KEF LSX Review (Wireless Speaker)

[Zensō]

Can an Adam T5V install like this and summon sound within seconds from my phone or laptop? I assure you the "wireless" aspect is used in full force in my household.

Pretty much, other than 2 extra cables. I’m glad you like your speakers, they look nice.

 

[brandall10]

Pretty much, other than 2 extra cables. I’m glad you like your speakers, they look nice.

No, not even close. They're actives with no streaming functionality whatsoever. You have to connect them together them connect a streaming device to them. That adds cost and clunkiness. Not like for like.

 

[Zensō]

No, not even close. They're actives with no streaming functionality whatsoever.

It’s extremely simple to get a stream to a pair of studio monitors. I have RPi4’s feeding studio monitors in a couple of locations in the house, they work just as well as my wireless speakers.

 

[brandall10]

It’s extremely simple to get a stream to a pair of studio monitors. I have RPi4’s feeding studio monitors in a couple of locations in the house, they work just as well as my wireless speakers.

Sure, I guess that's a solution. No thank you.

 

[Zensō]

Sure, I guess that's a solution. No thank you.

You like your speakers, I get it.

 

[brandall10]

You like your speakers, I get it.

If this was for a home studio I wouldn't care - but in my bedroom and living room, aesthetics and simplicity goes far. I'm not going to resort to having some homebrew setup as part of my decor to relent against sucky software when there are reasonable alternatives.

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

I wouldn't. I've been massively happy with my wireless systems and blissfully unaware of the sucky apps over the entirety of their ownership.

The streaming aspect works great, no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just think of the apps as a means to set up the speakers and you'll be fine.

Only a post baby boomer can be so blissful. But wireless systems are improving. I find the tech road bumps in 2021 stunning. I suspect education "industry" has been compromised after federal money poured in. "A's" were passed out at about 10% in my day. Now an A is earned like candy on Halloween.

 

[Tks]

Speaking of actives, whatever happened to the Vanatoo T1E that was to be reviewed ages ago?

 

[Kachda]

Only a post baby boomer can be so blissful. But wireless systems are improving. I find the tech road bumps in 2021 stunning. I suspect education "industry" has been compromised after federal money poured in. "A's" were passed out at about 10% in my day. Now an A is earned like candy on Halloween.

This went downhill fast. Speaker review To judgement against an entire generation in 2 pages

 

[amirm]

Speaking of actives, whatever happened to the Vanatoo T1E that was to be reviewed ages ago?

It is buried under a pile of speakers here....

 

[brandall10]

This went downhill fast. Speaker review To judgement against an entire generation in 2 pages

A generation? Nearly 4/5 of the population was born past '64... I get it, the "okay boomer" meme has gotten tiring.

As a practicing software engineer for some 26 years now (currently an architect at a mid-sized diabetic pump manufacturer), generally companies that are hardware focused (firmware/device drivers core competency) tend to have poor UX *unless* there is a concerted effort to invest in that consumer side of the business and almost run it as a separate entity. Otherwise there is too much cultural inertia.

A company like Kef might seem big in the audio space but it still is a relatively small company for tech. This work is likely outsourced or done by a one or two (cheap) in-house devs. I had a Naim Muso as well, not a great experience there either.

The LS50W was released late 2016. The app was downright unusable back then. It's had nearly 5 years to improve.

Yes, it eventually will to the point where it's passible. But if will likely never ever approach the experience of what Tidal, Spotify, and Roon can bring, and by and large the folks who are buying these systems, looking for ultimate convenience, will be using those options... that's the market.

Griping about the apps for these products is like griping about a random thunderstorm on a summer day in Denver. In any case I have nothing else to contribute and unsubbing, esp. after being called a moron in a not so subtile way.

 

[YSC]

That’s the main attraction of the whole review! Luckily amirm only plays music at full volume not some mysterious Japanese love and action and love movie

 

[MrOtto]

I remeber listening to these KEF LSX in shop and thinking they sounded boring and not worth their price tag, not even close. I also listened to a pair of Klipsh The fives while I was there and enjoyed them more. But I also was thinking my Edifier S2000 Pro in monitor mode was better than the Kef LSX.

 

[mononoaware]

not some mysterious Japanese love and action and love movie

Now I am curious as to what "Japanese love and action and love movie" actually is. . .

 

[phoenixdogfan]

More KEFs are here to be tested.

Would be nice if the Reference 1's were among them.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Don't think I agree with carpet as a design choice. Certainly not for cat owners.

 

[kschmit2]

I have the LSX Soundwave Edition and love the sound and the high-WAF looks of it. But software/firmware sucks. It even keeps forgetting the network connection.

https://uk.kef.com/pages/lsx-soundwave-edition-conran
https://uk.kef.com/products/lsx-soundwave-edition

https://www.soundoflife.com/blogs/design/sir-terence-conran-on-kef-lsx-soundwave-edition

 

[VariousArtists]

Thanks for another interesting review @amirm.

The tone of this review is more positive than https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/kef-ls50-bookshelf-speaker-review.11144/, but objectively the performance is very similar to the LS50, is it because you already give up on bass performance here and it is pretty good if you ignore the bass?

 

[YSC]

Now I am curious as to what "Japanese love and action and love movie" actually is. . .

Well you know it

but I recall recently a news about a famous actress watching some of these movies but accidentally paired the audio to neighbours Bluetooth speaker, now that is real wireless disaster

 

[Francis Vaughan]

I tried them at an audio store and they were dull and muddy.

I remeber listening to these KEF LSX in shop and thinking they sounded boring

Clearly there is something of a pattern here.
I'm going to suggest that perhaps listening in a shop is not the best place to judge a speaker. There is a reason a certain subset of speaker manufacturers make speakers with a deliberate upward tilt to their FR. It isn't to sound good in critical listening, but a showroom bling sells speakers to the unwary.
I would be vastly more inclined to trust Amir's Klippel than the setup in some random shop, especially if compared to speakers designed to pull a casual listener in in a showroom.