KEF LS50 Wireless -- wow!!!

So today my kid, who has some sensory issues, decided to poke his finger into the front of the speaker. Almost punctured the area between the foam and the tweeter. I was able to straighten a part of it but there’s still a crease on the left side. Now, I have a true dilemma .... knowing my kid, I know that (due to his sensory issues) he won’t be able to resist poking his fingers to push the driver cone. I cannot return it because it now has a pretty visible crease on the front. I don’t know the impact on the sound yet. The speakers are not even 4 days old and they are now non-returnable :(

Lesson learned: these speakers (or any speakers with no front grilles) are not suitable for households with young children. I wish KEF sold front grilles for these.

A few more observations after listening to the speakers for the last 3 - 4 days ....

Pros:
1. Vocals, jazz, light/soft rock sounds amazing. There is a certain fullness in the sound that I was missing before. Last night, I had listened to them for over 3 hours at a stretch with zero fatigue. However, having said that, I don’t think the speakers would cut it for heavy metal or rap music. Maybe adding a subwoofer might help, but for the kind of music I listen to, I don’t feel the need to add anything else. Also, IMO classical music is not their cup of tea. But it very well could have been the recording (Rimsky).

2. The bass on these is just amazing for a speaker of this size. I am not kidding, but the base is almost the same as my much bigger CM10s. In fact, it is more textured and punchy and never gets boomy.

3. Imaging -- really, really good!! Blows my B&W CM10s out of the water. The voices and the instruments are fixed in exactly the same spots. Very accurate! This is probably the standout feature of these speakers!

4. The disappearing act -- these disappear behind the wall of music much better than my CM10s. With the B&Ws, I always had a sense of where the speakers were located, not so much with the KEFs. However, this is one area where I felt that the Harbeths that I demoed for a few hours were better.

Cons:
1. Absolutely pathetic app (iOS). Tidal integration leaves a lot to be desired. Every now and then, the music just stops playing intermittently. The only solution I found is to restart the speakers. KEF really needs to get their act together when it comes to hiring better software developers.

2. Low volume -- this is one area where the CM10s (and the Harbeth M30.1) have an edge. The KEFs sound amazing at moderate to high volumes, but lose quite a bit of their magic at lower volumes.

3. Placement -- despite the DSP advantage, the speakers are still quite sensitive to placement. Although I bought them for my home office (10x13), they sound way better in the game room (25x15) which is a bit bigger than the media room. They definitely need to be placed at least 6 feet apart and 2 feet from the back wall to sound their best. They still sound good in the office, but some of the magic is lost. Unfortunately, I cannot put them back in the game room since my kid would destroy them in a few minutes :(

BTW, I tried bluetooth streaming and did not like it at all. Tidal (via KEFs app) sounds much better. I’m seriously thinking of subscribing to Roon to play music from my NAS drive.

Lastly, please keep in mind that I don’t have a lot of exposure to high-end gear. Prior to the KEF LS50s, I’ve only owned the B&W CM10s, and LSA-1 Signature bookshelf speakers. So, hopefully, you’ll take my exuberance with a grain of salt :)

@smrex13  Although, I'm not using an external DAC, there was a discussion on audiogon a few months ago along the same lines ...

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/kef-ls50-wireless-internal-vs-external-dac

@bleu My comment about the speakers being satisfying at low volumes was only in the context of comparing with Harbeth or B&W CM10s. I felt that these two had a slight edge on the KEFs in this regard.

As for the base, I challenge you to integrate the LS50s with a fast, musical sub (I recently added REL T9) and see if you still feel the same way. I’m not a bass head by any means, but I can tell you that the difference it makes is substantial. The increase in soundstage and room-filling ability has gone up significantly, at least in my setup. It’s not just about big, thumping bass.

@daveselbow -- I'm using Roon for FLAC files. It also does gapless playback very nicely.

@daystar85 -- nice video. I have the same stands, except they're in white.

@scarpino -- sorry if I'm stating the obvious, but did you make sure you have updated to the latest firmware? I had the same issue, albeit not quite as bad as yours, and getting the latest firmware solved it.

Secondly, the KEFs are definitely finicky about the wifi quality. How close is your router to the speakers? Do you have multiple devices connected to the same network? I've noticed that it definitely increases dropouts in my case.

Lastly, have you considered Roon? At least in my case, I find Roon to be a better application -- including user interface and overall sound quality. I get a lot fewer dropouts when listening to music via Roon.

I've had mine or two and a half years and they have been rock solid for me. Initially, the connection was a bit temperamental, but I made two changes that made a world of difference. First I got Roon, which is a million times better than KEF's native application which I agree is horrible, to say the least. 
Second, since I don't have ethernet in the room where the KEFs are, I installed Nest Wifi -- one router with three nodes all over the house. The sound quality improved quite a bit and no more drop offs. 
Now speaking of awful products -- Bluesound. I've had it for a year now (attached to another system). It worked well for some time but then I installed the latest update and it has pretty much stopped working. This is a common problem if you search the web but their support is adamant that it's your home network. Seriously, stay away from Bluesound ... their support is pathetic.

@justjames72 -- I sold the CM10s shortly after I got the KEF LS50 wireless. I have never owned the passive version so cannot compare. But yes, at the time, and in the same room, the LS50W sounded better to my ears. The balance, clarity and imaging was better than the CM10s. But I agree with mapman that the KEFs are not designed for large'sh rooms.

Having said that, I bought a pair of Harbeth P3ESRs for my study a  couple of years ago ... now I might eventually sell the KEFs at some point, but I don't see myself selling the baby Harbeths anytime soon.