KEF Mu7 Wireless Active Noise Cancelling Headphones, Charcoal Grey

Product Information

The call quality could be better, though. While the best pairs of true wireless earbuds lend your voice a more natural-sounding quality, the KEFs have a slightly coarse edge and introduce more compression. Verdict Of course, Bluetooth is used for signal transmission, namely a Bluetooth module from Qualcomm that complies with Bluetooth 5.1 and, among other things, also offers the codec aptX HD for signal transmission with up to 24 bits and 48 kHz. Of course, this requires that the source device also has the corresponding capabilities. Alternatively, the lossy codecs SBC and AAC are also available. The British hi-fi titan has been busy flexing its luxuriously top-spec audio muscles these last few years with some wonderful speakers, like the effortlessly clean LSXII set, and while it might not be the household name that your grandparents would know about, it's still one of the most sought-after audio-makers around. This new lunge for relevancy has promise with the release of the mid-specced Mu7, but do KEF's ANC-powered headphones have any staying power? We've been testing them out to see how competitive they really are. History in the making The Mu3 do a good job of keeping outside interference to a minimum. Their noise-cancelling tech doesn’t produce such stark results as the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, but it’s effective and, anyway, not everyone is comfortable with the vacuum-like feeling that more aggressive noise-cancelling technology can have. Such products and review copies are often collected at the end of a year, for example, and sold at a company flea market, with the proceeds being donated to charitable causes.

It can happen for various reasons that we do not report on products even though we have corresponding test products. However, if you’re a fan of the KEF brand – or Ross Lovegrove in particular –and have the funds at your disposal, it’s well worth giving them a chance. KEF’s pedigree as a loudspeaker manufacturer is unquestionable, but has this helped them produce a pair of wireless headphones capable of going toe-to-toe with the very best?

The developers have paid special attention to a particularly simple – one could even say intuitive – operation. This is done directly on the headphones, via the right ear cup. There’s no transparent mode which allows you to have a conversation while wearing them and there’s no automatic pausing when you either lift an earcup or remove them from your head. They don’t sound like major problems, but when you’re used to experiencing them on rival products it’s surprising how much they can elevate the user experience when executed correctly. Don't worry, I didn't damage my ears because these headphones aren't particularly loud even at full speed. With the KEF Mu7 Wireless Headphones, the English company KEF is obviously continuing a good tradition: in the field of headphones, they rely on an outstanding, exclusive design and promise to combine this with the finest sound. Once again, KEF delivers a solution that is in the best sense of the word in the lifestyle category, and thus seems well equipped to prove itself in the broad and highly competitive headphone market. The fact that KEF’s developers chose a somewhat different concept for the KEF Mu7 Wireless Headphones than other manufacturers could also contribute to this.

In the early 1980s, a pair of KEF C20s were the first good speakers I could afford with summer job wages.

Sound quality is good and seems to be on the warmer side with a sense of veil, but that veil seem to go away after a couple of hours of burn-in. Couple this with a balanced, high-end audio experience and impressive - but not quite class beating - ANC and what you have is a real noise-canceling headphone contender that deserves to turn heads away from the likes of Sony and Apple. The KEFs produce a wonderfully balanced sound that’s smooth and refined. They’re quite effortless in their delivery and present the music in a mature and sophisticated fashion, making them easy to listen to over prolonged periods. You can push them to the limits of their battery life and emerge on the other side not feeling drained or tired of their sound.