LYD 48 vs. Core 59 vs. HEDD 20 vs. KH310 vs. 8341

Let's do this..

Genelec 8341: (Price offered 5,200 Euro's / 5,309 USD)

Let's start with the positives, GLM is simply put fantastic. Once calibrated you have the option to receive a report detailing all of the issues in your room plus some handy positioning guides. It even gives recommendations and ways to improve your setup, I have REW and ARC 3 to compare results against but it seemed pretty accurate.

I had to incorporate a wind down curve for the treble which knocked 4dB off the top because they're very bright out of the box. However my room didn't like the rear ports being positioned almost towards the ceiling, GLM corrected for it but with a sealed or front ported my room is +-4dB down to 35Hz (+-2dB for mids and treble). The correction factor with these were nearly 18dB for 60Hz downwards which was quite surprising..

Apart from that my conclusion is that the Genelec "the one's" are okay, better than the LYD's for sure but in terms of LMF to mid range clarity and sound stage (phantom centre etc.) the Core 59's are far better even if that comes with a few compromises. Also they're expensive and I'm still not a fan of metal tweeters, although I could honestly see the 8341's being the perfect nearfield for those in a less than ideal room. Due to their size they'd also be perfect for mobile tracking and to be fair there's no reason why I couldn't get a translatable mix from them (in fact I did try and after a few corrections plus some adaption time there were no issues), ultimately though for the price I just wasn't that impressed.

Dynaudio Core 59: (Price offered 4,810 Euro's / 4,911 USD)

The 59's certainly rely on their DSP to correct things, out of the box they appear overly bright and in terms of phase alignment completely inconsistent. That being said a -2dB dip on the treble and a couple of positioning switches later and oh my word. Besides from PSI and ATC these are potentially some of the best monitors I've heard, mid range clarity is incredible, bass and LMF is perfectly defined, there's no trace of distortion at levels that'll keep your hearing in a near / midfield position. The phantom centre / stereo field will stand up to the likes of Geithain, I wish they had something like Geithain's cardioid bass dispersion technology but hey they're a lot cheaper. I spotted so many issues with various mixes through the Core 59's and everything was simple to correct, I recieved more information from them than my three sets of headphones and didn't even bother to use my mixcubes. The 59’s when tested translated perfectly fine..


Previously quite a few people asked why I didn't just go for the ATC SCM 25's? Well, besides from bass there's the cost, the SCM 25's are 9,165 Euro's / 9,537 USD in my neck of the woods, that's over $4.5K more expensive. In the US prices are slightly closer but check out Thomann US, the Core 59's are $4998.00..

Neumann KH310: (Price offered 4,112 Euro's / 4,198 USD)

Hmm, what's there to say about the Neumann's that already hasn't been said? Accurate bass / LMF and decent mid range clarity if not a bit dry. I found them slightly laid back in terms of HF response (which is a positive I guess?) but compared to the Core 59's they came off a bit boxy sounding. The stereo imaging isn't as sharp as the Genelec's or Core 59's and overall they did struggle to compete in this test.

Although the KH310's are extremely good monitors, every single one of these including the LYD 48's are. However it's the price of the Neumman's not the monitors themselves that I have the biggest issue with. Now they're on the street personally I'd just save up another $700.00 and buy the Core 59's..

LYD 48: (Price at purchase 1,600 Euro's / 1,633 USD)

The LYD's were my main monitors for about 5 years, out of 30 sets in the lower end these remained triumphant all the way through but unfortunately the Core 59's absolutely crushed them. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, over many moons I've had no issues with the LYD's and there's quite a few artists on this board like Ragan or Mcirish creating incredible sounding songs with them.

Fact of the matter is these are $1.6K monitors that simply put don't belong in this test. Don't get me wrong they put up a good fight, the Neumann's are better but only in some area's by a certain amount. Tested against other $2K options and the LYD's mid / treble clarity / stereo imaging and bass response is rather impressive, the Core's however improve on every aspect. LMF's have far more clarity, stereo imaging is massive in comparison, instead of phantom centre they should call the 59's phantom surround sound, bass is far more defined and they just sound larger, less boxy and critical analysis is far easier.

Although shouldn't that be the case? The Core 59's cost nearly $3.3K more, if they weren't at least twice as good what's the point of them?