KEF LS50 META | Binaural Sound Clips with Commentary 

Official review will be out tomorrow morning! Thanks everyone.

Ron’s videos are like wearing a cozy blanket with cookies and milk before going to sleep 😅💯👌🏾👌🏾

The KEF LS50 Meta sound like the kind of speaker I can enjoy in a small room and they won't get me kicked out of the apartment. I love how voices are eerily present, once I held my hand up to the Uni-Q driver to feel if the exhaling air from the singer's voice was actually coming out as I heard it...of course it wasn't, but it was hauntingly good. I was hooked!

Binaural listening and headphones make you feel you are right there in your audio room. The closest experience possible.

Thanks Ron. I have a friend that had the original LS50’s, and now has the Meta’s. He’s pretty smitten with the Meta’s. Excellent review!

If I pulled my speakers 7 feet out into the room I'd practically be wearing them like headphones lol.😂

Binaural sounded very detailed. First time ever hearing a KEF speaker and I'm impressed. Thanks for this.

I have the original LS50s. I Love them but they have 3 problems. They NEED a sub. They NEED power. They NEED break-in. The strong points are imaging, imaging and imaging. Oh and did I mention they Image well yea. Great Review Ron Thanks for your work and the binaural since I mostly listen on headphones.

Hell, yeah! What a treat to wake up to. I’ve been very curious about these speakers, especially coming from the best sound clips available on YT. Thanks, Ron.

Have a set of these puppies with a pair of 8" sealed subs and that set up is peachy.

Why is your living room so clean

Great video Ron. I don’t know what microphone I like better. I feel like the binaural shows off the air and soundstage a little bit more, but isn’t as full and lush. The metas are a speaker that punch way above there weight class everything midrange and up. And the user just needs to bring the subs of their choice and they have a killer system that punches above its price class. When you buy a speaker you are stuck with its midrange and top end but you can work with its bass. I think that’s what kef saw in the market, audiophiles usually bring subs to the party regardless of the speaker. Bass is the most expensive part of designing a speaker. And so many designs focus on bass. where than the mid range and treble is compromised, and as a user there is nothing I can do about that. Kef went the opposite route. As always keep up the great work Ron 👍

Thanks for this review, I currently own the LS50w , I had the Martin Logan 35xti for couple months and to me the ML was better in every way, imaging , bass , clarity and so on, the LS at low volume didn't sound as clean , still like them , but....

people should take into account that hes testing these in a acoustically treated room, this vastly improves the sound of any speaker. not to take anything away from the KEF's, I think they're great in their own right.

🤗 “ THIS IS WHAT I’M GONNA SAY “ You did ALOT OF HARD WORK😅 And I appreciate and throughly enjoyed it 😍😍😍

Very nice a/b comparisons. Thank you! And if I ever catch that guy that thinks he doesn't like 'em... I'm gonna clobber him.

love the addition of binuaral microphone! I am looking at making a DIY version, I cant wait to hear some OB stuff with it,

Sounds great on my phones speakers! Great job! I'll try on my TV speakers next!

I own KEF Q900 floorstanding speakers which have the UniQ driver and produce excellent bass when paired with my PrimaLuna Integrated Amplifier.

Clear and sweet sound. Thanks for demo!

Thank you for this review! I see a lot of folks talking about the lack of bass and often say it needs a sub. I wanted so bad for these speakers to be the full enchilada as you put it. Especially at the price point. You said it best New Record Day: Kef needs to come out with an LS100 and LS100 wireless that incorporates more deep resonance and bass response and everything these speakers are doing right!!

I like the symmetry in your room

i used the Kef M500 for this demo without a regret. Great demo! I will upgrade to these from the LSX for sure!

Nice sofa and carpet, I bet that does a lot to making the sound better.

🤗 RON …TODAY IS A NEW DAY AS I LEARNED 🧐A RECORD NUMBER OF THINGS YESTERDAY AND I THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME GROW 😎😍😍😍

Please stop saying your gonna get in trouble! This is your channel- your opinion is your own. Good stuff though!!

Paired with a good & well setup subwoofer(s) Rel T5i for example and it's possible to get a lovely all-round solution. Set the crossover frequency high-ish to complement their performance and things are good. I still found the 100-500hz range to be difficult with some music however. Perhaps I just needed a more powerful amplifier.

Your observations on the LS50’s are dead-on. I have an original pair with a JL Audio sub. Magic happens regularly.

Very nice overall sound, I love your sound samples Ron.

These paired with KC62 is the obvious follow-up review.

Add the KC62 subwoofer and the KEF LS50 Meta system is unbeatable for under $3,000.

Near field for the win!

I have these and I've had the originals for 6 years, and, to me the voicing change is a big difference, but I'm an old very, very picky audiophile of 47 years. For me it's like the difference between a premiere cru vin and a grand cru vin. I think it relates more to the crossover which had problems on the OG LS 50s, which they appear to have fixed it and made the directivity smoother as a result rather than the meta plate--but what do I know. \ In any case to me. these sound really good especially with a sub and Dirac Live Studio 3. So good in fact I'm going to have to venture out a bit to find something better, but when I find it I will probably decide it's not worth the extra expenditure. Going to be very hard to find a package with better sonics, form factor, and cosmetics. Really hard.

Thanks for the great review Ron! Yeah, missing that Mayfly bass (20:36ish in the Mayfly sound demo). Going to have to save up for the Kef ref series or the kef LS100 for "more down below".

The binaural technique is so much more natural and easy to follow...

My friend has the LS50 Meta paired with a KEF KC62 Sub and they do sound really good. I’m in no way an audiophile I’m just a lover of music, but I’m considering the same speaker setup when I upgrade my system.

I wonder if it would sound as full and rich as it does with the near field mic's if the speakers were toed in to your listening position using the binaural mic's instead. Essentially we're listening off axis with the binaural mic's

Good morning, Ron. This should be interesting.

1) Either my headphones extend too low, artificially, or these Metas have much more bass than I expected, and what I have heard from other reviewers. Hmmm… interesting… 2) Maybe that’s why, Ron, you have them pulled out, onto your lap! (Jk 😉) 3) Suprised, and happy to hear your description of high/treble extension as compared to OGS; I thought OGs were brighter, and Metas were smoother? 🤪 4) I thought I had two mic set ups figured out after first 30 seconds; OMG… my fave/preference changed 17 times…. At first I was annoyed. Very quickly, I really liked the two presentations. (I am so untrusting I think) Damn…🤔 one of your best reviews bro. Gotta listen to it again! ❤️🔥💪🏽‼️

Wow, nice comparison between Binaural vs nearfield !!

Prefer the near field recorded sound.

Hi Ron, from some of your comments I get the impression that you would like some of the modern Tannoy dual concentric designs.

I think Kef knows that if they were to make a floorstanding version of the LS50, somehow it's going to lose it's magic, maybe that's why they haven't done it for this long, I think the best way for anyone wanting more fuller sound is to match them with a couple of high quality subs, great review, thanks Ron.

I think this setup will be a good time to add a pair of the new Kef mini subs! :D

Hi Ron, I’m new to HiFi world and looking to setup 2.0 or 2.1 audio system for music and movies. The points considered for selection are, 1. Music/Movie Sources would be Mobile phone, Laptop, TV, USB-Drive. 2. Budget is $1000 but if needed I could stretch to till $2000. 3. Medium sized room (16x16x10 ft.). Prefer sound quality than looks. 4. I prefer to enjoy music than being critic. I like music that fills me i.e. open sounding with details and little muscle to it and good bass. 5. My music collection is CD ripped [FLAC and MP3 (360Kbps)]. 6. Mostly will use Bluetooth and will never use Vinyl. 7. Usage will be music (for myself - 60%) and movies (with family - 40%). I like Jazz, Blues, Country, Soft-Rock and love instruments like Violin, Guitar, Flute. 8. Usually I hear music in volume range of 7/10, in earbuds. 9. I heard sound demo of many speakers in youtube and I liked sound from Buchardt S300, guitar sound from Marshall speakers, vocal from ELAC Debut B6.2, Openness in Triangle BR03, tekton Double Impact, to give an idea of my likings. I don’t have privilege to listen to different system to make an educated decision, because of my current location (India). Also the products are almost double the price here compared to USA/Europe. I have been exploring amplifiers and speakers. As of now, I am kind of leaning to buy Pioneer FS52, Polk Audio T50 or Triangle BR03 for speakers and IOTAVX SA3 or Yamaha A-S501 for amplifier, but not sure whether these are the right choice or any better option available. I am open to your recommendations. Thanks in advance, S

After listening to both LS50's, side by side the Helmholtz resonators in the meta give you an extra 10% (totally subjective!) "clean" feel. I'd love to be able to see data just to see whether it's just confirmation bias, but I'm giving KEF credit for this.

The two mic setups sound different, but they both sound like Sennheiser Momentums...

I've been researching speakers for months for my first sound system. Kef keeps bubbling up to the top. I may be close to making my decision. Thanks for this review. The speakers sound wonderful even on my laptop.

With the binaural recording you can hear much more of the room.

Okay, so I'm with you Ron, soundstage and imaging are King for me as well, I think they are the parameters that differentiate a good speaker from a great speaker, even more so than detail retrieval. But I also like my music to sound full and balanced, and if these sound thin and lacking of something, even if it's only bass extension(and I'm not a crazy bass head, and do have a decent sub) then what would you say are the best speakers for those criteria? Which speakers would you say have exceptional soundstage and imaging, a very detailed presentation with a touch of warmth, open and forward sounding, but not aggressive, and having a firmer musical presence? I liked the sound of the Elac Adante from what I heard in your review(although, now that I think about it, you could argue they have the same problems/flaws as these LS50 Metas), but sadly didn't get a chance to get them, do you have any other suggestions? And while I'm talking about the two, how would you compare the Elac Adantes to the Kef LS50 metas? Also, thank you for making these videos, they are interesting and very useful for people like me looking for a great new set of speakers.

You should list the associated gear in the description.

Thanks Ron for your review, i reviewed the Meta and then listened to the Kef R3. If you try the R3 it goes so much lower but still has the attributes . I wish i never listened to the R3 !!!

That was cool. Those are cool speakers. I would like to own a pair just to have in my collection . I'm impressed just by their design alone. The binaural definitely added air but came across kinda thin. Could just be me ? Definitely has more air. I liked it everything's crystal clear on my side I love it soundtracks great job man! ✌️

Very interesting video and a proper playlist for critical evaluation. I am discovering your channel and did appreciate your ls50s vs ls50 metas comparison exhautive and to the point. The binaural setup sounded more natural and gave a much better perspective and soundstage and air. But this setup turned out to be exagerating high mids and treble sometimes which induced sibilance with certain tracks and made an important continuous bass tone totally disappears on another. I would suggest using your other microphones and have them place at your best listening distance in a binaural way and oriented toward each speaker. Their bass response is much better. I was listening with ifi Zen to Flares Pro iem.

Really good video as always! It's always such a joy to see your reviews. One thing I would like to comment on is to have a more clear definition of what bookshelf speakers are. Common sense should tell anyone who looks at a small box that it is not going to deliver full range audio Hz. So for the 90% of bookshelf speakers out there, you should be focusing more on midrange and highs. Nothing more for this $1500 +/- price range. If a bookshelf speaker is able to deliver 40 Hz. Then it's going to be at least Double the cost. An example is the Buchardt S400 that cost $2700. With this in mind, I would Looove to see you extend an extra 5 to10 minutes of you listening to these speakers (and others) with a subwoofer that delivers 20 Hz. Because that is what you can buy for less than $3000. It would be awesome to get your opinion on how the music changed your experience with your preferred subwoofer. There is a niche in the market for that because I don't see any other audiophile reviewer doing. A last thing to note is that the majority of the population who are looking for good bookshelf speakers are in the wavelength of placing them in a small room, Or creating a home theater room. So imagine how great these speakers would sound if you made it into a 5.2 surround system. I'm sure it would be a big wow effect! No, I don't work for KEF! :-)

Such a cool playlist...can’t remember if/when you provided the info? Not a fan of everything on there, but would still love to have it.

I guess it's good they're called the metas and not the LS50 2s. The difference in sound is due to how they just stopped making the LS50 drivers but sure as hell didn't wanna stop selling the most popular cabinet design. The changes you're hearing are just what you'd imagine if you took a 12th generation Uni Q and applied it to the LS50 with no regard to what the LS50 are supposed to actually be. The 12th generation Uni Q finally added the SST which started on the 300X series, as well as everything else distinctive about the Blades Uni Q design and all Uni Q designs post the 300X and it's htb/2/w sub which was also so important to their reboot it was also so over engineered and played down on purpose as an oddly incomplete "subwoofer" when the thing can play clean up past 350hz and down to 28hz in room since it was actually the prototype LF section that worked as a 2 way that also allowed them to perfect the dual decoupled diaphragm woofer they've been using ever since that the Blade needed lest the back wave from each coupled driver would cause a ton of backwave distortion. That's why the prototypes needed carbon fiber woofers while once they figured out how to create the only single driver force canceled sub in existence they realized they nailed it. Then they just sold the HTB as a home theater sub with the XQ series, the 300X series and now in its current form, a cheaper larger square versus toroidal design to make up for the lack of the back driver. The prototypes were so over engineered you can do this. They're placed facing the wobbly angle of the stand where if tap then lightly the stand wobbles. The stand is meant to be strong on the other axis. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NxfQpd87d38.html The 300X series did the rest of the heavy lifting with the center becoming the voice model for the mains which become the LS series. Here's the issue though, kef ported the Pico Forte 3s along with its Amp to create the LSx but this required they also include the SST. So only the 300X/SE, the LSx and the Blade have tweeter gap damper which of course reduced distortion a ton. If you play the Pico Forte 3s vs the LS50s each with their own amp up to 100 watts you'll hear the LS50s will begin to distort. The tweeter relies on the woofer as it's waveguide so when air leaks from the tweeter gap the entire soundscape begins to crack up. The 3001SEs, the LSx and the blades can be played to their peak and sound fine. The fact that the tweeter tangerine waveguide array relies on the woofer as its waveguide means the woofer needs to be stable and extremely low distortion since any distortion from the woofer would also effect the tweeter. More oddness that only exists due to the unique circumstances of why the 300X/SE series existed along with its HTB2 "sub". ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-M2QbJkK7Exc.html The Blade already dealt with its back wave and genelec also makes coaxial that aren't the same but still if there was any need for anything more than a rear vent through any form of foam which is more than they ever needed. Then T series have a giant tweeter larger than the blades but aren't Uni Q so also have no issue with the gap, they also rear vent their tweeter and that tweeter plays down to 1.8khz 1.8khz is MUCH lower with much more backwave power than the metas and the speaker is about an inch thick. It also derived its woofer from the 3001SEs. The tweeter is rear vented a periodic style through foam sideways. That's as much as you'd ever need to clear the back wave and everyone knows it's. Admitting that they just waited till the 12th generation to finally add the gasket seal damper between the tweeter and the woofer, which originated as far back as right after the XQ series when the 300X/SEs were released, and only applied it to the LSx and the Blade and just didn't install it on any other Uni Q would be odd to explain. Nonetheless the 12th gen Uni Q now all have the tweeter gasket seal. That's all youre hearing. If you considered the important role the woofer plays in terms of bringing the bass while still playing the smooth mids all the while acting as waveguide to the tweeter to merge the dispersion eliminating the shot gun effect and allowing the tweeter and woofer to acoustically merge. Having an air gap suddenly sealed when it should have been all along and had been and every time was remarkable with descriptors like "they sound huge" or "holographic" and most common "smooth". So rather than just admitting they finally got around to adding the tweeter gap damper like they should have, just like when they discreetly added it to the LSx they attributed it'd effects to the dsp even though the LS50ws for some reason didn't get the same dsp wizardry and people ate known to be disappointed by the dac enough they literally go stereo in adc to dac then through dsp since they're unhappy with his the dac and dsp perform. The mat disc and bigger rear cavity is setting up for an upgrade down the road which is also why they patented the current 12th gen Uni Q with the seal finally officially part of the design. But either way all you're hearing is a new driver voiced to sound nothing like the LS3 5as, but with the added benefit of the SST or tweeter gap damper. They also lowered the crossover to 2.1khz. So to course it's gonna sound different. Grab a pair of Pico Forte 3s if you can find them. Otherwise it's a hardware lottery. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-D9sarPw2TnM.html

10 ads? Totally kills this being sleepy time music, ads are ok, BUT RU-vid please volume match ads, terribly annoying, which I guess they want to push for subscribers.

yes they sound really bright on the binaural... it's a shame that, i'm sure they really don't sound like that, when the binaurals should give us a more "real" sound experience. wouldn't it be more suitable to tow in the speakers when using the binaurals at all times so that more of a sound stage can be built? isn't that the reason behind testing with binaurals? Great video as always!

I am currently trying to decide between the KEL LS50 Meta and the Q acoustics concept 30’s. I see you have the 50’s in the background. Which sound signature do you like better?

hello, viewed both of your reviews encores and ls50 meta vs ls50,....would you prefere encores over metas by much? Is there big difference in bass texture?

Superb video. Listening through good earphones, swapping from the Earthworks QTC40 mic's to the Adorama binaural mic's ( close to Alan Dower Blumein's 1931 at Abby Road Studio's set up) The result is similar listening to my OTA Quad 57's (di-pole electrostatics) after sealed box speakers. The Adorama mic's & the Quads have more air/natural feel/ambiance/reflections, even though we are listening to box speakers; I would love to hear your open baffle speakers using this mic comparison.

Love their presence. Is there a larger version of these -- something like the Kef LS 100 you imagine -- for a big room with 15 ft ceilings?

I always prefer straight. the xing thing is interesting but doesn't sound natural. the way speakers create a stereo field is based on the x array but reversed so it's like the mics were blasting sound at 2 very resonant things hard enough to resonate the room to create 3d sound

The Mics sound so different I am not sure we are hearing them or the speakers. What’s your take. Ron?

Can you record your reactions and head bobbing please. They people have spoken

Hi Ron, neat review! Was the Purifi amp using an EVAL1 stereo module or two EVAL2 mono modules? Thanks!

Love the KEFs and have them on my radar for the New Year (2023) but I am curious as to the brand of the stands you have them on and the height? The KEF S2 stands sell for $500 and seem overpriced; your set-up does not look like KEF stands. Thanks, Joe in Tampa

Is there a list of the sound clips? I especially liked the first clip and I haven't even set up my Metas yet. Just got them yesterday. Great video. Thanks.

Good job Ron. Thanks. The binaural’s are closer to what you’re hearing in the room...right?

Hey Ron. So I’m gonna join your patreon. Thanks for what you do. I’m interested to know how and why you use the selections of music you do?

Is it fair to admit that your placement takes away from the lower end, and then be critical of the speakers lower end performance. Would you have felt the same if you had placed them closer to the wall ? I understand that you have a placement methodology. Just something I couldn’t help thinking about. Good review, thanks.

3Dio Microphone far better! I have my LS50s facing straight out into the room.What is the distance between your speakers and distance to your sofa? Thanks.

I have done some binaural recordings myself. However I found that tonally the binaural mics in your video were somehow off plus I was not getting the you are there feeling I usually hear from other binaural audio sites. I did not like the ls50 metas at all even with your normal mikes. The sapphires and otticas were leagues better. I am listening with shure 846 iem from AQ DAC.

At last!!!!!!

Great review, and great speakers with great imaging. The thing is, I could never live with such a speaker system. They are too thin in the skin, in the bass region. Thanks for the informative review👍🎼🔊

Did you ever test Audiovector QR1 ?

With the binaural MIC I miss the center image, but apart from that I like its performance better than that of the EarthWorks MIC. I guess the binaural MIC captures more of the room it's placed in, and to my own surprise like that. The busy & heavily compressed track starting from 22:57min sounds awful with the binaural MIC and that makes me think it better suits well produced recordings.

Nice dude. I have a Set of the R3's and spite some other reviewers say, They totally diapers. Now that being said. I have two really nice amps. Arcam SA20 and Musically Fidelity MS3i. The KEF R3 prefers the Arcam. SIDE NOTE at 11 Minuit mark who is that. The R3 have a deep low base that is really non-directional. So that being said. Should I get the LS50 meta. What you think :) Damon.

I can see a lot of people matching these with KEFs new KC62 subwoofer....wonder if KEF will offer that as a package?

What is the list of song titles you played here? I don't see any listings?

I would say that I would be very similar to you in that imaging/soundstage is huge. I have a speaker that already does that, I'm guessing, just as well (Dunlavy SC-I). They also have the same issue, no low end. I have integrated a sub and that works quite well. That said, the one thing I've noticed with limited low frequency extension, is that I've had to run the volume up a bit more than I'd like to to get my toes a tapping. I'm not a loud listener and am looking for something that would have similar imaging and tonal quality but with a bit more extension (like the fabled LS100). Is there a big loss in purity when going to something like an Elac UNI FI B52? I don't know enough about Elac's Navis to know if they're better than the UB52, other than they have an amp (I do like that they're using a regular crossover so things can stay analog). Thoughts?

do you get that 3d holographic imaging with these speaker? Any tote in needed for the 3d imaging?

whats the rig

I have one set of kef's LS ....but I prefer the 1/3 cheaper ...elac debut 6.2 !!

This may be an absurd comparison, but does anyone know how these sound compared to the R11’s? I am new to KEF and I am not sure which generation these drivers are compared to the floor standing models. I am a HUGE fan of pairing bookshelf’s with competent subs but lately I am drawn to a monolith design in the room. Thanks in advance if anyone has any thoughts!

I do not look at the video and listen to the sound, the Jazz at the beginning sounds good, however at 8.00 you use a wrong recording. This group/artist sounds very "Boxy" as if they sit in a cardboard box and you can hear that. This may be intentional by that group but you cannot use this in a test-setting. For this is what you don't want when you need overall a good sound. I have records from various 'alternative' artists who experiment with their dynamics and even the lack of it...deliberatly. That's why its called alternative music. And it can create a different beauty in artistic sense. But when you test speakers they have to desolve and not give the suggestion they add any 'boxy' sound. And the music at the end seems great for testing but i noticed some 'boxy' sound, why I don't know.

So is worth to pay more and buy meta instead original ls 50 in your opinion

You didn't tell us the stand height.

Would I have regrets going from Vandersteen 2Ci's to LS-50's ?

What do you think about pairing the LS50 speakers with the Kef kc62 subwoofer ?

Ron please get some kef R5s and R11 we need to know!

Skaheet :-)

Compare to xls encore, which one is better?

Add pair of Rel T/5i subs and you are at $2700. Competitive at that price? What else might work a well for that money? I added a pair to my bookshelves and the $1200 was well worth it.

Ron, do you plan to review GR Research audiophile cables?

Depending on the track, I like/dislike both mics

....Wouldn't the LS100 be the R3? ;)

How the f you can get this sound out from these speakers. I got same pair but sound is so awful

I really would never expect a pint sized loudspeaker to produce deep satisfying bass without a subwoofer. Imaging? Yes. Low impactful bass delivery? Not so much. Personally, the big KEFs are my first loves. Their Reference Series: Model 105/3 Model 4 Model 207 Not their new downsized, however georgeously slim cabinet R-11, R5. If Chamber music, classical jazz with all acoustic instruments or choral music is ones preference? These LS50 Meta will produce enjoyment. But, I thought this video was about binary capture comparo? Not so much another KEF review of their pocket-sized editions?