Kef x300a impression

[iShad]

Spoiler

So I just got the speakers last Friday and the isoacoustic stands came today so I want to share some quick impressions.

Pro:

-First off, these things are incredibly well-built and amazing even at low volume and near field listening. Quite compact and uniQ driver is sleek and shexy.

-I've been mainly a headphones guy, so I don't know what to look for when judging speakers, but so far the mid and treble are top notch. Especially now that the drivers are at ear-level. Easily matching my th900 and 64 a12 in clarity and detail at moderate volume, and waaaaaay better if I can crank them up but I don't want people knocking on my door.

-All in one device, twin AB amp with dac built in. Perfect for desktop setup without all the clusters.

Con:

-There's no way to connect anything unlike the vanatoo t1 that is also powered (no dac though) and have tons of connections. I don't know why kef made it such a closed system when people buying speakers at this price bracket are usually enthusiasts that would love to plug in their own dac or a sub. Basically there's only usb for your pc, and a 3.5mm jack to plug in your phone or whatever device. There is no way to bypassed the dac, I checked.

-The bass on these are fairly weak; the stands actually help give it more impact and less muddy when it was directly on the table. I don't know if I could have achieved the same thing using yoga blocks or books I have lying around, but these stands do work! Also, using these with the subpac s2 is a great solution for the lack of bass without the need to get a separate sub and disturbing the neighbors.

Minor stuff:

-Would like a volume knob on the front, but style over function I guess.

-The manual says it have standby mode, but I can't get it to work and is always on. Tried messing with mobo settings turning off usb charging and erp5 enabled, still not solved. I don't think leaving it on all the time is damaging so not a big deal, but it would be nice.

-The heatsink in the back gets warm even when not in use and pc turned off, again should be fine.
 

Quick impression of the stands, the price is pretty steep ($100-ish) for what's essentially 4 piece of plastic and 16 metal rods with some dampeners, but it looks clean and adjustable so whatever. If these were full aluminum the price tag would be justified but can't recommend it unless it was half the price.

 

Overall, I would recommend the x300a if you're interested in speakers without all the fuss of picking an amp/dac to go along with your passive bookshelves. While it would be nice to be able to upgrade the dac or add a sub, I don't really feel the needs to as these are excellent as is. If next time I feel the itch to upgrade I would ditch these or use it in the living room/kitchen and get the ls50 anyway, so ymmv. I got it for $500 refurbed from accessories4less, it looks like-new and I'd recommend buying from them. If it weren't for the discount I would have went with the vanatoo t1 instead, but either way very happy with these!

 

[Dackzy]

I always liked the look of KEF speakers, there are just something about them. That thing on your chair is that the bass backpack thingy? Also nice setup, very nice speaker stands

[iShad]

2 hours ago, Dackzy said:

I always liked the look of KEF speakers, there are just something about them. That thing on your chair is that the bass backpack thingy? Also nice setup, very nice speaker stands

Yup, got the subpac for gaming/movie but it works pretty well for music too.