If you’re not an audiophile, speakers aren’t a priority purchase. Like us, you’ll probably settle for a cheap pair of wired speakers, or if you’re feeling extra fancy, wireless speakers. We probably won’t splurge on anything above 10K if we can help it – as long as it sounds good enough, won’t distort in higher volumes and can hold its own during a screaming session in Battlefield 1, we’re satisfied.
Which is why our time with the KEF Egg speakers have been so damn pleasurable. Sure, they’re quite expensive, priced at 25K, but we haven’t heard (or seen) anything like them before. We’ve already tested one other speaker from premium British brand KEF before which already gives us an idea of what to expect from these high-end desktop speakers.
Iconic egg design stands out from the pack
KEF has this weird obsession with egg-shaped speakers, and Egg isn’t about to deviate from that design philosophy one bit. The two speakers have a very distinctive egg shape to them (hence the name) and a glossy plastic exterior.
Despite the speakers being primarily made out of plastic, they feel and look sturdy. They’re pretty heavy on their own with each speaker weighing in at 2 kilos, so they won’t be moving around from vibration if you have the volume cranked up to 11. The left speaker is pretty bare on the outside, and just has wires jutting out from the the rear to connect to the right speaker. The right speaker holds all of the connections as well as the plug for power, which are all located on the rear. There’s a USB connector that suports 24-bit audio, optical audio connection, as well as a plug for a subwoofer if you feel that the bass isn’t good enough. There’s a legacy 3.5mm jack that’s hidden by a rubber cover if you need to connect your devices old school. Probably the main way you’ll connect devices to the Egg though is via Bluetooth.
The plethora of connection options make the Egg extremely versatile, as it can serve as the focal point of an A/V setup on its own. The connections on the Egg covers most of the most widely used appliances available today. In short, it’s more than likely that all of the stuff you own can connect to the Egg.
The volume controls are on the front of the right speaker, which are flanked by the power key plus a key to change the source of the audio. There’s a small LED that changes color that lets you know quickly what connection mode you’re in. There’s a IR receiver on the front for the included remote control.
The remote basically mirrors the controls on the speaker, with a few additions which mainly include track controls. We found that the track contols only work when the Egg is connected via USB and doesn’t work when a phone for example is connected to it via Bluetooth.
Amazing sound quality from desktop speakers
KEF has gone to great lengths to make the Egg sound amazing, and that’s thanks in part to its weird design. The egg shape helps the woofer/tweeter speaker design (dubbed the Uni-Q point-source driver array) disperse sound spherically into the room that the listener is in, giving a far bigger soundstage than what you’d expect from speakers like these. Audio is crisp and extremely clear, and works well with almost any source. Music is amazing to listen with these, but so are movies. The KEF Egg makes for wonderful desktop speakers, especially if you’re a gamer like us. We’ve recently gotten into playing Squad, a game where audio plays a big part in winning and it sounds absolutely amazing.
On the music front, the Egg makes it extremely easy to discern individual sounds of a track, thanks to its speaker design. On cheaper speakers all of that detail gets lost, and you end up with this garbled mess – it’s completely fine for most people, but the difference with a speaker like the KEF Egg is pretty huge.
What’s nice about the Egg is that it handles the majority of connections pretty well, and aside from plugging in via USB for hi-res audio, the sound quality doesn’t change if you’re listening to Bluetooth or via the 3.5mm jack. The Egg also has support for devices that are Bluetooth apX certified, meaning you’ll be able to get hi-res audio via Bluetooth if your device is compliant.
One of the best sounding desktop speakers available, but comes with a steep price
The KEF Egg is probably one of the best desktop speakers we’ve ever used to date, bringing amazing clarity, definition and versatility to the fore. It works well with your TV, PC or your phone. The only problem here is price – at Php 22,000, it’s definitely not for everyone. But if you want a versatile pair of speakers that blows the competition out of the water, then the KEF Egg is it.