Darko, a stereo set up is not a car.

Been looking forward to your KEF LS50 Wireless II coverage going to pick a pair up as soon as I can!

@kohnfutner9637

3 жыл бұрын

Haha have fun with that bro. Let us know what you think.

I expected your video on this product this weekend... not disappointed ! :) I almost bought the LS50 few months back. I'm glad I waited. They seem like a real improvement on the previous version and at the same price ! That's a no brainer to me.

Great review, always a good watch. High quality without the snobbery 👍

Great thoughts and reviews aside, I love the production quality of your videos. Keep it up!

Yea thank you for the review Darko ☀️

I watched this video, bought the speakers and could be happier. Thanks!

Thanks John! I’ve been waiting for your review all week. I like to balance your review with that of the old school Steve Gutenberg one.

Thanks for the tip on the Enjoy The Silence Quad Mix!

That is a great version of DM's Enjoy the Silence. Glad you mentioned it!

@peterbooth6753

3 жыл бұрын

I enjoy these videos as much for the music recommendations as the coverage of hifi gear. I'm enjoying the remix of True Faith and I have a huge Roon playlist of techno thanks to JD.

@bladeswelove

3 жыл бұрын

@@peterbooth6753 Me too. I honestly watch more for the music suggestions then I do for the Hi Fi reviews as I have very similar musical taste as he does.

I think it’s criminal that the new app is not available for the first versions of the LS50 or LSX. App’s should not be built per product. The last update on the original KEF app was Oct19 (4.1). My fear that they will never update this, with the speakers becoming obsolete to new OS updates seems very likely. This type of planned obsolescence is outrageous particularly for the audiofile/enthusiast segment and the cost. I’ve reached out multiple times to KEF support and directly to employees (over LinkedIn) on this and got no answers. John, could you please be a voice for us and bring this up with the team? It seems such a shame for such great products and loyal customers.

@rsa008

3 жыл бұрын

I have also tried to contact KEF several times. No reply

@carlitomelon4610

3 жыл бұрын

I just sold my Musical Fidelity streamer for a sideways move to Bluesound Node 2i. The reason was the lack of any follow up updates for the Mu-Fi compared to continual updates to the Bluesound Vault2 I already had in system 1. I have LS50s too. Very happy with the presentation with REL subs. I am curious about the Meta.... BUT! I'd never consider a product with built in software by a speaker manufacturer. Let KEF do what they do best and get electronics from a manufacturer who'll stand by their older product. And Mu-Fi for amps ;-) Bluesound continues to support their older product with backward compatible updates, and responds to support questions thru their app. Thanks for the review and music suggestions Darko!

@pablovi77

3 жыл бұрын

Is the app necessary? Because if it is, the speaker won’t last more than 4-5 years, if it doesn’t get updated, it will be unsupported in newer OS.

@TheFunkyGlasses

3 жыл бұрын

Pablo Villegas yes, there is very limited capability without the app (aux in and possibly Bluetooth)

@kohnfutner9637

3 жыл бұрын

Products at this price definitely should come with lifetime support.

Excellent review. Always look forward to your perspective. Usability is very critical to the user experience and I am excited to hear the new changes Kef made on that front as well as the Meta technologies. I look forward to see what Kef plans to do with the Meta technologies in regards to the Kef R3. Your videos have peaked my interest about the streaming audio experience. Dipping my toes into the streaming world with my LUMIN U1MINI and L1 5TB and Tidal. I love having the options to listen to my analog lp's and cassette tapes, digital sacd player and now streaming. You have made it easy to understand the streaming benefits which is not an easy thing to communicate as well as an interesting music selection. Thank you.

Thank you John, really appreciate your reviews

Great review John! Having an intuitive app and Chromecast support really seals the deal for me. I'm surprised not more amps and active speakers offer it. I've been hoping my Powernode 2i would get it but Bluesound are having trouble getting it done. This will most likely be my next pair of speakers.

I'm enjoying the LS50 Wireless II on S2 stands and today the KC62 will be delivered, all in white. Sounds and looks great!

Please ensure your comment is 1) on topic, 2) advances the conversation, 3) free of URLs and 4) devoid of conspiracy theories, hubris, racism and misogyny. Kindly keep it civil.

@KINESKI-SINDIKAT

3 жыл бұрын

nice ..

Wonderful review. Sounds like a smart solution to multiple audio problems.

Simply the best ,great review 👍🏼

I ADORE that we opened with the cover of PE's Fear of a Black Planet.

So helpful John. Think I'll go ahead and get a pair!

Brilliant video. Informed, educated, insightful, knowledgeable and passionate. Great work, I’ll subscribe. Oh….and Depeche Mode? The icing on top of the gorgeous cake!

I appreciate the detailed features review, the clear explanations, and the outstanding production quality. The subjective listening tests, not so much. But overall thanks!

Amazing video mate! Genuinely!

Superb review as always

Great review. Always favoured the passive version, but this has given me something to think about.

Great video and choice of music!

Mum n Dad user here... just purchased thanks for your amazing reviews ❤

John, super presentation!

Again, a very very useful review

There are many hifi audio product reviewers out there, but few, if any, comes close to the production value and presentation of what John does. Keep it up. Love your presentation. Your work is in no small part why I own some of the stuff that I bought. And roon too come to think of it lol(which was also partially motivated by you lol)

Finally the review we’ve been waiting for

Absolutely fair comment re subwoofers in the context of a review.

Love your smart nuanced reviews, wish I lived in Berlin!

Great review as always, thanks John and loving the FDW reference in sound cloud! Shame they couldn’t update/combine the previous two Kef apps into one for previous systems (as a LSX owner my only gripe with a fantastic system).

The fact that the new KEF Connect doesn't support the (read: my own) original LS50W absolutely confirms my suspicion, that whole concept has a pretty big miff of planned obsolescence to it.

@DiegoSanchez-ni2ex

3 жыл бұрын

I think that the LS50W II adresses another kind of customer, prone to TV and loud music... Future LS50W buyers will be delighted as its price is to go down. Still I will complain to Kef about the app lack of retro-compatibility: I agree that this is disrespectful.

@timchromecast

3 жыл бұрын

Same with Hegel. My H360 had only 1 software-update. None of the known streaming issues has ever been resolved. Discussions always ends with: it's an excellent amp. I agree with that, but I bought it as an all in one solution. New models have the same issues or even worser. They suggest to use Roon over airplay. I don't pay that kind of money to use airplay...

@DarkoAudio

3 жыл бұрын

Now you've got me curious about the "*known* streaming issues" on the Hegel. What are they exactly?

@timchromecast

3 жыл бұрын

@@DarkoAudio where do we start :) streaming from NAS my favorite solution has become Hificast. Nice interface and gapless playback. For streaming services bubble upnp is my go-to app. The main problem is e.g. track advance in all of the apps (new track already started, while on the screen still 2 seconds from previous track, by the end of the album sometimes 20-40 seconds running behind). With long compilation boxsets this is a serious problem, when the delay is getting longer than 1 track the Hegel stops playing. Skipping tracks, ffwd,... a serious problem. Playing from tidal and qobuz in bubble same problem + content in hi-res sometimes problematic. In my opinion the Hegel hasn't enough buffer memory. It's not my network, because all other audio/video streaming devices play flawlessly both wired and wireless. According to Anders they will be recruiting someone in the near future to solve these issues for future models? But that will be for future models only, I suppose. H190, H390, H590 was promised Roon, but after months it's still not there. Streaming Roon over airplay is no alternative, sorry. People bought these devices mainly as a streaming - dac - amp solution, and now realize that the streaming part was just an afterthougt or gimmick. As much as I love the sound of my Hegel, I feel quite disappointed. I took 2-3-4 years before they finally admitted there is a problem (much respect to Anders & Johan btw).

@timchromecast

3 жыл бұрын

@@DarkoAudio in reviews of many hifi mags no word about these issues (apart from you). And often no word if products don't have no gapless playback. Same for other brands. Products that have similar issues getting 5 star ratings, I don't get it. Sometimes I use Roon (oppo udp-205 coax out). But imo Roon is good for playback, but wasn't impressed with their database. Often poor artwork or no artwork (local artists, electronic music). So I decided to keep my own artwork and tags as much as possible. Radio function: after playing Nicolas Michaux 'Parrots' it's playing John Denver all the time. Same for Kris Dane's "Rose of Jericho" album. Melanie De Biasio's "Blackened Cities" was followed up by Diana Krall if I remember well (second time was better) ;) A popular German techno-producer was followed up by religious Jehova-music. My conclusion, it just works fine with popular / legacy artists. I'm a paid subscriber, but for my personal music collection I prefer the interface of hificast, despite the track advance issue.

Absolutely, John. LS 50 Wireless /Wireless ll with a quality Sub will sound amazing. And probably all you need in a minimalist system. A quality Sub like REL will add another £ 4 - 500 to the equation must be money well spent. Just my two cents. 🙃🙃

I e ordered a pair of these , I’ve been waiting 2 months for them to show up ! I laughed when you were discussing the wireless aspect of them , my Mrs said they’re not really wireless if there is a mains cable 😂😂

Really not cool that a $2,500 speaker that's just 4 year old is stuck with a cruddy, outdated app with no sign of real update. I'm an LSX owner and disappointed in KEF's level of support. Has me wary of buying streaming powered speakers in the future.

@louifnfs

3 жыл бұрын

I recommended the LSX to my aunt thinking the support would be better than Sonos and I regret...

@marklawlor9140

3 жыл бұрын

Amen. Could not get my LS50s wireless to work with Spotify. Support was stumped after days/hours working on it. Instead of fixing App and system with tons of complaints on LS50 wireless they left us behind for entirely new speaker/App. Not cool.

@Michael-xz1nk

3 жыл бұрын

Exactly why I went to the passive version. Imagine what support will be like once the warranty expires. I hope its not like the disposable toaster. To early to know but time will surely tell.

@steventrigg8529

3 жыл бұрын

I kinda regret buying the LSX and think I should have bought some active monitors like the adam audio a5x instead.

@TheDavo10001

3 жыл бұрын

This is my main concern about active loudspeakers. You can’t just swap out the streaming components later when the software becomes outdated. As much as I like the all-in-a-box nature of this product, I prefer to have the ability to keep the speakers for the long haul. Streaming is moving so fast I wouldn’t want to drop big $ on it without being able to upgrade

Well, looks like after only 2 years my Kef LS50W will be making way for the LS50W2. The app upgrade, along with full MQA support and HDMI eARC have me wanting it. The fact that the driver has a major upgrade along with far more headroom on the already strong amps is a bonus.

@dhodythomas

3 жыл бұрын

How would you compare the sound.. (power)

I only hope they fixed software issues and upnp. My LS50W drives me nuts sometimes!

Thank you John for the clear review of the Kef. Myself I'm not entirely fond of speakers which have almost everything build in, especially streaming options like spotify connect. What if in 3 years spotify connect is not anymore supported on your speaker / app? Or other services... then you're stuck with your 2500 euro speaker. Rather have those services within a separate device. But I can totally understand people who buy them for the easy install, no separate devices etc.

Great speakers for people wanting a compact all in one solution and a performance to match

@vivianvaldi7871

3 жыл бұрын

Compact yogurt sound. Don't buy without comparing them with real active speakers.

John your usual thorough and comprehensive review. I've been looking for a higher quality transition away from my current Sonos setup and these look very promising. Would love your thoughts on the Qobuz integration as I canceled my Tidal sub.

Lovin the intro music John

John Darko seems to make videos on the *exact* products I'm interested in whenever I'm struggling to find info about them. I already own the first gen LS50ws, but this iteration seems to have absolutely nailed it. Would love a comparison between these and the Buchard A500...

Guess I know what Santa Clause will be bringing me for Xmas this year. I've been a very good boy too! Thanks JD! Excellent review. You're the best!

Good in depth review, I’m still learning about streamers. Nixon is an awesome album as well as public enemy btw.

Good thing kef finally decided to hire a proper dev team for the app. It would be good to add backwards compatibility to 1st gen of ls 50 and lsx. I have LSX and open the control app only when I need to reset the speaker for various reasons. As for these all in one speakers that are not a niche product...well it's true to a certain degree. Most of people when looking to buy a system will probably try a 1k max set-up...and these are way more. If you have the money and you don't want the hassle of set-up, yes these are a really good option. But I do think I can get a better sound from a pair of R3s with a Hegel and a bluesound. And kef is not really the brand that has really hard to pair speakers. I bet you can even get a really good sound with a rotel or even emotiva as long as you have a proper dac. But with these you can simply move whenever and enjoy really high quality audio.

Fantastic review!!!!

The KEF LS50 must be a good speaker because it ALWAYS comes up in reviews. It seems to be used for countless audio comparisons etc. I never thought of it for myself but I’ve come to believe that it must be a very good choice for a lot of people.

Brilliant review thanks, I wonder how these compare to the AVI ADM speakers?

Thank you John.

Another illuminating and comprehensive review. Thanks a lot. Have you considered doing a review of products in the Sonos category, ie Sonos’ products, Denon Heos and the like? That’s an entry point for many from the “Sonos generation”.

Great review! Since you mentioned subwoofers, which one would you suggest to complement these speakers?

Much waited! John + LS50W. Will it worth the upgrade? :)

Hi John, Thanks for again a useful and entertaining review. My question: do the improvements of the LS50 WII in your opinion make such a difference that you would revisit your conclusion in your Buchardt A500 review (giving the Buchardts a significant higher "rating" than the KEFs)? After that review I was planning to take the risk of testing the A500. But now I am considering to first listen to the LS50 WII (and the Elac Navis ARB51).

I guess you will review "The Fives" from Klipsch at some point. It will be interesting to see and hear the differences between a £2500 high end speaker set, and an £850 lower end speaker set.

Thx for that great review. If you had the choice between these and the klipsh "the fives", witch one would you pick? PS: i am newbie in the audiophile world.

Hi John, thanks for your great reviews! love to hear your thoughts, Elac NAVIS ARB51 or KEF LS50 Wireless II ? They are pretty much the same cost here in Australia. Have been saving for a while

Love her voice, it has absolutely no fry

I just ordered a set of the Carbon Black LS50W2, though I wish they came in the Royal Blue/Gold finish like the new passive LS50 Meta. Won't ship until mid to late November, but I'm excited to try these babies. Already have a buyer for my LS50W, so I'm all set.

Nice review!

Great video, John! I wonder if you got the chance to compare them to the Formation Duo, more from a sound quality viewpoint.

Pretty tempting! That HDMI ARC is a smart move by them. I found the tweeter fatiguing after a while on the originals...great to hear it's improved on the new one.

@speedmunki3372

3 жыл бұрын

Fatiguing? How so? Aren‘t speakers supposed to get better the longer they‘re played in?

@johnathanbellette2490

3 жыл бұрын

@@speedmunki3372 ear fatigue! Everyone's hearing is different obviously but the originals didn't improve over time for me with the tweeter.

Despite my admiration for the brand, I must criticize the absence of retroactive updates throughout the life of the product, as is the case with most manufacturers, which after two or three years stop supporting the products and any news in terms of formats or usability improvements can only be enjoyed by purchasing the new product. Linn and Naim, among a few other exceptions, are different. I am a 2007 Linn DS user and my device has the same features and enhancements as the 2020 models and I have the option to upgrade the hardware at a reasonable cost. In addition, the quality of use of the applications is at a much higher level than anything on the market, with Linn, Naim, BluOs and Lumin being the leaders far ahead of the rest of the manufacturers.

Great video. I've got these on order but they're backordered as of now. Can you speak about the three wooden art pieces on your wall?

Hi John love your videos by the way. In your opinion for a streaming system would you have either the kef wireless 2's or a naim atom with a pair of passive ls50's? i have a main hi fi for my vinyl etc im just after a convenient second system for another room but don't want to skimp on sound to much.

I am particularly interested in DSD 256 - Is it possible to play DSD through the HDMI input? (I understand that it will be down-converted to PCM, but I would like to play SACDs through a Cambridge CXU). On first look, I am disappointed to see that the original USB input is gone, as it was (by far) the best way to take advantage of the LS50W "one", in particular when using a Mac platform.

Nice! These are on my radar :) Do you think that you’re gonna do a review of the Dali Oberon 1 C at some point? It would be interesting to hear your thoughts of that solution compared to maybe a powernode with passive speakers :) Thanks for really good and interesting content as always

I would honestly love for there to be a LSX II.

I'm a Roon into LS50w version 1 user. I absolutely love the sound of my LS50w v1 but I must admit that I'm tempted by the version 2. Getting even better sound is nice but equally compelling is the full RAAT implementation which incidentally shouldn't you technically as of date of recording say is "planned" since the KEF white paper says this is coming "(via a firmware update)" so I don't think Roon has officially signed off on it being a certified implementation yet has it? On my Roon-Tested V1s it's great that the remote and Roon app volume controls (including mute) sync perfectly with each other and reflect each other's changes but it drives me nuts that I can't hit pause on the KEF remote to pause the music but instead have to reach for the Roon app on my iPad (hitting pause on the KEF remote causes Roon to "lose control of the output device"). As I understand it a condition of being Roon Certified is that KEF must also ensure that the transport commands on its remote also sync fully with Roon. One question on RAAT. How does input switching and wakeup work if at all? Right now I do actually use my LS50w v1s for both Roon (via the wired Ethernet input) and my TV (via the optical in) and to play music I have to explicitly switch on the speakers and select the network input for Roon to even see the speakers in its list of endpoints. On a full Roon-Certified implementation must the client include code so that a Roon core can automatically take the speaker out of standby and switch its audio input to the network so that music starts playing simply by selecting something to play via the Roon remote? If I had one teeny, tiny complaint about KEF's v2 update it is that I wish they had addressed one concern I had when I bought my v1s. I have a very minimalist decor and chose the white version plus stands in order to make them as visually unobtrusive as possible in my room. Now I admit that it is a tiny point but in the same way that black tablets tend to have black bezels around the screen and white tablets tend to have white bezels around the screen I wish that on the white speaker finish they had changed the backing colour for the top control panel on the primary(*) speaker to white rather than black so that it blended in better with the cabinet. As I say, not a big deal and the black backing on my white v1s actually bugs me less than I feared it would but it would still have been nice if that tiny little detail had been addressed, I can't see that anyone buying white speakers would have been upset by such a change. Then again, if this is all that I have to complain about that's pretty impressive. (*) As you might see, I have read up a lot on these new speakers hence me adopting the KEF official terminology change from master/slave to primary/secondary!

Can't wait for the comparison with the new Q Acoustic Q Active 200 ;)

I know gapless playback is a personal thing, but I'm gonna grumble over here how in 2020 this is not a standard. Another Great Review John 👍

@shawnsteuer9951

3 жыл бұрын

its not gapless playback? Then I can stop watching ...

@bulversteher

3 жыл бұрын

@@shawnsteuer9951 Chromecast isn't (on the LS50WII or in general, I don't know)

Sound like an awesome pair of speakers but the convenience does come with a caveat around upgradeability especially around the dac and longevity being tied to how long kef support them.

Are these a better bet than the B&W formation duos? Couple of other questions, can you connect directly the Audiolab 6000-CDT CD transport and does it matter which speaker becomes the right or left channel?

Another great review. Attempted to set up a Qobuz account last night but the pay screen kept giving me an error message. Set up a Deezer account instead, very impressed with it so far. Had everything I searched for including quite obscure stuff.

These are my endgame speakers

If I chromecast youtube music (premium) from my android device, do the KEF's stream the music directly from the cloud or does the phone's DAC send the music to the speakers? cheers

Wow, I will buy it

Great review, very informative. But did I miss the price?

John, what the sound reflectors do you use on the wall? I am thinking to buy LS50W for a long time. I started my audio hobby with classic LS50, still remember them as a really great speakers. But because I use now tube system I would not use all LS50W provides, the only idea to use them as soundbar for TV, maybe its a good time to buy first version, when people drop it for second one :)

You’re the best!

Very interesting. I think these might work well as a desktop speaker. For many of us, now working from home, a desktop integrated system would be great. I guess you could add a mic and use it for zoom meetings and calls. That might be an interesting topic: hifi desktop system for work (not video production, mixing etc.). KEF makes some odd looking desktops (no mic) haven't found any info on how they sound.

I rate the LS50W II as a lifestyle speaker with great performance & support for streaming, but excessive for myself utilising Spotify only. A price hike to £2250 hoping original buyers will upgrade is a cheeky move...Given what has been said so far, KEF need to update their Customer support to loyal buyers in this market. Myself, I’m buying an Amp with streaming onboard to run my Neat SX3is (I just can’t swap them out for KEFS TBH) Great review tho 👍🏻

Thanks for great review. In wireless, non-ethernet mode, would master speaker be operating in 24/192 with slave on 24/96, or would master also be downsampled to 24/96?

Hi John, will you be reviewing the GIK Acoustic panels. I noticed more have been added to your front wall. Discussion on placement and impressions would be good. Regards Tim