View Full Version : (Review) Kii THREE Speakers, designed by Bruno Putzeys.
Aloha! It's been some time :¬)
I've had the Kii THREE's at my home for the last couple of weeks. They're jaw droopingly good. Not seen a mention of them here so thought I'd share a review I've just written. £10K but worth every penny.
Kii THREE Review - Medium.com (https://medium.com/@conscienta/kii-three-review-a-revolutionary-speaker-759c15b014cf)
Each speaker has six DACs and custom Ncore amps, cardioid bass and perfect phase. The level of sound they produce—direct from my Mac via USB—is mind boggling.
If you're on the look out, do check them out!
Shout if you have any questions about them.
Seriously ?? 12 Dacs.. And Luverly N cores to Boot.
All this thru yer MAC.
Bit like a fresh set of Pirelli Zeros.. fitted to your Robin Reliant.. :eyebrows:
Seriously ?? 12 Dacs.. And Luverly N cores to Boot.
All this thru yer MAC.
Bit like a fresh set of Pirelli Zeros.. fitted to your Robin Reliant.. :eyebrows:
Yes, one DAC per driver (also one amp per driver). 6 drivers per speaker.
hifinutt
14-04-2017, 13:22
great write up and yes my GAS is stimulated !!! :lol:
great album to try , my absolute favourite
"Hans Zimmer (Inception, Interstellar) followed. My body was electrified throughout the entire listening experience and often wrapped in goosebumps. The timbre and tonality of the various instruments are sublime. Immersive, emotional and tangible performances. The Kii THREE’s abilities are never stretched beyond their capability; even the most demanding of scenes requiring dynamic range from that of a tiptoe to a tremendous explosion were handled with both delicacy and power."
hifinutt
14-04-2017, 13:29
great video to explain them more
https://youtu.be/5LOpYwkNg0s
great write up and yes my GAS is stimulated !!! :lol:
great album to try , my absolute favourite
"Hans Zimmer (Inception, Interstellar) followed. My body was electrified throughout the entire listening experience and often wrapped in goosebumps. The timbre and tonality of the various instruments are sublime. Immersive, emotional and tangible performances. The Kii THREE’s abilities are never stretched beyond their capability; even the most demanding of scenes requiring dynamic range from that of a tiptoe to a tremendous explosion were handled with both delicacy and power."
I saw HZ live recently, incredible experience. Will do so again when he tours!
anubisgrau
14-01-2018, 11:16
I heard them and strangely I liked them a lot, despite an obvious flaw that they have no bass driver of a real life size. If i only discovered them before they went up 25% in price and if I could try them at home. At the launching price (10k EUR) they were probably the biggest no brainer on the market.
Basically it is a top domesticated PA, most of these things are, in one way or another, in pro audio for years. This is what I mentioned several times, that pro/PA market is so much ahead of home audio that it hurts. No wonder that the best sounds in the last 5 years at least were the PA systems.
Another option is the new Dutch & Dutch 8c's. Priced lower than the Kii's but very similar in tech and sound (slightly warmer).
Had a pair here to compare, also excellent!
anubisgrau
14-01-2018, 11:41
A good call, though it seems that Dutch2 lacks some options present at Kii3.
Anyway, does Kii3 have possibility of connecting more digital inputs or you need some sort of external switch/router for that?
Yes, the Kii Control. It costs extra but has various digital connects (spdif, toslink, USB).
Another thing to consider, the D8D 8c require an external DAC. Not a problem in the pro world but for a consumer, the Kii Three's are effortless. You can connect them directly (via the Kii Control) to a laptop via USB and get world class sound. Their internal DA is sublime.
I know a few mastering engineers who have been through various top flight pro stuff and have said the Kii/8c are next level.
I had the Kii (and controller) demonstrated to me at my house. They were very good with excellent stereo focus and placement. They were a bit dry sounding though and lacked a little tonal ‘density’ - both aspects I have previously heard from the nCore amps. Although bass is punchy it doesn’t actually extend as low as some reports would have you believe and certainly my main system has greater extension (and sense of ‘air’).
I had the Kii (and controller) demonstrated to me at my house. They were very good with excellent stereo focus and placement. They were a bit dry sounding though and lacked a little tonanl ‘density’ - both aspects I have previously heard from the nCore amps. Although bass is punch it doesn’t actually extend as low as some reports would have you believe and certainly my main system has greater extension (and sense of ‘air’).
What is your main system? Any comparative measurements (via REW or similar)?
We didn’t do any measurements of the Kii’s and although I have done measurements of my own system I don’t have them to hand. The Kii’s were set up by a Kii dealer though. One point of interest was that the mid bass null when stood behind them was most obvious and they certainly lacked the room ‘boom’ that many speakers generate.
My own system is a profoundly different thing. First it is viny as a source whilst th3 Kii’s were used with a digital streamed source. Secondly, the speakers are much larger (NS-1000M), run semi-active with DSP correction at low frequencies and with an actve sub integrated.
Ah righto, so we're talking very different uses and tastes. The Kii's measure exceptionally well and they certainly don't lack bass. I had a PMC speaker/sub setup before with this beast...
http://pmc-speakers.com/products/professional/subwoofers/twotwo-sub2
... and the bass from the Kii's is better.
I was talking about extension, not quantity. The quality of the bass from the Kii’s is very good - but that’s not the same as extension. You can hear that the quality of the Kii upper bass is different to that of the lower bass though.
As for transmission line speakers, well they’ve never done much for me and always seem slower and disjointed in the bass registers.
anubisgrau
14-01-2018, 19:41
i haven't had such a personal demo, but during the show presentation i was quite surprised that it wasn't as dry as most of the similar concepts (ergh - relatively similar, like B&O, genelec etc), it had a bit of tonal colors i didn't really expect. of course it was far from what you get from audio note (and strangely they were room next door so not difficult to compare) but i am sure that it could be intervened if more "audiophile" timbre is needed, via a good tube preamp. OK, that ruins an essence of such a minimalistic system but i think they do have a potential to add on that if needed. also, i could only image what a lampizator type DAC could produce with dutch & dutch that actually needs DAC in their speaker.
Starterman
26-02-2018, 08:37
I had the Kii (and controller) demonstrated to me at my house. They were very good with excellent stereo focus and placement. They were a bit dry sounding though and lacked a little tonal ‘density’ - both aspects I have previously heard from the nCore amps. Although bass is punchy it doesn’t actually extend as low as some reports would have you believe and certainly my main system has greater extension (and sense of ‘air’).
Very similar findings to my home demo, although my listening impressions were split into two... in the morning the Kiis sounded bland and with lumpy bass. After lunch (hic, only one *unt pintstable!) they sounded a lot better, much more fluid and the bass seemingly better integrated. The bass was still slighlty odd in that it started and stopped really well but was not particularly tuneful. Stereo imaging was super-pinpoint and quite 3D, but limited in scale. Detail and coherence (excepting the bass issue) were excellent, but despite nothiing obvious missing the overall sound was a touch dry.
To put this into context, I would rate them as better than ~95% of systems (at any price) that you hear at hifi shows.
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