I am referring to the unbalanced analog.
Yes, that is exactly what i also thought, however to my untrained ear, the analog from the ELAC discovery, sounded much better than an optical input, it was clearly noticeable.
I am also wondering why this is the case.
Iām not surprised to hear this. I also tried the LS50W with a Auralic Altair connected by both USB and unbalanced RCA. In USB mode it uses LS50w DAC which gives a accurate but cooler sound(as a streamer it is very close to microRendu but with more flexibility). Connected by RCA it used Altairās DAC, which gives a more relaxed and smooth sound. I do enjoy the latter and want to keep the Altair now.
I donāt know about ELAC, but you may prefer its DAC
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Not if the LS50 wireless addac is good enough to reproduce the sound signature of the analog source(and I think it is).
If done right, an āactiveā or āintegratedā dac/amp/speaker combo can sound much better than the piecemeal solution.
Any standalone DAC, amplifier, or passive speaker product has the challenge of having to sound good with everything else out there. Not true with an all-in-one āactiveā system.
The all-in-one solution has the benefit of being designed in a manner where it can take advantage of knowing exactly what components are in the system.
That said, I canāt speak to the KEF LS50 Wireless/Active speakers, since Iāve not heard them.
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Havenāt they sent you a pair Danny, to get Roon Ready certified !? 
Whatās taking them so long lol
It just means, for whatever reason, you prefer the sound via that route.
Most likely, you prefer the combination of the ELACs DAC and analogue out, through the A-D and D-A of the KEF. Why could be any (or many) of a number of reasons.
Ignore any comments about ārightā and āwrongā ways to connect a system. Whatās right is what you like the sound of most.
Iād just enjoy it and not worry about it.
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Anarchy! 
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Iām a very experienced and technical IT guy but I still prefer to buy rather than tinker 
I have these amazing speakers and think I will get a Sonic Orbiter for now hoping the Kefs become a Roon endpoint at some point and then I can vmoe the Sonciorbiter to something else.
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SonicOrbiter is SW inside SonicTransporter and the MicroRendu 
Remember to power your MicroRendu with a LPS-1 as well.
SL50W powered up yesterday 
!
Straight out of the box means they sound sic and they did. My stands are yet to arrive but i have placed them on a long table top. Played with their manual settings etc. did not work, but improved slightly. There is boomy about the whole thing. Then I moved the speakers away from wall and speakers front flushed to the table edge, and set the room size to smaller one (although i have slightly bigger from given option). They sounded super (not superb!). Much better than my day old set up. In fact I left them for about 5 hours (Not around it and my mac died down power and I stopped). But around the end, I checked how warm they have become, i could not feel much, but SQ had infact improved from when i started.
Their app is useless. stopped using it. Roon on Mac to LS50W USB input, works like CHARM!. No hassle at all. Quick power on and i m all set.
Overall happy with SQ but I m expecting some more improvement after 100-200 (?) hours of burnin.
If you have Tidal and MQA it sounds great direct to the Kefs using the Tidal app to do the full unfold or using a Meridian Explorer 2 to the RCA inputs to do the full unfold.
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GGot the ls50wās six months ago. They are insanely good. I been a vintage kilpsh and onkyo fan for 30 years. The ls50w paired with Roon, tidal, iPad and a mini Mac, blow them away. Add a good subwoofer and you canāt beat the set up for under 10k. No external amps, DACs, wires needed. Listening to tunes I have not listened to for years. Incredible!!!
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Exactly, I have them now for over a month, replacing huge Arendal speakers, pre -and poweramp, separate dac. The completely blow away my old setup. I added a Arendal Sub1 and boy what a sound! So clean, so transparant and yet so dynamic. Stereo image is allmost perfect, as there are no speakers.
I had LS50W for over 2 years. Yes, they are good, but some of the reviews here are a bit over the top. I have now Klipsch Forte3 amplified by an Elac Discovery DS-A101 (yes, 40w in 8 ohms) and it mops the floor with the LS50w, theyāre not even in the same ballpark.
Letās keep it real. For they money they are indeed VERY good, but for 10k you can get MUCH better sound.
You canāt compare a Klipsch F3 with a KEF LS50Wā¦
I was referring to the comment that LS50W canāt be beat under $10kā¦
Really much better? I had some equipment in the past well beyond the 10k mark. In some regions they were marginally better in other regions not. The Kef LS50W in addition with a truly great subwoofer like Arendal sounds superb. That is off course my opinion, but everybody here is blown away by itās performance. So yes, I can compare and by all means this little gem can compete against more expensive equipment.
Yes, like I said, much better. Itās even an unfair comparison.
Itās perfectly valid to be blown away by the LS50w performance for the money. Emphasis on āfor the moneyā.
But for $10k you can build far better systems.
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