LS50 Wireless II

I'm not typically the kind of person to take the time to write a review; however, I felt obligated to take some time to express my love for the KEF LS50 Wireless II speakers because in short, they blew me away.

I have been considering getting these speakers for a considerable amount of time, but was deterred due to the price. I'm here to tell you that I don't regret it one bit. From sound, functionality, design, to accessibility they really hit the mark.

I've been using them for nearly 2 weeks at this point, and I have been sampling music to hear how they handle different genres, and I'm quite impressed how they can handle a diverse music selection. The component of these speakers that I'm most impressed by is their capability to create a solid sound stage. They have the capability to fill a room with clean sound, but sitting in the sweet spot is a luxurious experience. The vocal presence is perfectly centered, and highlighted by a supporting spacious sound for the ambient noise.

There's other speakers that I would recommend for a larger space, but if you're looking for a punch in a small package for tighter space these should be your go-to speakers hands down!

If you're thinking about it, just do it.

Since the pandemic, I'm at my desk 8-9hrs a day. Music is what gets my day by faster and I concentrate better with good music jamming. So I upgraded my desktop setup in 2020, Schiit HEL connected to Kanto YU6 and Grado RS2e + mic for conference calls.

My setup was great, but the weak link was the Kanto. While it serves its purpose for a budget desktop speakers, the clarity and muffled mids shallow bass didn't get my feet tapping. So I ended up using my Grado headphones more.

I decided to check out what the hype is all about and bought the KEF LS50 Wireless II connected to my Schiit HEL which connects to my work device. The first few tracks I played via Spotify desktop app at high resolution setting: Metallica Nothing Else Matters, ATB 9pm, Boyz II Men On Bended Knee, Birdman Lil Wayne Leather So Soft, Fleetwood Mac Dreams, and Enimem Stan.

I'm simply blown away. In Eminem Stan, you feel like you're in the thunderstorm and can hear every rain drop and subtle sounds that you cannot pick up unless listening with high end headphones. In Metallica Nothing Else Matters, you can head the fingers sliding up and down the electric guitar neck and strings being plucked which is hair raising good. These speakers disappears if you close your eyes, you're swimming in the sound and cannot detect where the highs and mids are coming from. Simply amazing disappearing act.

Onto the bad. Air Play 2 with my iPhone 12 Pro skips lightly (not everyone can detect this, but I have keen ears), so I stop using the wireless feature. Just connect it straight to your TV or laptop via Schiit DAC to get the most out of this. If you really want to play music via phone, get a good streamer DAC to connect to this like Cambridge CXN or Denon HEOS. Obviously KEF is a speaker company, the amp in these are proper, but the DAC / wireless portion is OK.

What's next: I plan to add SVS SB1000 Pro under my desk, that will cover the lower frequency. But I'm not too in a hurry to do so as the KEF LS50 Wireless can hit down to 40hz, which is 10hz lower than any Kanto or AudioEngine desktop setup.

If you're looking at this and have the budget, just pull the trigger. This will last you for decades.

Been an music/audio fan for more than 50 years. Have had Magnepans, Audio Research, Vandersteen, Martin Logan, Rogers LS3/5a, Acoustic Energy, Leach, etc. Never have I experienced such an incredibly easy to set-up, wonderfully sounding system. It is still possible that it cannnot quite get to the easy natural sound of well-executed analogue, but I have thrown in the towel on that and feel, as yet, no regrets. These can be strongly recommended to anyone with moderate volume needs and moderate bass needs no matter the budget. Very few speakers in my experience can trump these on the human voice!

I owned the previous generation very well reviewed LS50W speakers. Unquestionably, Kef made sonic improvements across the board. Before retiring to an apartment, I had great sounding expensive component equipment. From a value perspective, Wireless II's are unmatched. Without an external DAC, I stream Tidal and flac music files from my phone. Using the HDMI connection via eARC, I have quality external TV speakers. Moreover, having added the KC62 subwoofer, Bach's Tocatta in Fugue never sounded better!

Sometimes you pay less for what you get and this is proof.
The sound is stunning, the detail in the midrange is stunning, I fallen in love with these speakers cant wait to listen to them with kf62 sub woofer. Thank You Kef.

On 1-22-21, I reviewed the LS-50’s Wireless and had only one criticism. The eArc did not function and as a work around I had to use the Optical connection. I called support and they responded very quickly and promised a firmware update within 30 days. This updated review raises my Value score from 4 stars to 5 because KEF honored their word and pushed out a firmware update. The eArc works as promised and I couldn’t be happier! Thanks KEF and more importantly a big thumbs up to KEF support!

These are room-filling, detailed, crystal clear additions to any home system. Setup is easy and flexible to accommodate almost any input. The sound quality is absolutely stunning, particularly (though not necessarily) when combined with a KEF Kube subwoofer. My favorite audiophile purchase.

I’ve had the LS 50’s Wireless for a couple weeks. I chose the platinum version and I got to tell you they are beautiful. Musically, they sound very balanced with vocals and instrumentals especially satisfying. Bass is good for a such a small speaker, but definitely won’t overwhelm you. I live in a small condo and have to be respectful of my neighbors so booming bass was not an option. App is intuitive and works well. Another reviewer didn’t appreciate the power on and off tone, but I kinda like it. I currently use Spotify and like that I can use my Apple Watch to control play/pause/skip track and volume. The downside is the ARC functionality doesn’t work on my LG OLED TV. My workaround is the Optical connection. The vocals on television programs and movies is awesome. No more constantly adjusting volume to hear the vocals! I bought these secondarily as a sound bar alternative so a little disappointed ARC functionality wasn’t operational. Though I was impressed with KEF support. I called and received a callback within an hour. The representative stated they were aware of the problem and would be pushing out a firmware update in about thirty days. I called on 1-16-21 so we will see how responsive they are. I’ll give them a Mulligan on this one. If ARC worked then I give Quality 5 stars instead of 4. Maybe I’m nitpicking, but for $2,500 you expect full functionality.

Returned. For desktop users, USB input is quite convenient, including playing MQA music by other apps, like foobar2000. I wish USB input back.

I'm sure some firmware updates are in the pipeline so I'm only going to refer to the sound quality performance, which is to put simply stunning. The soundstage height is seemingly limitless, I can close my eyes and there's no limit to the height and width of the soundstage but it's the height that's blowing my mind. The speakers completely disappear behind a wall of sound that extends in every direction, height width and depth. There is every bit of detail and you can follow the instruments and textures independently or take in the presentation as a whole live performance. Everything sounds alive, it doesn't sound like a stereo, there is life to a good recording, it makes me want to listen to more instrumental and less pop style electronic music because the instruments sound so real and dimensional. The bass is as deep, punchy, tight and extended as can be desired from a small box. I can't imagine how much more you would have to spend to improve the sound quality from what is essentially a perfect stereo at this state of technology. Highly recommended.