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.

Currently I am enjoying my XIO Soundbar with the Kube 12 I already had. The Bass is already great without the Sub, but for the real low depth with mainly Movies/Series it enhances it further. It surpasses any Soundbar I've ever tried and it surpasses all "main" brands in terms of bass and full body sound without the Sub. But adding the Real sub, not the dinky Soundbar Subs most brands have, there's no competition. There is proper channel separation and also with a really wide sound when you use the built in DSP and Upmixers. You can still choose to use it in "Direct mode" but it doesn't sound that great that way. It's just ok and still better than other Soundbars that rely heavily on the Subwoofer to deliver any mid and 'bass' sound. Even during heavy action scenes with Dolby Atmos movies, I can still clearly hear the voices. Yes it gets real loud, haven't used it above 55% volume yet, as that's already really loud.

It doesn't sound anything like the Devialet in a positive way. And to me it doesn't look alike at all, otherwise many soundbars look alike 😅. Not much variation you can have with the boxy "bar" look. There are several others that can be wall mounted the same way. If you check the pictures of the inside the speakers are completely different and the specs are different as well. I don't use Roon, I use Music Assistant with Deezer as source. Currently I am enjoying my XIO Soundbar with the Kube 12 I already had. The Bass is already great without the Sub, but for the real low depth with mainly Movies/Series it enhances it further. It surpasses any Soundbar I've ever tried and it surpasses all "main" brands in terms of bass and full body sound without the Sub. But adding the Real sub, not the dinky Soundbar Subs most brands have, there's no competition. There is proper channel separation and also with a really wide sound when you use the built in DSP and Upmixers. You can still choose to use it in "Direct mode" but it doesn't sound that great that way. It's just ok and still better than other Soundbars that rely heavily on the Subwoofer to deliver any mid and 'bass' sound. I used the KEF Q550 + KEF Q250c + KEF Kube 12 on a Sony TN-AN1000 before. Also had the Sony SA-RS5 as Rears and Atmos, but the only advantage was that they are wireless, as I can't put wired speakers behind me. So eagerly awaiting the update to move one of my LSX II sets as Rears. As it was confirmed to me all W2 model speakers will be supported as Rear speakers with the firmware update this Fall. Already have 5x KEF LSX II and 1x KEF LSX II LT across the house for mainly music. One set with a Kube10 and one with Kube8. Rest without Sub.

What source are you using? Is it sending the signal with Passthrough so the full decoding happens in the Bar? You can check in the KEF Connect app which Codec is received over eARC. Keep in mind that Direct mode might not sound great if the source is only Stereo. Standard mode is advised + Calibration for the best Surround experience. You can select either Dolby Virtualizer or DTS Virtualizer. Do keep in mind if the source is Dolby it cannot use DTS and the other way around. This is a limitation enforced by Dolby and DTS. If your source outputs LPCM it can use both. I haven't had mine above 55% yet and I thought that was already too loud for heavy action scenes in movies. Am normally between 25%-45% depending on the source of the material i'm watching. I've heard noises coming from all around me with Dolby Atmos movies from different Streaming services like Disney+ and Netflix. I've had the Arc in the past and that sounded like shit compared to this. Very thin center channel, without adding a sub bass to the center channel it sounded way too thin. While with the XIO all the voices are clear and full directly from the Bar.

All W2 models will be supported for Surround channels later this year. They are still working on adding Front channels as well, which is planned for late 2026. Currently I am enjoying my XIO Soundbar with the Kube 12 I already had. The Bass is already great without the Sub, but for the real low depth with mainly Movies/Series it enhances it further. It surpasses any Soundbar I've ever tried and it surpasses all "main" brands in terms of bass without the Sub. But adding the Real sub, not the dinky Soundbar Subs most brands have, there's no competition. I used the KEF Q550 + KEF Q250c + KEF Kube 12 on a Sony TN-AN1000 before. Also had the Sony SA-RS5 as Rears and Atmos, but the only advantage was that they are wireless, as I can't put wired speakers behind me. So eagerly awaiting the update to move one of my LSX II sets as Rears. Already have 5x KEF LSX II and 1x KEF LSX II LT across the house for mainly music.

Never tried the Sennheiser as I haven't seen it in Hifi stores on Demo in my country (The Netherlands). They also don't support any way of extending the amount of Speakers for Real surround, which caused me to not have that much interest for it. At the time of writing KEF doesn't support the wireless Surround either, but they are committed to add it for existing speakers in the near future (Fall 2025). I have over twenty years of experience with KEF and did always come back due to loving their sound, so was eagerly awaiting a real Soundbar from them. The KEF XIO I was able to test in a HiFi store before purchasing and I was happily surprised by how great and room filling it sounded. I got almost all my KEF purchases from there in the past 2-3 years. I liked the aspect that it would integrate in the same app as my 6 other KEF sets in my Home and also able to use Home Assistant and Music Assistant with it to be able to play Music synced all across the house in sync over AirPlay in Lossless CD Quality from Deezer (44.1Khz 16bit FLAC Stereo). Even though I don't use any Apple product any more.

Honestly the best even without the option to add rear speakers as of now are probably the new KEF XIO and Sennheiser ambeo max paired with a big active subwoofer, in terms of pure sound quality you wont get better than that

The neutral sound profile does but the separation still isn't that great. Might be a different story when they release their rear speakers and there's also talks that they might allow fronts as well. Currently it's a bit buggy and a bit light on creating a nice bubble but I'm sure Kef will sort it out. Sony Bravia quads are still leagues ahead if you don't want to go wired.

Yeah, it's a nice soundbar although still say the Ambeo Max has the edge. Bonus is Kef will release rear speakers in October. You also have the Klipsche flexus 300 which has Dirac built in and a larger bar, so might be worth hanging tight for a few more weeks when proper reviews of both will be out. Could also look at the Sony Bravia quads, can easily walk mount them if lack of space as the back as they nice and slim.