To a lot of purists and ardent audiophiles, the KRK Rokit’s meteoric rise in popularity cannot be explained.

But these budget priced studio monitors seem to be ubiquitous in home studios and small commercial setups.

And they are a rage on social media. Be it on Instagram or Twitter, the unmissable yellow cones and the powerful thump are trending perpetually.

What gives?

What is it about the Rokit Series that keeps them ticking day after day when there are studio monitors with a more neutral response in the same price range?

Let’s find out.

Detailed KRK Rokit 5 G3 Review

Overview

The KRK Rokit 5 is the latest offering in KRK’s Rokit range of studio monitors that have been around for almost 25 years now.

That sounds unbelievable because most brands have discontinued their older lineups and replaced them with more contemporary choices that are in tune with the changing technology.

KRK on the other hand seem to have a smart head on their shoulders. Perhaps they feel that tampering with the winning design might do them more harm than good.

So the newer Rokits continue to follow the uniform yellow with black branding.

You can say that a lot of refining goes on under the hood. But on the surface, the Rokits are still the same.

This is a two-way active monitor that comes with a 5″ woofer and a 1″ tweeter.

The Design

The New Rokit 5 G3 continues where its predecessor left off.

We have the all-black, low-resonance, MDF cabinets with rounded edges and the slot-shaped, curved bass port placed between the base and the woofer.

The Yellow cones and the white-glowing Rokit Logos add the much needed flash element to an otherwise ordinary design.

Radiused edges, a factory installed foam layer and the perfect positioning of the port, KRK has worked on the design to ensure that there’s minimum distortion and interference.

As evident by now, this is a front-ported monitor. So you don’t really need a freestanding shelf to place it. There will be no sound bouncing off the walls, giving you a cleaner and more accurate bass. No diffraction or air turbulence either.

The Rokit 5 weighs an even 5.9 kilograms each and you can easily carry it for outdoor recording sessions.

The controls are all positioned on the rear panel. You have the standard audio input options like balanced XLR & ¼” TRS and an unbalanced RCA jack.

Sound controls are a tad limited for a studio monitor that’s so aggressively marketed (and hyped).

There’s a volume control that allows you to go from -30dB to +6dB and independent controls that let you boost or cut the low and high frequencies.

Room controls are done away with due to the front-firing port. And when you play the Rokit 5 G3, it becomes evident immediately that it works well with rooms and studios of all sizes without the need for additional tweaking.

Specifications

Powering the Rokit G5 is a bi-amped, class A/B amplifier that delivers 50W of sonic amplification.

That sounds pale in comparison to many other studio monitors in this price range, that offer a lot more bang for your buck.

But you are in for a surprise when you power this beauty on. More on this in a bit.

The transducers are a 5” Aramid glass composite cone for the lower frequency range and a 1” silk dome tweeter for the higher range.

The frequency range is a wide 45 Hz – 35 kHz, which is excellent for a speaker this size and at this price.

Sound quality

Let’s talk about what it all boils down to, the sound quality.

Just like most other nearfield studio monitor’s from Rokit’s budget-priced range, the Rokit 3 G5 produces a colored sound output.

The lows in particular produce an exaggerated response that make the speakers sound louder than they look. Don’t get us wrong here. The added punch in the lows gives instant gratification.

And might be well suited for certain styles of music like R&B, Hip Hop & EDM.

You can keep working on your mixes with the Rokit 5 for hours at end without getting listener fatigue, that some of the more neutral sounding monitors are guilty of causing.

But from a production or sound mixing perspective, this will put your critical listening skills to the test.

There have been instances where the mix sounded bass heavy on the Rokit. But felt flat on other systems.

Having said that, this is typically considered to be the Rokit characteristic sound that makes it so popular.

The midrange and treble on the other hand are reasonably flat and pretty clear. So are the high mids.

Who is the Rokit G5 ideal for?

The Rokit G5 should appeal more to the casual listener than a musician or sound engineer looking for astute details in the sound output.

The sound quality is punchy and ideal for a small room or studio.

Having said that, if you are a professional looking to use the G3 Rokit 5 for your projects, then you can get around some of the flaws by applying your critical listening skills. Do a reference with a track that has a good mix maybe.

Our Verdict: Great set of speakers for home use. May not be the best of choices though for a professional set up.