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I've pretty much narrowed it down between the two.
Has anyone had both of these in the room and compared?
Curious on thoughts?




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So, I got a pair of Kali IN-8's yesterday. My initial reaction is very positive. I honestly can hear little nuances that I didn't before. It caught me off-guard. They have a good stereo field and the separation is really nice. Good low-end, nice mids and they feel nice. I was on them for 8-10 hours yesterday and my ears felt good throughout. Mostly was listening to Spotify and some of my old mixes trying to get aquainted.

Hiss....

Yes, there is a small amount of hiss that comes from the speaker. I could see it bothering some people who sit super close or listen at really low levels. At normal listening level it is fine. The hiss is faint and not annoying. I have amps, computer fans, and hard-drives that are louder.

I'm around 50-54" away.

For the price they are great.
I think I'll be keeping them.

I would assume that a 3-way monitor would be preferable - no port on the back of the IN-8 etc. etc.

There aren't many hands on reports on IN8 at all.

HS8 has an extensive proven record of being used by engineers. It's a fool proof choice.

IN8 is a novelty speaker. The few reviews... describe a rather strange monitor.

I'd go with HS8.

I like the idea of a 3-way speaker, but also understand the consistent praise for the Yamaha Monitors. I was hoping for some comments that would make this a clearer decision, but now realizing it’s only made it harder. lol

I’ve heard the Yamaha’s in person. I’ll try and find some Kali’s to check out.

3-way is nice, not sure about the most entry level 3-way. Some reviewer measured it and there was a rather massive HF hole.

Yamahas are pure engineers monitors. They don't sound nearly as nice as other monitors in their category. The top end may sound a bit grainy. But they split the sound into separate tiny parts like nothing else. Extremely analytical. Hard to listen to casually (youtube) for prolonged periods.

I've seen even world class producers own them, people with millions in their bank accounts and yet, lowly HS8 on their desk.

Mike Oldfield, Kygo, Focus...

Never seen a single JBL on anybody's desk. That alone should tell you something.

The Yamaha HS-8 is excellent. It's the most accurate speaker in their HS line, and it holds up really nicely.

BUT (and take this with a grain of salt, because obviously we're biased) the IN-8 offers some key advantages:

• Lower distortion
• Deeper bass extension
• Front Port (means it can be used against walls)
• Boundary compensation (placement-specific EQ curves)
• Much better imaging via the coaxial midrange and tweeter

The one thing I'd consider is listening distance. The IN-8s use Class D amps, which helps us get to the distortion numbers we're at, but also means that the speakers have some self noise. If you're mixing from less than about a meter away, you might find it bothersome.

Someone else mentioned a large hole being measured in the top end. This was a faulty unit, and that reviewer has since re-measured and corrected his review. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/f...-review.10897/

Is there something you guys can do to make GC carry your monitors in stock or at least have demos on their floor?

Is there some kind of exclusive thing going on with GC and other brands why they won't put up anything else besides KRK, Yamaha, Adam, and MAudio?

Can you send a promo pair to at least one store in each town or is it just to expensive for your (I assume comparably small?) company?

It's up to them. As a startup company, we need to prove to them that the monitors will sell if they put them in stores. We're working to do that every day.

Have you considered sending a pair to smaller music instrument stores in the cities to have them as demos and then listing available locations on your website where people can listen to them?

No matter the reviews I think buyers will always end up getting something they can actually hear. It's very hard to commit to buying something unheard, it's basically asking for a leap of faith. Because if you don't like it and want to return you either have to swallow shipping costs or pass them onto the seller, and probably, ultimately the manufacturer (you) which for some may feel not a right thing to do. It's an expensive way to "try something out". For somebody, most likely your company (unless you split shipping costs with the dealer)

I almost ordered IN8 a few months ago when I was looking for my monitors replacement, but ultimately decided to go with other because I just couldn't find a pair of IN8 to listen to and didn't want to risk having to go through returns and pro reviews at the time were non-existent (there are still only 2 that I found, from audioscience and mixonline, which I read the other day and are in fact positive).

@ kaliaudio if you represent the company, please talk to Gearslutz to make that extra visible.

What's your recommended listening distance for the IN-8? More of a mid field?

@ tymish ,

between 1 meter and 2.8 meters

We're working on getting the speakers in as many local retailers as possible, but there's not a lot of appetite outside of Vintage King and Westlake Pro to have a speaker this expensive on the showroom floor.

I'm also thinking about Kali in 8.
But the possible hiss of amplifiers is confusing .
On other Kali models, I have met complaints about hissing.
(I plan to put them 50-75 cm away from me , so Sizzling is not acceptable(((()

is there a specific dip setting for upper corner installation? Haven't studied the settings.

Some people are quite bothered by the hiss but others barely notice it. It's slightly better than the JBL 308, if you've ever used a pair of those.

Use the appropriate "close to a wall" setting for your application.

Do you mean that the noise of kali in 8 is less than the noise of JBL 308 ?

and another question.
1) does this hiss depend on the sensitivity on the monitor?
2) does the hiss depend on the volume on the monitor?

+if they had the ability to make Kali in 8 comparisons I think it would increase sales.
https://www.youtube.com/user/skubny/...=dd&shelf_id=2

How close to a wall are we talking about?

That's right, noise is a little lower than on the JBL.

Hiss is not dependent on either of those factors. Basically, if the monitor is on and passing audio, you're going to hear a certain level of it.

That's on you!

We have a setting for "close to a wall" which is for any position between about 5 and 19 inches. We have another setting for "against a wall" that assumes that the speakers are as close to a wall as they can be without the cables interfering with the wall.

I'm interested in high-frequency noise when music is not playing. (at a distance of 50 cm from the tweeter)
it is a pity that there is a hiss (

HDS (hiss derangement syndrome)

now officially added to the evergrowing list of similar conditions:

BDS (BehringerDS)
RTDS (RoomTreatmentDS)

The whiners complaining about hiss typically aren't listening at anything close to reference levels or are using a monitor as a nearfield that's really no supposed to be used as an nearfield. I have KRK V6S4, which had a few guys moan about the hiss. There is a very, very soft low level hiss but it's not a big deal at all. External hard drives used for backing up sessions are way louder than any powered speaker. The JBL 305 and Kali LP6 were both much louder than my KRKs and their hiss wasn't as big deal either. They translate just as gloriously as their KRK 6000 predecessor. The new Rokit 5 is also okay and doesn't hiss at all 1m away.

No three way speaker or an 8" woofer and a 1" dome tweeter are going to crossover one foot from your face. Yes I have seen people use bigger monitors in ultra near field. The complainers are almost all listening at 60db or something.

I liked the Kali LP6 but felt the tweeter was untrue. The woofer wasn't super responsive but it was okay. The LP8 was flabby and the mids a good deal worse. The HS8 was more true and detailed tonally than both of them if your room can handle the low end but the LP6 (and the JBL 305 mkII) will show compression more easily due to the peculiarities of Yamaha's plate amp design. IN-8, who knows but if it's not flabby like LP8, it should be decent. The HS8 is a proven, if papery sounding, standard that will be tough to top in this price bracket.

Can we get the IN8 in white?

what sizzles less than v6s4 or kali lp6 or lsr350?

Most things without cheap class D plate amps hiss less. The LP6 and LSR 305 hiss more offensively than the V6S4 and their hiss is still not a big deal.

There are probably other things in the complainers’ studio adding to the noise because pros use these monitors without complaint. I’ve mixed records entirely on jbl 305 without any reference checks but a car because I liked and trusted them more than the more expensive monitors in the studio. The krks I use myself I trust way more than a lot of mains.

Most of the guys complaining don’t have good power, cabling, and interfaces that reject computer electrical noise. The guys with the worst stuff complain the most about decent gear. What we’re talking about is dirt cheap gear that’s adequate to very good. Use it. It’s not like you’re going to get ATCs for this money and guess what? Some ATCs hiss! Hahahaha

The noisiest things I’ve had to deal was hum from cheap delaminated transformers and bad caps in linear power supplies. Most current monitors use regulated switch mode power supplies. You won’t have to deal with that. They will just stop working.

Here's what I put up with with my HS50m monitors. They sit next to V6S4s (and completely drown whatever hiss comes out from them). They sound like a turned on radio in between stations.

It's so loud I can hear the noise pretty much anywhere in the room (the sample probably won't sound like it).

And I don't care.

(recorded with a phone, there's no drop in volume, the crackle is consistent, it's the phone doing some noise suppression tricks or something)

HS8s are even worse. They sound like some sci-fi space radio transmission all the time.

And I don't care either.

We don't have any plans for white IN-8s at this time.