Verdict
Taken by itself phrases there’s an entire lot to love concerning the KEF Muo and never an amazing deal to take subject with. However nothing occurs in isolation – and the little shortcomings this speaker demonstrates means it’s below menace from some barely extra well-rounded options…
Insightful, rhythmically optimistic sound of spectacular scale
Spectacular all-round specification
Extraordinarily well-made and -finished
Midrange copy is comparatively blunt and approaching strident
Loads of very succesful options
Reasonably transient management app
Key Options
Energy
40 watts of Class D
Connections
aptX Adaptive and USB-C
Water resistance
IP67 score
Introduction
It’s been a full 10 years since KEF launched its authentic Muo Bluetooth speaker, a wi-fi speaker that again then, promised a high-end efficiency at a premium value.
Since 2016 the corporate has loved an enviable strike-rate the place its new merchandise are involved – so does the 2nd Gen Muo chalk up one other hit?
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Design
Its dimensions, comparatively gentle weight and really promising IP score would have a tendency to point the KEF Muo is a go-anywhere, do-anything type of Bluetooth speaker. And it’s true, it’s constructed to outlive in any lifelike surroundings and to be no type of hindrance in terms of getting there or coming again once more.
However keep in mind nearly all of the Muo is constructed from easy, tactile and exquisitely completed aluminium. The kind of materials, in reality, that it’s not particularly troublesome to mark or scratch and even dent. So when you do intend to take your speaker with you into the Nice Open air, bear in mind that there are units that lend themselves far more readily to being slung right into a backpack and bounced round in there than this one.
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And also you’ll wish to hold it pristine, as a result of in any of the accessible finishes the Muo (to my eyes, a minimum of) appears to be like the enterprise. I wouldn’t essentially select the Midnight Black of my evaluate pattern, however I’d fortunately take any of the Silver Nightfall, Moss Inexperienced, Blue Aura, Cocoa Brown or Orange Moon options.
There are some bodily controls built-in into the rubber end-cap on the prime of the speaker – they cowl energy on/off and quantity up/down, and there’s a multifunction button that takes care of skip forwards/backwards, play/pause and reply/finish/reject name (the mic that turns this right into a speakerphone options noise- and echo-cancellation expertise). There’s additionally a button to provoke Bluetooth pairing on the rear of the speaker – it’s simply subsequent to the USB-C slot.
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Options
- Bluetooth 5.4 with aptX Adaptive
- 40 watts of Class D energy
- Auracast-enabled
There are a few methods of getting audio info on board the Muo. The USB-C slot on the rear of the cupboard can be utilized for information switch in addition to charging the battery, and wi-fi connectivity is handled by Bluetooth 5.4 that’s appropriate with the SBC, AAC and aptX Adaptive codecs. These choices can take care of 16-bit/48Hz and 24-bit/48Hz resolutions respectively.
And there are additional connectivity choices. The Muo is Auracast-enabled, so may be a part of a particularly expansive system so long as it’s partnered accurately. Two Muo (Muos?) can kind a stereo pair. And each Microsoft Swift Pair and Google Quick Pair can be found, too.
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As soon as the digital audio info is on board, it’s delivered by a two-driver array powered by a complete of 40 Class D watts. A 20mm tweeter takes up 10 of these watts, the opposite 30 is taken by a 117mm x 58mm racetrack mid/bass driver that options the corporate’s P-Flex expertise – this association, says KEF, ends in a frequency response of 43Hz – 20kHz.
There’s an accelerometer constructed into the Muo which permits it to detect its orientation and alter its sound output accordingly. In portrait place, the tweeter is above the mid/bass driver; put the speaker into panorama orientation (it’s fitted with 4 small rubber toes for this goal) and clearly the drivers are actually side-by-side.
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You may also exert management over the Muo by utilizing the KEF Join app. On this guise it offers solely with enter choice and quantity management, nevertheless it does a minimum of give entry to 5 EQ presets and a sign of battery life too.
Battery life is quoted at 24 hours from a single cost (at reasonable quantity ranges, naturally), and may the worst occur you’ll be able to go from flat to full in round two hours through the USB-C enter. A fast 15-minute burst must be sufficient to get one other three hours of playback (once more, supplied you’re not going for it the place quantity ranges are involved).
Sound High quality
- Properly formed and assorted low-frequency response
- Sizeable and detailed presentation
- Can sound barely strident, particularly by way of the midrange
For a comparatively compact speaker in bodily phrases, the sound the Muo makes is something however discreet. Regardless of when you give it a bog-standard 320kbps MP3 file of Non-public Life by Grace Jones to take care of or an even bigger 24-bit/44.1kHz FLAC file of By Storm’s Useless Weight, the KEF sounds massive and spacious, and delivers a presentation that simply escapes the confines of its cupboard.
It extracts and divulges loads of element, each broad and high-quality, at each stage of the frequency vary – which fits an extended method to convincing you, because the listener, that you just’re getting a full account of what’s happening.
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Down on the backside finish there’s a whole lot of info relating to texture made accessible, and bass sounds are properly formed and managed too – so in addition to a powerful quantity of variation on the low finish, rhythms are expressed with real positivity. It’s an identical story on the reverse finish, inasmuch as treble sounds have form and substance to associate with a good quantity of chunk – and harmonic variation is clear at each flip.
In addition to the extra understated dynamics of harmonic fluctuations, the Muo can also be fairly adept at coping with the large dynamic variations that come when a recording ramps up the quantity or the depth. It has no downside monitoring modifications in assault, and maintains the gap between quiet and loud even when you’re listening fairly loud within the first place.
Turning the quantity up doesn’t alter the evenness of the frequency response or hurt the pure, impartial tonality the speaker demonstrates at both finish of the frequency vary, both.
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Within the midrange, although, issues aren’t fairly so clear-cut. There’s nonetheless an admirable quantity of element accessible, and the transition from the midrange to the stuff happening both aspect of it, is easily and naturalistically achieved.
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However there’s not an enormous quantity in widespread the place tonality is anxious – the best way the KEF fingers over the midrange generally, and voices specifically, isn’t in absolute sympathy with the bass or treble copy. There’s a gentle abrasiveness to the tonality right here, which can lead to voices turning into barely strident or, in extremis, truly somewhat hard-edged and unyielding.
Do you have to purchase it?
You worth the look and the texture of your Bluetooth speaker as a lot as you worth the sound
You’re after the most effective sound
You’re after a completely even-handed and uncoloured account of your music
Closing Ideas
KEF has been out of the Bluetooth speaker dialog for fairly some time – however the high quality of the merchandise it has launched because it final had a Bluetooth speaker in its line-up made me very optimistic concerning the new Muo’s probabilities.
I’m in little doubt that it’s one of many extra covetable and extra fascinating designs round – however the query of whether or not it seems like £249-worth just isn’t fairly so simple to reply, particularly not when you’ve heard the Bang & Olufsen A1 third Gen in motion…
How We Check
I take heed to the Muo on my desk, within the kitchen, and within the backyard (throughout these few moments when it isn’t raining sideways round right here). I join it wirelessly to an Apple iPhone 14 Professional, and to a FiiO M15S which permits the usage of the aptX codec.
I additionally hard-wire it to an Apple MacBook Professional (operating Colibro software program) utilizing its USB-C slot.
FAQs
Is that this a hi-res speaker?
Form of, kind of – aptX Adaptive can function at a lossy 24-bit/48Hz and the USB-C slot can take care of 16-bit/48Hz
Can I cost it wirelessly?
No, it may solely be charged through its USB-C enter
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Full Specs
KEF Muo (2nd Gen) Evaluate
UK RRP
£249
USA RRP
$249
EU RRP
€269
CA RRP
CA$349
AUD RRP
AU$449
Producer
KEF
IP score
IP67
Battery Hours
24
Quick Charging
Sure
Measurement (Dimensions)
82 x 59 x 216 MM
Weight
740 G
Launch Date
2026
Audio Decision
SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive
Driver (s)
20mm tweeter, 58 x 117mm mid/bass
Ports
USB-C
Connectivity
Bluetooth 5.4
Colors
Midnight Black, Silver Nightfall, Moss Inexperienced, Blue Aura, Cocoa Brown, Orange Moon
Frequency Vary
43 20000 – Hz
Speaker Kind
Moveable Speaker
