Upgradeitis

I had the same upgrade considerations:

1) KEF Blade Meta or KEF Reference 3 Meta

2) Vivid Kaya 45

3) Magico A3

4) Yamaha NS5000

I also upgraded from the CODA CSiB | CODA #8 | CODA #16

My DAC was a Lumin X1 but sold that to buy speakers and now use a Schitt Yggi+ Less Is More. Which has turned out to be my fav DAC.

I found the Magico A3 not as coherent as the KEF's, Vivid, and Yamaha. My fav was the Blade 2 and the Yamaha was a sleeper since i heard it in the worst possible demo room with Yamaha 5000 series gear. Given the circumstances I thought it could be a great speaker. 

The Vivid was really good but I was hard pressed to say it was much better than the cheaper KEF Reference 3. The Blade is at another level.

I decided to not get the Blade due to concerns about the traffic in the room where the Blades would reside (wife and dog, kid is behaved). I went with the Yamaha on a hunch. It turned out to be a very satisfying purchase. The Yamaha is incredibly coherent and musical. 

I thought no 2 channel speakers would be as good as my RAAL SR1a earphones with the VM-1a amp. The Yamaha NS5000 with the CODA #16 turned out to be better and my best system. I am OK with not getting the Blade though I think the Blade would be nice to get.

I also have a Magnepan LRS+ in my office, while not as good as the Yamaha or the RAAL, it is a very fine sounding speaker. 

Gotta love “the itch.”  What specific improvements are you looking for, what’s your budget, and are you looking for new or used?

@yyzsantabarbara 

I bet your wife would be glad to hear that she is not “behaved”.

The meta version would be a clear upgrade as would the blade meta.

Or maybe it’s more a different sound you seek as opposed to a clear upgrade?

Go to an audio show to see and hear before you buy.  Personally, I find very few that I would want after being a Magnepanar owner for 20+ years.

I have Kef Ref 5's 

Dcs Bartok

PS Audio BHK 300 monos.

Rel S812 subs x 2

I know how good your Kefs are and to upgrade them is going to take some serious dough. Why don't you consider a couple of subs, that's what I did and I couldn't be happier. It is a huge upgrade imo at a fraction of the cost. The overall impact on sound is quite surprising and very rewarding.

I went from KEF Reference 1 speakers to Yamaha NS-5000 and really enjoyed the upgrade.  Qualio's IQ is really nice if you want to try open baffle.

@crwindy 

I'm curious:  what did you think of the Vivid Audio oval?  It's strengths and weaknesses?

That was the first, earlier model Vivid speaker I encountered and they've clearly moved on in their cabinet designs.

I liked the ovals. The mids and highs were excellent. They did not quite fill the room as much as I wanted, even with a JL subwoofer. 

I'm on a similar upgrade path with a similar sized room.  I'm using a venerable KEF speaker from the '90's, the KEF Reference 107. I'm the original owner. They have been upgraded with better crossover parts and new internal wiring.  I have struggled to find anything I like much better without spending a fortune, so I will be interested in responses. The rest of my system is CODA 16 amp, CODA 07X preamp, Playback Design Merlot DAC, (Upgrading to Playback Design MPD-6 soon), Innuos Statement streamer, and a stereo pair of REL S510's. . I find the KEF and CODA gear to be a really compelling combination! I would echo the comment about considering adding subs to your setup. You will like what they do to the soundstage and it's NOT about more bass. 

Thanks crwindy!

See if you can listen to a pair of Wilson-Benesch....carbon fiber cabinets,,extreme technology and they get out of the box totally. 

Have fun with it. If I was you I’d try the coda v2 first, then maybe different speakers. The problem with replacing Kef speakers is they ride the line so well that every other speakers improvement is a trade off for something else the R3 does better.