So, after almost 7 years the power stage in one of my KRK Rokit RP6 G3 started to fail a couple of days ago.
The gain went down to almost being non-existent with lots of distortion and crackling added.
While this might be salvageable, I currently lack the time to do proper testing and possibly fix them.
There are numerous reports of issues with the buffer electrolytic capacitors in the trafo of these RP6 G3 (or KRK Gen 3 in general) and replacing all of them has yielded great results for some. I'll definetely put that on my agenda for when I have time, apart from a slight hiss / white noise at idle, which has increased over time, these RP6 G3 are still fine.
After looking around a bit, it came down to either Yamaha HS5 or RP5 G4 based on the budget I was willing to spent for such an unplanned purchase.
Since I am using these on my desk pretty close to the wall I decided the HS5 with rear port might get in quite some trouble and went with the RP5 G4.
A couple of hours ago, the KRK RP5 G4 pair arrived and I could easily swap them out.
The LCD panel on the back is nice, settings are easily configurable and finally there is a DIM setting for the front logo lighting (and even the option to toggle it off completely).
Due to the slightly smaller woofer they are lacking a bit in the bass region compared to the RP6 G3, which is understandable and fine.
I took a look at the RP7 G4 also, but there were many reports with hiss / white noise issue at idle, which is a complete NO-GO for me.
My daily driver workstation is passively cooled without any moving parts and I really dislike hiss / white noise sounds.
The headroom of the power stage on these RP5 G4 is huge again, I've dialed them down to -25dB and have not dared to even push my DAC towards 4V out (which roughly translates to volume ~34 on my SMSL M500, have yet to crank past 30).
Efficiency of the class D power stage is also insanely better compared to the class A/B of the previous gen. They are now drawing around 9-11W at normal listening volume where as the others would never go lower than 25W and with a bit of music where usually around 30W.
(Measured consumption as a pair)
As expected, tonality is just right and while the suggested EQ tweak for that one resonance is only making a slight difference, it is a welcome one and improves it.
Haven't messed with their builtin DSP / App / EQ stuff yet, as I have no need for it.
TL;DR:
They match the expectations I had from this review perfectly and their performance is really nice considering their price.
I have paid 310 EUR for a bundle with 2 speakers and a set of foam pads - can't really argue with that.
(translates to roughly ~360 USD currently)
I hope you enjoyed my new-owners initial impression.