[Sound Battle] KEF R3 vs Elac Debut Reference DBR62 Bookshelf Speakers/ Yamaha A-S301 Integrated Amp

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Other sound comparison videos
SRS [Sound Reference Series] - • Sound Reference Series
Amps - • Amplifier Sound Demo
Speakers - • Hi Fi Speakers Sound Demo
Bluetooth Speakers - • Bluetooth Speaker
Timecodes
0:00 - intro
1:11 - All the way up / Electronic / by Hadar Sopher
1:51 - Bedroom / Soul & RnB, Pop / by Raquel Castro, The Wildcardz
2:34 - Boost Your Power / Rock / by CustomMelody
3:32 - Chemtrails / Cinematic / by Semo
4:23 - Get Ready / Cinematic, Rock, Pop / by Midnight Noise
5:13 - Higher Love / Electronic, Pop / by Ben Fox
6:29 - Is Leroy On It / Jazz, Acoustic, Retro / by Southside Aces
7:27 - Pull Me Closer / Electronic, Pop, Hip Hop / by WEARETHEGOOD,
8:40 - Punkd / Cinematic, Electronic / by Out of Flux
9:41 - Seasons / Cinematic, Classical / by ANBR
10:51 - Star Night / Acoustic, Rock, Pop / Wonderland
11:41 - Time Traveling / Soul & RnB / Sarah Kang feat. Anthony Lazaro
13:15 - Crash and burn / Death Metal / Kissing Candice
14:40 - Magic Show / Death Metal / Kissing Candice
15:37 - Fields / Acoustic Guitar / Livio Bartolo

[@RBS22]

Kef-r3 has a flatter sound with highs that sound more forward, while Elac-reference-dbr62 has better mids and thicker bass. To my ears the Elac-reference-dbr62 sounded better.

[@peterbaugh51]

Yes and elacs rock with a tube amp. I have that. Wow what a sound.

[@davidwho7847]

As a DBR62 owner, I loved the comparison. And after listening, I have no buyer's remorse. The Elac's fit my ear best by far. Thank you for this!

[@mgsamps]

Have to agree, I've had a pair of these for just over a year now and have no intention of changing them, they just play the music without any fatigue, put them on the end of a decent amp and they really sing and punch way above their price bracket, best £500 I've ever spent on HiFi, I actually downgraded to these after having Dali Rubycon 2's which were too fatiguing on my ears, It's actually more of an upgrade.

[@peterbaugh51]

Elacs have a much better sound. No harsh unreal sibilance. Kef sounds like it has a $2 tweeter. Sorry but truth hurts.

[@khawfang12]

Elac best 😊

[@user-zu5re5nn4d]

Actually a good illustration of reasons why uber-hyped R3 are leaving a lot of people frustrated. Any KEF models I've heard could do a lot of things right but there was no excitment. This is the unattractive kind of "flat" sound. DBR62 is pure joy, this is the sound you will LOVE and just listen with ease while KEF owner will be switching cables and amps in order to make sound pleasant, not just clean

[@PeterMacPL]

Listen on DBR62 this comparsion, DBR62 sound more full, KEF sounds little thin but more open. Depends. DBR62 wymiatają ;).

[@tweakradje]

Night and day at 15:01 (Magic Show). DBR62 sounds "hollow". Maybe something todo with the phase between the drivers? But it's 3-way against 2-way. And more than double the price for the KEF R3's.

[@mcm934ify]

Thanks oberon 3 and this elac dBr62 please for my final choose.

[@Assembledonetwo]

Hey E, Which one do you like more?

[@IMGhee]

good little comparison! yes, how outward R3 is. relative to it, the DBR62 is turned inwards. and both speakers are flat (R3 flatter of course). What is missing from ELAC is the R3 with two handfuls, with a brutal soundstage (I wish there was a little R3's mid in my DBR62 :)) the price is also brutal

[@peterbaugh51]

R3 misses bass, has tinty mids. As a player in a rock band, I much prefer the mix from the Elac dbr62, especially cranked up loud, like live music really sounds. My preference as a musician, of course.

[@34332]

The one I was waiting for 🙏 The R3's, pinpoint accurate, punchy, clarity, more forward, outlined voices, analytical and sometimes clinical sounding. Impressive how the 301 pushes it like nothing. DBR's, warm, lush sounding, very good and maybe more fluid integration o/t soundstage, less focus, sometimes lack of spark. Overall a very nice, subtle and likable sound, which I enjoy inmensly. But, my preference goes to the R3, as its punchy and dynamic performance really blows your socks off, where the DBR is a little bit too sweet at times. Thanks E, this one was killer 😄🙏

[@34332]

@@DougMen1 True, but not to the point where it can compete against the R3, it just can't. It comes down to taste ofcourse, but where you have to consider if you want the real deal or a more sweet, laidback and less accurate version. The Cambridge pushes it some notches up, yes, but the R3 scales up just as easily. Like Mark, I heard the R3 IRL and its crazy how they focus, image and scale. I did found the bass a bit disconnected at times and I wasn't the only one. And like you mentioned in your other comment, I also would like to merge them. They both can use eachothers strongpoints for sure, imo.

[@34332]

@@DougMen1 Ah, I get it, sorry. I believe it's time to rest, not so focussed anymore. Just spend another whole night again listening, made possible by E. 😄 Speak to you later my friend!

[@-MarkWinston-]

@@34332 rarely will one choose the elacs over the r3 after listening to both in real life. Its just not possible for someone's taste to stray so far away from superior sound quality. I like the R200 and 12.2 more than the Elac, but I would never choose both of those over the R3s. LMFAO!

[@34332]

@@-MarkWinston- It's a complete other ballgame, the R3 (as it should be, given its pricepoint). I get what AJ did with the DBR, the best one to date, imo. Not that I would give up my R200's for them, but for the R3, in a blink! However, now that I listened to the 12.4's... 😄 I don't now what it is, but some speakers just hit you where it hurts (here I go again, sorry). It just projects, imo, a golden tonal balance between the feisty R3 and the Elac, sort of 😉. My wishlist; 12.4, R3 or Meta (with sub).

[@-MarkWinston-]

@@34332 you just fell in love with a big neutral speaker that has a bbc dip, and that is totally understandable. The bigger the speaker gets, the more neutral it has to be sound anywhere near good. I have nearly the same target as you now, the Meta with a sub, the R700 or 12.4. The Meta with a sub will cost as much as the R700, the 12.4 is 2/3rd the price of the R700. Logically, I would go for the R700. Maybe end game for me, as I have the Rotel pre/power already to drive those. The R700 can take 300 watts though, so my next step will be power amps, which wont be anywhere as cheap as speakers. Out of curiousity, what was the 12.4 hooked up to when you listened to it?

[@thomasward00]

Kef FTW

[@vicentvanmole]

It's almost like polarity reverse in Elac vs Kef , just my sense .Both or good

[@tessie4204]

Is the amp not to weak? Better with a S501.

[@stuartkennedy4202]

I’ve been looking to buy the Elac’s but in this demo I prefer the Kef’s but to be honest I find it difficult as I sometimes think the opposite depending on the track.

[@peterbaugh51]

Elacs sound better with all kinds of music, all sounds like movies.

[@MrPhilinggood]

Amazing how the NAD tends to yell the differences between the two speakers while, the YAMAHA here seems like is smoothing them out.. Very interesting and surely complete way to compare the speakers.

[@danpatrick2175]

Interesting comparison of a $700, 2-way (DBR62) speaker to a $2,000+, 3-way (R3) speaker. They are cIoser matched than their prices suggest. I am a DBR owner - it is a great speaker but, based on my headphones, the R3 is superior in most (not all) of these song comparisons. While the R3 is superior, (to my ears) it doesn't offer 2 to 3 times the sound. Like most things, the laws of diminishing returns seem to apply in this case. Both of these speakers offer excellent sound though there is more detail and airiness with the R3. If budget permits, the R3 seems like a great choice. Of course, there is no shame with the DBR62 as it offers high-end sound at a relatively affordable price. I think a better comparison would be the KEF R3 vs the ELAC Unifi Reference (UBR62) - both 3-way designs with closer price points.

[@ufarkingicehole]

The R3 are a little nasal sounding in real life. I would suspect the mids to be more coherent on them though. The bass isn't very good on them. The elacs sound a little more open but less coherent. I don't think we are really hearing the lower bass dynamics of the elacs. I don't think this amp is a good pairing for these though. I would like to hear this comparison with the Arcam .

[@ufarkingicehole]

@@DougMen1 lol this guy has made every combo possible. I really want to hear these while in room against each other even though this may be as close as I'm going to get. Thanks

[@ufarkingicehole]

@@DougMen1 I am in New Orleans and wr have a few hifi shops as well as Magnolia at best buy. Between that and my audiophilia addiction I have heard alot of these. The guy that makes these videos Is awesome. They arent perfect but alot of these give you a gen idea of sound signatures with different combo of components. Synergy is probably king because I've heard inferior products sound superior to better products just off of matching alone.

[@ufarkingicehole]

@@DougMen1 where you at?

[@34332]

@@DougMen1 Sorry to hear that. Although it's also a bit changed here, re. shops, compared to some years back. There are still good stores with optimized rooms to listen (and Randy's coffee). Good part is that you can make an appointment, so no other people are bugging you from listening close. Downside is perhaps that you pay more vs online, but that's fair. Besides this 'luxury', there's always the risc that gear, what sounded great in the store, sound crap in your living room. Therefore, channels like E narrows down to taste and choice. Listening to multiple speakers in a showroom is often quite tough, imo. I prefer online maybe a bit more, while I have the option to IRL. 😄

[@allisatum4081]

I have owned both and the Elacs sound better in my opinion.

[@zeppzepp1234]

The clarity is the reward we pay for higher price. I am not a fan of R3, but it is how higher quality speakers sound alike. There are many cheap but good sounding speakers though, no speaker with low cost parts can deliver real clarity. They can sound emphasized with vivid higher mid and treble, but that's not the real clarity we can found on higher tier speakers with good damped enclosure, low distortion drivers, and seamless crossover coherence.

[@-MarkWinston-]

I am not a fan of the R3 but I can tell you that the R3 sounds way better, I mean WAY WAY WAY better than the DBR62 in real life, easily. In the vid we cant hear the bass extension, the soundstage and how focused the R3 sounds. They are not even in the same league, even though the the DBR62 is one of the best speakers AJ have put out for its price. One example, the vocals on Time Travelling isnt suppose to sound like what we hear on the DBR62, its supposed to be focused and centered like what we hear on the R3. The R3 conveys it as it is. The DBR62 sounds wide, but at the same time it stretches the vocals apart too like melted cheese, fragmenting the vocals which shouldnt be the case. This is made worse by the 301.

[@34332]

Completely agree!

[@davidcarr2216]

Seems like you managed to find the original tracks for comparison, which is always a good idea.

[@-MarkWinston-]

@@DougMen1 yeah, its quite disconcerting that such parts are used in such a speaker of this price but hey, its the end result that matters in the end yeah? I mean if anyone could make a 2 dollar tweeter sound like a beryllium one, I would gladly pay 100 times the price for it. Lol!

[@-MarkWinston-]

@@davidcarr2216 That is the only way to know the how the song is meant to be, without the original track as reference a cheap amp in 'Hall Mode' could sound better than 'Direct Mode' to some depending on personal taste. That is where we start to stray from hi fidelity and slow creep into the realm of my fidelity. Its not wrong to like Hall Mode more than Direct Mode but thats not what Im personally after.

[@davidcarr2216]

@@-MarkWinston- Hi Fidelity/My Fidelity - love it . Many peeps crossed that line yonks ago 😀

[@higobatman]

Never thought I would say that. But the ELAc DBR62 have a heavier and more treble sound. You can clearly see this on Pull Me Closer and Punkd tracks. The KEF R3 has the lightest and smoothest sound. I prefer the KEF LS50 Meta on top of these two boxes. Mainly on vocals where the LS50 Meta are clearly superior. But the cost benefit of these ELAC DBR62 for U$500 dollars is excellent. It only loses to the cost benefit of Polk R200 for U$700.

[@higobatman]

@@DougMen1 Then the values went up. At launch the DBR62 cost US$500.

[@robertwilson214]

I have as301 with mission 751,fed its digital information from a qed reference optical.I think ill have to spend a lot more to beat this setup when its time to upgrade.

[@praetor47]

damn, the K3 is sooo much better. most obvious in the rock songs, the DBRs lose so much on detail and midrange, when there's the jump on Boost Your Power from the R3 to the DBRs it's like half the song went missing. the guitars are so much fuller, more natural, in balance with the rest of the soundscape on the R3. on the orchestrals you can even hear the big difference in soundstage, something i did not think would be noticeable on youtube. or on that first RnB track, the lady suddenly sounds slightly distorted and almost echoey on the DBRs after the R3 i am quite surprised by the R3s, didn't expect them to be this clearly superior after the DBR62 destroyed so many (imho) in the 1v1

[@vicg5323]

A 2400 dollar setup vs a 1000 dollars setup. Very interesting.

[@vikramr5601]

To me the Elac was the better speaker and balanced. I have to say I felt like the KEF's were just lying to me. The vocals were seperated and clear but that's about the only good thing I could say... oh and they look nicer. The mids seemed a bit hidden and the lower end was weird esp when there are overlapping vocals. Hell given that I think the Elac DB62 sounded pretty similar to the DBR62's I'd say the ~$300 DB62's beat these KEFs. To each his own, but apart from looking very very good, I don't see the values in KEF's (have heard KEF's IRL too). unless people use for just vocal heavy/airy tracks.

[@davidcarr2216]

So the DBR62 fares really well on here against the R£s. It might want to make people go out and try and compare the two together. Even though the Elac does sound really nice and maybe even preferable at times on here you can bet that the KEF is simply all-round more accurate and in real life listening that will likely be apparant. Even if KEFs don't touch you emotionally you have to admire the expertise and technology which has gone into them. Me, I love em because these days I admire gear and manufacturers who strive for correctness. Emotional response has been oversold to the public and you can end up buyimg some pretty poor gear if that's all you go by.

[@34332]

Very well put, exactly!

[@user-wp1ir3et2u]

Hi pals.IMHO in brief=the Yamaha is not the appropriate amp for judging both of these speakers .I did not like the somehow ''shrill'' Yamaha -Kef match up especially when considering the big difference in price of the speakers .[ELACs sell for 550 euros ,KEFs sell for 1300 euros in Greece.] The KEFs are supposed to be superior speakers but they need some other better and more expensive amp to show their real potential.I do not think that someone who owns an amp like this , will spend that kind of money to get a pair of these KEFs anyhow.

[@-MarkWinston-]

Totally agree 100%. The R3 more than scales up with better amps. No one in this world would pair the r3 up with this yam, or anything near this level. The R3 pairs best with the most analytical and resolving of amps, thats when the magic happens.

[@user-wp1ir3et2u]

@@DougMen1 That was my opinion and nothing more .Opinions vary and are all respected , such conversations are endless, so write down more ...politely .

[@-MarkWinston-]

@@DougMen1 i dont like the yam not because its an ab or anything, the thing I hate about it is the processing that goes inside before they spit the signal back out again. That has been a known trait of cheaper yamahas, but as they get higher the ladder, they get more accurate. Thats when I start liking yamahas, but at that point its a little too expensive in its category. There will always be yamaha fans, or any brand for that matter because they all have their own sound signature. B&W for example. Hahaha!

[@-MarkWinston-]

@@DougMen1 ouch... those 600s are terrible. With a capital T. And for the price, absurd.

[@34332]

@@DougMen1 That's a good question. I thought their ToP-Art tech merely focusses on short signal paths and relatively good components. I'm aware of marketing blabla, they all do, but shaping should require some sort of DSP, imo. It seems also very different vs the AV recievers/amps circuitry. Inside the amp it looks not too shabby, actually nice for its pricepoint (sure, it isn't an Audiolab) 😄

[@valerivasilev1278]

Kef r3s required a higher end amp to unlock their full potential, and this one is solid!

[@peterbaugh51]

The sibilance with female vocals on the kef r3 is ridiculous. How can you not hear how unreal the kef sounds? Something is wrong with the upper midrange. Bass is not very deep either. If kef is $2,200 than the elacs should be $8,000. People are getting very ripped off. Elacs now $700, they went up. Wonder why? Kef is a one-note speaker. That note is annoying to me.

[@blackimp4987]

Elac are speakers with cold. Kef are the healthy ones. I don't even understand how anyone could prefer the Elac : they have a clear spike in a mid small range which is the one that makes everything so nasal. Kef sound more similar to what you would expect from real instruments. And I'm not a fan of kef either but they sound good.

[@peterbaugh51]

Elac sounds more real than KEF. Go listen to live music then compare. I play real gear, I actually know what real sounds like.

[@mietekkowalski935]

🤔🎧🎶🎶🎶🎶Kef👍👍👍👍🙂🇵🇱

[@mateuszzajaczkowski2714]

Kef

[@matiasmov1]

Kef R3 for me...not being fan of them.