[peterinvan]

Hi there. I’ve a technical question which I can’t find answer anywhere online so far. I understand that all rca input into Kef Ls50 Wirless are going through the internal dac, is that mean that music play through turntable and cd will sound similar because signals are going through internal dac?

My understanding is that analogue into the RCA will be digitized through an ADC. Then it is processed by the DACs, and the DSP before the internal amplifiers. The analogue source (phono or CD player) may sound different. Trial is the only way I am aware of to determine how different.

 

[AlanU]

Hi there. I’ve a technical question which I can’t find answer anywhere online so far. I understand that all rca input into Kef Ls50 Wirless are going through the internal dac, is that mean that music play through turntable and cd will sound similar because signals are going through internal dac?

It would be a nice comparison you can do yourself. I would assume the vinyl / analog signal would already have some changes that is "coloured" vs a digital CD.

If Kef's internal dac has a neutral presentation you should hear a difference since the source from a turntable should sound different between a CD. I'm not too keen on an analog signal going through stages of Analog to digital then back to analog. This takes away the hobby of playing with components to seek synergy/character you can tweak.

 

[maskapl]

Thanks guys. I’ll try to do this comparision, and I’m bit confused about how to judge signla from vinyl to KEFs. I’ve sold my passive ls50 and nice amplifier now to get wirless version. It will be good to compare two setups to find out level of detail from vinyl.

 

[AlanU]

Thanks guys. I’ll try to do this comparision, and I’m bit confused about how to judge signla from vinyl to KEFs. I’ve sold my passive ls50 and nice amplifier now to get wirless version. It will be good to compare two setups to find out level of detail from vinyl.

I'm eager to hear about your comparison.

As we all have different pairs of ears ....we'll all have different preferences. I do enjoy my Kef R300 as they have more bass and sweeter mids than the LS50 and it also has a coloured kef signature that is a little warmer/darker. The female vocals sounds more intimate with "real" presence to my ears compared to the LS50 or R100 (I own the R100 which are surprisingly very similar to the LS50) speakers. Beauty is I can change the signature a bit by using solid state DAC or Tube dac. The LS50 has excellent imaging which is common in all of the Kef UniQ configuration.

The wireless Ls50 I auditioned resolved the music with great detail. I think the passive LS50 with organic analog vinyl would present differently than a vinyl fed to the digital cct setup in the wireless LS50.

Please do tell.....

 

[maskapl]

I had Ls50 with Rogue Audio Sphinx V2 and it sounds amazing, but hiss from tubes was just killing me. I couldnd bear it any more. Wirless version with vinyl sounds amazing, definitely better and very organic than my past set up. All the instruments are on the perfect possition. It was more technical question, “on paper” , how the signal from cartrige is delivered to ears via kef ls50w. Do we loose resolution of detail from cartrige? To my ears sound amazing and they are keepers for sure.

 

[jologskyblues]

It's looking like speaker companies are taking notice of the potential of these Hi-Fi consumer actives. I wouldn't be surprised if more and more hi-fi speaker companies followed suit. I do think the rising popularity of consumer hifi active speakers are starting to worry audio component manufacturers because that would cannibalize the sales of certain segments of their product stack.

I for one, look forward to seeing more consumer hifi actives because of my numerous experiences of buyers remorse with component mismatches after having spent my hard earned money and ending up with disappointing performance and the hassle of returning or selling off the offending component. For example, I still remember going through a lot of DACs before I found the right one and while I was happy in the end, the journey to get there was agonizing. Shops in my country do not have easy return or exchange policies and they do not usually allow home auditions to really test out the synergy of things. Self contained active speaker systems with all the optimization done by the manufacturer takes the guesswork and trial and error out of the equation and makes my auditioning and purchasing decisions more straightforward so I can stop worrying about the hardware and just go straight to enjoying the music.

 

[guido]

I concur 100% ,,, and no more tinkering with speaker cables, interconnects, endless tweaks and permutations...since unboxing my KEF LS50 wireless I have been enjoying music like never before without continuously worrying about tweaking everything and swapping things around dozens of times.

 

[maskapl]

I concur 100% ,,, and no more tinkering with speaker cables, interconnects, endless tweaks and permutations...since unboxing my KEF LS50 wireless I have been enjoying music like never before without continuously worrying about tweaking everything and swapping things around dozens of times.

Amen

 

[techtonic]

Around the 16:00 is relevant to the discussion but the rest is good too. Also the ELAC Argo B51 Wireless is looking to compete with the LS50W.

 

[jcn3]

Hi there. I’ve a technical question which I can’t find answer anywhere online so far. I understand that all rca input into Kef Ls50 Wirless are going through the internal dac, is that mean that music play through turntable and cd will sound similar because signals are going through internal dac?

no -- vinyl lps and cds are different technologies so you're not really listening to the same thing, so it'll sound different.
btw -- if you want to use a turntable, you'll need a phono pre (unless there's one built into your turntable).

 

[AlanU]

I concur 100% ,,, and no more tinkering with speaker cables, interconnects, endless tweaks and permutations...since unboxing my KEF LS50 wireless I have been enjoying music like never before without continuously worrying about tweaking everything and swapping things around dozens of times.

I'm shocked as I literally do not know any audio hifi person fully 100% satisfied with the synergy of audio components. Most hifi folks are not easy to please

Glad to hear the LS50 sings to your ears. Speakers are like selecting headphones.....I see why people have different sets of headphones for certain genre music.

Still think source is more critical as a good digital amp shouldn't be colouring the sound as it should be neutral. Colouring with tubes is another story

 

[JohannLiebert]

The LS50W are so good they are making me sell my whole headphone equipment. Greatly enjoy them.

 

[peterinvan]

The LS50W are so good they are making me sell my whole headphone equipment. Greatly enjoy them.

I understand your enthusiasm, however, don't sell ALL your headphones, as there are times you will need to listen quietly to your music, and not disturb the neighbors or your family/friends. Enjoy!

 

[Peter Hyatt]

I understand your enthusiasm, however, don't sell ALL your headphones, as there are times you will need to listen quietly to your music, and not disturb the neighbors or your family/friends. Enjoy!

I agree.

I, too, love the LS50Ws but there are not only quiet moments but times when I want to have deep critical listening. Ambient noise doesn't allow for this. If it is not a financial issue, I hope you can keep both.

 

[JohannLiebert]

Of course I will not sell off atleast my last portable IEM.
I will keep either my Prophile 8, Earsonics ES5 or Oriolus. Before I switched between them at home but now it is 90% LS50W