KEF LSX II: Looks the same but sounds??
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ค. 2024
- Here they are... The KEF LSX II wireless speakers. KEF are back with the second generation of their award winning LSX speakers but have they changed enough?
www.smarthomesounds.co.uk/kef...
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:24 Design
04:23 Connectivity
06:51 Internals
08:06 Sound Quality
13:18 Our Thoughts
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Kef! Bring me back GREEN ‼️❗️
THIS!
Not the best colour
Kef: No
Sound is phenomenal!
Man I dig your reviews! Thanks! 👃
Amazing bookshelf speakers.
Great Video review. Will you be checking out the new Marshall home speakers? I be interested in knowing how their most expensive speaker works well connected to a TV as 'they show in the marketting.
is there a list of the tracks they tested in the review? thanks
so elegant
I'm a little disappointed that KEF couldn't find a way to upgrade the drivers and stay within budget, but I was already impressed with the sound of the original LSX and I'm sure these will benefit from the new DSP.
In my opinion, just the update to the the W2 platform is enough to merit this refresh: the inferior functionality of the old platform and the horrid KEF Control and KEF Stream apps made the LSX a tough sell despite its great sound. Thanks to the new platform, the LSX II has wider compatibility (Google Cast and Roon Ready ought to be table stakes for this sort of product) and benefits from the huge user experience improvement of the KEF Connect app. That change alone makes me much more enthusiastic about recommending it.
Who needs bookshelf speakers? Good?
Have buy a pair of LSX1 and i cant understand the negative feedback with its apps... sure combine both apps into one would be easier to use... but they work both without any issues... soundquality us great for its size... very happy with the buy.
the word kef in Bulgarian means a state of ultimate chill, relax, and ease.
can it play 2 sources at the same time? I have Audio Engines and have them physically hooked to my PC and Bluetoothed to my Mac Mini and I can hear sound for either source at the same time.
I can not live without the feature.
Hi there, I wanna use the LSX as to soundbar.
my question is if I can use the Kef 90 degree rotated laying then on the long side. Because I don’t have that much space under my TV. Thanx
Strictly speaking audio quality, how does the LSX ii compare to the previous version? The internals seem to be the same so do the DSP improvements in the LSX ii make a noticeable difference? The previous version is currently being offered at a good discount so there is about a $500 difference. Thanks!
🔊I do hope the remote is not as flimsy and cheap feeling as the one from the original LSX‼️As for the speakers :
🔊they sound awesome‼️
Will i need the k-stream interspeaker cable?. Is there any delay on the 2nd speaker when they are linked via Bluetooth or better to have the cable? Thanks
These are primarily for nearfield listening and on desktop. Why is the design not sealed or front facing ports?
These sounds great when listening with my earphones. That means my earphones are great too 🔊🚦🚦
Do you get 24/192khz if you use a usb-c cable from a MacBook Pro or an iPad Pro (and the two speakers are connected to each other) ?
I'll be happy to buy their entry level wireless version rather than the original speaker wire version because kef speakers can be difficult when pairing the right amplifier to make it sound sweet.
Hi, good review, I really want to get these, but will they perform well right up against a back wall?
Yes we did try this in our testing and the KEF app allowed us to tweak the speakers profile to get rid of any booming.
They sound quite bright.
ive had the lsx for about 6 months - excellent speakers - the only issue is the control app is rubbish - you can adjust and then save speaker settings for stands, base, treble etc but the daft app just defaults back to default. i've reported this numerous times and a search online shows its a wide ranging issue - yet KEF don't seem interested in fixing it - hopefully the new version has fixed this. These are very loud speakers - you don't need to upgrade to the bigger siblings unless you have an aircraft hanger to party in - they also have a nice rich base response overall the sound is great.
They don’t seem to care maintaining their apps. They sell new products and forget the old ones together with the old customers.
The app for X300A isn’t working, no more updates, they take your money and bye bye.
Sell the LSX quick, before it dies right after the warranty period is over. Check out the disappointed owners on the internet.
That's not good to hear, but the new all new W2 wireless platform & app feels very stable with no issues.
@@smarthomesounds good to know, shame they can't fix the software on the original speakers that people paid good money for.
I agree that the old streaming platform was bad. It's a testament to the quality of the rest of the product that so many people seemed willing to live with its obvious software shortcomings.
I fell in love with the sound of the original LS50W, but the apps and lack of Google Cast support kept me from buying. When the W2 came out, I leapt on it.
if you change for example Bass on the app some setting will change by default for example Room Size... think this is no real error its just designed like that i guess... had also some prolems with save the setting but after the firmware update of the speakers they work fine for me
i bought a pair of green 1st gen. loved everything about them. 6 months in they would no longer connect to wifi. which was such a bummer.
Can you use it with just bluetooth?
Would be nice if the firmware was updated on the original LSX speakers so that they can also be seen in the LSX app. You end up with multiple KEF apps on the iPhone otherwise. I have a pair of LSX speakers wired into a Topping USB DAC and then wired into a computer. Added the topping unit as my current PC unlike my previous doesn't have optical in.
Which topping dac do you use? I just snagged a set of gen 1 for $130 and I’m trying to figure out a better way than aux straight out of the computer. Thanks in advance!
Sound Bar Height Channel: What does this mean? I keep looking this up but it's not clear. What does, "height channel" control?😩
Is the Wifi connection/card is more stable. I had to reboot and reconnect my current gen 1 LSX multiple times with the app often unable to find the speakers.
I've found that all the KEF smart speakers can be picky about their Wi-Fi. If your router agrees with them, and the signal is strong, and the speed is fast enough, they'll give you very little trouble. If not, it can completely ruin the experience.
I was hoping you would mention how it might connect to the record player given there was a record player between both of the speakers.
Love the cloth covered cabinet design, looks just like the cat scratching pad.
@@visobs 😂
In this case buy the white Kefs with full plastic body witouth cloth
Nice speakers
But no Meta version. Also, still no ability to profile the sound beyond what is provided. I have mild HF hearing loss in my left ear, and I would love it if KEF would provide separate L and R equalisation. I've had to resort to feeding all my digital music via Volumio and the optical port of my LSXs, just so I can apply a bit of treble boost on the left hand side. The capability must exist in the platform - why won't KEF enable it?
Unfortunately, the only real measure to upgrade the LSX into something greater would not have allowed them to stay at that form factor, nor would it have been able to retain that price point. Basically, the only way up for the LSX would be to attempt to turn them into a powered set of R3 by giving them a woofer and making them into 3-way bookshelves. The problem is that power delivery and processing takes up space, so they would have needed to be even larger than the R3, which are already some quite substantially sized bookshelves, and they would have likely tipped the budget over 2000 pounds, owing to KEF's current preference to use separate amplifier circuits with active crossovers. Would it have been unreasonably cool for the next generation of LSX to have been really short, cut-down versions of the LS60? Yeah, probably. But they've opted instead to leave that particular product unmolested and have left customers with a set that, while very competent, really does need a subwoofer that can be crossed over fairly high in order to reduce some of the muddiness that creeps into the mids when you start asking that Uni-Q driver to use all of the excursion that the enlarged rubber surround can give you in order to achieve some real bass performance. It's a complicated dance of compromises, so it saddens me to see them continue that instead of making something like ELAC's Navis ARB-51. Now, is that even a fair comparison? Have the LSXII just outclassed the ARB-51 with one less driver? Since none of the audio stores in my area have either of those to demo, I can't say. What I can say is that the LS50Meta can't manage to match how clean the mids and bass are on the R3. So how good would a 3-way powered bookshelf from KEF be if even the LS50Meta and LS50WII that I have heard are so competent? I feel like they may have left too much on the table for future product revisions by keeping to the 2-way design. Hopefully I'll get a chance to hear these sometime soon and I do hope to be blown away, even with them being fundamentally impaired compared to a 3-way setup.
They are a absolute faf to setup and i use the supploed LAN cable for connecting both speakersnot bluetoth. . Addionaly i use iISB C to my macbook pro pro chip. The sound is good. The LS50 are rubbish so went with KEFR3 with a NAIM STAR
These are the most beautiful speakers ever. I have the first generation LSX. They look and sound amazing but connectivity is not that good. Also passive speakers are probably more future proof. But you cannot beat these in looks.
There's an analogue input in the LSX, if the build in streamer is outdated you can always connect a new streamer of your choice to it, and amp improvements are slower than a stream of water droplets weathering through a rock (decent amps made in 30+ years ago are still perfectly good today). So until they physical break they are no less future proof than passive speakers because you'd be doing the exact same thing when the streamer/dac you connect to your passive speakers gets outdated and you have to replace it with a new streamer using the same analogue connections. The only real downside in getting an all in one system is not lack of future proofness but financial flexibility, because with a component system you can probably trade/sell your outdated streamer/amp for funds for the new item (but so would everyone else, so you probably either have to junk it or give it away), but other than that there's really no different in future proofing.
Depends on your preferences. I personally like the LS60's aesthetics, but they're also a different class of speaker, so it may not even be a fair comparison.
Great review for great speakers! Thank you! One thing I absolutely agree. This remote is not matching the speakers nor does is justify whatI would expect from this price range. Did KEF see the Apple TV remote. That's massive aluminium that comes with a 169 € product. come on KEF you can do better. Don't listen to those COOs with their spread sheets.
i hope i won't be needin' amplifier for these... =) or thus it require?
How do they compare to a sonos five stereo pair?
Exactly what I wanna know
@@Reiberle tell me if you find some infos pls:)
@@SquirrelVonUndZuGucci Vifa Stockholm 2.0 blows away both of them...
I own the LS50 Wireless II myself, but I have listened to the original LSX in a couple of different settings and been thoroughly impressed. Personally, I would take the LSX over a pair of Sonos Fives any day- I've never heard a Sonos speaker I found acceptable for critical listening. Sonos still wins hands down in flexibility and app design, though, so I recommend listening to both and making up your own mind.
@@zorak950 im in a medium sized room, already got 2 fives. Im listening to lots of hip hop and i love the bass. Thinking of upgrading to the ls502 tho because i cant imagine the lsx2 to have nearly as much bass as my fives.
What’s a good sub to go with this if you are using these for PC speakers?
Got the old ones… love them. But a sub is necessary for full enjoyment 👍
Agreed but these new Mk2 versions have improved Bass extension but you always get better performance if you add a Subwoofer.
+ 1
... not a single word about the real sound differences between old and new lsx, is all you need to know about this comparison... for there IS NO difference..😊
It's that easy... 😊
How are they as TV speakers?
The MK 1 sound great to me - we use them with Apple TV and love them.
Which Sonos product is compariable to the LSX II?
2 x Sonos Five's in stereo pair. Tough choice between the two as both have their pro's & Cons' and will suit different people. Either way both are great products.
I've never heard a Sonos speaker that I thought was anything near worth the asking price, but I liked the sound from the LSX a lot and presume the LSX II is only better. On the other hand, while the KEF Connect app is a massive improvement over the dumpster fire that was the KEF Control and KEF Stream apps, it still doesn't hold a candle to the Sonos ecosystem in versatility and user experience, so if Sonos products sound great to you I'd say go that route.
@@zorak950
I'm already in the Sonos system, got the full surround setup with Arc, sub and One SL'. And some One' placed around the house..
I would like to see a comparison between the Five and the LSX II.
Thanks for the vid. I think you slipped. From their site: "LSX II offers the highest quality sound in its size with streaming up to 24bit/384kHz"
Hi Jakob. That is the max resolution you can throw at the LSXs. Reading around, I found out that the resolution is always downsampled to 24bit/48khz (24bit/96khz when the speakers are wired).
Jakob Norberg
What source u use, it's capable to playback till 384 kHz.
Why you sample that high?
Is it really a good advice to recommend LSX II owners to buy a KC62 instead of another subwoofer. KC62 is more expensive than the speakers...
Ya, that's a $2100 sub. One the Kube MIE subs might be a better option
6:41 I don't get it. Why 96Khz and not 192?
Could you do a sound comparison to the q acoustics m20. Just don’t think the £1200 cost is justified compared to the £400 m20’s .
I have both and the M20s sound boring - nothing standout. Go for the KEFs if you can
The M20’s are average at best in reality. Sent mine back.
@@UnquestionablyCommodore I understand
@@UnquestionablyCommodore I have a pair of m20 and love them as a sound bar and for casual listening via Bluetooth or streaming via tv through optical. Also auditioned the original Kef LSX and didn’t think they sounded £600 better so interested how the new ones compare
You can spend years learning about the science of acoustics, measuring speaker characteristics, and gathering opinions and reviews from others, but at the end of the day I subscribe to the philosophy of "trust your ears." I love the sound I get from my KEFs- I don't need that validated by metrics or popularity. Conversely, you shouldn't take what someone else prefers as gospel for what *you* should buy. Since what people perceive and enjoy varies, there's really no substitute for just listening and picking what sounds best to you at a price you're willing to pay. Pretty much every retailer will let you return things for a full refund, so try stuff and make up your own mind!
i love the lsx , i would not upgrade to the ksx 2 as i only use them with my pc ,
i know the new lsx 2 have a usb for computers but i only use the lsx in aux mode
as the are plugged into RME ADI 2 DAC which upgades the sound of them ,
i also have them plugged under the desk to Kanto subwoofer , and in my dac have
focal clear headphones for more critical listening , in my room i have the ls50 meta
plugged into roksan attessa streaming amp , the lsx are just as good for near field
listening ...
i would love to hear the ls60 but to part with £6000 it would have to have 4 wheels on it ...
Why not connect them with usb-c and use the speakers DAC?
@@efraim. the RME ADI 2 DAC is far better
than the dac onboard the kefs , it should be
it cost as much as the speakers an i can also plug my focal cleat headphones into it ...
Say the source resolution over the network is up to 384 kHz / 24 bits
But the speakers transmit lower signal resolution between each other
Wireless connection: 48kHz / 24 bit PCM
Wired connection: 96kHz / 24-bit PCM
It turns out 384 kHz / 24 to hear how???
The USB connection sucks due to drivers problems. On wake-up the sound is at 100% volume and the left-right balance is destroyed. I had B&W MM1 for 11 years and never even a single time, it happened with them on my Mac.
They didn't fix this crap yet? I was thinking on buying these, but it seems like they inhibited or made it difficult to set them up for a desktop setup. I mean, wth, why doesn't it support basic RCA inputs so you can skip its DAC easily? USB with a shitty driver? so odd.
Check out all the dead active speakers of KEF around the globe. As one of short lived x300a owners, I won’t take the risk to consider KEF again.
this speaker require amp to drive the sound?
No they are active speakers and thus only needs power from the mains 😊
Loa kef lsx nghe cũng ổn nhưng đã nổ điện khi sang năm thứ hai, tìm hiểu thì được biết nhiều người cũng bị tương tự
How do they sound in comparison to standalone beam/arc for music/movies?
The LSX are better for music than the sonos Arc but the Arc wins for watching movies. The choice should be on your viewing or listening preferences.
@@smarthomesounds I love the Sonos Ones for music, how do these compare??
@@TheLWebb100 there are much better hence they are over 3 times as expensive, better sound quality, more detail, deeper base, can be used with tv
I see them as more of a Sonos five rival
@@Cornwall1888 My first gen LSX destroy my Sonos Five pair. However, the LSX are more for near field listening. I use them on my office desk with a Sonance sealed 10” subwoofer. All that being said, I use them exclusively with the optical input as their app is actually unusable, and when I try to stream something via any method they become garbled. 🤷♂️
@@ephektz yeah I’ve heard the software isn’t great
I wonder how these would compare to a pair of Sonos 5
Depends who you ask. Personally I would never buy a Sonos speaker: I think they sound terrible for their price point. I know a lot of people would disagree, though.
We’ve have had lots of questions regarding this so we will be releasing a full LSX II Vs 2 x Sonos five video coming soon.
This or 2x Sonos 5?
We’ve have had lots of questions regarding this so we will be releasing a full LSX II Vs 2 x Sonos five video coming soon.
Reviews can only judge how a speaker sounds but not how reliable they are. Kef's support is famously poor. One of my LS50 drivers cracked within warranty period and I spent over a year battling them to get it repaired. Yesterday I upgraded the firmware on my LSX (v1) and it bricked the speaker. I looked up the symptom on Reddit and the flashing orange and red light basically said the speakers are screwed. No one was getting support from Kef and the level of frustration and anger with Kef is palpable. I'm giving up on this brand, which is a shame because I enjoy their sound. I've just ordered a new set of powered speakers from another brand for my computer desk. The sad thing is that I know they won't sound as good.
While they're looking good I can't believe that there's any kind of bass audible from those small loudspeakers.
Only buy them at the pawnshop
Yeah I would like to see you blind test the two bit rates. Idiocy.
Doesn’t seem worth getting these over the originals for £400 less, just get a subwoofer.
If you're just using them as speakers and not a source, maybe, but if that's the case you're overspending either way- there are lots of great passive options out there you can pair with a simple, small amp to get great sound for less money. If you actually want to use them as the smart devices they are, the experience of the W2 platform on the LSX II is vastly superior to the original LSX.
0 bass satellites from these while costing 1.2 to 1.3k
Impressive Kef!
They have Bass even the Gen1 have. L
Do they need amp
No. Each speaker contains a 70W amp for mid/bass and a 30W amp for treble.
he did say they have a bilt in amp
No meta & no 12 UNIQ more $$
Regarding the first gen of the KEF LSX. These speakers sound good and look good. If only they worked. The connectivity is utter crap, and the app is a disaster. I've had these speakers for almost two years and most of the time I've never been able to use them as actual smart connected speakers for the mentioned reasons. I've tried every trick available and used more time trying solve connectivety issues than I have actually spent listened to music on them. It's a disgrace that a company selling "premium" products at premium prices offer no support whatsoever. They have effectively given up on the product and now want people to buy their 2. gen version while laughing at all their customers that were dumb enough to purchase their 1. gen broken trash. I hope anyone getting the 2. gen has a better experience.
Not good to have speakers on the same shelf as your turntable! Turntables are "vibration reading machines" and any external vibration will hinder the performance and could cause skips (in rare cases)!
Hi there, we are well aware of this. Unfortunately, the new S1 stands weren't available at the time of filming so we placed them on the unit for the time being. Hope that helps.
@@smarthomesounds Are they compatible with old LSX wall mounts?
@@Tirith2708 The LSX II has the same mounting points as the LSX and uses the same B1, P1, and S1 brackets/stands.
@@zorak950 Thanks for answer. Do you know if there's any way (adapter) for first LSX to connect them to HDMI ARC on TV? I've seen some on Amazon but dunno how well would they work if at all.
Most all your video shows a turn table but not once did you mention anything about how to make the connection and if it’s possible to connect a turntable, unbelievable ….
@ 4.20 we go into great detail of all the connectivity options. This makes it very clear you can connect multiple devices, we haven’t listed every option for the sake of the video length as you can imagine. Hope this helps.
Hi res audio is a gimmick. 16/44 is sufficient for the human ear, other than extremely anomalous situations with highly dynamic music played at very high volumes. This particular variety of audiophile snake oil has been debunked for years. Start with the Shannon-Nyquist theorem and go from there.
The human ears are working within a limited sound range. There's only so much it is capable of picking up no matter the sound dynamics.
Seriously you're not a cat or a dog.
Save your money by doing your research on desirable audiophile equipment.
По русским.
Bass is not that good. Try Devialet phantom reactor ,much better and smaller than kef.
And reactor is outperformed by small and portable Vifa Oslo which is half the price...
Devialet makes great amps I had one a while ago but the speakers are just garbage measured at what they cost.
@@lukabosnjak3829 And the Vifa Oslo is outperformed by the Harman/Kardon Go+Play 2, also almost half the price 😂
@Ron de Goey *Vifa Oslo is not outperformed by hk go play in any way regarding the sound quality, you have no clue man its embarrassing
@@lukabosnjak3829 I’ve literally heard them side by side in real life, and I found the bass performance as well as the highs and instrument separation better on the HK G+P. Also, the tweeters on the Vifa are closer together, so if you’re expecting stereo from a Bluetooth speaker, the HK will be better. On top of that, the HK gets louder while doing all that with less distortion. The Vifa is still cool because it’s smaller and I like the design, but €500 is WAY too much. I don’t like to spread hate but I don’t think I’m the one embarrassing himself 😅
no meta no good
I mean, they would certainly be *better* with the 12th gen Uni-Q and Metamaterial, but they'd also be more expensive. If you want all that, go with the LS50 Wireless II. That's what I did.
Network problems, don't buy it
Overpriced and average sound quality. You are only paying for labour not quality
There's one thing for sure...these speakers looks like shit...Kef should return to build speakers that looks like speakers like their fantastic 104ab