Neumann KH 80 DSP Studio Monitors Review - I'm not thrilled!

Neumann is arguably one of the most influential microphone makers, responsible for numerous classic microphones that have captured some of the most historic performances; Neumann has defined our perception of how great recordings sound and represents the highest class of musical production.

During the last decade or so, things have gradually been changing at the Berlin headquarters. At first with the introduction of more affordable microphones, like the TLM 102 that brought the famous Neumann badge to the home studio, and more recently with microphone preamps, studio headphones and monitors. Neumann aims to cover every need of the recording studio.

Active Studio Monitors

The KH 80 DPS Studio monitor borrows from the design of its bigger sibling, the KH 120, which itself is based on the Klein + Hummel O 110. Apart from the size difference, the KH 80 is made of plastic instead of aluminium to be more portable, but also cheaper to make. Furthermore, DPS is utilised to achieve a flatter frequency response, with finer phase response, and a sophisticated room correction algorithm.

The small Neumann monitor has been warmly received by home and professional engineers alike, many also claim that it is even better than the KH 120 for midrange detail retrieval. Most reviews I could find were very positive, similarly to my experience with the KH 120 and KH 310. Therefore, I was looking forward to trying a pair of KH 80's in my room. Is time for me to buy a new pair of small monitors?

Handling

The KH 80 DSP arrived tightly packed. They are smaller and much lighter than you might expect. Unfortunately, their plasticky build, the thin mains cable with the flimsy plug and the ultra-tight space on the back for the XLR cable don't give the best first impressions. It seems that Neumanneiser cut some corners here, but hopefully, the sound will make me forget these weaknesses.

The space for the connectors is limited; I guess it is a plus for very tight spaces.

As soon as you power on the Monitors, the Neumann badge in the front illuminates in red for a few seconds and then turns to white when they are ready for use. The curvy housing is finished in matt sparkly grey; the black woofer, and the tweeter with its substantial waveguides look pretty cool, I have to admit.

Apart from these nice touches, the KH 80 feel more like an oversized computer speaker than a serious studio monitor. I can see the appeal of compactness and lightness for those who seek a good sounding but portable monitor for location recordings, but for the price, I am a bit underwhelmed.

So, how do the KH 80 Studio Monitors sound?

I had the monitors for almost two months, I used them in different productions, as well as regular listening sessions of a variety of (mainly classical) music. I got familiar enough with the KH 80 to be confident with they sound, but I'm a bit baffled with them.

Don't get me wrong, it is a decent sounding monitor. The greatest feat of Neumann is how tight and defined they managed to get the low end for such a tiny monitor. Bass and low mids provide enough depth, greater than what the size suggests, and good enough accuracy.

The rest of the range is less inspiring though. The midrange has a somewhat boxy quality to it; guitars, in particular, tend to sound harsher than with other systems. It is revealing enough, but If you get the mid frequencies to sound right on the KH 80, they will end up sounding too polite in general.

I was expecting a more revealing presentation on the top end, but higher-mids and highs here sound slightly more laid back than I wished. I like that the KH 80 is a non-fatiguing and relaxed monitor, but it won't display otherwise obvious problematic audio artefacts.

The imaging of the KH 80 is very good for the price and offers plenty of localization from left to right, as well as useful front to back information. Reverbs sound realistic and are it is easy to hear what the different settings affect.

All in all, I could make the KH 80's work for me, but I was not sad when I returned them.

Auto stand-why?

One of the seemingly trivial things that annoyed me with the KH 80's is the auto-standby feature, or rather, the performance of it. The monitors would automatically go on standby after about 90 minutes of inactivity. Then, by running through a relatively loud signal, the monitors would wake up, and after a few seconds, they would be ready for use.

On paper, this is fantastic as it would mean that I have one less thing to worry about when I leave my desk. The issue is that each monitor has a mind of its own. Sometimes, one monitor would go on standby first, or one monitor would need a louder signal to wake up. The result is that I had to tolerate several times loud music for a few seconds until both monitors were awake.

Besides turning this "feature" off, it is possible to change the time before standby mode but as with the other DSP capabilities of the monitors, their implementation is rather quirky and off-putting that I didn't bother. I cannot understand why in this day of age, Neumann couldn't implement a more intuitive solution. I live in Berlin and every second person here is either an artist or a software developer, it wouldn't have been too hard to find the right people for this. Neumann is a hardware company, and software is an afterthought, but they need to take it more seriously.

Conclusion

Overall, the KH 80 is a decent monitor with some desirable attributes, but I think that Neumann hit slightly off-target with a monitor that is neither analytic nor the most fun. It is rather, dare I say, a bit boring sounding. It is an ultra-compact and light monitor, that sounds as big as it looks. Perhaps that is its strongest achievement, or maybe I was expecting a bit too much from Neumann. For a little more money, the KH 120 is a better and bigger sounding monitor; for considerably less, the Focal Shape 40 is hard to beat for the price.