Yeah, hiss sucks. The KH 120 A’s are much quieter than the BM5 mkIII’s I exchanged for them but even they aren’t dead silent. I can hear the hiss when the room is quiet and I specifically listen for it, but it’s quiet enough that it blends seamlessly into the ambient. Their hiss hasn’t bothered me once yet, and when music plays, even at very low volume, it’s a total non-issue.
@Parasol, @resonant_space, glad you are enjoying your A7V’s! I’m happy the new generation of ADAMs rocks.
I haven’t had a chance to really dig into them yet. Still getting used to them. But I’ll share my first impressions:
- Very high-quality packaging. Yes, it’s still a cardboard box with molded white styrofoam that holds the speakers in place, but boy does everything feel snug and premium. When I opened my BM5 mkIII’s the styrofoam was splitting in some places because it had been held so loosely by the flimsy cardboard box and must had bounced about during transport. With the KH 120 A’s you could tell that the packaging was carefully engineered. I was pleasantly surprised.
- The cabinets are all metal (aluminum, I think). Solid like a tank, nice texture.
- I appreciate that there is a switch on the back that controls the brightness of the “On” LEDs that are on the front panels. A nice feature for dimly lit studios. The LEDs can be turned off completely, too, if desired. I remember I returned my Arturia Keystep because it’s “+/- Octave” LED was so bright I couldn’t stand it. And it would blink too which was really distracting
- The sound is very clear. All the detail is there and in a very balanced way, as far as I can discern. Music has depth, ambience, texture. I don’t have to make an effort to hear the nuances. Everything is presented clearly, precisely. One thing I am really liking after using headphones for a long time is that the sound feels like it emerges from the environment and not from a “source”. The soundstage feels wide and spacious. In the commercial music that I listen to I can clearly hear the placement and the movement of the elements.
- I like the compact footprint of the monitors. They fit right in on my desk and I have good speaker-to-ear distance.
- One thing that is a bit strange is that when I adjust the volume on my interface both speakers crackle while I turn the volume knob. But once the knob is set and left alone the crackling disappears. Have any other KH 120 A owners noticed this? None of my other monitors used to do this with the same audio interface. Not sure if it’s a problem, though.
- Now that I have these monitors, I feel the need for room treatment even more. I cannot trust my room in its current state. I haven’t played around with the switches on the back of the monitors yet, though.
- The sub bass is not going to blow the windows out. The BM5 mkIII’s punched the gut harder for sure.
I hope this is useful!
That’s good to hear! Glad they stand behind their products.
Treatment is critical. It makes a tremendous improvement to any room.
