KEF Mu7 Wireless Active Noise Cancelling Headphones, Charcoal Grey

Product Information

Of course, there’s a bit more to these KEF than a high-sheen, smooth and rather self-consciously mature presentation. Five minutes in the company of a TIDAL-derived stream of Cornflake Girl by Tori Amos allows the Mu7 to explain a lot of what they’re all about – and a lot is a lot of what they’ve got.

They’re certainly a crisp-sounding pair of headphones. There’s a decent amount of space around instruments and vocals. Detail levels are fine for the money, and tonally they’re pretty well-balanced with no end of the frequency spectrum favoured over the other. Low frequencies are lean and agile, which you’d think would help deliver a dynamic, lively sound… Each earcup has a couple of cutaways near the top that act as mic openings. The right earcup also has a smaller mic opening towards the bottom, and there’s also a little LED down here too - it lets you know what’s what regarding charging, pairing, power status and so on. For the most part, the Mu7 are premium wireless over-ear headphone business as usual. The slender arms and yokes are of smooth, expertly fitted aluminium, while the earpads and the central portion of the headband are breathable leatherette – the earpads are filled with memory foam. turbohobbit said:I agree. I've have the KEFs for about 6 weeks now and they're grand. Sure they aren't the bassiest headphones out there but they are top notch for proper unadulterated sound replication - exactly what you'd expect from a speaker maker. To be fair, I do run them through an iFI Go Blu DAC for a little extra volume and filtering but that's my choice - you certainly don't have to.

Now in its seventh decade, KEF has an enviable reputation for speaker design. From BBC studios to high-end home systems, KEF are considered one of the world’s leading speaker companies. When it comes to KEF Mu7 headphones, KEF have applied similar care and rigour to their speaker design, ensuring that these headphones are amongst the very best sounding at their price. Thanks to a battery that lasts for up to 40 hours, you get to enjoy the Mu7’s for longer. What’s more, its 40 hours even with Bluetooth and Smart Active Noise Cancellation engaged, meaning you don’t have to make compromises to get this generous battery life. Fast charging means that just 15 minutes of charging is enough for a further 8 hours of use. Renowned for his sculptural, flowing forms, Ross Lovegrove is a visionary designer. The Mu7’s have a purity of design that reflects their sound quality. The smooth, seamless design is available in a choice of Silver Grey or Charcoal Grey finishes. Which means that aside from the aluminium earcups, the rest of the KEF are unremarkable where design is concerned. Faux-leather covered memory foam forms the earpads, and there’s more of the material covering the central part of the headband. The rest of the headband, the arms and the yokes are aluminium too, and the earcups fold flat to allow the KEF-branded sem-rigid carry case to be of manageable size.

So in relative terms the KEF push rather than punch, and don’t create quite the sense of momentum or rhythmic positivity that other, more assertive, designs can achieve. And when you realise the Mu7 aren’t the most dynamic headphones around when it comes to putting appreciable distance between ‘quite quiet’ and ‘extremely loud’ is concerned, it becomes apparent the KEF can sound slightly undemonstrative and matter-of-fact when compared to their most capable price-appropriate rivals. However you choose to get it there, once the audio information is on board your Mu7 it’s delivered to your ears by a pair of 40mm full-range dynamic drivers. A frequency response such as KEF is claiming, of 20Hz – 20kHz, is both ample and eminently achievable. Prices valid in stores (all including VAT) until close of business on 2nd November 2023. (Some of these web prices are cheaper than in-store, so please mention that you've seen these offers online.)The way any piece of audio equipment sounds is ultimately a judgement call. Someone (or some group of people) has decided on the ‘voice’ a pair of headphones (for instance) is going to have, and then fingers are crossed as to whether or not it finds favour. In the case of the KEF Mu7, it’s not difficult to picture the wish-list: five minutes inside these headphones and words like ‘judicious’, ‘precise’ and ‘mature’ all start to muscle their way to the front of the mind… They are also heavier than the Sonys (309g vs around 250g), and they feel it. You’re a bit more aware of their presence on your head but they’re not an uncomfortable fit by any stretch.

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? It can be tough to make your headphones stand out from the crowd, so to give the Mu7 greater shelf appeal, KEF has once again collaborated with designer Ross Lovegrove. His fingerprints can be seen on past KEF products such as its Muon floorstanding speakers, Muo wireless speakers, and Mu3 wireless earbuds– and you can immediately see his influence on the Mu7. Oddly enough, the Mu7 manages to combine similar traits when it comes to the way they deal with external sounds. Switch ANC on or (Smart on if you’re out and about) and there’s no two ways about it: they do a very decent job on all ambient noise short of ear-splitting.

Why is KEF Mu7 better than the average?

I get the strong impression reviewers and consumer alike have become so used to the bass-heavy (or at least bass-front) and feature laden offerings that seem to have saturated the market that we have come to expect a very specific basket of things from headphones and have actually forgotten how to look - and listen - a little deeper. Obviously, too, appreciation is in the ear of the beholder. Do I like my KEFs? Yes. Might someone else? No. That's up to them. But for what it's worth, in my opinion, they are better than this review suggests.Could I ask. I get the strong impression reviewers and consumer alike have become so used to the bass-heavy (or at least bass-front) and feature laden offerings that seem to have saturated the market that we have come to expect a very specific basket of things from headphones and have actually forgotten how to look - and listen - a little deeper. Obviously, too, appreciation is in the ear of the beholder. Do I like my KEFs? Yes. Might someone else? No. That's up to them. But for what it's worth, in my opinion, they are better than this review suggests. Matching KEF’s class-leading ability for sound quality with outstanding design and functionality, the KEF Mu7 headphones raise the bar for noise-cancelling headphones.