Ktbrooke
Standard Member
Hey all,
I thought I would post this here, for anyone in the future who is frantically googling, trying to determine what to purchase between these two active high end heavyweights! I struggled to find a comparison online when I was deciding between the two.
A few months ago I grabbed myself a pair of KEF LS50 wireless speakers based on all the incredible reviews and almost unanimously positive forum feedback. People were gushing over them, saying that they sounded like speakers worth ten times their price. I took the punt, without hearing them first.
My first impressions were good. There was a clarity unlike any other speaker I'd owned. The sound stage was incredible, I could hear each instrument individually and to use a cliche, I heard new things in tracks I'd played a hundred times over in the past. I recall playing "Ordinary World' by Duran Duran and almost falling over in disbelief when the chorus came on. For TV, they were great too. Dialogue was crystal clear, and movies sounded good. A plus for people who use their speakers for all round entertainment purposes.
However, just like a new relationship getting into long term territory once the honeymoon period was over, I started to detect small annoyances in the KEFs that bugged me. Firstly, there was a real lack of delicacy in the vocals. With my previous passive Dynaudio speakers, I could almost hear the trembling emotion in a singers vocal. The KEFs just didn't convey that and given a lot of the music I listen to is quieter and vocal based, it's an important feature for me. Secondly, everything I played on the KEFs sounded a little bit congested, almost digital. My room is quite bright, so I played around with the DSP settings (a great feature) but no matter what I did, it wouldn't solve the issue. When an Otis Redding song came on, and I turned it to a high volume, it had a hint of harshness. Nothing sounded analogue, no matter the source.
In the end, I couldn't shake these issues, so I ended up selling the KEFs and buying myself a pair of Dynaudio Xeo 20 active speakers, partly because of my positive experience with their passive speakers in the past. I've owned the Xeo 20 for two weeks now and I'm sold. They are the real deal, a true 10/10 bookshelf speaker. The clarity is there, just like the KEFs, but there is so much more room for the music to exist. It's quite remarkable. The music seems to float around in the air inside my room, so you never feel like it's coming from two small speakers. most importantly, the emotion is there too, I can now hear every quiver in a fragile voice during a song.
Of course, everything is subjective and based on personal preference, and I think the KEFs would be better for electronic music, and possibly hard rock. Plus, the KEFs are ever so slightly better for TV. Of course, that would be splitting hairs as the Xeo 20 do a fine job of that too. I'll note that the KEFs also have a USB input, and the XEO 20 don't. If you listen to a lot of music via USB on a computer source then that's something to consider. The XEO 20 have a separate hub with inputs incl USB you can buy, but it's quite expensive. I'm absolutely fine with the optical, bluetooth, aux and RCA options myself.
Ultimately, if you're looking for a refined, nuanced speaker that will deliver an emotional, magical sound, then I'd recommend you go with the Dynaudio Xeo 20. They don't quite have the same configuration options as the KEFs, but there's more than enough for your average punter. They also make analogue sources sound truly analogue, and playing a record on them is out of this world.
However, if your tastes run electronic, or hard rock, or if you watch a lot of films and want speakers as much for that as for music, then the KEF LS50W would be a good choice.
I thought I would post this here, for anyone in the future who is frantically googling, trying to determine what to purchase between these two active high end heavyweights! I struggled to find a comparison online when I was deciding between the two.
A few months ago I grabbed myself a pair of KEF LS50 wireless speakers based on all the incredible reviews and almost unanimously positive forum feedback. People were gushing over them, saying that they sounded like speakers worth ten times their price. I took the punt, without hearing them first.
My first impressions were good. There was a clarity unlike any other speaker I'd owned. The sound stage was incredible, I could hear each instrument individually and to use a cliche, I heard new things in tracks I'd played a hundred times over in the past. I recall playing "Ordinary World' by Duran Duran and almost falling over in disbelief when the chorus came on. For TV, they were great too. Dialogue was crystal clear, and movies sounded good. A plus for people who use their speakers for all round entertainment purposes.
However, just like a new relationship getting into long term territory once the honeymoon period was over, I started to detect small annoyances in the KEFs that bugged me. Firstly, there was a real lack of delicacy in the vocals. With my previous passive Dynaudio speakers, I could almost hear the trembling emotion in a singers vocal. The KEFs just didn't convey that and given a lot of the music I listen to is quieter and vocal based, it's an important feature for me. Secondly, everything I played on the KEFs sounded a little bit congested, almost digital. My room is quite bright, so I played around with the DSP settings (a great feature) but no matter what I did, it wouldn't solve the issue. When an Otis Redding song came on, and I turned it to a high volume, it had a hint of harshness. Nothing sounded analogue, no matter the source.
In the end, I couldn't shake these issues, so I ended up selling the KEFs and buying myself a pair of Dynaudio Xeo 20 active speakers, partly because of my positive experience with their passive speakers in the past. I've owned the Xeo 20 for two weeks now and I'm sold. They are the real deal, a true 10/10 bookshelf speaker. The clarity is there, just like the KEFs, but there is so much more room for the music to exist. It's quite remarkable. The music seems to float around in the air inside my room, so you never feel like it's coming from two small speakers. most importantly, the emotion is there too, I can now hear every quiver in a fragile voice during a song.
Of course, everything is subjective and based on personal preference, and I think the KEFs would be better for electronic music, and possibly hard rock. Plus, the KEFs are ever so slightly better for TV. Of course, that would be splitting hairs as the Xeo 20 do a fine job of that too. I'll note that the KEFs also have a USB input, and the XEO 20 don't. If you listen to a lot of music via USB on a computer source then that's something to consider. The XEO 20 have a separate hub with inputs incl USB you can buy, but it's quite expensive. I'm absolutely fine with the optical, bluetooth, aux and RCA options myself.
Ultimately, if you're looking for a refined, nuanced speaker that will deliver an emotional, magical sound, then I'd recommend you go with the Dynaudio Xeo 20. They don't quite have the same configuration options as the KEFs, but there's more than enough for your average punter. They also make analogue sources sound truly analogue, and playing a record on them is out of this world.
However, if your tastes run electronic, or hard rock, or if you watch a lot of films and want speakers as much for that as for music, then the KEF LS50W would be a good choice.
