Kii Three - my impressions and pro reviews

[Yellowspider]

Hello @ all,

I´m Steve from Germany and Kii Three owner since May 2019. The Kiis are painted in magma red metallic and I´m using the original stands as well as the Kii control. Digital source is an Auralic Aries with external Sbooster powersupply, connected via USB port. Analog equippement is Platine Verdier with Graham Phantom Tonearm, Zyx cartridge, amplified by Einsteins Turntables Choice.

Actually I´m using Groneberg power cables and in front of that a PS Audio P10.
Standard ethernet cables.

Sound is very resolved without being harsh or edgy.
The Speakers are positioned 5,3 ft from front wall,  2,8 ft from side walls, distance between speakers and listening position to speakers 8,5 ft (distances measured from center front of speaker)

I´ve had major problems with room modes at 95Hz, 50 Hz, 27 Hz with my passive systems in this room. Now it is much better by using the boundary control (set up to 6) But still those modes are existing. An implemented equalizer / notch filtes would be great to eliminate the last boomy notes.
 

Some of my favourites for the Kii Three Tidal Playlist:
Philippe Chretien - Le chat noir
Susanne Abbuehl - Bathyal
markusphilippe - Pink Panther
Felix Laband - Falling Off A Horse
Susan Weinert - Die Kraniche

BartolomeyBittmann - Glockenturm
Carolin No - Waters run deep

 

Greetings from Germany

Steve

 

[Yellowspider]

Hi,

I will post a picture soon. The magma red is a little bit different to the flamme rouge which is usually the metallic red colour for the Kiis.

I actaully don´t use Roon. I have read about the possibilities to use EQ from Roon. I´ve been on the local Hifi fair and Chris told, that a new software release shall also include 8 notch filters. Let´s see what happens.
It is remarkable that one can listen to the Kiis with their high resolving capabilities over hours without getting fatigue. Really a very special speaker.

I´ve also heard the BXT on the fair, directly compared without BXT. It is definitly an upgrade in performance. But it is too expensive for me, and won´t get sleepless nights not having it in my setup.

Greetz from Königswinter

Steve

[Yellowspider]

And here the promised photo . Would be great to see some more pictures from setups of Kii users in this topic 😉
Greetz

Steve

 

[Yellowspider]

Sure, i have 🙂
It´s an acrylic bookholder bought at Amazon. Fits perfectly.
Kii Control Stand

 

[Yellowspider]

The phonostage is directly connected to the Kiis, configured as analog inputs

[Yellowspider]

46 minutes ago, Bernstein said:

Stand is cool! But I worry my rather heavy SPDif Cable will pull a lot on the KC. 

 

Give it a try, it´s quite cheap.

And here two more tracks for your playlist. Really heavy for bass extension (not for the Kiis, but for other speakers 😂)

SBTRKT - Wonder Where We Land
Ricardo Villalobos - Recat
Null+Void - Into the Void

[Yellowspider]

10 minutes ago, fpalm69 said:

So, no problem with the IR remote sensor being blocked with the Kii Control inside the book holder stand?

No, works fine

[Yellowspider]

What are the experiences with Power Conditioners / Filters? I´m using a PS Audio P10. But if you listen very loud, it can´t manage the Kiis load anymore and switchs off.
SQ seems to be improved nethertheless. Stage becomes deeper and dynamics is improved too.
Isotek Sigmas didn´t work well. A real dynamic brake. Lab 12 Gordian was not bad, a little bit loss of microdynamics, blarger room but also a little bit indifferent.

My experiences...

[Yellowspider]

1 hour ago, Blade1001 said:

 

Thats concerning - I was hoping to run mine through a P10. 

 

Is the switch off repeatable? Have you been able to monitor the load reading on the P10 when playing that loud - if so what percentage does it hit? (I take it you have them connected to the high current outlets?)

Yes, it´s repeatable. I tried to read the load percentage, it was about 140 percent. Depends not on the outlets, but I've connected them to the high current outlets.
But it is very loud and uncomfortable to hear when this happens. So it is no problem with the P10 in normal use, even when listening loud.

[Yellowspider]

1 hour ago, Blade1001 said:

 

 

Thanks guys.

 

I actually got some information from Kii on this.

 

On regular playback at normal listening levels the Kii's draw 40-60 watts per speaker from the wall. However at their peak output - that's transient peaks on highest volume/gain settings - they max out at 1200 watts per speaker from the wall.

 

 

 

 

My P10 shows about approx. 85 W for both speakers running mid volume (Kii control shows 65 as volume level)

Mostly I listen to digital Music between 62 and 70 volume level Kii Control. What level do the other listeners prefer mainly?

[Yellowspider]

Hi Rubysea,

where did you get the new firmware from? Can´t find it on the Homepage...

 

Regards

Stephan

[Yellowspider]

Thx Rubysea

[Yellowspider]

OK folks,

I, ve contacted Tom just a few minutes ago. Here is the information I´ve got.

Please be patient. The firmwareupdate will be available soon on the Kii Homepage. Actually it is still beta. They are working hard on it and will inform the customers via newsletter.

 

So I suggest we let them work. The sooner it should be available 🙂

 

BR STephan

[Yellowspider]

2 hours ago, firedog said:

Famous last words....I wonder if this update finally activates the bluetooth.

Bluetooth works already in the actual firmware with Kii Control.

[Yellowspider]

Control FW 1 in my System

[Yellowspider]

Yes, it´s down.

[Yellowspider]

Updated this morning v 1.08. Win10 , few seconds ago v1.09. Both times no problems.

[Yellowspider]

In my KC the serial no. is shown as "0" 🤔

[Yellowspider]

I´ve updated from Kii Control V2.0 to 2.3 also yesterday. Now Auto On/Off (Auto Stand By) does not work with the analog xlr Inputs anymore. Did work well with V2.0. Is this the same with yours after updating?

[Yellowspider]

1 hour ago, Rubysea said:

In case you have connected an phono preamp to them there might still be a signal "leakage" in case the preamp is not switched off.

No, that seems not to be the reason. I´ve disconnected the connection between Kii and phono pre. No change. Can´t switch it off manually.

 

I´ve changed the setup from Auto to Manual. With this setting, I can´t switch off the Kii manually on any channel.

[Yellowspider]

I´ve had the chance to test Innuos Zenith MK3 via USB, Hifiakademie Netplayer via Spdif and Auralic Aries Mini via Optical input.

I did play the same Music on all three units parallel. The stream came from my NAS. Innuos had the tracks directly on it´s ssd.

 

They were sounding slightly different, if you listen very! carefully. (Maybe a highend afficionado would call this Milestones, I won´t) Regarding the money and the benefit in sound quality there could only be one hero in this setup. I think you can guess right 🙂

 

I did this comparison by switching through the sources via Kii Control remote, and managed to get the right track time allignement . So there were no time breaks by switching between the sources. This should eliminate psycho acoustics.

 

My friend with the Aries took part in this session. We had the same opinion according to the sound quality.

 

But give it a try in your surrounding. I think, it´s easy to compare.

 

 

[Yellowspider]

3 minutes ago, Mazza said:

@Yellowspider 

 

...for me there was a difference for whatever reason. ....

 

 

Yes Mazza, there were differences you could hear. Innuos was most refined unit, the Hifiakademie was on the warmer side and the Aries Mini had smooth highs but it lacked some substance and pressure. But these differences are on a high level. If the Innuos had those silky highs, it would have been the best sounding unit overall. If you want a highly refined sound, the Innuos is really good. And it would get even better in comparison when you compare the handling and operation. Thats really great.

 

I ended up with an Aries Femto with Sbooster PSU. Great sound quality for the money.

[Yellowspider]

Don´t post this on the Linn Forum. Which Streamer could be better than Linn? :-)

 

But it would be nice to hear, which model you are now using.

 

I´ve had a Linn Klimax DS. No Digital Out. Tried it via AES. This was not my cup of tea. And i need the AES input for my phonopre. So the Linn went away...

[Yellowspider]

Thx

[Yellowspider]

Did someone compare the Kii to Magnepan speakers? If yes, which impressions did you have?