KEF Mu7

[What Hi-Fi?]

The world isn’t short of quality premium wireless headphones – can we add the KEF Mu7 to that list?

KEF Mu7 : Read more

 

[bristollinnet]

Whether it is KEF, Bowers & Wilkins, Focal, Bang & Olufsen, etc…

They all have a history of consistently producing excellent speakers, but largely useless and/or over-priced designer headphones. No doubt they’ll find their market with the cloth-eared style over substance brigade that today’s What Hi-Fi pitch towards. Surely only a matter of time before Linn or Naim join in.

My advice - stick to a proper headphone manufacturer.

 

[ArtieBucco]

That review really does make me believe whathifi have friends at Sony. The KEFs sound very good, warmer and more clear for me. I know sound is subjective, but that review is way off. I've tried the XM5s and they went back, muffled sound even when using the EQ. I used them for a couple weeks very frequently and based on sound the KEFs are well better for me. Yes the xm5 are feature heavy and the anc is slightly better too, but I wanted a wireless pair for sound only really and the KEFs do a very good job for a wireless headphones.

 

[turbohobbit]

That review really does make me believe whathifi have friends at Sony. The KEFs sound very good, warmer and more clear for me. I know sound is subjective, but that review is way off. I've tried the XM5s and they went back, muffled sound even when using the EQ. I used them for a couple weeks very frequently and based on sound the KEFs are well better for me. Yes the xm5 are feature heavy and the anc is slightly better too, but I wanted a wireless pair for sound only really and the KEFs do a very good job for a wireless headphones.

I agree. I've have the KEFs for about 6 weeks now and they're grand. Sure they aren't the bassiest headphones out there but they are top notch for proper unadulterated sound replication - exactly what you'd expect from a speaker maker. To be fair, I do run them through an iFI Go Blu DAC for a little extra volume and filtering but that's my choice - you certainly don't have to.

I get the strong impression reviewers and consumer alike have become so used to the bass-heavy (or at least bass-front) and feature laden offerings that seem to have saturated the market that we have come to expect a very specific basket of things from headphones and have actually forgotten how to look - and listen - a little deeper. Obviously, too, appreciation is in the ear of the beholder. Do I like my KEFs? Yes. Might someone else? No. That's up to them. But for what it's worth, in my opinion, they are better than this review suggests.

 

[ArtieBucco]

I agree. I've have the KEFs for about 6 weeks now and they're grand. Sure they aren't the bassiest headphones out there but they are top notch for proper unadulterated sound replication - exactly what you'd expect from a speaker maker. To be fair, I do run them through an iFI Go Blu DAC for a little extra volume and filtering but that's my choice - you certainly don't have to.

I get the strong impression reviewers and consumer alike have become so used to the bass-heavy (or at least bass-front) and feature laden offerings that seem to have saturated the market that we have come to expect a very specific basket of things from headphones and have actually forgotten how to look - and listen - a little deeper. Obviously, too, appreciation is in the ear of the beholder. Do I like my KEFs? Yes. Might someone else? No. That's up to them. But for what it's worth, in my opinion, they are better than this review suggests.

Could I ask.

How much different are you finding them with the DAC? I have toyed with buying one myself, have you found a big difference in the sound with it?

 

[turbohobbit]

Yeah sure. The Go Blu adds enough filtering to make a small but satisfying difference. With Xbass on it gives enough extra punch to counter the criticisms about a lack of bass that you read about in reviews. Xspace widens the soudstage somewhat but really it also depends on what you're listening to. Today I have listened to Turandot by Puccini and some Linkin Park. The Xbass had no real effect on Puccini but something of a bigger bass it on Linkin Park. Counterwise with Xspace, all as you would expect.

The gamechanger was when I used my iFI Hip Dac. Wow. Night and day. Everything was..... lifted. BUT if you are listening to music on a mobile device you need to remember that most (all?) devices squelch the feed so you'll never get 24bit/196Mhz playback. To counter that, I listen to any streamed high res tunes via Qobuz through USB Audio Player Pro. USB APP will recognise your DAC and handle audio files accordingly. For listening on the go via a mobile phone I'd say it's a prerequisite.

 

[ArtieBucco]

Yeah sure. The Go Blu adds enough filtering to make a small but satisfying difference. With Xbass on it gives enough extra punch to counter the criticisms about a lack of bass that you read about in reviews. Xspace widens the soudstage somewhat but really it also depends on what you're listening to. Today I have listened to Turandot by Puccini and some Linkin Park. The Xbass had no real effect on Puccini but something of a bigger bass it on Linkin Park. Counterwise with Xspace, all as you would expect.

The gamechanger was when I used my iFI Hip Dac. Wow. Night and day. Everything was..... lifted. BUT if you are listening to music on a mobile device you need to remember that most (all?) devices squelch the feed so you'll never get 24bit/196Mhz playback. To counter that, I listen to any streamed high res tunes via Qobuz through USB Audio Player Pro. USB APP will recognise your DAC and handle audio files accordingly. For listening on the go via a mobile phone I'd say it's a prerequisite.

Great tips, thank you