Blind Listening Test: Neumann KH 80 vs JBL 305p MkII vs Edifier vs RCF

We took five powered speakers, put them on a high powered turn table, hid them from view, and asked a bunch of friends which sounded best. Speakers in the blind listening test:

[alex-sd]

I have the JBL LSR 305 Mk1 for maybe 10 years now and still am amazed by the sound they reproduce. I have since added the JBL sub to complete it. Thanks so much for doing this blind test and confirming how good the JBL's are.

[zergbong]

I had the JBL MKI for several years. It was my gateway to proper sound.

[nickwilson]

Hell yeah, THIS kind of content will destroy subjective audiophile "reviewers"

[gunterkeegan]

Wait a minute. To his credit, this was an opinion survey of friends. Not surprisingly, they have different listener preferences than a professional, so these results are valid. That said, the best budget monitors IMO are the Adam's T7's. They far exceed the JBLs and are worth every cent of 250.00 each

[allesdurchprobiert]

Thanks a lot for putting so much effort into this! 👏

[bluelithium]

Brilliant. I'm sure the Golden Eared ones will come up with some asinine excuse to hate on this cause their favorite didn't win.

[wekkimeif]

Great to see that expensive speakers doesn't really matter. It matters more what kind of sound each individual themselves prefer more.

[awhirsch]

Okay so this is completely kickass. Thank you thank you thank you!!

[pdxsnap]

What a wonderful test set up! Would love a person who records music to listen to this test with a piece of music they recorded to give feedback on what sounds closest to original recording. That said I think your observation that the bookshelf with the most base won because of the deeper base is likely sound reasoning.

[MarkBrown-gwwl]

I’m actually reading Toole’s book now. Brings me a step closer to understanding audio.

[kennethlindsay]

Great work. I can’t wait to see the next iteration. Suggest you use a sample size calculator to get a better sense of the number of participants/ measurements needed to find a significant difference. Might be a lot more than anticipated.

[fins]

Liked the video but just like to say that if the room shown in the last few seconds of the video was the listening room for the tests then it's not surprising that the results were so close.
That highly reflective and quite small room would have had a huge similar effect on the sound of all of those speakers.

[chinoauma]

Great work, this is what a real UN-biased comparison must look like, subscribed and waiting for more! Thanks for the hard work to put this together, cheers!

[vintageflanker]

Tremendous work and good production for a first video about Audio. Subscribed. Wanna see more ! 🤘

[baronvonaux]

At the end of the video, you can hear just how reverberant the lsitening space is. No wonder they couldn't pick the difference between the speakers.

[ChivasKimber]

I honestly want to buy another pair of jbls just to make sure that if these go out I have a back lol. They sound soooo good!

[Jefferson]

Pretty amazing engineering feat. Thanks!

[seanwalsh]

Impressed by the turntable and the slip ring set-up, but more impressed by the short video clip of the live tester in the room. You should post more of the different testers reacting in the room, that was entertaining.

[ericmoss]

The Neumann KH120 probably would have been a more even competitor with the JBL. Phenomenal work!

[xowovxybh]

He bases this test on his listening environment. No one has the same room as him. Add to that the fact that the placement of the monitors in the test location was not the most appropriate, as being in the center of the room favors phase cancellation. Perhaps for the size of his room the JBL excites some frequencies less than others, which is why the Neumann did not win, since it has a punch or more prominent bass compared to the JBL. The JBL is good in the stereo field, but weak in the low range (Low End). If your room is not acoustically treated, it does not matter how much the monitor costs, it could be an ATC, PMC, Genelec, Focal, Barefoot, Grimm, Meyer, Kii Three, etc., it will sound bad anyway because they are not in a listening environment treated for the sound pressure and frequency response that they are made for. So Neumann costs more money it is true, but Neumann does NOT only sell you the studio monitor..., it also sells you the scientific testing to which the monitor was subjected to provide a better perfect integration according to the dimensions of each room and the size of the woofer 4.5", 5.25", 6.5", 7", 8", etc... It also gives you technical data such as THD, SPL, Frequency Response Fidelity, Input Ohms, Input Sensitivity, the directivity of the tweeter in vertical and horizontal, to make a decision based on information, something that JBL lacks due to lack of transparency. Neumann's construction material is of greater durability and quality, bass ports on the front panel to place the monitors closer to the back wall for those who do not have enough space in their room. Grilles to protect the woofer and tweeter from accidents for those who have children and pets. Let's say that at the moment you do not have enough money for acoustic treatment Neumann offers you a DSP that adapts to your room correcting those anomalies in each room. JBL is for beginners, but Neumann is for those who are serious about their profession and work. Neumann is the truth. Blind test for whom...? - Blind, deaf, and mute people! 🤣

Ahhh and let me not forget to mention the importance of the tweeter and woofer material since depending on the material they will respond differently depending on the environment. For example, the JBL tweeter is made of silk which is susceptible to humidity unlike the Neumann which is made of titanium, the same material used in dental implants which is resistant to corrosion, and to humid and cold environments. With a useful life of 15-20 years. That means it will work well in a humidified environment. The JBL could reach its breaking point faster in its useful life and its frequency response could be affected due to humidity. Therefore it will be more disastrous in cold environments. People want the best cheaply that is impossible ..., good things cost. The Neumann woofer is made of several layers of sandwich effect polypropylene. Therefore it has better punch in the low frequencies 👊🎧🎚🎶 (45Hz - 250Hz). The Neumann..., PUM PUM PUM PUM PUM PUM PUMNN!!! The JBL..., Ploff ploff ploff ploff