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KEF XIO soundbar: Two minute review
There are a few small quibbles. Not enough inputs, a smartphone app that doesn’t do as much as many competitors, and a remote that could do with a few more buttons. But overall, the KEF XIO is a formidable sound machine for all of your entertainment needs.
KEF XIO soundbar review: Price & release date
- • $2,499.95 / £1,999.00 (around AU$3,765)
- • Released July 2025
KEF launched the XIO, the company’s first Dolby Atmos soundbar, in July 2025 in a variety of markets, including the UK and the US.
While KEF is well-known and widely praised for its long heritage of producing passive hi-fi speakers, the British brand is no stranger to powered audio. Its LS series of wireless, amplified bookshelf speakers has been a favorite of audiophiles since the first models debuted, and KEF continues to expand its active lineup, most recently with its reboot of its passive Coda speakers as the Coda W.
KEF brings this amplified speaker experience to the XIO, along with its Uni-Q driver technology, and throws in some new innovations for good measure, like its Velocity Control Technology, a sensor-based system that actively monitors the XIO’s four low-frequency drivers to minimize distortion.
At $2,499.95, the KEF XIO lives in a soundbar category dominated by other high-end audio brands, like Bang & Olufsen’s Beosound Stage ($2,900), Sennheiser’s Ambeo Soundbar Max ($2,999.95), and the Devialet Dione ($2,199).
Price isn’t the only thing these models have in common: All are designed to be single-speaker solutions. Although you can add an external subwoofer to the XIO and the Ambeo Soundbar Max, none of these soundbars offers surround channel expansion.
KEF XIO soundbar review: Specs
|
Dimensions (W x H x D) |
47.6 x 2.8 x 6.5 inches (1209 x 71.2 x 165mm) |
|
Speaker channels |
5.1.2 |
|
Connections: |
HDMI 2.1 ARC/eARC out, optical digital audio, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB-C (service only) |
|
Dolby Atmos/DTS:X |
Yes/Yes |
|
Sub included |
No |
|
Rear speakers included |
No |
|
Features |
AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect, UPnP, Dolby Atmos Music, 360 Reality Audio, Night Listening mode, Room Correction, native integration of music services including Tidal, Qobuz, Amazon Music, more |
KEF XIO soundbar review: Features
Image 1 of 2
- Bluetooth and Wi-Fi with comprehensive streaming support
- Room correction
- Four built-in subwoofers with force cancellation
Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. Despite its hefty price, the KEF XIO is a little shy on ports. You don’t get any HDMI inputs to make up for the one it will grab from your TV, and there’s only a single optical port as an alternative for physically connected external devices.
This makes the XIO less desirable for those who want to hook up turntables, Blu-ray players, or game consoles. On the other hand, KEF has included a dedicated subwoofer output, a fairly rare feature on soundbars at any price.
Its wireless connection suite, however, is excellent, with both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, plus Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect, and UPnP/DLNA support. Depending on your music source and the protocol you choose, you can stream to the XIO at up to 24-bit/384kHz for lossless, hi-res audio playback.
Thanks to all of those wireless protocols, it’s easy to stream from almost any app. You can also access several leading streaming services inside the KEF Connect app, including Amazon Music, Tidal, Qobuz, and Deezer.
Using the KEF Connect app, you can trigger the XIO’s room correction feature. I’d characterize it as semi-automatic: you still need to tell the app how high the speaker is mounted and how big your room is, but after that, it does the rest.
If there’s one area that sets the XIO apart from other soundbars, it’s the driver configuration, especially KEF’s approach to low frequencies. The XIO uses a set of four 2 x 6-inch P185 racetrack subwoofers mounted in horizontally opposed pairs. This force-cancelling arrangement reduces cabinet vibration, while KEF’s newly developed Velocity Control Technology uses sensors and a feedback loop to minimize distortion.
KEF XIO soundbar review: Performance
- Brilliant Dolby Atmos performance
- Astonishing two-channel stereo rendering
- Missing height and surround level adjustment
Can a single soundbar recreate true movie and music magic? While purists may scoff, the KEF XIO is exceptional.
Buried under its low-key exterior is a series of six, 2-inch Uni-Q MX drivers, two 2-inch full-range drivers, and a four-driver subwoofer array, all of which are discretely powered by class D amps, to the tune of 820 watts of total power.
What those specs can’t convey is how great the XIO sounds when it gets going. The performance is smooth, balanced, and immensely powerful. Your neighbors probably won’t agree, but the XIO rewards loud listening better than any other soundbar I’ve tested.
The benefits of KEF’s acoustic design start to reveal themselves at 50% volume. Bass is deeply resonant, yet detailed and at times quite musical. Yes, you can feel it, but it stops just shy of shaking furniture. Could it be further improved with a subwoofer? Sure. But believe me, unless you have a really big room, or aren’t happy unless your vision gets blurred by sub-bass, you don’t need one.
In fact, if you want more of a gut-punch, more immersion, or just more, simply dial up the volume. Doing so had a proportional effect on my smile. The XIO’s sound is so clean, so free from vibration or distortion, you may not even notice as the decibels approach unhealthy levels.
As I ran the XIO through my usual Dolby Atmos test clips from Mad Max: Fury Road, Ford v Ferrari, Unbroken, Dune, and No Time To Die, I was impressed by both the immersiveness and the dialogue clarity. The soundbar also does a decent job with Dolby Atmos Music.
However, I wouldn’t classify the XIO as the best single-speaker Atmos soundbar I’ve heard.
In fact, Sonos’s Arc Ultra ($1,099) can go toe-to-toe with the XIO for thunderous bass, and even edges out the XIO for surround channel effects. Meanwhile, Sennheiser’s Ambeo Soundbar Plus ($1,799.99) runs in the opposite direction, with slightly less low-end punch, but with far more effective surround and height immersion.
It’s not entirely surprising, given that the XIO is KEF’s first kick at the Dolby Atmos can. Moreover, in making the XIO wall-and-surface-mount friendly, it compromised a little on the directionality of its drivers. The side-firing drivers always face out at a 90-degree angle, as do the height drivers. It’s hard to do any kind of beam-forming when that’s the setup.
All of this fades into the background when you stream music. The XIO may not be the king of the Atmos hill, but when it comes to delivering two-channel sound, it’s staggeringly good.
The challenge that all soundbars face with stereo music is achieving sufficient separation of left/right channels. At just over 47 inches, the XIO isn’t any wider than other flagship soundbars, and yet it convinced me I was listening to discrete speakers set much farther apart. When sitting dead center, it gave me a level of stereo imaging I wasn’t expecting, and a nearly perfect phantom center channel. Given that nearly all soundbars have actual center channels, you’d think this would be a no-brainer, but it rarely works out that way.
The KEF Connect app offers only six EQ presets (Default, Movie, Music, Night, Dialogue, and Direct), with no manual equalizer controls. There are no bass/treble or loudness controls either, unless you create a new EQ profile using the app’s Expert mode.
For most content, the Default mode worked best for my tastes, but each preset is enjoyable in its own way. Dialogue mode can improve the intelligibility of TV speech, but it’s also a handy way to improve vocal clarity when listening to Dolby Atmos Music mixes that may push vocals further away.
KEF XIO soundbar review: Design
- Fully removable grilles, elegant, understated look
- Wall-mountable
- No visible indicators when surface-mounted
From a design perspective, the KEF XIO is a radical departure from the company’s trademark aesthetics, which puts exposed speaker drivers proudly on display. The XIO, by contrast, is demure, hiding all 12 of its drivers behind elegant, splash-proof fabric grilles in Slate Black (seen here) or Silver Grey finishes.
Those grilles cover all but the central top aluminum surface, which houses the bar’s touch controls on one side, a discrete KEF logo on the other, and a covered driver in the middle.
Though it may not scream “KEF,” it’s a smart choice. Soundbars are generally in your line of sight when watching TV, so the fewer visual distractions, the better. Klipsch went loud-and-proud with the drivers on its Cinema series soundbars, and my eyes kept being drawn to their metallic glint. Want to see the XIO’s drivers? Peel away those grilles and, voila.
Though deeper, at 6.5 inches, than many soundbars, the XIO still comes in under three inches tall, which should keep it from blocking the bottom of most TV screens. It also keeps the XIO from sticking too far off your wall when wall-mounted.
Around the back, you’ll find the XIO’s ports, dedicated buttons to reset the speaker and put it in Bluetooth pairing mode, and something we rarely see on soundbars: a physical rocker switch for power. Typically, soundbars are always on, even if they may drop down to a low-power mode when not in use. It’s nice to see the option to completely power a speaker down when you’re going to be away for extended periods.
Many soundbars can be wall-mounted, but in the case of the XIO, it’s a key feature. The speaker automatically detects its orientation, and KEF includes all the hardware you need to get it on a wall. Just be careful — this box is a beast, at 23.1 pounds. Hiding the power and HDMI cable may prove tricky. The HDMI and power ports are very close to the bottom edge of the speaker. And while the included power cable has an L-shaped connector to minimize its protrusion, the included HDMI cable doesn’t. KEF also includes a backlit remote control.
The XIO’s touch controls let you choose your source, set your volume level, mute the sound, and wake the speaker from its low-power state. Beside the controls is a volume meter – a string of little white LEDs. If you wall-mount the XIO, these indicators will be plainly visible, but when sitting on a surface in front of your TV, they’re invisible, and KEF didn’t include a secondary set behind the front grille.
KEF XIO soundbar review: Setup & usability
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- Easy setup and calibration
- KEF Connect app is a work in progress
- Remote could use a rethink
If all you want to do is crank your TV sound, the XIO only takes a few seconds to install. Plug the HDMI cable into the TV, plug the XIO into a power outlet, and flip the power switch on the back panel. As long as you stick with TV, Bluetooth, or Optical sources, you’re good to go.
But don’t stop there. Using the KEF Connect app, you can join the XIO to your Wi-Fi network, which opens up all of the high-quality streaming options like AirPlay, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, and others. It also lets the app configure the XIO, including the room correction feature, which can’t be initiated from the soundbar or the remote.
These steps only take a few extra minutes (more if a firmware update is required). My only complaint is that KEF insists that you create an online account before it lets you do any of this. The rationale is that, should you wish to control the speaker from other devices, an account ensures that all settings are shared between them. In fairness, Sonos, Bose, and many other soundbar companies require the same thing.
Pro tip: Ensure you add TV as a second wake-up source in the preferences section; otherwise, the XIO won’t automatically power up when you turn on your TV.
The KEF Connect app takes some getting used to. It’s divided into five tabs: Home, Remote, Music, EQ settings, and Device/app settings. And yet, it could probably get away with just the Home and EQ/Device settings sections, since the features of the Remote and Music tabs are duplicated on the Home tab.
Having integrated music service access in the app makes sense, but only if it increases convenience and/or sound quality (versus using the service’s standalone app). The potential is there, but KEF’s execution is weak. There’s a very limited number of services available, with Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music being the big omissions. Within each supported service, navigation can be slow as the app populates the available menu items.
Visually, it’s a Spartan experience: Menus are text-only, and album art is presented as tiny thumbnails alongside the playlist, album, or track info. I could chalk this up to KEF’s minimalist aesthetic, but there’s also a lack of a universal search, the single biggest benefit of bringing together music sources in one app.
Having a physical remote is handy. And since KEF’s is an infrared (IR) model (as opposed to Bluetooth or other RF standards), you can use any universal IR learning remote instead (including Logitech’s now-defunct Harmony line). I like that it’s backlit (though just barely) and has an easy-to-use button layout. However, the heart (favorite) button is a bizarre tool. It only lets you pick a favorite function, e.g., Next Source or Set Maximum Volume, and not a favorite album, playlist, or radio station, which you’d normally expect from a favorite button.
I’m also a bit disappointed with the EQ shortcut buttons. For some reason, there are only two, and yet the XIO has six EQ modes to choose from. Why are we limited to just two of our favorites? I think KEF should take a page from Yamaha’s remote control playbook and give us access to all EQ modes.
My biggest critique of the XIO’s usability, however, is the lack of front indicator lights I mentioned earlier. I don’t think you should ever be in the dark when it comes to your soundbar’s selected source or volume level, and unless you consult the KEF Connect app, you won’t know either if you’ve got the speaker setup horizontally. Normally, HDMI-connected soundbars can provide feedback to your TV so that you see an on-screen display of volume level, but this didn’t happen during my time with the XIO.
- Setup & usability score: 3.5 / 5
KEF XIO soundbar review: Value
- Expensive
- Good for Dolby Atmos, superb for music
- Limited expansion options
Soundbars are, first and foremost, all about getting better TV sound. The KEF XIO delivers on that mission effortlessly, with big, bold, and perfectly clean audio. But it doesn’t perform this role significantly better than lower-priced options, specifically, the Sonos Arc Ultra ($1,099).
You can add a subwoofer (wired or wireless) to the XIO, but unlike the Arc Ultra and many others, you can’t add surrounds, which would significantly increase the XIO’s ability to immerse you in a soundtrack.
Still, if you believe a soundbar should be just as killer for music as it is for movies, the XIO rocks, and I have yet to hear a competitive single-speaker system that can touch its music chops.
Should I buy the KEF XIO?
|
Section |
Notes |
Score |
|
Features |
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth streaming plus room correction but shy on ports |
4 / 5 |
|
Performance |
Excellent Dolby Atmos and stereo music performance with powerful bass for an all-in-one soundbar |
5 / 5 |
|
Design |
Elegant, fabric-wrapped design, but no alphanumeric LED display |
4 / 5 |
|
Setup & usability |
Easy setup and calibration, but app and remote control could use some work |
3.5 / 5 |
|
Value |
Expensive, but unbeatable when it comes to soundbar music performance |
3 / 5 |
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
KEF XIO soundbar: Also consider
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
KEF XIO |
Sonos Arc Ultra |
Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus |
Samsung HW-Q990F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Price |
$2,499.95 / ÂŁ1,999.00 (around AU$3,765) |
$999 / ÂŁ999 / AU$1,799 |
$799 / ÂŁ699 / AU$1,299 |
$1,999 / ÂŁ1,699 / AU$2,099 |
|
Dimensions (w x h x d) |
47.6 x 2.8 x 6.5 inches (1209 x 71.2 x 165mm) |
2.95 x 46.38 x 4.35 inches (75 x 1178 x 110.6mm) |
27.6 x 2.6 x 3.9in (700 x 65 x 100mm) |
Soundbar: 1232 x 70.8 x 138 mm (48.5 x 2.8 x 5.4 inch); Subwoofer: 249 x 251.8 x 249 mm (9.8 x 10.0 x 9.8 inch); Rear speaker: 129.5 x 201.3 x140.4 mm (5.1 x 8.0 x 5.5 inch) |
|
Speaker channels |
9.1.4 |
9.1.4 |
7.1.4 |
11.1.4 |
|
Connections |
HDMI out (with eARC), 3x HDMI 2.1 in, optical digital audio, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB-A |
1HDMI with eARC, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth |
HDMI eARC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, USB-A |
1x HDMI out (with eARC), 2x HDMI 2.1 in, optical digital audio, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth |
|
Dolby Atmos/DTS:X |
Yes/Yes |
Yes/No |
Yes/Yes |
Yes/Yes |
How I tested the KEF XIO soundbar
- Used KEF XIO as main audio system for one week
- Tested in basement media room
- Sources: Apple TV 4K, Nvidia Shield 2019, and streamed music from various apps
I spent a full week with the KEF XIO as my main audio system for watching movies, shows, and music in my basement media room. During that time, I played a variety of Dolby Atmos test clips from movies like No Time To Die, Ford v Ferrari, Mad Max: Fury Road, Dune, and Unbroken, paying special attention to details like dialogue clarity, surround sound, and height channel impact.
I streamed most content from an Apple TV 4K connected via an LG OLED TV, which fed the MK2 from its ARC output, but I also connected an Nvidia Shield TV to an eARC extractor so I could hear the XIO’s treatment of Dolby Atmos in Dolby TrueHD.
I evaluated the effect of the various EQ modes as well as the XIO’s room correction feature.
For music, I used a variety of apps, including Apple Music, Tidal, Qobuz, and Amazon Music, listening to a wide range of genres and formats, like Dolby Atmos Music. Some were played from apps on the Apple TV 4K and Nvidia Shield, while others were streamed wirelessly using AirPlay, Bluetooth, Tidal Connect, and Google Cast. I tested several of these within the KEF Connect app as well.
Read more about how we test
- First reviewed: December 2025
Read the full article here
