Active Kef LS50

[DarwinOSX]

What stands are those?

[Guido Del Giudice]

Atacama HMS 2.1

[Alexi]

Hi Everyone!

 

I have just invested in a pair of LS50 Wireless’ on Custom Design stands and am so far very impressed with the sound from my iPhone (out of convenience!).

 

I’m hoping to take the SQ up a level with a direct connection to my MacBook Pro and was wondering if you might be able to assist me with some advice on inputs.

 

Would it be best to connect via USB or optical from the laptop to the speakers? (Possibly looking at connecting the laptop to a tv in addition) Would you suggest something like an Audioquest Jitterbug in addition to some Supra/Chord cables? Not wishing to spend inordinate amounts, but would an external dac benefit also?

 

Appologies for the many questions - am just hoping to get the best sound per buck from these amazing speakers.

 

Many thanks,

 

Alexi

[DarwinOSX]

You don't need an external dac the one in the speakers is more than sufficient.

By iPhone I assume you mean bluetooth...a direct connect will sound far better.

For optical I have used an iFi Spidf purifier with good results. https://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-spdif-ipurifier/

I don't buy expensive cables I jsut use Blue Jeans cable.

Your best bet for sq is to put the speakers on a network and use Roon.

[lp216]

On 2/15/2018 at 5:02 PM, Alexi said:

Hi Everyone!

 

I have just invested in a pair of LS50 Wireless’ on Custom Design stands and am so far very impressed with the sound from my iPhone (out of convenience!).

 

I’m hoping to take the SQ up a level with a direct connection to my MacBook Pro and was wondering if you might be able to assist me with some advice on inputs.

 

Would it be best to connect via USB or optical from the laptop to the speakers? (Possibly looking at connecting the laptop to a tv in addition) Would you suggest something like an Audioquest Jitterbug in addition to some Supra/Chord cables? Not wishing to spend inordinate amounts, but would an external dac benefit also?

 

Appologies for the many questions - am just hoping to get the best sound per buck from these amazing speakers.

 

Many thanks,

 

Alexi

 

Something like this will NOT work with the new MacBook Pro models (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T8HWVEY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). Your only option is to connect via USB with an adapter (https://www.amazon.com/AudioQuest-USB-TYPE-ADAPTOR-Audioquest/dp/B01ND0BBN4/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1518931331&sr=1-6&keywords=audioquest+usb+adapter&dpID=31XLkhGJvZL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch). Or you could use a dedicated cable... this one is 3.1 and should work just fine (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UUCJRFW/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1AMUYYA3CT6HJ). Supra USB is what I've used before... it's fine... never could tell much if any difference between it and a generic cable though. I like using Bluetooth for convenience, too. Being able to move around the house and use the iOS app interface is definitely worth any small loss in fidelity, to me at least. I mainly listen to videos on youtube (where I can make my own playlists and discover new music). I've tried Tidal and Roon... hate connecting via wire and having to always come back to my computer or set in one spot, though. I don't like the interfaces, either, plus they cost extra, and I can navigate through my phone much more quickly anyway. I've tried Audirvana Plus, too (w/ high-resolution audio files)... and, it's still not worth it to me to use it over Bluetooth aptX... but, it's a way better value than Roon for sure! I use an SVS-2000 with my LS50 Wireless speakers and really like the combo. It sounds great with movies, too!

[DarwinOSX]

Bluetooth sounds noticeably worse to me.  Using anything other than an optimal connection to these speakers is a waste to me 

Tidal and Roon are far better than Bluetooth to these speakers or Airplay at least. 

Huge drop in sq with Bluetooth. 

I assumed he had the older MacBook Pro because he talks about optical from it which the newer ones don’t have. 

 

[Jonny]

Pretty sure LS50W don’t have Airplay.

[DarwinOSX]

We are all aware of that. 

Several options were discussed like attaching an Apple TV to the optical port or if the Kefs were attached to a tv by optical, as mine are, using an apple tv connected by hdmi to the tv which is connected to the Kefs. 

[Alexi]

Thanks for the replies all!

 

To respond:

 

- I have an older 2015 Macbook Pro which still has the headphone socket etc.

- At present I connect the speakers to my Wifi and use the KEF app integrating Tidal to stream to the speakers (personally I think the app needs a hell of a lot of work to make it more intuitive and user friendly, however minimal connection issues).

 

[DarwinOSX]

The app is barely usable but for a long time it was unusable. 

Roon is just amazing with these speakers. 

[realhifi]

On 2/18/2018 at 10:16 AM, DarwinOSX said:

The app is barely usable but for a long time it was unusable. 

Roon is just amazing with these speakers. 

Is that using it as  Roon endpoint or running Roon on a computer and hooking it up to the Kefs with USB?

[DarwinOSX]

Endpoint although it should sound good by usb why why direct connect if you don't have to.  As an endpoint i don't think you can get better sound quality.

[Alexi]

Thanks for the advice guys. Is there a way of streaming Tidal from, say, iPhone to the KEFs without using the app? Unsure if Roon has a direct integration or whether it is still only a 'remote'.

 

In any case, I'm unsure if Roon is worth the £350/$499 for a lifetime membership if I'm just going to be streaming Tidal? What are people's thoughts - worth the price? 

May end up direct connecting the Macbook on occasion, however mostly using my iPhone as a convenient source to stream through the KEF app (however inconvenient the app may be!). 

[DarwinOSX]

I use Roon with Tidal, iTunes music, and FLAC files.

 

you can try it free for 14 days and pay monthly. 

 

[tmtomh]

2 hours ago, DarwinOSX said:

Endpoint although it should sound good by usb why why direct connect if you don't have to.  As an endpoint i don't think you can get better sound quality.

 

Thanks - very helpful! This probably is a dumb question, but it helps me to think about this way:

 

Say I had a Mac running iTunes, broadcasting to an Airplay-capable powered speaker via wi-fi. And say I controlled the Mac using the iOS Remote app from my iPhone or iPad.

 

With the KEF LS50w set up as a Roon Endpoint, can I basically have the same setup as outlined above, except replacing all the Apple-specific apps and protocols with Roon Core (instead of iTunes), Roon's streaming protocol (instead of Airplay), and Roon Remote (instead of iOS Remote app)?

 

In other words, if I pay for Roon, I basically overcome the KEF's lack of Airplay support and get bit-perfect and high-res streaming capability in the bargain, yes?

 

(This is putting aside for the moment where my music files actually would be stored - NAS, local storage, or both.)

 

Thanks!

[DarwinOSX]

Yes that’s exactly how I use it and why I keep saying you should try it ?

[Guido Del Giudice]

I have been experimenting using the KEFs as a Roon endpoint .

I have concluded that they sound considerably better using an Aries as a transport into my highly modified Yulong DA8 DAC and into the RCA analog inputs of the KEFs....

[erniejade]

I have triedthe 50w in several ways.  From usb to the speakers, usb to a w4s recovery  to the speakers, wireless using the kef app, cd optical to the speakers, lumin d1 rca to the speakers and tur table to jolida d9 tube phono pre to the speakers. For my ears  the was the turntable/jolida to the kef was best overall followed by lumin d1 rca to the speakers. 

 

I have not tried Roon yet     i will give that a shot next.  

[DarwinOSX]

12 hours ago, Guido Del Giudice said:

I have been experimenting using the KEFs as a Roon endpoint .

I have concluded that they sound considerably better using an Aries as a transport into my highly modified Yulong DA8 DAC and into the RCA analog inputs of the KEFs....

 

 

Those two together are as much as the speakers?  Aries and Yulong?

Doesn't anything going into rca have to be converted to analog and back to digital?  Also how does it not then go to the Kef dac anyway?

[Jonny]

Yes haven't been overly impressed with the SQ using Wifi Roon end point. Will be upgrading my source to use RCA inputs as well sometime in the future.

 

There was some talk about it on Darko.

 

https://darko.audio/2018/01/detour-ahead-from-bluesound-node-2-to-kef-ls50-wireless/

[DarwinOSX]

I’ve seen the Darko articles and he wasn’t knocking the Roon integration. 

[Jonny]

Not knocking Roon, using other sources via RCA. 

[Guido Del Giudice]

possibly doing the streaming and conversion outside the KEFs using some really good equipment will sound better than doing this internally in the KEFs....even though this analog signal is then reprocessed by the DAC inside the KEFs it is an excellent analog signal and  only processed by the KEFs to send to its internal amps

[Tait]

Anyone using their LS50's with Innuos Servers?

Thinking of swapping my laptop for a Zen Mini.

[saintintn]

Well, this is a new one. Have had my LS50W’s for just under a year and had the right channel stop outputting sound. The selector on top still lights up and the left channel still puts out sound.  Tried all inputs (WiFi, analog, optical, usb) and balance knob on back of left speaker. No sound from right channel.  Bizarre. Sent them back to KEF so they could see what’s going on. Anyone else run into this?  

 

Btw, best sounding speakers I’ve ever had. I won’t be swapping them out for something different.