The Yamaha HS5 (see image) makes a far better home studio monitor for high-resolution mixing and music production.
Both Yamaha and KRK offer excellent yet affordable home studio monitors for general listening and music production.
The KRK Rokit 5 series is the go-to choice of renowned and aspiring DJs for hip-hop and EDM dance parties. Meanwhile, the Yamaha HS5 is the perfect option for music engineers who need to mix and master music in small- to medium-sized rooms.
In summary, the KRK Rokit 5 is a superior home studio monitor for entertainment and general listening. However, if you're looking to produce more high-end music for films and the like, then the Yamaha HS5 is your top choice.
Now, let's look at the defining features for both home studio monitors and see which one is the best.
Sound Quality
Let me tell you something right off the bat.
The sound quality performance you'll end up getting from a speaker will always depend on your room acoustics - particularly room dimensions and speaker positions.
The impact of the combination of these two is actually so strong that in most cases, it doesn't even make sense to utter a single word on sound quality without speaking of them.
This is also why it's not unusual to see completely different reviews of the same speaker.
In one case the speaker might be placed in a sweet spot inside the room and hence the user might be satisfied. In other cases the same speaker might be ill placed and hence user might even have returned it.
The point most people miss here is that it mostly isn't even about the engineering behind the speaker itself. It's about where you place the speaker inside which room.
So, in order to solve this problem, I've partnered with Acoustics and Audio Engineering PhD Andrea Cicero from AC Acustica and created Soundton - a simple, 2D, browser accessible online speaker placement calculator.
With Soundton, now there's a way to figure the sound quality of most speakers before you buy them.
Read more about its working principles at soundton.com/documentation/.
The end colormap provides you the locations with the best (green) and worst (red) acoustics.