Kii Three - my impressions and pro reviews

[PleasantSounds]

I've had Kii Three for about a year, using them  as desktop speakers. Probably no point trying to review them here as  I'd have to say all the things already said in this thread, but I have a few things to throw into the discussion.

 

Kii Control - I have done without it for about half a year, using Lynx Hilo as a digital preamp with the AES connection to the speakers. Definitely a workable setup, but Control has some advantages. To me the most valuable are:

- Losless volume control. Without Control the digital signal has to be attenuated before it reaches speakers, losing some resolution.

- Configuration presets: mostly for switching between low latency (for movies) and exact phase (for audio) modes.

- The EQ in Control is actually quite useful, allowing to dial in the starting frequency and up to +/-6dB boost for LF and HF shelves (but I wish we could have a 5-band parametric equalizer separate for each speaker to deal with room correction).

On top of that, initially I had some configuration mismatches between my speakers, which could have been avoided by simply plugging the Control in (thankfully they have performed flawlessly ever since).  More on that here if anyone is interested.

 

Recently I have measured their in-room frequency response with REW using a calibrated mic, and while I am quite pleased with +/- 5dB across the audible range (uncorrected), there is also a small bonus: there is no low frequency roll-off down to 10 Hz!

 

Oh, and regarding those old lower quality recordings that we all love and the fear of revealing too much of their flaws: I have found that a  DAC connected to XLR inputs may go a long way towards making them enjoyable again.

[PleasantSounds]

On 2/13/2018 at 6:01 AM, Evo-No-Revo said:

[..]

I have been looking for any opinions regarding USB vs AES when listening to PCM no higher than 192kHZ.  I thought I had read that some people preferred AES but I can't seem to find anything.  Admittedly I have just scanned online and not read everything.

 

I have started with AES connection through Lynx Hilo (PC->USB->Hilo->AES->Kii3) before I had the Control. Now my chain is PC->USB->Hilo->Coax->Control. Honestly if there is any difference, I'm sure I would fail to detect it in a blind test. Hilo is great for low latency and rock solid stability: never misses a bit, even when I run video rendering or disk defrag on the PC.

To me the direct USB connection (PC->USB->Control) makes no difference in terms of sound quality either, but I get an occasional dropout when the PC is really busy.

 

[PleasantSounds]

.. and now in full view:

 

[PleasantSounds]

There's official BXT page on the Kii Audio web site now.

Still not a lot of info...

 

[PleasantSounds]

I wouldn't worry too much about blacking out the prowe grid when you turn the BXT on. 

 

If the Kii3 itself is any indication, then all those kilowatts of power refer to the total power rating of the on-board amps, but the power supply draw is much lower: Kii3 has 6x250W amps but the power supply is rated 200W. You may get a burst exceeding that several times for a few milliseconds granted by onboard capacitors - that's probably how they measured 1.4kW.

 

[PleasantSounds]

On 5/31/2018 at 5:23 PM, sapporo said:

. To me the moans of  Glen Gould or Keith Jarrett at the pianos are disturbing. Studio monitors often make porn of music.

At home I much prefer the subtle love story as told by good non-studio speakers.

 

Have you considered that your "love story" which strips out Keith Jarret's moans most likely also takes out half of Norah Jones's vocals and many other things you probably would want to hear?

As far as I am concerned, "correcting" one possibly faulty recording  to destroy many others is not the way to go. But audio is all about personal preferences, so suit yourself...

[PleasantSounds]

Welcome to the Kii club, @Cazzesman !

 

You should be able to emulate Apple remote on the Harmony. 

 

[PleasantSounds]

Treatment still helps. Sound produced by the Kiis still bounces off the walls just like from any other speakers.

To reduce the impact of room treatment you'd have to move towards the near-field setup.

 

[PleasantSounds]

7 hours ago, coot said:

But a review comment said bxt goes down to 12hz. One should be able to tell that xtra half octave, no?

 

 

Well you won't hear it, but your jewels may start vibrating, given enough SPL.

 

The Kii THREE themselves go down to 5 Hz, but the only way to tell is by looking at the drivers: not enough energy there to cause any other response. And that may be a good thing.

 

[PleasantSounds]

 

2 hours ago, fpalm69 said:

I wonder what the difference is in PEQ constant Q and prog Q?

 

With the prog Q, the width of the equalized band changes somewhat with the gain - this is the "standard" PEQ behaviour.

The constant Q mode has been introduced to ensure that the width of the band remains unchanged irrespective of the gain.