[Sound Battle] KEF LS50 Meta vs KEF Q150 Bookshelf Speakers w/Arcam SA10 Integrated Amp

No comparison at all and rightly so. The Meta is superior in all aspects. :)

These have similar sound signatures but the Metas are more highly resolving without being brighter. Just listen to the vocals in Higher Love as a good example. Thanks for doing this!

Many people will find the two to be the same in terms of timbre, the q150 has better bass, while the ls150meta has a slightly more open treble.

The KEF LS50 Meta are clearly superior.

Make this same comparison with NAD C388 that the difference in favor of the LS50 Meta will be even greater.

Switching to the Meta is like opening a 3rd dimension and matured sound. No bad about the Q150, but it's clearly not in the same leaque, nor does it suppose to be. Credits to the amp too.
Don't know why but this demo sounds extremely good.

🤔🎧🎶🎶🎶🎶LS50👍👍👍Q150👍👍👍👍😊👐🇵🇱

I'm surprised here, as the Q150 sounds closer to the Metas to me than the 350s do, which sound warmer and softer on top. At their sale price of $350, the 150s are a very good buy. At their regular price of $600, they then face some stiff competition from several other very good speakers, like the Elac DBR62 which we just heard here in two videos

I 'm thinking I prefer these Q150s to the Q350s. You get more sound from the box with the cheaper KEFs and the drivers aren't quite as polished as on the Metas but not bad. The Metas shine in the upper mids, while staying flat. Kef must have put a ton of work into the Metas to get them this polished.

This channel deserves much more subscribers

The Metas are better...Doy. Clarity and definition are largely superior... Der.
It's also more balanced with the Arcam SA10 than it is with a lot of other amps. The Q150 not so much, and yet the Q150 is possibly more neutraly balanced than the Meta in this comparison. That makes the Meta's not better in every single way.

This is the first time Ive see anyone say the Q150s are more neutral than Metas. Hahahahahahahahahahahaa! Thats what you get when you use your oh-so-reliable golden ears and dont rely on hard data. Perfect example of why measurements matter, so that you dont get ridiculous statements like these. Even trained listeners from Harman wont claim such a thing. Golden ears, golden ears everywhere.

Completely honest here. I listen to many videos on this channel and can hear differences on my phone speaker which is why I appreciate this channel so much. However, in this case I don't hear much of a difference between the two speakers except a bit more open treble on the metas. The q150s from my experience are quite amp sensitive so it would also be interesting to hear this comparison using a different amp.

Meta are much more dynamic and 'punchy' in a good way

I was seriously considering moving to the LS50 from my Q150s... but I'm not certain that's the right move after listening to this. The LS50s sound a little more open, but not enough to warrant their price tag over the Q150 (to me).

Also, I've been driving a sub since day 1 and had no idea these produce as much bass as they apparently do.

I picked up a pair of Q's for $300 with the wood grain...why pay 4x for LS150?

I don't know what kind of mic you are using, but the differences in amps, speakers, are audible on my Skullcandy headphones. Thanks for these video's, love it, reminds me of the old days when you could jump into a high fi store and listen to the sonic differences. Even been comparing amplifiers from different videos. :)

LS50 treble are better but lack of bass, overall i prefer Q150 as they are more balanced.

The only difference I can here is the Meta’s have a tighter imaging, but the 150’s has a little wider soundstage.

Neither speaker sounds much different through the headphones. If you were there, you might perceive a difference in the sense of presence and sound resolution.

Test Setup:
Presonus Studio 26c audio interface
Audio Technica ATH-M50xSTS headphone with built-in microphone (XLR version)

I can hear the difference in the bass department (the Q150 wins for me here) but for the LS50 Meta, I cannot hear high frequencies above 10kHz. I'm wearing my hearing aids due to my hearing disability. I even put a 100Hz high-pass filter in the signal chain and even I cannot hear much of a difference even besides the soundstage in Fields. I would gladly save a lot of money and get a Q150 and maybe upgrade my home theater receiver from Denon X3400H to Onkyo TX-RZ50 receiver or get an Emotiva BasX 7-channel amplififer.

My home theater setup is as follows (in additon to the Denon AVR I just mentioned):
Polk T50 floorstanding speakers (purchased about a decade ago)
Insignia NS-B2111 speakers (cheap; purchased around 2009 or so)
I do have a cheap Pioneer center channel that was purchased around the same time as my insignia speakers, but I don't have it with me since I travel with my family and I do not have enough room for a center channel)
Klipsch SW1000 subwoofer (recent purchase; better than a cheap Velodyne subwoofer that I purchased around 2006 or so)

And that's about it. My primary source for my home theater is my PC connected to my LG C2 TV via HDMI 2.1, my TV connects to the audio extractor since my X3400H receiver does not support eARC, and my receiver handles any sources that support HDMi 2.0 or earlier such as my Zidoo Z9X Pro and my Nintendo Switch. I honestly won't hear a difference if I go from X3400H to X3800H.

Speaking of home theater, it would be nice to hear the difference in movies between the two KEF speakers without risking a copyright claim/strike.

I have my q150s with a svs sb1000pro sub. I think you would be hard pressed to justify spending just over 4.5x the price of the q150's

I guess the extra thousand dollars was for making the front curved. It certainly wasn't the sound. The only ones who think otherwise are an extreme minority of mentally disturbed individuals.