The KEF Coda W secures its position in the current KEF model line-up by delivering a vibrant, direct, and engaging audio experience. While it demonstrates strong capabilities across various areas, a slight lack of consistency prevents it from becoming an absolute front-runner at its price point.
The system proves to be an energetic and positive performer across multiple connection types and audio formats. It effectively handles a 24-bit/48Hz FLAC file of James Holden’s Contains Multitudes through its USB-C input.
Additionally, the Coda W successfully plays a 16-bit/44.1kHz CD copy of Massive Attack’s Risingson using the digital optical socket. It also maintains its engaging output when connected wirelessly to a FiiO DAP, streaming Animal Collective’s My Girls via the Bluetooth aptX HD codec.
In terms of spatial audio presentation, the equipment creates a large and plausible soundstage. It is capable of giving every element within a recording the necessary space to be heard clearly.
The system possesses a fair amount of dynamic headroom. This allows it to coherently track significant upward or downward shifts in volume and overall audio intensity.
Low-frequency activity is controlled with notable assurance, particularly regarding the attack or onset of sounds. This level of control ensures that rhythms are expressed with genuine confidence throughout playback.
Across the frequency range, the Coda W reveals plenty of broad and fine detail. Each stage of the frequency spectrum displays distinct variations in tone, texture, and timbre, ensuring no fleeting or subtle occurrences in a recording go unnoticed.
The system’s frequency response remains even, avoiding the underplaying or overemphasizing of any specific audio area. Its tonality is neutral and natural, functioning to reflect the original tone of the recording rather than coloring the sound with the system’s own characteristics.
Despite utilizing a metal tweeter dome—a material often considered theoretically unpromising for this application—the high-frequency reproduction lacks any edgy or glassy qualities. Instead, the top of the frequency range delivers substance, bite, and a satisfying crunch.
However, the system’s rhythmic positivity experiences a slight decline when utilizing the phono stage as an input. While the vinyl format is typically prized for its rhythm, tempo, and momentum, playing a vinyl copy of Four Tet’s There is Love In You through the Coda W results in a loss of flow, causing the playback to sound fractionally lumpy and leaden.
Furthermore, the KEF system presents a minor fault when operated at lower volume levels. Playing audio at polite, modest, or background volumes causes the system to lose a portion of its overall vigour.
Under these quieter listening conditions, the audio begins to sound slightly detached and remote. This trait is absent in other competing systems, such as the LSX II LT, highlighting a specific area where the Coda W compromises its otherwise engaging performance.
Source: Trusted Reviews