Kef Q1 vs Kef Coda W

[holland]

I'm looking to switch up my setup.

Currently I own the following:

• NAD C388 amp
• Bluesound Node with Dirac Live. This is my only audio source for now and probably the future.
• Dali Rubicon LCR, placed as bookshelf speakers on a wall-mounted shelf
• Bowers & Wilkins DB2D subwoofer

My two issues are that I've never really felt in love with the Dali sound (bit too bright/harsh), and my amp doesn't fit in my new interior anymore.

I have heard several KEF speakers and always liked their sound. Therefore I'm considering to switch to the following:

• Keeping the Bluesound and Sub
• Either the KEF Q1 with 2x Fosi monoblock, using my Bluesound as "preamp", or;
• Getting the Kef Coda W

Price-wise the two options are basically the same in my region.
My questions: Between the Kef options, is there any (audible) difference in terms of the actual speaker (Driver, cabinet, the digital vs passive crossover)? Or should I just keep the Rubicon LCR, get a different amp and try to tune it to my liking with Dirac? Would like to hear some opinions/thoughts or someone can knock sense in me.

 

[voodooless]

Given that the Koda is basically an active Q1 non-meta, it seems, you would get a slightly better speaker with the Q1 meta. Dirac will compensate some of the active speaker advantages. All in all, tough to say.

I would maybe opt to stretch the budget to the Q Concerto Meta? You’ll get a bit more and clearer bass.

You also don’t need mono blocks for these tiny speakers. They won’t go very loud anyway, so don’t need that much power.

 

[holland]

Given that the Koda is basically an active Q1 non-meta, it seems, you would get a slightly better speaker with the Q1 meta. Dirac will compensate some of the active speaker advantages. All in all, tough to say.

I would maybe opt to stretch the budget to the Q Concerto Meta? You’ll get a bit more and clearer bass.

You also don’t need mono blocks for these tiny speakers. They won’t go very loud anyway, so don’t need that much power.

I think the Concerto might be getting too bulky for my interior. Also the speakers are close to the wall, and I have a sub, so I'm not sure if the cleaner bass from the Concerto is really an advantage in my situation? I would probably use the provided port plug anyway. But perhaps I'm wrong here.

Reason I was considering the Fosi monoblocks is because of it's superior SINAD and load independence compared to their stereo counterpart. Would that be overkill for a speaker of this class? I'm not an expert on these topics.

 

[wilcaz]

I own a pair of Coda Ws and purely based on my subjective experience they're fabulous. My one complaint is I suspect the DSP is boosting the bass a lot more than it should be--I had to EQ it to tame it in my room.

I imagine the drivers are the same. I believe the cabinet in the Q1s is ever so slightly larger. Also they have the "meta" discs--whether or not this would make an audible difference I can't say.

 

[kharan]

I have zero trust in KEF's 5.25" Uni-Q drivers ability to handle any kind of high output in the mid-bass.

I do think that especially with Dirac, the Concerto are the better choice.

 

[VintageFlanker]

My questions: Between the Kef options, is there any (audible) difference in terms of the actual speaker (Driver, cabinet, the digital vs passive crossover)?

Yep. Between x passive speaker VS its active iteration, the later always outperforms the former assuming digital crossover/DSP has been properly designed (what KEF usually does).

 

[staticV3]

Between x passive speaker VS its active iteration, the later always outperforms the former assuming digital crossover/DSP has been properly designed

Measurably for sure, but whether those improvements translate to audible differences is not so clear-cut.

 

[VintageFlanker]

Measurably for sure, but whether those improvements translate to audible differences is not so clear-cut.

My experience is that the audible differences are absolutely not subtle.
LS50W2 sounds better than LS50 Meta paired with whatever amp without EQ.
Dynaudio Focus 10/50 is a massive upgrade over Evoke 10/50...
Triangle Capella is noticeably more linear than Triangle Comete EZ.
And so on.
Most noticeable gap for all is obviously the bass extension. Also, you often have some dynamic loudness compensation at lower SPLs.

 

[heflys20]

Given that the Koda is basically an active Q1 non-meta, it seems, you would get a slightly better speaker with the Q1 meta. =

Well, the Coda extends down to about 38hz -6db (from my testing, this seems to be accurate) and is DSP controlled, I doubt it's just simply an active Q1 meta.

I own a pair of Coda Ws and purely based on my subjective experience they're fabulous. My one complaint is I suspect the DSP is boosting the bass a lot more than it should be--I had to EQ it to tame it in my room.

Knowing Kef, I doubt they would add bass-boost; likely it's room-interaction. I too, own the Coda W, and haven't felt the need to adjust anything. From the limited measurements available, it appears to be a mostly neutral speaker. Here's a review with some measurements from the Czech publication Hi-fi voice:

KEF Coda W

Britský KEF je rozhodně silným hráčem na trhu s aktivními reprosoustavami – jejich modely LSX II, LS50 Wireless II i LS60 Wireless jsou zdařilým stylovým řešením pro každého, kdo chce dobrý zvuk na praktickém malém půdorysu. Lehce konzervativnější alternativa je nyní k dispozici v podobě modelu...

www.hifi-voice.com

 

[voodooless]

Knowing Kef, I doubt they would add bass-boost

How else will you get 38 Hz from a tiny driver? Likely the boost will be heavily limited. Their tiny subs do something similar. Pretty standard practice for smaller speakers that don’t play super loud anyway. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[heflys20]

I think he means hyped bass (a hump in the low end) trying to mask low-end limitations. Extended bass from dsp is a different matter and will indeed have output limitations. The KH 120 II is a similarly sized speaker with similar low end performance.; though it's not as output limited.

 

[voodooless]

KEF reflex tuning is usually a low shelf. Generally this goes well with room gain and close wall setups. Q1 meta is no different:

 

[LiveTek]

The coda is Likely better on filtering alone. The q1 xover doesnt suppress its 10khz break up which does bleed into the tweeters response. I would assume the coda takes care of it.

The real downside imo is these drivers sound really thin and have a lot of distortion. I just felt like there was no body or hefty to the sound, and its hard to eq it back as you run into distortion quick. The q1 sounded cheap to me, even with active filters.

Kefs need to be a 3 way imo. Id take the concerto over the coda any day.

 

[heflys20]

Well, tbh, it's not too surprising that a well built three way will out perform (overall) a two-way in the distortion department. Regardless, the Coda has lower 2nd and 3rd mid-ange harmonic distortion than concerto, and about even in the upper treble. Low-end is no contest though.

Here's the concerto:

and the Coda W:

 

[voodooless]

Well, tbh, it's not too surprising that a well built three way will out perform (overall) a two-way in the distortion department. Regardless, the Coda has lower 2nd and 3rd mid-ange harmonic distortion than concerto, and about even in the upper treble. Low-end is no contest though.

Here's the concerto:

and the Coda W:

Let’s see some multitone distortion. These are simple one frequency sweeps. Once you add more frequencies, the picture will change dramatically.

 

[heflys20]

Lol. I can only provide what's available. I've been waiting on Erin to review the pair Kef sent to him since last year. I've given up. Either way, I'm sure there'll be some difference.

 

[Jac.H]

I've been waiting on Erin to review the pair Kef sent him since last year.

Don't worry, they're in one of his piles of boxes somewhere.

 

[heflys20]

Don't worry, they're in one of his piles of boxes somewhere.

View attachment 559824 View attachment 559825

LOL. I gave up waiting and just took the plunge! I figured, if Kef can make a reference level in-wall speaker, these can't be that bad. Glad I did.

 

[LiveTek]

Those distortion graphs dont look like the coda/q1 driver to me. I measured them and I wish the distortion was that good. It was quite a bit worse. Where is that data from?

 

[heflys20]

You measured both the Q1 and Coda? They don't have the same exact drivers; plus one being an active, DSP controlled speaker. Anyway, the measurements are from Hi-Fi voice, a Czech publication.