More details for KEF Audio

[Mh59]

KEF audio ?????

Track mode FM - For the Drivers

Indeed. If it wasn’t for Track mode, I’d be a bit more bothered about the KEF system!

 

[Nova]

Without having a car to study and measure, it's a little premature to guess 1) that there is a problem, and if there is a problem, 2) what the problem is, and therefore 3)much less what the solution is.

The fact is, we don't have any reliable assessment of the system aside from anecdotes from owners/drivers who either are not picky/experienced listeners (not golden ears, just someone who has a long-term interest in high-quality audio), or listeners who tried a pre-production/demo vehicle. I am highly suspicious of anecdotal reviews, even those of popular reviewers.

Let's chill out and wait for the cars to arrive before trying to reengineer the audio system to "improve" it.

 

[Andrew P]

Without having a car to study and measure, it's a little premature to guess 1) that there is a problem, and if there is a problem, 2) what the problem is, and therefore 3)much less what the solution is.

The fact is, we don't have any reliable assessment of the system aside from anecdotes from owners/drivers who either are not picky/experienced listeners (not golden ears, just someone who has a long-term interest in high-quality audio), or listeners who tried a pre-production/demo vehicle. I am highly suspicious of anecdotal reviews, even those of popular reviewers.

Let's chill out and wait for the cars to arrive before trying to reengineer the audio system to "improve" it.

I have a Naim / Wilson Benesch set up at home and had various in car systems. I have done 2.5K miles in my Emira and played music both through a fairly high end music player (wired) and iPhone with Qobuz downloads (CarPlay). The honest view of the sound quality is that it is average. The issue is not the volume, the bass or any single thing - it is just generally unremarkable. It is adequate but I would have expected more from a KEF system. I had a B&W system in a previous car and it is far superior. It is not a big deal for me as I want to hear the V6 & drive the car. The 1 good thing is that for me CarPlay works well in the Emira.

 

[Nova]

I have a Naim / Wilson Benesch set up at home and had various in car systems. I have done 2.5K miles in my Emira and played music both through a fairly high end music player (wired) and iPhone with Qobuz downloads (CarPlay). The honest view of the sound quality is that it is average. The issue is not the volume, the bass or any single thing - it is just generally unremarkable. It is adequate but I would have expected more from a KEF system. I had a B&W system in a previous car and it is far superior. It is not a big deal for me as I want to hear the V6 & drive the car. The 1 good thing is that for me CarPlay works well in the Emira.

Friend, I have no disagreements with you and wish to not offend you in any way. I am just going to matter-of-factly point out that high end audio is not the same as high quality audio. In fact, the two are often divergent. Based on what I can find about Wilson-Benesch speakers, it looks like they are in the market of targeting very specific listening tastes. B&W is similarly positioned - they don't even care to get the time alignment of their drivers correct, much less directivity and overall tonal balance. These are beautifully made speakers and to the right listener, they are magical. But they do not produce high quality audio.

I want to add that listening to music is a very personal pursuit. There is no one right way. Some people want a faithful rendition, some want a colorful rendition, and most people want something in the middle, which is why we have the Harman target curve that's based on trusted surveys and research into the subject. For the purpose of discussing the qualities of an audio system between a large group of general listeners, it's useful to have such an objective standard.

 

[Hell4Leather]

Friend, I have no disagreements with you and wish to not offend you in any way. I am just going to matter-of-factly point out that high end audio is not the same as high quality audio. In fact, the two are often divergent. Based on what I can find about Wilson-Benesch speakers, it looks like they are in the market of targeting very specific listening tastes. B&W is similarly positioned - they don't even care to get the time alignment of their drivers correct, much less directivity and overall tonal balance. These are beautifully made speakers and to the right listener, they are magical. But they do not produce high quality audio.

I want to add that listening to music is a very personal pursuit. There is no one right way. Some people want a faithful rendition, some want a colorful rendition, and most people want something in the middle, which is why we have the Harman target curve that's based on trusted surveys and research into the subject. For the purpose of discussing the qualities of an audio system between a large group of general listeners, it's useful to have such an objective standard.

I’d like to give the poster the benefit of the doubt here. High end vs high quality is just a matter of semantics to some. He very well means that he has superior performance speakers at home and is familiar with how quality sound is produced. He states the KEF is average in the car. My question for him is in the reply above to his post.

 

[Andrew P]

Friend, I have no disagreements with you and wish to not offend you in any way. I am just going to matter-of-factly point out that high end audio is not the same as high quality audio. In fact, the two are often divergent. Based on what I can find about Wilson-Benesch speakers, it looks like they are in the market of targeting very specific listening tastes. B&W is similarly positioned - they don't even care to get the time alignment of their drivers correct, much less directivity and overall tonal balance. These are beautifully made speakers and to the right listener, they are magical. But they do not produce high quality audio.

I want to add that listening to music is a very personal pursuit. There is no one right way. Some people want a faithful rendition, some want a colorful rendition, and most people want something in the middle, which is why we have the Harman target curve that's based on trusted surveys and research into the subject. For the purpose of discussing the qualities of an audio system between a large group of general listeners, it's useful to have such an objective standard.

Err - no. This is nonsense.

 

[Hell4Leather]

I have a Naim / Wilson Benesch set up at home and had various in car systems. I have done 2.5K miles in my Emira and played music both through a fairly high end music player (wired) and iPhone with Qobuz downloads (CarPlay). The honest view of the sound quality is that it is average. The issue is not the volume, the bass or any single thing - it is just generally unremarkable. It is adequate but I would have expected more from a KEF system. I had a B&W system in a previous car and it is far superior. It is not a big deal for me as I want to hear the V6 & drive the car. The 1 good thing is that for me CarPlay works well in the Emira.

Can you expand a bit in the “average” rating? Average for a superior audio system like the one in your home, average for an automobile? A certain class of automobile? The Emira could be average if compared between a McLaren and a C8.

 

[Andrew P]

Can you expand a bit in the “average” rating? Average for a superior audio system like the one in your home, average for an automobile? A certain class of automobile? The Emira could be average if compared between a McLaren and a C8.

Average for a car system that is supposed to be a clear step up from the standard item fitted. It is not better than the offering in the Volvo XC90 that I also drive at it is worse than systems like the B&W one I had in a 2010 vehicle. That‘s my honest view having driven it a fair bit. I love the car overall - I genuinely believe that 95% of people that listen to it will say that it‘s ok, nothing more. It’s not poor, it’s just not great. Personally I would still get it over the standard system in a base edition but that’s just a guess as I haven’t heard it.

 

[KAR120C]

I have high end ears. They look pretty good in my opinion. But, alas, I have low quality ears because I’ve beat the hell out of them all my life and literally have a frequency range equal to about a 1970’s shortwave radio.

My crap hearing may finally play out in my favor as I will be unable to worry about the Emira’s sound system, thus providing me one less thing to fret about.

 

[Tokion]

For subwoofers, I figure anything less than 10 inches and 500w is a placebo rather than a cure, but then again I’m pretty old school about such things. There should be ample room in the cargo area behind the seats for a custom box. (with the corresponding sacrifices in storage volume and weight, naturally)

Hi dgrace
You can of course volunteer for testing out the 10 inch woofer with a suitably large cabinet (and occupy all that precious luggage space with such a woofer) in your own EMIRA

However, all you need for “good sound” in a car is well integrated mid-bass that extends a bit below 50 Hz. You also want this bass to be fast and easy.

I would personally not look for a car audio system with 10 inch woofer and 500W amp to pump enough bass to make your Emira jump along as a grasshopper. In audio terms I would rather look for a similar sound as KEF’s own LS50 or other compact home audio speakers, or the venerable BBC LS3/5a sold as Rogers, Harbeth, Splendor etc.

I got Wilson Audio and also classic JBL with 15 inch woofers (among others) at home, but often well designed speakers with smaller woofers of 5 to 6.5 inch sound cleaner and more tuneful; not to speak of how much less space they take up.

 

[dgrace]

Honestly unless you’re listening while parked with the engine off, super high precision audio seems like the wrong goal to me. Road and engine noise will add so much color that I’d rather just have power to reproduce the whole spectrum while driving with the windows open.

 

[virtualmacho]

ETON AUDIO USB 6AR

The factory “Fresh Air “(woofer) must be electrically disconnected, and the USB 6AR gets connected including power supply.

So, will this be a physical replacement to the OEM KEF woofer as well, or does it go somewhere else, such as under the driver seat.

 

[Tokion]

So, will this be a physical replacement to the OEM KEF woofer as well, or does it go somewhere else, such as under the driver seat

Since it is physically very different, it will definitely have to go “somewhere else.”. Its dimensions are 290 x 202 × 77 mm. If it is possible to cover up the cut out for the Fresh Air, it may go there (mounted to the wall). However it may have to go somewhere in the space behind the rear seat. I do not expect there will be enough space under the seats in the Emira since they are presumably mounted very low with little room underneath. I also think it will become a hinderance if it were mounted in the passenger footwell. We will need to explore after an actual Emira becomes available.

However the Eton Audio USB 6AR is the smallest of its kind (to my knowledge).

By the way, the woofer in the Emira is not a at all a KEF woofer, but a completely separate product made by https://bluacs.com/technology/freshairspeaker/

 

[Wiz33]

Does the Kef system accept any form of physical input like USB. It would really be disappointing if everything have to be streaming via BT.

 

[Hell4Leather]

Does the Kef system accept any form of physical input like USB. It would really be disappointing if everything have to be streaming via BT.

I believe an earlier poster mentioned using a wired connection for sound comparison.

 

[digilotus]

You can use a USB drive loaded with music files when plugged into the USB data ports (within the glovebox). I'm not sure what formats it supports but I would assume the usual formats like mp3 will work on an extFAT formatted drive. I'll try it over the weekend as I only use Android Auto to stream my music.

FYI - The USB port under the gearstick is power-only.

 

[Wiz33]

I believe an earlier poster mentioned using a wired connection for sound comparison.

You can use a USB drive loaded with music files when plugged into the USB data ports (within the glovebox). I'm not sure what formats it supports but I would assume the usual formats like mp3 will work on an extFAT formatted drive. I'll try it over the weekend as I only use Android Auto to stream my music.

FYI - The USB port under the gearstick is power-only.

Thanks all. Would be great if it can handle 24bits music but just not having to streaming everything through BT is definitely a plus.

 

[Porter]

Thanks all. Would be great if it can handle 24bits music but just not having to streaming everything through BT is definitely a plus.

Most file-based playback systems nowadays will support native playback of high word length digital files, up to 32 bit in most cases. Sample rate is harder, it entirely depends on the particular DAC and the implementation of it. Some will do 48k or 96k only, while others may handle 192k or 384k without issue. Remains to be seen what the Emira system will do, I haven't seen anyone do a format compatibility test yet.

 

[Nova]

I believe the digital signal chain used in the Emira can handle 192kHz 32-bit. But I would be really surprised if they actually implemented this support. Especially the A2B bus, needs some actual configuration to handle 4x48kHz sampling rate. It's most likely that they implemented standard 44.1kHz or 48khz 16-bit. I would raise an eyebrow if they went with 24-bit. Regardless of what they implemented, it's also highly likely (99%) that all music sources are resampled to the system sampling rate and bit-depth. They would have to implement some type of direct stream output to support music at their native rates, which is a pain in the ass.

 

[Time2Fly]

Reading through the muddy middling reviews of the KEF after a weekend with my friend's C8 has me a bit disappointed. That stereo is like black magic. It's great with the HTC down and at ninety on the highway. This is a closed coupe. Clear and loud audio should be a reasonable assumption at this price point.