There exists a group of people who are passionate about music and have certain requirements for sound quality. Mobile phones and ordinary Bluetooth speakers can no longer meet their needs. Due to factors such as space, technology, and price, they do not have a large demand for Hi-Fi level large speakers. Therefore, a speaker with good sound quality, simple connection operation, and a moderate price is the most suitable.
This time, I got the KEF LS50 Wireless II speaker. Let’s see if it can meet the needs of this group of people.
Almost every speaker brand has a product model or series that can be called classic, just like KEF’s LS50. This model, born on KEF’s 50th anniversary, was developed based on the concept of the LS3/5a monitor speaker. In 2017, it welcomed its successor, the “Wireless Little Giant” LS50 Wireless. Later, KEF collaborated with Dutch design master Marcel Wanders to launch the unforgettable LS50 Wireless “Nocturne” special edition. In 2018, the “Little Giant” LSX wireless Bluetooth stereo music system was born. What new upgrades does the new KEF LS50 Wireless II have on the original basis?
High-value appearance
The LS50 Wireless II has three matte appearances, namely carbon black, titanium gray, mineral white, and crimson (special edition). The color I got this time is crimson. The overall color is high-profile but not ostentatious, eye-catching and meaningful. Compared with other colors, the crimson version of the LS50 Wireless II is more suitable for the aesthetic taste of young people.
The LS50 Wireless II has KEF’s typical design sense. The front baffle of the box is a curved panel with a convex and concave shape, considering the simulation of sound wave diffraction, and the use of KEF’s Uni-Q technology is twice the result with half the effort. The front baffle adopts a forward convex curved surface design, which can reduce sound wave diffraction, and also expresses KEF’s pursuit of sound, and the transition with the box body is also natural.
Both sides and the top are made of piano baking varnish, with distinct texture. The one-piece shell with rounded corners shows smooth lines and greatly enhances the beauty of the entire speaker.
The coaxial common point unit on the front is one of KEF’s core technologies. The workmanship details are exquisite, and the unit and the curved front baffle are perfectly connected.
The LS50 Wireless II is divided into left and right main and auxiliary speakers. There is a row of touch screens on the top of the right main speaker, which can perform operations including turning on and off, switching audio sources, and adjusting the volume.♡
At the same time, you can also operate with the equipped remote control.
The simple and fashionable appearance of the LS50 Wireless II can easily integrate into the home living space. From the drive unit to the rear reflection hole, all have been carefully selected for color matching, making the LS50 Wireless II perfect from any angle. The low-diffraction high-precision cast mold curved baffle surrounds the Uni-Q coaxial common point unit, and the fully functional rear baffle has eye-catching heat sinks and color-matching elastic reflection hole design.
Let’s take a look at the back of the body. The back interfaces of the main and auxiliary speakers are slightly different. The two boxes are connected by an RJ-45 network cable interface. The special wire is standard in the accessories. It should be noted that although there is a distinction between the main and auxiliary machines in the connection, each box is equipped with independent decoding and independent dual amplifiers. Different from other speakers, the LS50 Wireless II also has functions in the back panel design, which looks very high-end through the arrangement of bar-shaped heat sinks and the matching of rear guide holes.
The top row on the back of the right main speaker is equipped with HDMI, optical fiber, coaxial, AUX and other interfaces, as well as reset, left and right speaker pairing and Bluetooth pairing buttons. The bottom row of interfaces has left and right speaker connection ports, subwoofer connection ports, service ports, pairing buttons and power ports.
The interface on the back of the left auxiliary speaker only has left and right speaker connection ports, subwoofer connection ports, service ports, pairing buttons and power ports.
Strong technical blessing
KEF is the first speaker brand to apply Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT). The structure of MAT is like a highly complex maze. It is installed on the back of the coaxial common point unit. It uses a synthetic material with high sound absorption efficiency. There are 15 precise pipes in it, which are integrated with each other. Each precise pipe can absorb a specific range of frequencies. When the pipes are integrated, it becomes an acoustic black hole that can absorb up to 99% of noise. Compared with ordinary speakers, only 60% of the sound absorption technology, the speakers with MAT technology can more effectively reduce distortion and interference.
The 12th generation Uni-Q coaxial common point unit of the LS50 Wireless II seems to be no different from the previous generation, but from the internal structure diagram released by the official, it can still clearly feel that KEF has started from a small place and made a lot of improvements. For example, strengthen the back structure of the coronal waveguide, add a redesigned tweeter gap damper and the second-generation cone basin neck control technology, the suspension system and the mid-bass drive system, and the magnetic circuit structure have been optimized.♡
The blessing of MAT and the 12th generation Uni-Q coaxial common point unit reduces the total harmonic distortion of the LS50 Wireless II to 0.07% (90dB/1m), which is lower than the previous generation LS50Wireless (0.1%). It can better and more effectively reduce distortion and noise, and improve the overall clarity of the sound.
According to official data, compared with the previous generation, the amplifier power built into each LS50 Wireless II speaker has been increased from 230W to 380W, and a new 100W A/B class amplifier is used to drive the tweeter unit, and a 280W D class amplifier is used to drive the mid-bass unit. Through clear division of labor, the potential of the three frequencies can be fully utilized, and the maximum sound pressure level is also increased to 108dB. The original LS50 Wireless can only transmit streaming media music wirelessly through roon and Bluetooth, while the LS50 Wireless II is compatible with AirPlay2 and Google Chromecast on this basis, and supports wireless multi-room control technology, which means that you can buy multiple pairs of LS50 Wireless II speakers to form a whole house music system, or you can connect the LS50 Wireless II with other products that support multi-room control, and control it with the same App.
In terms of audio specifications, the LS50 Wireless II supports up to 24bit/384kHz, and can also play MQA and DSD256 audio files. In addition, it is equipped with HDMI, analog output, optical fiber and coaxial interfaces, which is convenient for users to connect TVs, vinyl record players, CD players, game consoles and other types of signal sources in a wired manner.
Hi-Fi level sound experience
KEF has tailor-made a brand-new KEF Connect App for the LS50 Wireless II, providing more control options and custom settings, such as adjusting the volume, switching signal sources, directly entering supported streaming media platforms and radio stations, or in the equalizer section For targeted adjustments to low and high frequencies, choose different listening modes, and even set sleep time, automatic wake-up, lock, etc. The LS50 Wireless II supports nearly 10 streaming media platforms, including QQ Music, Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music, Qobuz, Deezer, etc. (different countries and regions vary).
I specifically selected several songs with different styles, including pure music, vocal singing in the recording studio, and concert live version songs, to test the actual effect of the LS50 Wireless II for different music styles.
When playing pure music, because the MAT technology greatly cancels the mutual interference of various frequency bands in the speaker box, the sound can remain pure and natural, the sound of various instruments is very thorough and clear, and the transition between movement and silence is very smooth and natural; When playing the vocal version of the song, it can well restore the thickness and singing cavity personality that the singer’s voice line should have. This is also due to the fact that the speaker unit continues to retain the reflection hole on the back, thereby enhancing the convection of sound inside and outside the box; finally, it is the concert version of the song, creating a sense of atmosphere on the scene, the details are clearly preserved, whether it is the singer’s singing and the band’s accompaniment on the stage, or the cheers and shouts of the audience, they can be heard clearly, and they can also feel the sound in the scene The sense of space echoed.
The performance of the sound’s high, middle, and low frequencies are all very good. The low frequency is thick but not stuffy, the diving depth is appropriate, the elasticity is excellent, and it can handle various music styles with ease. If you feel that the low-frequency atmosphere is not strong enough, you can also connect a subwoofer through the subwoofer output hole of the LS50 Wireless II to enhance the sense of low-frequency volume. The mid-frequency vocals are clear and clean and penetrating, and the background instrument sounds slowly spread out, with clear layers and no feeling of grabbing the limelight of the vocals. Instead, they set off the atmosphere of the song to be very infectious, and blend well into the background music. , The sense of music is enduring. The dynamic performance of the high-frequency part is mediocre, the transient performance is excellent, the overall is moderate, the transparency is no problem, the sound field
Visits: 11