Kali IN-5 Studio Monitor Review

[Tito]

Quick update about these speakers after owning them for some months now - I hate them (lol). Ok, maybe hate is a strong word. Probably my final update, most rehashing what I said before however.

• Without a subwoofer, it's a hard pass. Especially now that they are $1000 MSRP. I would personally not recommend them. With a sub, not for me. Without a sub, actual hate. ALL OF MY OBSERVATIONS ARE WITH A SUB ATTACHED AND SONARWORKS REFERENCE 4.
• The tweeter also continues to be as laid back and as unfatiguing as possible. It sounds more crisp if I stand up above them (for sure in off axis territory).
• There is a neutralness to these speakers that enters actively boring territory and ruins enjoyment. I get more enjoyment out of my heavily EQ'd phone speakers than this these, and those have no bass and inherently harsh tweeter.
• Subjectively describing the sound, IN-5 sounds undistorted and not harsh - not bad things, but it's too much. Lean/missing something without the subwoofer (blatantly less open). There is no excitement. Not a feeling of height or magnifying glasses. These are studio monitors, but they are not euphonic. So they also don't translate to any other low quality or cheap equipment either, like if you bounce around with different devices. Just the tuning and smoothness is too far off. I'm ok with crap hardware if it's tuned nicely enough. These are the opposite to me even after calibration.
• I will be hopefully replacing them with Adam Audio A8H and hoping it's not super sibilant. Black friday please come through for me! Also bonus points for 2ft driver blending distance (most speakers are 3ft)

The best thing about these speakers are the orientation options. I really like being able to see the difference between tweeter on top, tweeter on bottom, tweeter inside, and tweeter outside configurations. You can easily hear the differences and it shows up on measurements too. It gives you different "flavors" to play with that exist somewhere between personal preference and subtle difference. It's nice to know you can pick the variant you resonate with or what suits your content, without feeling like you're drastically deviating from the source material. Four orientations are better than one manufacturer dead set configuration that you need to accept.

Right now I am using tweeter inside, although I am probably going to switch it to tweeter outside. Tweeter inside gives sound of less width, increase in overall "softness", but an increase in coherentness and mental easyness to process and listen to analytically.

dam, and i thought of upgrading to these from my cheap ass monitors for music production.

interesting review. Joe n tell and Erin preffer kali lp6 v2 over these, (probably because of the flatness across all freq range?.)

do you think lp6 v2 would sound better? Hve you heard em?


I guess i will look into buying adam t5/7v or lp6v2 ah

 

[dfuller]

• I will be hopefully replacing them with Adam Audio A8H and hoping it's not super sibilant. Black friday please come through for me! Also bonus points for 2ft driver blending distance (most speakers are 3ft)

So having heard the A8Hs many a time, they're pretty actively awful.

The mid and tweeter give up at surprisingly low volumes, and are audibly compressed at very normal listening levels. The balance is also bad.

 

[IngMishael]

So having heard the A8Hs many a time, they're pretty actively awful.

The mid and tweeter give up at surprisingly low volumes, and are audibly compressed at very normal listening levels. The balance is also bad.

I guess that is the oddity they're looking for

 

[2020]

So having heard the A8Hs many a time, they're pretty actively awful.

The mid and tweeter give up at surprisingly low volumes, and are audibly compressed at very normal listening levels. The balance is also bad.

Could you have possibly got one of the early batches that they screwed up on? This is a problem that I did see on the internet. They did messed up the first batch of them.

What you're writing doesn't sound like what I've seen. Yes, they are supposed to have a bit of an upward tilt, but that's just to address tweeter narrowing. And air motion transformers can be a bit compressed sounding or harsh on quite dynamic music, but I think for just commercial pop music and the like, I don't think I'm going to run into issues. The SOS editor even bought the pair he was reviewing!

 

[dfuller]

Could you have possibly got one of the early batches that they screwed up on? This is a problem that I did see on the internet. They did messed up the first batch of them.

What you're writing doesn't sound like what I've seen. Yes, they are supposed to have a bit of an upward tilt, but that's just to address tweeter narrowing. And air motion transformers can be a bit compressed sounding or harsh on quite dynamic music, but I think for just commercial pop music and the like, I don't think I'm going to run into issues. The SOS editor even bought the pair he was reviewing!

No, these were recently manufactured. They're quite harsh and generally bad sounding.

 

[2020]

dam, and i thought of upgrading to these from my cheap ass monitors for music production.

interesting review. Joe n tell and Erin preffer kali lp6 v2 over these, (probably because of the flatness across all freq range?.)

do you think lp6 v2 would sound better? Hve you heard em?


I guess i will look into buying adam t5/7v or lp6v2 ah

Well, If it makes you feel any better, I'm not using these for production. Just listening to music and video games. And they will seem a bit sharper if you happen to have the tweeter on top or the tweeter outside.

I tried the T7V via while ago. But not in a good setup so my impression of it was greatly skewed. Now that my setup is better, Don't believe I will have the same response with Adam speakers again.

 

[2020]

No, these were recently manufactured.

That is so bizarre! You're scaring me here!

 

[Muca]

Kali in-5 was the best purchase I have made in years. I have a smallish PC room. it is around 14 m² and kind square. So it is a difficult room. The speakers are on stands around ~ 1,5 meter from me. The room has decent treatment with bass absorbers and basotect for broadband absoption in some places like above the desk. I first used it with ELAC DBR62 and after a while was looking for an Upgrade. All speakers were EQed to neutral with a 1,5 db low shelf boost with a calibrated mic.
Kali in-5 completely destroyed (yes destroyed) in my room(!!!): Kef LS 50 Meta, Elac DBR62 and Genelec 8030c. I did not want to spend over 2k and ended up spending 800. As a balanced Dac I use SMSL M300SE (~120 Euro). It has much better soundstage than the Genelec and Elac due to the driver design. KEF LS 50 Meta was terrible in my room because they need decent air around them.
You can eq them extremely well, you can also create an eq which suits your flavor, I also have several. I have tried the Kali subwoofer with them and tbh it was not worth it for me, they go low enough and the sub introduced too many issues.

Some friends came over once who also into audio. The Kali in-5 was new back then and they did not know the brand in Germany. They all loved them and thought that they would be much more expensive than they are. I do not understand how anyone can hate them.

 

[Tito]

Kali in-5 was the best purchase I have made in years. I have a smallish PC room. it is around 14 m² and kind square. So it is a difficult room. The speakers are on stands around ~ 1,5 meter from me. The room has decent treatment with bass absorbers and basotect for broadband absoption in some places like above the desk. I first used it with ELAC DBR62 and after a while was looking for an Upgrade. All speakers were EQed to neutral with a 1,5 db low shelf boost with a calibrated mic.
Kali in-5 completely destroyed (yes destroyed) in my room(!!!): Kef LS 50 Meta, Elac DBR62 and Genelec 8030c. I did not want to spend over 2k and ended up spending 800. As a balanced Dac I use SMSL M300SE (~120 Euro). It has much better soundstage than the Genelec and Elac due to the driver design. KEF LS 50 Meta was terrible in my room because they need decent air around them.
You can eq them extremely well, you can also create an eq which suits your flavor, I also have several. I have tried the Kali subwoofer with them and tbh it was not worth it for me, they go low enough and the sub introduced too many issues.

Some friends came over once who also into audio. The Kali in-5 was new back then and they did not know the brand in Germany. They all loved them and thought that they would be much more expensive than they are. I do not understand how anyone can hate them.

Good for you!

i am bit of worried about resale value of kali in series in EU .. A person is selling kali in-8 v2 it for 5 months on local market (20 KM radius, 300 000 people)
for just 450 euros. and no one is willing to buy them.

It is too big for my room so i wasn't considering to buy really.

i wonder if i get kali in 5 .. if i would be able to resell it one day if i decide to do it, and for what price.

 

[Muca]

Good for you!

i am bit of worried about resale value of kali in series in EU .. A person is selling kali in-8 v2 it for 5 months on local market (20 KM radius, 300 000 people)
for just 450 euros. and no one is willing to buy them.

It is too big for my room so i wasn't considering to buy really.

i wonder if i get kali in 5 .. if i would be able to resell it one day if i decide to do it, and for what price.

Damn... I would buy them instantly and replace the Dalis in the TV room.

 

[Tito]

Damn... I would buy them instantly and replace the Dalis in the TV room.

well if you are from USA it is worth to buy them i guess, here in Europe adam is 5 year guarantee, and it is fast to ship them to germany if they need some fixin, so it is logical people will buy them more, and resale value is much better therefore.

 

[Muca]

well if you are from USA it is worth to buy them i guess, here in Europe adam is 5 year guarantee, and it is fast to ship them to germany if they need some fixin, so it is logical people will buy them more, and resale value is much better therefore.

tbf I have not tested Adams even though I am a German. I am not a musician or mixing engineer but just like good audio quality. The tweeters of the Adams have a narrow sweet spot which was a big negative for me. Alle my speakers are eqed anyway, how they come is not that important as long as you can eq them well.
If one of the Kali speaker dies in a couple years, I will say bad luck and buy it again. I am not that worried or broke that it is a big investment for me. The Genelecs or Kefs would have been almost twice the price.
What you describe on the used market is a lot of bull. If I check Kleinanzeigen which is basically Germany's craigslist Kali speakers are sold to quite a good price, I can get Genelecs there for less than half the price... that is not the case for Kalis. I would say the used market is normal.

 

[Tito]

tbf I have not tested Adams even though I am a German. I am not a musician or mixing engineer but just like good audio quality. The tweeters of the Adams have a narrow sweet spot which was a big negative for me. Alle my speakers are eqed anyway, how they come is not that important as long as you can eq them well.
If one of the Kali speaker dies in a couple years, I will say bad luck and buy it again. I am not that worried or broke that it is a big investment for me. The Genelecs or Kefs would have been almost twice the price.
What you describe on the used market is a lot of bull. If I check Kleinanzeigen which is basically Germany's craigslist Kali speakers are sold to quite a good price, I can get Genelecs there for less than half the price... that is not the case for Kalis. I would say the used market is normal.

well, i am from croatia.

on biggest site njuškalo.hr there are no used kalis right now.

there have been couple of used kali lp6 (from rijeka and osijek) and one in 8 v2 (person was willing to ship)in last few months being sold.

on facebook market place one kali lp6 v2 from Osijek city for 250 euros., person does not want to ship, only personal pickup. this is the same speaker that was sold on njuskalo btw.

i still have not seen in last 6 months used kali in 5 anywhere.

ps i will patiently wait to see if person that sold in8v2 will upload their ad again, i think this will be around 5 to 6 months that this person is trying to sell it on croatian market. (for a great price may i add)

ps yes i probably will save up and wait good discount to buy new kali in 5 in near future,

cheers

 

[2020]

tbf I have not tested Adams even though I am a German. I am not a musician or mixing engineer but just like good audio quality. The tweeters of the Adams have a narrow sweet spot which was a big negative for me. Alle my speakers are eqed anyway, how they come is not that important as long as you can eq them well.
If one of the Kali speaker dies in a couple years, I will say bad luck and buy it again. I am not that worried or broke that it is a big investment for me. The Genelecs or Kefs would have been almost twice the price.
What you describe on the used market is a lot of bull. If I check Kleinanzeigen which is basically Germany's craigslist Kali speakers are sold to quite a good price, I can get Genelecs there for less than half the price... that is not the case for Kalis. I would say the used market is normal.

So I ended up getting the Adam A8H and I'm in the current process of testing them and trying to get them perfect for me

Adam's tweeter is more narrow vertically, however it's the closest "knock off" of an expensive metal tweeter. Same extreme extension to 40Khz, so quite linear, also extremely fast like beryllium, and naturally damped because it isn't even a metal. Bonus points for efficiency and not needing much power (15w tweeter).

Maybe my setup is just truly fucked, because I honestly find them quite similar to my Kali IN-5 WITH SUBWOOFER. With that in mind, you probably don't need to spring for the Kali at all. You can afford to go with Adam and save the money. I also do hear a bit of more speed with the Adam. I know you are probably not going to also jump for the A8H, but I would say measurement wise they seem to measure very similar to my subwoofer so for my casual use I would say they do take the sub out of the equation. If I was you, I would spring for the Adam or Genelec if you can get them cheaper in your area - mainly based off the fact that it might be a series of diminishing returns for just listening to music.

I know this is going to be blasphemy in a forum like this, but swapping out my Moto M2 made a real difference. I can hear an immediate sound change between the output quality from the Moto M2 and the SSL 2 MKII. It is not subtle. Did I do perfect a/b tests? No, but I did swap between the outputs and try to level match them manually on songs I know. The SSL is more rhythmic and punchy, but it also has an apparent fatiguing quality and is a little more two-dimensional/forward rather than deep. It also seems to have some additional low mid-range energy because in Coldplay - Birds, there was some not ambiguous energy down there showing up that I don't ever remember hearing and I'm quite familiar with that song (this could be a plus or minus to the listener). That being said, the overall tonality is more correct to me because the attack of a sound stands out more (the body too), as well as translates the real effects of super loud processing negatively affecting sound quality. The software and hardware is also plain superior to Motu, My Motu has an ultra sensitive USB port, has noticeable lag through Qobuz when using ASIO, and will flat out refuse to be recognized if I dare touch the sync Windows to sample rate setting. Gave me a blue screen of death recently and required hard restarts till it wanted to play nice.

The SSL is quite punchy as in taller and wider, but is not really deep or "complex" sounding. I'm going to spring for the Apogee Boom next simply based off Apogee being obsessed with the leading edge of transients and preferring a generally more "holographic" sound. The punch of the SSL is nice, but for all this money I want something better. Too afraid of Audient being like Motu and being so technically neutral that it is non-euponic and requires a perfectly treated area to shine.

I should go back and test my Kali IN5 again, but I don't want to have to hook those back up and go through the rigamaroll. Suffice it to say, they would do lot better if I had swapped outputs.

 

[Scumgrief]

I’ve just moved into a new apartment and I have one room that I turned into an office and a small (very small: 6 x 2.5 m) man-cave for music as well. Topping D70 Pro Octo + Kali IN-5 is my main setup, and additionally I have a FiiO K7 and old Microlab Solo 7C (for gaming) and… I’ve run into a challenge.

The Kali IN-5 are placed rather wide (the desk is 2m wide - the speakers sit at the very edges). The Microlabs (even though they’re too big for this room) stand a bit wider, because they’re on stands next to the desk. And the stereo image from the Microlabs - despite being average speakers - and the overall sense of depth is surprising. The Kalis sound as if the soundstage is “compressed” in both width and depth… kind of wrong. I’ve read everywhere that they’re speakers with quite good imaging and separation, but to my ears they lose to mediocre PC speakers from 10 years ago.

Is it the DAC? Speaker placement? (Although I swapped the Microlabs and the Kalis around and there was no improvement.) Their tuning/characteristics?

 

[nat1]

There's some rudimentary meadurmenets of the Solo 7C here https://www.ixbt.com/multimedia/acoustic/june-2013/measurement/solo7c/measurement-microlab.shtml

I think you are just used to a particular (bad) sound and need time for your ears to adjust. That's a huge peak in the treble that you may be mistaking for depth and/or detail.

 

[2020]

I’ve just moved into a new apartment and I have one room that I turned into an office and a small (very small: 6 x 2.5 m) man-cave for music as well. Topping D70 Pro Octo + Kali IN-5 is my main setup, and additionally I have a FiiO K7 and old Microlab Solo 7C (for gaming) and… I’ve run into a challenge.

The Kali IN-5 are placed rather wide (the desk is 2m wide - the speakers sit at the very edges). The Microlabs (even though they’re too big for this room) stand a bit wider, because they’re on stands next to the desk. And the stereo image from the Microlabs - despite being average speakers - and the overall sense of depth is surprising. The Kalis sound as if the soundstage is “compressed” in both width and depth… kind of wrong. I’ve read everywhere that they’re speakers with quite good imaging and separation, but to my ears they lose to mediocre PC speakers from 10 years ago.

Is it the DAC? Speaker placement? (Although I swapped the Microlabs and the Kalis around and there was no improvement.) Their tuning/characteristics?

The Kali has a dip in the air bands, off axis too, so tonally you are going to get a less spacious sound and a room reflection that is less spacious as well. You have to equalize that back in.

Also, the fact that it is phase coherent with the mid-range driver should be a good thing but is psychoacoustically perceived as being less wide or boring at times. The human ear favors frequency response more than phase.

 

[Bruce Morgen]

The Kali has a dip in the air bands

No offense, but WTF are "air bands" and where is such a "dip" documented?

 

[nat1]

No offense, but WTF are "air bands" and where is such a "dip" documented?

Are you being obtuse or have you never looked at a frequency response graph of the IN-5? There is a dip in the high treble that is there both on and off axis.

 

[Bruce Morgen]

Are you being obtuse or have you never looked at a frequency response graph of the IN-5? There is a dip in the high treble that is there both on and off axis.

Yeah, the very "high treble" -- audible to almost zero human males over 40. No way a narrow 13-14 kHz dip is going "to get a less spacious sound and a room reflection that is less spacious as well." Try EQing out the dip on one side and leave the other alone -- I dare you to tell the difference in pretty much any listening room.