I am coming from a different angle....my newlywed daughter and son in law have $2,000 set aside for a stereo system and the easiest way to deliver in their budget was an all in one speaker like the Kef ls50 wireless of the Dynaudio XEO 20. Going the other way I would need to purchase speakers, integrated amp and dac capable of streaming from tidal, spotify,etc. If the dac had a volume control that could go directly into the amp then could get an amp instead of the integrated amp.
LS50 Wireless fail, or is old gear that good?
After ready so much positive info on the LS50W, I gave them a try but was massively disappointed compared to my (much) older gear.
I set up the LS50's via Ethernet and WiFi playing HiRes files from NAS and Tidal via Roon, then compared the same tracks via WiFi to Roon on an iPhone>Dragonfly Red>ARC SP9 (1987)>Threshold amp (1980's)>Martin Logan Aerius i (1999). Wasn't even close.
Especially on female vocals, the sense of realism, timbre, air, etc was notably superior on the old system. I played around with the KEF DSP, room placement and even switched rooms.I really wanted the KEF's to work, but no luck.
So, am I missing something with the LS50W, or is the old stuff just that good?
I set up the LS50's via Ethernet and WiFi playing HiRes files from NAS and Tidal via Roon, then compared the same tracks via WiFi to Roon on an iPhone>Dragonfly Red>ARC SP9 (1987)>Threshold amp (1980's)>Martin Logan Aerius i (1999). Wasn't even close.
Especially on female vocals, the sense of realism, timbre, air, etc was notably superior on the old system. I played around with the KEF DSP, room placement and even switched rooms.I really wanted the KEF's to work, but no luck.
So, am I missing something with the LS50W, or is the old stuff just that good?