Review: KEF LS60 Wireless

In rock ‘n’ roll terms, 60 is no age these days. Axl Rose and Boy George are there already, while Willie Nelson is still touring and recording at 89. But 2022 marks a diamond year for KEF, one of the world’s most respected audio brands, and to celebrate, it has launched the LS60 Wireless, its first floor-standing streaming active stereo speaker. And it is an absolute triumph.

As the successor to the multi-award-winning LS50 Wireless (which was the 2016 active version of the brand’s 50th-birthday launch, the revolutionary LS50), KEF has developed a phenomenally slim pair of all-in-one streaming speakers. And thanks to a mix of in-house engineering wizardry and on-point industrial design, they are unlike anything we’ve seen or heard before.

Photograph: KEF

The LS60 Wireless is the world’s first Single Apparent Source wireless system. Jargonistic, yes, but this system, invented by KEF and first implemented on its instantly recognizable £30,000 ($35,000) Blade speakers, uses the brand's Uni-Q driver (more on this below) and four back-to-back 5.25-inch Uni-Core force-canceling drivers, to enable the low, mid, and high frequencies of whatever you’re playing to radiate from just a single point. The result, according to KEF, is more precise imaging, maximized bass performance, a wider soundstage, and the biggest possible sweet spot.

Now ubiquitous on KEF speakers, but no less revolutionary, the Uni-Q driver technology (now in its 12th generation) places the 19-mm tweeter precisely at the acoustic center of the 10-cm aluminum midrange cone, so both act together as a singular source to disperse sound more evenly. Aside from looking extremely cool, the Uni-Q driver helps disperse the sound evenly, so no matter where you’re sitting, you still get to enjoy the detail.  

Combine this with Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT), which KEF says eliminates 99 percent of unwanted sound from the rear of the tweeter, and the result is a purer, more naturalistic sound alongside exceptional wireless performance (up to 24 bit/96 kHz) from all the best-quality streaming platforms, and anything else you care to plug into them.

Processing and all the digital whizz-bangery is done by KEF’s Music Integrity Engine (which corrects timing errors as music flows through components) and a suite of bespoke digital signal processing algorithms, all helped on its way by 1,400 watts of combined power, with amplifiers dedicated to high, medium, and low frequencies within each speaker.

As for audio streaming quality, the wireless limit is still better than CD quality at 24 bit/96 kHz, but if you’re prepared to plug in via the Ethernet port, it increases native playback to 24 bit/192 kHz.

When WIRED received some early images of the speakers, we thought they looked, well, meh, lacking the compact sexiness of the earlier LS50 and LSX models. But in the flesh, the LS60 Wireless are beautiful. They’re refreshingly different, but not in a bonkers Devialet Phantom kind of way. They’re understated and elegant, and the slim design and flawlessly finished cabinetry actually stands half a chance of blending into, or at least complementing, your interior.

Photograph: KEF

This is thanks to the work of longtime KEF collaborator and noted industrial designer Michael Young, and his chosen palette of colors—Titanium Grey, Mineral White, and Royal Blue—which are specifically designed to either stand out (Royal Blue) or blend in (the others).

They’re tall, but they still happily fit in this reviewer’s meagre living room, in a space usually occupied by a pair of speakers on stands. If anything, they made less of a visual impact, which is ingenious—although we appreciate that this, for some people, is as appealing as owning an invisible McLaren. 

You could own the LS60 Wireless and never go near the dedicated app, as it supports AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast, Spotify Connect, and Tidal Connect. Dive into the KEF Connect software, however, and you can stream Amazon Music, Qobuz, and Deezer or tune in to internet radio and podcasts. You can use native apps to stream directly from Spotify Connect, Tidal, and QPlay, and it is Roon Ready.

The app is clean and easy to navigate, and KEF has clearly learned from previous mistakes on this front. WIRED was only able to use a Test Flight Beta version ahead of the official launch, but we’ve been assured it will work in the same way.

We like the fact you can customize the control panel, with the option to ditch Bluetooth and COAX control if you’ve no intention of using them. It’s a minor tweak, but attention to detail counts. In our experience, the EQ settings are generally best avoided, but they are well presented and potentially useful if your speakers are in less than ideal positions. There’s two options here, Normal and Expert, both with opportunity to tweak. Normal mode lets you adjust the EQ based on distance from the wall and room size, while Expert brings in the ability to trim treble and adjust the high- and low-pass frequencies.

Nothing we tweaked in either mode significantly improved upon the default EQ settings, which offered the sort of solidity we expect from a $7,000 (£6,000) sound system. We can review speakers, but we aren’t qualified to tune them.

Around the back of the primary speaker there’s plenty of ports, including HDMI (eARC), optical, coax, aux-in, USB for servicing, and a subwoofer output, plus network connection inputs. It’s an impressive selection, although from a purely practical point of view, you’re going to need some long cables if you plan on positioning the speakers correctly and connecting components to them.

Photograph: KEF

Well, $7,000 speakers should sound phenomenal. They should leave you speechless, and breathless, and grinning from ear to ear. The KEF LS60 Wireless manage all of these things, and they are by far the finest streaming speakers available.

The ultra-slim profile and interior-design-friendly aesthetic belies the power and authority of the performance. In the world of floor-standing speakers they’re tiny, but as we all know, it’s dangerous to underestimate the little guy in a fight.

In keeping with the diamond birthday theme, we kick off our listening with 1961 doo-wop sensation “Runaway,” by Del Shannon, and we’re immediately struck by the clarity and breadth of the soundstage, with Max Crook’s Musitron solo stabbing through the mix. 

The speakers offer unbridled fun and bags of enthusiasm. That might make them sound like a Labrador puppy, but they’re more akin to that friend whose tireless pursuit of new and exciting music is unavoidably infectious.

Similarly, if the Tidal Master recording of Elvis Presley’s 1961 chart topper “Are You Lonesome Tonight” doesn’t leave you misty-eyed and wanting to give your nearest and dearest a cuddle, well, you’re simply not human. The LS60 Wireless’ flawless execution puts you at the heart of the recording, enveloping you beautifully, and despite the less-than-demo-room-perfect speaker positioning in this reviewer’s normal living space, the sweet spot was enormous, almost to the point of nonexistence.

John Coltrane’s 1961 recording of “My Favorite Things,” also a Tidal Master, again highlights the speaker’s ability to unbox a recording with utter precision. If you want to focus on Elvin Jones’ drumming or McCoy Tyner’s piano, you can, or just sit back, tap your feet, and bathe in the brilliance of it all.

Whatever we played through them, the LS60 Wireless delivered, and we’re in awe of how well the slender speakers can handle bass. Every thud, thwack, and wallop comes at you relentlessly, and despite the birthday-themed ’60s thread, we urge you to play hours of early ’90s drum & bass through them.

Are they really that good? Yes, but we caveat this statement with a couple of points.

Firstly, we experienced occasional dropouts in the signal between master and slave speaker. The secondary speaker would glitch and drop the signal for a few seconds, despite being no more than 3 meters away. We imagine this is an early software glitch, but it's worthy of flagging.

And secondly, while the speakers are neighbor-botheringly loud and sound fantastic when pushed, we did find this quality rather diluted when used for casual, and much quieter, hear-yourself-think listening.

We also took issue with volume sensitivity using the app or Spotify/Tidal Connect. The touchscreen isn’t sensitive enough, and it’s too easy to go from hushed reverence to full-on rave. The volume adjustment is significantly more accurate if you use the remote control, but given our general propensity for laziness, it’s smartphone or nothing.

What's the demand for active floor-standing speakers? There’s certainly not much in the way of competition, yet. Q Acoustics Q Active 400 (£2,299) is the main, albeit quirkier alternative, with Dali and ATC both offering impressively reviewed but aging alternatives. 

There’s the hefty “bookshelf” Bowers & Wilkins Formation Duo for £3,999, Linn’s excellent but overpriced single £3,000 Series 3, or you could revert to KEF’s own LS50 Wireless II, which at less than half the price are compact and stylish as hell, and offer almost everything most people could realistically ask for in an active speaker. No, they don’t sound as impressive as the LS60 Wireless, nor should they, but they remain a superb, difficult-to-fault alternative. 

Getting to spend time away from a demo room with speakers as good as the LS60 Wireless is an absolute privilege. They stand a class apart from the rest, offering comprehensive connectivity and usability with a grin-inducing sound quality. They also look superb, with a modern, pared-back aesthetic that manages to appease both the interior designer and the audiophile. 

Massive floor-standing speakers sound great, but to most, cumbersome cabinets, miles of cable, and countless black boxes just aren’t acceptable. This is a refreshing antidote to a niche problem that KEF has executed perfectly.

So, for now, the LS60 Wireless is easily the best active streaming speaker system available. Nothing else even comes close, but at $7,000 they should be brilliant, and with superb options from the same brand available at half the price, the question remains, do you really need more?