KRK Rokit 10-3 G4 Review 

Thanks! Playing them mostly at lower levels , I never quite noticed this. Thanks for letting everyone know!

Why on earth are you trying to even replicate 26hz through a 10 inch woofer. Even very heavy low frequency dance music nobody ever uses bass lower than 32hz or so. A lot of sound engineers with big rigs will high pass their subs at 35hz or so with a steep roll off. Some even higher about 38hz to save their drivers. Anything below that is just wasted amp energy as it's barely audible it's just trouser flapping air movement and prevents good cone control from the amp, which in turn will muddy the sound.

@@gr1mr3apa15 if you use small passive speakers at home and music presents a 26hz signal, the speakers will receive it. how it handles it depends on the reflex design etc. but if krk specs an active monitor to 26hz with what appears to be a long throw woofer it should be able to handle atleast some of it. if it doesnt then redesign the speaker.

TBH, the reason most monitor manufacturers don't have bass extension that low is precisely because of that. To produce really low frequencies the speaker needs to move a ton more. If a speaker is designed to go that low, it should handle it fine and not be damaging, the only negative is it will start to distort the accuracy of the mids if the same speaker is trying to handle that freq range too, but this is why these are three-way, and not two-way. If you ever watch a big club sub driver moving ... they can come multiple inches out of the housing, and this is perfectly fine, as they are designed to do this. My old krk 8's used to have real far travel, but the drivers themselves were bulletproof (literally, they are made out of Kevlar lol). Only the amps let them down imho, but that's a different conversation. What I have found with KRKs is they often will have the low end boosted by design so the monitors are pleasing to listen to music on, and to truly get close to a flat response for critical listening, you'll need correction software. What this means is the bass driver/cab/dsp will natively be boosting and producing more bass than the source material actually has in it, and this can often lead to sloppy, slow bass response (because there really shouldn't be that much low end in what you are playing back). I bet if you use something like sonar works and set it to extended bass mode so it's also correcting the low end right the way down, it'll tighten up the monitor's low end response a butt load. They still will probably move a ton, but as I've stated, they are designed to do so, they just should have a much tighter response.

Thanks for your comment. Damn, I did not know that the G3 also had these issues.. I thought those might have been better since they had class AB amps.

If Gen 3 RP10-3s with Class-AB amping also have this hiss/self-noise, then it is definitely the internal power supply and/or crossover circuitry that gives that out. Not the amps. Strange.

@@frankfarago2825 Could be possible. I don't know too much about electronics, so I can't tell. Otherwise I probably would have opened them up and tried to fix it myself.

I returned mine because of the hiss as well.

@@mwahlert Really sad that they allow this to pass quality assurance

Thanks for your message. Sadly I didn't think about doing that, and I no longer have them anymore. The only video I have demonstrating the hiss is one that I sent to a friend with my mobile phone on messenger. One part was without music playing, and one was with music playing silently (where you can still hear the hiss). I'm not sure if the recording with my phone fully captures the experience, but I'm going to upload it and link it over here so you can at least have an idea.

Here's the 2 videos I sent to my friend using messenger. You might need to turn up your volume a little bit. First nothing is playing, then some music is playing silently. ru-vid.comuL5WR0rvoxY

@@SirFreak Thanks for the effort but to be honest the only way to hear the difference remotely is if you have a comparison of monitors on and monitors off. Now it's really impossible to tell if the hiss is the inherent noise of the mobile phone mic or the speakers. But the hiss is indeed very prominent in this recording so it's either the monitor or the mobile phone to blame.

@@spiroszaharakis2648 I'm pretty sure that my phone mic is indeed noisy as well. But I must say that the part where the music was playing silently gave me a somewhat similar experience here in my room, when I was playing the music silently. So I hope that gives you some idea. Sorry I cannot help you more.

@@SirFreak kunt oorn

Thank YOU, for watching!

Haven't been able to hear a pair of the second wave kali's, but I heard some good things about them!

If it's just as a party system or for casual listening, these could be good. You'll probably hear the poor production quality issues on them as well. But just know that you could have quite a bit of hiss from them. I'd definitely try to keep some distance from them when listening.

Hey, thanks for your comment! I'm currently using a pair of Focal Shape 65s paired with two KRK 12s2 subs. Pretty happy with the sound I'm getting from this setup. I do use some room correction and a house curve though. The Rokit 10-3 monitors don't really need a sub, as they can go down to 26Hz. 1000$? That will be hard. The Rokit's kinda stand alone at this price point for full range monitors. There's no other company with a similarly priced fullrange studio monitor as far as I know (please prove me wrong :D). Perhaps you could try a pair of Kali IN-8 Second Wave monitors and pair them with your existing subwoofer? Or have a listen at the Focal Alpha Twin Evo? Or try the second hand market? In any case, try to listen before you buy. If you would get the rokit 10-3 G4, you could also use them as a second pair and check your mixes on them. For me they were kinda noisy, but you could turn them off when you don't use them? They're definitely a great monitor for EDM (if you don't mind the noise). But from what you wrote, I guess you like a high output volume, so the noise might be less noticeable then.

@@SirFreak thanks for the generous reply man!!! You rock!!! Focal would be fantastic… but I think too costly for me… Yes bass clarity is super important for what I do… I don’t always want it loud, but want the potential… it seems the 10-3-G4s only allocates 80W to the 10in sub… so pairing two ROKIT 7 G4 dedicated to mods and highs… with an S12.4 12in sub (also by KRK) will result in 220W dedicated to the sub… this will be roughly $1200… and hopefully means that noise problem won’t be an issue? 🤷‍♂️

@@jasonfnorth If what I heard is correct the rokit 7 should have less of this issue. But it's also perfectly fine to pair another kind of monitor with the rokit subs.

Hey, great to hear that you're happy with them! They are definitely good sounding monitors.

​@@SirFreakmy krk rockit 5s with 1/4 cables also has the noise. Changed cables to XLR and the noise was gone.

@@spreadwinner yeah cables can sometimes be a problem. But in my case, even with no cables connected there was a lot of hiss

Zero hiss here.

I'm still kind of figuring out making videos :') thanks for watching!

It's possible. Or degrading components over time. I saw a video somewhere about older KRK monitors that had some kind of black gunk on the circuit boards, and over time the gunk became conductive. From what I heard the G3's should have less issues with hiss, because those still use AB amps, but I've never heard a G3, so I cannot confirm this. And someone else who reacted to my video, who has the G3 as well, was also mentioning hiss. So I don't know in how far that info was correct..

It's like you say, it's weird. Some people seem to be reporting these issues to me as well, some people don't.

I think it is the noisy, unshielded universal switching power supply.

Glad to hear you don't have any issues at your end! Good luck with them! Just a question, are you on 230v or 120v? Perhaps that has some impact, idk, just guessing?

@@SirFreak 230V

@@ohyesitsme Hmmm me too, so that won't be it. Some people seem to have it, other don't, weird. I definitely thought a power conditioner would have fixed it for me, but sadly it didn't.

@@SirFreak If you have any of those switched power supplies (wall wart) close by then these can cause humming

@@ohyesitsme I did not have any of those close, nor did I have any humming, just loud hiss. And even when connecting them to an outlet on the other side of the building, I heard the same hiss. I have some other speaker systems and none of those have this kind of hiss. My best guess is that not all KRK's power converters are made to the same standard?

I'm using the Focal Shape 65's now. While the Solo6b is regarded as being a better monitor, I listened to both those monitors at the shop and just liked the Focal Shapes more. They just sounded more natural to me. But that might just be my personal preference.

In a similar budget range, I've heard some good reviews about the "Kali Audio’s IN-8 second wave" (make sure it's the second wave, because the first wave has a lot of noise issues as well). I have not heard them yet myself though. Probably won't go as deep as KRKs though.

@@SirFreak i have a subwoofer already. I just cant stand the hiss. Yeah ive seen those recommended too. Thanks.

@@The_Noticer. If you have a sub those will probably be a nice combo :)

Great that you found a worthy replacement! A lot of hifi-systems are now also going more flat, because there are a lot of people that want to hear the sound as it was originally intended.

I have also read that the built-in power supply is inadequate at properly filtering electrical noise. This confirms it. I guess my power conditioner must not have been able to cure that as well, so it might not have been the best quality power conditioner.

In any case, whatever you're buying, always try to hear them upfront, if possible. That's the best advice I can give.

@@SirFreak I don't drive, I'm disabled, I'm low income and the nearest music store in relation to where I live, is 20 minutes away by car. That said, I have to rely on videos like this, to make a decision.

@@HighlandStudio91 I see, in that case I think it's hard to go wrong with Focal or Genelec. Haven't heard the EVO's yet, so if you get those, let me know how they sound!

@@SirFreak Things would go very wrong with Genelec(as they are too damn expensive...as a pair of 8010A's would be $700(USD) and then I would need a sub!)) Perhaps Genelecs are cheaper in your country, but astronomical in price...in the U.S.. I will definitely let you know about the Focal Evo's when I am ready to buy them.

@@HighlandStudio91 they are not cheap here either. However, they do fall in a similar price range as the 10-3s. You are right however when you mention the sub, because those monitors won't go as deep as the 10-3's. So it's perhaps not a fair comparison. But then again, these 10-3's kind of stand on their own. The EVO's also seem to have a sub in their range, and it even might be stereo? Perhaps worth checking out to give some low end to the monitors?

Thanks! It's mostly a project studio for hiphop music though. I also have KRK S subs, I like them. Hope you'lll have more luck with the 10-3's than I did!

@@SirFreak To be honest the "Barefoot studio monitors" are the ultimate. At the moment out of my price range. Someday I'll have them and donate my krk monitors to someone who will need them.

@@gospelpopmusic I've never had the opportunity to listen to barefoot speakers, but I've heard good things about them. That's generous of you!

Sucks to hear that... I was told the KRK8 had less issues with hiss, but I guess that might not be correct then... If you can still exchange them, I would try to find a monitor with less hiss.

Glad you don't seem to have any issues with them!

I definitely agree that I had them quite close for them being midfields. However, the hiss sound filled the entire room and could even be heard outside of the room (with the door open). It's weird that some people report hiss and others don't. Either not all of their speakers are made up to the same standard, or there's some very dirty power here (although I'd hope my power conditioner would fix that). But my other monitors have no issue here, and some other people are reporting the same issues as I had as well. So my guess is that not all of them use the same quality parts.

I have no idea, sadly. I've seen no reaction from KRK, and no new versions as well. I've sent mine back. There was an official KRK retailer an hour from here, but they stopped selling KRK altogether now, so I don't know what's up with that.

@@SirFreak I see. Well, your channel is very informative and very helpful. Thankful of you. 👍🏻👍🏻

The Yamaha HS8S is probably a good bet. But any active studio subwoofer should do the trick.

@@SirFreak thsnks

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Do you still have the buzzing now or not? If you do, RCA could cause issues because it's an unshielded connection. If you disconnect the rca cable from the monitor and the noise is gone, then there's a good chance that this is the problem. If it doesn't go away, it's probably the monitor itself.

@@SirFreak The hiss is there with or without the rca cable but before i removed the ground from the power outlet was a big buzzing sound ,like i could hear the pc inside the speakers ....

@@SirFreak Off topic........Do you think should i get the 12" krk sub or 10" for the classic 7 ?

@@smamas114 The buzz was probably a ground loop. I guess the hiss will be from the monitor itself then. Not really sure how you could fix that tbh. I'm very happy with my 12 inch subs. Bigger ones can usually hit lower notes so if you have room for those, I'd say go for it. But do realize that they do take some room, and subwoofer placement isn't always straightforward. I have mines in a different place then where I was going to set them up as well, just because the sound wasn't good where I originally planned to put them.

You're welcome! Thanks for watching!

As far as I've read online, the 8 inch version has less hiss than this one, but it might still have some. But I've never heard them myself, so don't take my word for it. If you can, I suggest going to a store with studio monitors in your area and listening to a whole bunch of them, including the krk 8 inch, so you can pick a monitor that you like the sound of.

I'm talking about the G4 8 inch of course

Wow :o sucks to hear that

Damn, sucks to hear that. I didn't know the G2 also had this hiss issue, thanks for letting me know. I was considering buying one of the older versions.

Differences on sound?

@@TommasoOlivotti not much. Pretty similar.

Hey, thanks for your message. If your monitors have issues, I suggest you get in touch with the store where you bought them, or the manufacturer, to get that sorted out.

Sadly, with the pair I had, the noise was obnoxiously loud, clearly audible over the music, even at meters away. It's weird to me that some people don't seem to have this issue. Perhaps they made a revision, or not all of those speakers are made to the same standard. But glad to hear that you don't seem to have this issue!

I don't know. As far as I read online, this problem is much less pronounced on the smaller speakers in the G4 line-up. I don't own a Rokit 5, I only owned the Rokit 10-3 G4. The Rokit 5 G4 that you see for a few seconds in this video is from the promo video by KRK itself. I did not have footage to showcase the DSP, so I included that instead. Sorry if that was a little confusing.

I also have a little self-noise in my little yamahas, but the rokits had WAY more self-noise. Sadly, at a lower price point, there are not a lot of options for 3-ways. Recently encountered the Swissonic X8 online though, but having never heard them, I cannot speak about their quality. Interested to hear how they sound though. Perhaps an option you might consider.

@@SirFreak You can only get the Swissonic from Thomann Music in Germany. It is their house brand, made in China, of course. That's not for everybody. For example, they don't ship to Russia anymore. They do ship to the USA, but the shipping cost per monitor would be over USD $200. And what if you need to return them of have them fixed? Can be a pretty expensice racket. Also, the X8 only has the 8-inch LF woofer. The KRK has a much larger 10-incher. Huge diff. Usually 3-way studio monitors with 9-inch, 9-5-inch, 10-inch woofers start at $3500 and quickly go up from that. There are some reviews out on the Thomann-Swissonic X8 3-ways, and nobody is complaining about hiss or rself-noise with them. Here in Europe, I can order them with free shippiong, so that part is cool.

@@frankfarago2825 yeah, they probably won't go down to 26hz like the KRKs...

Get a bank loan and get a pair of ATC's :)

@@JonnyParker- I wish haha. With how much I earn from music now, that doesn't seem like a wise investement yet.

Damn right, if they come up with a next version where the issues are fixed, I'd gladly give them another shot, but they should really fix this issue. If I can hear the hiss from meters away, that's just too much.

I'm rocking Focal Shape 65s with two subs right now and I'm quite happy with them. Hope you will be as well! If you're able to, I suggest that you go to a place in your neighbourhood where you can listen to them before you buy. Even better if you can listen to a bunch of monitors and pick one that you think sounds best! Buying monitors without ever hearing them is a little hit-or-miss. If you're unable to do that, try to buy from a place with a good return policy.

@@SirFreak yes the shapes twins are on my list the seem best in class at price from what I've read.sadly there sold out in my country. I agree I will be auditioning thoroughly .

I suggest you audition the Evo before you buy, they are pretty harsh at upper mids-lower treble.

I'm very interested to hear the Evo's myself.

Some people claim to not have this issue, so I suppose there are perhaps a version of these that don't have the issue, but I don't know for sure. A place that sells studio monitors not that far away from me even completely stopped selling KRK because of issues like this. But yeah I really don't know. If KRK would be willing to send me a pair where the issue is fixed, I'd be happy to make another video about that, but I won't risk purchasing another pair just to find out :')

Although I've never had the opportunity of hearing them myself, I heard the Kali In-8 Second Wave is pretty good. And if you have the budget, I can recommend the monitors that I'm using myself (Focal Shape 65). Also, not every KRK monitor has this much hiss, I heard the rokit 5 series might be better in this regard. But that doesn't mean they won't have any. If you have the opportunity, definitely try going to a shop where you can listen to a few different speakers. Buying speakers based on what other people recommend won't guarantee that YOU like their sound.

@@SirFreakThanks a lot!! Am actually starting music production because am interested. Began with GarageBand 🎸 now am thinking of expanding cause of the feedbacks i get from different people in my area. That’s why am not sleeping. Mackies monitors didn’t do me well till i smashed them myself because of the left and right problem. I got like around 250-350$ looking for better monitors. I appreciate your time Sir!!!

Thanks for your comment. Bookshelf speakers are usually more for enjoyment, and might trade in accuracy for a more pleasurable sound. Studio monitors usually aim to do the opposite and are made for critical listening, they should be accurate and reveal things that might sound less pleasurable.

Hey, thanks for your comment. As I said in the video, even with no audio cables connected and connected to the grid trough a power conditioner, the issue still persisted here. In my case it was not noise or hum coming from the audio cables/interface, so I don't think a box like that Behringer could have solved the issue for me. Thanks for letting us know this though, it might help in some cases. Also, I never said this was an unfixable problem. I just could not solve it. I switched to other monitors and those are dead silent in my studio.

If my budget ever allows it I would love to take a look at that. For now my 2.2 setup will need to do.

I haven't really found a lot of 3-way monitors that are similarly priced. They usually are way more expensive. The only ones I know of are the Kali Audio IN-8 2nd Wave, and those probably won't go as deep in the subbass region as these KRKs. I'm interested to hear how those sound though, heard a lot of good stuff about them.

Good luck. Now, when you have USD $3500 and above for each such 3-way monitor -- your chances of finding a better one than the KRK RP10-3s are definitely enhanced.

@@SirFreak I bought a set of Kali IN-8 instead. With theses I am receiving a nose though out. I have them to the Output speaker jack to my PC. XLR to 3.5mm. it gts worse while playing Division 2. Even when playing Music though Pandora. I had thought I would not run into such an issue. After the many hiss reviews Still I get such interference.

@@OFFICIALAZURITEKING Audio jacks on motherboards are usually not of the same quality as with an external interface, so that might be the cause of the noise, I guess? Did you get the 2nd wave In-8's? Or the original version? The 2nd wave should have less self noise apparently.

@@OFFICIALAZURITEKING Do you have anything else to connect it to, to see if that also gives interference?

Glad I could save you a couple of bucks :) Sadly, I have not found a good 3-way studio monitor below 1000€ a pair. I heard some good things about the "Kali IN-8 Second Wave", but I have not yet heard them, so can't say how good/bad they sound.

I'm searching for a budget 3way monitor too. Currently I got my eyes on swissonic X8 and Kali audio In8 V2. Everyone is reporting the Kali's have zero noise so I'm thinking about getting them. There is one User that reviewd the swissonic and he reported noise as well , but that's just one person IDK if I should trust him. BUt I think the Kali in8s V2 is a safe bet.

@@radoslavdragnev8797 Haven't heard either of them. Would like to though. But I heard a lot of good things about the Kali IN8 V2. Really curious about the swissonic monitors though

@radoslavdragnev8797 Despite all said here, I took a risk on krk 10 3 😁 You know what? I freak n love them!!!! Hiss thing turns out to be not an issue at all. Unless it is dead quiet, you most likely won't notice. The reasoning? Extensive research and seeing that nothing was even close in price for studio 3 way. I don't want to give a review here, but I am happy. I left my original comment as most people, you dig. You seek out many opinions, and finally make the best decision for you, not others. Good luck in your search. 12" krk sub is next on the list. 😉

@@Curious_Skeptic KRK 10s and a sub? Are you going to open a nightclub or are you mixing rofl

It sucks that you also had these issues. It's weird that some claim they don't though. But I'm glad I wasn't the only one experiencing this, because some people don't seem to believe what I say here. In any case, KRK should have done better on these. I would have gladly paid a little more if they didn't have that hiss.

I think everyone's sensitivity to it varies. Kali Audio took a lot of heat for hiss in their first generation of products. They made a concerted effort to reduce the noise significantly in the second generation. I returned the Kali IN-8 (v1) monitors that I had too. My old PreSonus Eris E8 speakers hiss as well but they are the quietest of the 3 I've had in my possession. I was using the KRK's in my living room as part of my entertainment system, sat on top of a pair of 15" powered subwoofers. Even at 6-10' away I could hear them hissing at night when the house was quiet. They absolutely rocked the house otherwise. If KRK makes improvements in the future I will revisit them.

@@mwahlert Must be.. Yeah, if they would bring out a better version of these, I'd be all over these. Thanks for your comment!

Agreed! Big speaker sound on a small budget.

Thanks! I've used the Yamaha HS8 at a friends studio a couple of times, and it is a pretty good production monitor. It does lack a bit of detail for mixing though. But then again, I've heard great mixes come from a studio that only has these, so if you know them well enough it doesn't always matter, I guess.

It's a shame, really.. other than the hiss the quality of the sound was pretty good.

Well I was quite surprised as well that monitors at this price point had that much hiss. But it's not just 1m, it was audible from further as well.

Hello there!

Weirdly enough I could find some reviews, but none of them mentioned any hiss.. Well at least the volume on the 10-3 G3 does not seem to run all the way open, so you could lower any hiss you might get by lowering the volume, I guess. But as you noticed in another comment, someone was also mentioning hiss with the G3. I switched to Focal monitors now, those have AB amps, and they are dead silent, even though they also run all the way open (there's no volume control).

@@SirFreak The Focals are total freakshows with the lack of a simple trim knob on them. Their new Alpha EVOs are all Class-D amped, BTW. Instantly forgettable.

Still beats the G2's with their AWFUL electrical interference, hiss and "black gunk of death" smeared all over their circut boards.

Yeah I've seen those issues around

I've also heard about this. Although it must be said that not all class D amps are noisy. But generally they seem to suffer from noise more often.

I guess it depends on the design and components

I'd have to sharpen up my electric knowledge a bit to start embarking on such a project. Wasn't there some other RU-vidr trying to do this with these monitors? Anyway, I'm quite happy with my current setup for now.

Yeah buy active speakers and just remove the amps out of them , sounds like a solution . KRK needs to address this stuff man its been like this for years with their gear , i still own a pair of the original rokit 6 first gen and they hiss like a bitch but its not as nasty as that one its more of a lower hiss that you kind of forget its there after a while at low volumes . I've heard the hiss from the rp10s and it sounds much higher frequency and almost ear piercing at times. Very disappointing .

@@JonnyParker- Absolutely correct! I've heard the rokit6 before, and they do have hiss, but not as loud and annoying as the rp10s.

I don't have any issues with my current monitors. Also, a power conditioner did not improve anything. And I've heard several other people who had the same issue with these monitors. So I'm pretty sure the monitors are to blame.

Quite possible. I've seen some other people having this issue as well though. But then again, it also seems some don't. Perhaps manufacturing tolerances are not that strict or something. Or they fixed it in newer sets, idk..

@@SirFreak I just got a set of Rokit 7. They do hiss. But, it is a typical class-D hiss with a cheap output filter. It's not any interference. All amps run at full tilt and are adjusted by adjusting the input, after setting the sensitivity. From 3 feet away, where I have them temp. placed, I can't hear the hiss. The monitors sound excellence, very balanced, great bass and accurate, tweets are very accurate. Good thing too is that you can EQ down, if needed, instead of up. All genres sound great. I don't use the EQ on the KRK; I use my own. Running them through/from an ID14.

@@RobHTech From what I've read online about this, the smaller models seem to have less issues with noise. This is quite specific to the 10-3 G4.