XIO Soundbar

KEF XIO hands down. But a bit out of budget unless you can stretch it. Listened to it personally at KEF Music Gallery and was blown away by movie experience but most of all music performance. Very high quality product though at that price you might be better off looking at a high end stereo system instead.

I had the Ambeo Max and currently have the KEF XIO, agreed. Technically the KEF XIO pushes more watts but since the drivers are smaller it’s probably a wash.

I was on my 3rd Sennheiser Ambeo, all of them bit the dust; First one had audio dropping out and crackling, second one had a literal puff of smoke when the center channel went out, and most recent one was failed boot loader message scrolling on the front display (inoperable). Factoring in the cost to replace and the experience I’ve had since I bought the original one in 2019, I didn’t want another one.

Just the issues I mentioned above, mostly. The first 2 I had creaked quite a bit in use (the chassis) but the 3rd not so much, and I didn’t have connectivity issues for HDMI, sub, or airplay. The HDMI ins are old (not 2.1) for the Ambeo, and the most annoying regular issue was it would freeze up every 2-3 weeks requiring a hard restart. Since there is no switch that physically cuts the power and the power cable is hard to access on the Ambeo, it was easiest to reach behind the tv stand to physically unplug and plug back in.

I have an Ambeo Max and Plus on hand, and I did listen to Kef Xio at showroom for about an hour with my own music and movie scenes which I familiar with. Ambeo Max has the best immersive experience, you can easily tell by the side speakers placement, Ambeo Max and Plus has some angle to deliver sound to the optimal places, Kef Xio has only an 90’ side speakers so the sound has a hard time to deliver to the ideal places, this is physic. It has also a recent firmware update for few levels of vocal clarity, I have no problem to listen to the dialogue. Bass for music? Still Ambeo Max, but I suggest you to get a sub to unleash it for better audio quality by cutting low frequencies and focus on mid and high. The only thing to bear in mind is the Ambeo Max drivers is design by Neumann, whose well known in design of studio monitors, result is the audio quality is more like a monitor than multimedia speakers, it’s a plus point if you appreciate some original sound than artificial additions in sound.

Bought Ambeo Max after deciding between Xio and Ambeo. XIO was better with music, and Ambeo was better with films. Bare in mind I dont have room for a sub, so I also considered bass amount without sub. But you have to listen to yourself. Also I got Ambeo Max for 1430 euros, which was considerably cheaper than XIO.

I just got mine and unfortunately am having the same experience as you. Definitely a lack of a spatial effect. I had to put my ear up against the end speakers to see if they are even playing to give some sense of width. I don’t have a subwoofer connected yet, but have one on order. Without it, I hate to admit this, but it is quite underwhelming. Very disappointed, especially considering how much I just spent on this. Hoping the subwoofer will bring it alive, especially after seeing the impressive sounding reviews on it. It seems like some people are having early issues with it (Andrew Robinson) so maybe mine is defective as well, who knows?

I did exactly the same as you. I saw a couple good early YT reviews of it, bought it blind, and am utterly gutted by how underwhelming it is. I have a Polk Audio Signa 3 soundbar (<$300) I put next to it to do an A-B test for me & my wife. Let’s just summarize it by saying we wasted the extra $2500. If I could return it to my installer, I would. 😫