Hi John,
I purchased an UpTone LPS-1 power supply and a Cabledyne Premier silver USB cord. I also use Isoacoustics Aperta stands.
Bass response is much improved and overall a more natural smooth sound. Pretty amazing for around $3500 all in.
Ah! I misunderstood. When I read your post I thought that you were saying that you upgraded the power supply in the KEF. I also have the LPS-1. Good upgrade.
I have looked at āaftermarketā power cords. I am not sure if there is any value there. I was a bit surprised by the USB cord upgrade, I was skeptical there would be any difference.
My LS50W are fed through USB. AQ Jitter bug -> AQ USB Cable(forgot name, Red,black satin) -> LS50W USB input. Works great. Did not like optic (quick airport express to LS50W gave lot of breakes) Although I m yet to enjoy the SQ but great improvement since i started yesterday. Already excited about the whole thing, BUT my heart is still not there with SQ. Just burnt about 8 hours in total.
Its Roon on Mac -> AQ USB Jitter bug and cable -> LS50W = Simple 
!
Excellent WAF too. The setup of these speakers was breeze, once i simply ditched the app (useless one ). Manual setup is easy. However when the app worked, i could quickly do some room and table settings.
I m impressed with the quality of Power chords provided along with LS50W. I also liked the CAT6 cable for LEFT-RIGHT connection.
Personally I think power chord supplied by KEF is of good quality. I do have AQ pwr Cable but I dont think i will change from whats supplied. However I did not use KEF supplied USB cable. I already had AQ stuffs. In my previous setup, AQ gave instant step up in quality and reliability.
So my MicroRendu arrives tomorrow. I have been playing Roon to these using Apple TV connected to TV by HDMI and TV by optical to speaker.
Of course now there is a new MicroRendu outā¦so am wondering if I should have waited.
I bought the Cabledyne USB cable and already have the speakers on Aperta stands.
I donāt use a sub, I had an SVS PB-1000 attached and preferred it without and just didnāt feel it was needed. Iāve seen a lot of criticism of Kef subs not being reliable. Itās anecdotal and on forums etc but there have been a number of comments along this line. Plus Iām just not going to spend $1699 on a sub.
John do you play Tidal MQA by this method? I believe if you let Tidal do the first unfold it passes through the MicroRendu? Or anyone else that knowsā¦
Any other tips on Microrendu and Kef setup?
I use the microRendu to feed the KEF via Roon so I really donāt worry that much about MQA. I sent my mR out for the 1.4 update so I am not much using the KEF right now as they are part of my office/second system.
Hi John,
Iāve been using the KEF LS50W for months, mainly streaming music fliles from my NAS. However, the stability issue is a major concern, creating quite unpleasant user experience.
So, Iām considering the microRendu solution after reading your posts. To learn more, are you connecting the microRendu to the LS50W via the USB connection? Does it need any special software/drivers in the microRendu? In KEFās web site, it never describes the capability of USB connection apart from connecting the PC/Macā¦so, thatās my worryā¦
Alternatively, do you think if it is feasible to connect the LS50W to my NASās USB port as USB speaker and play the music directly?
Many thanks!!
Hey Patrick,
You may want to hold your horses for a little bit longer: in the (very) near future, Roon will release an update enabling direct play from Roon to the LS50Wās over the network (wired or wireless):
What he said
To answer your question, yes you connect the microRendu to the USB port on the KEF. The microRendu only has USB out. No special software required. The mR comes with the software to run Roon already installed. So no worry there.
This one I donāt know. I hate it when people guess answers when they donāt know the correct answer so Iāll leave this to someone that actually has knowledge in this area.
The microRendu works great on any DAC with a USB input. This includes Kef speakers with a USB input.
You can use all the different players the microRendu has with directly with your speakers. Roon will support connecting to the kef LS50W directly over the network. I was just a the CEDIA show in San Diego last week and they were demoing this solution. So this is something Roon has not something they are āthinkingā about. it should be released soon.
If you have the LS50 (no Ethernet interface) you would need a microRendu.
If you are building a new setup keep in mind the LS50 is $1000 cheaper then the LS50W so you could purchase a LS50 + microRendu for less money then a LS50W.
And an amplifierā¦?
With a USB input.
I use the microRendu with the LS50 and the Aurender x725 DAC/ amp.
I havenāt seen an amp with a USB DAC built in. But there may be one. Has anybody seen something like that?
Integrated amps? There are dozens with USB inputs from Cary Audio, Mark Levinson, and many others.
Nice!
Just make sure when you are purchasing an AMP with a USB port itās a USB audio input. A lot of receivers that I have seen have a USB port on the front that you can use to play mp3 files off of a USB stick. They do not have a USB audio input that you can attach to a computer or a microRendu and play music into.
Thanks John!
Thanks Andrew for your suggestion!
BTW, about the suggestion of āā¦you could purchase a LS50 + microRendu for less money then a LS50Wā¦ā. To my understanding, the microRendu doesnāt have DAC/AMP built-in, right? So, we have to add the AMP/DAC to make it workā¦
Correct. He was just giving an alternative to the more expensive LS50W solution. Everyone looks at this differently. I think that the LS50W is a great all in one solution. When they finally integrate Roon into the system it will truly be complete. The LS50 is about a $1000 less but after you add in the amp/DAC combination I think that you end up close to even money. I prefer the simplicity of the LS50W. As usual YMMV.
The LS50 is a great speaker because it has a DAC and AMP built inside and it also has a USB audio input. Many powered speakers only have SPDIF inputs.