Overview:
Edifier is a brand name I have come to respect. Their kit is usually well built, well designed, produces fantastic quality sound, and costs a lot. The other day though, I received the Edifier e3350, 2.1 speakers. What is special about these though is the price. At just under £60.00 these speakers are happily affordable, but are they any good? Well if you care to read on, I shall enlighten you as to the world of the e3350.
Review:
As you open the box, the first thing you see is the elegant satellite speakers, and the triangular volume control knob. Lifting the speakers out, they feel a little light, but the volume knob has the trademark weighty feel to it. Taking off the top layer of the contents, reveals the large bass speaker. The bass speaker has curved a pyramidal shape to it, and houses a large cone, the power button, and the various connectors that allow you to plug in power, the satellite speakers and the volume control. This again feels slightly less solid than the usual Edifier fare. It’s worth noting that these speakers also come in seven colours, black, blue, gold, green, pink, purple and silver. Something there for any room.
To get the show on the road, you plug the speakers in the bass speaker, then you plug the volume knob into the bass speaker, then the power into the bass speaker. Once you have done all that, you have a good amount of spaghetti, and a natty looking speaker system. I do wish that the manufacturers would provide some sort of cable management with these systems. Plug the 3.5mm jack into your computer, press the power button on the top, and away you go.
Having pressed the power button on the top, a light then appears around the aforementioned switch, and around the volume knob. A nice little touch, and makes the e3350 look a bit posh. For my test tune, I used the quirky and ubiquitous Kalimba by Mr. Scruff. If you think that you have seen it before, but not sure where, then look no further than your install of Windows 7 Beta. Any-who, it’s got a good range of sound, from rolling base to the tweetiest of treble. It’s also available to you quite easily to see that I’m doing a reasonable job of picking a good test track, and it’s free. Which has nothing to do with why I chose it.
I’m quite happy to report that the quality of sound is pretty good, the treble comes through pretty well, as you may expect for this type of speaker system. The mid-range is very reasonable, with no rattling that can be the bain of computer speakers. The bass is handled by the big pyramid, and it does do it justice. You can control the amount of bass that this pumps out with a dial on the bass speaker. Pushing it all the way to the top and turning the volume full, you do get distortion, also the bass speaker tries to get away, vibrating along your desk. Turning it up loud though is something you will rarely do, and under normal circumstances, this handles all ranges with no problem. The short fall in the sound quality seems as though it could be solved with a sturdier case, but I guess that’s what the trade off is.
The Gaj-It Verdict:
Design: 8/10
Usability: 7/10
Features: 6/10
Value: 8/10
What we say:
The e3350 from Edifier are superb 2.1 speakers for the price in terms of the sound quality that you get. Let down a little by the spaghetti and a slightly light build quality. Don’t let that put you off though, as they have a lot going for them, and at £60, could you ask for more?
Specifications
- Power Output: RMS 32W + 9W x 2 (THD=10%)
- Signal to Noise Ratio:>=85dBA
- Distortion:<=0.5% THD
- Input Impedance: 10K Ohm
- Input Sensitivity: Satellites—550+/-50mV; Subwoofer—200+/-50mV
- Frequency Response: 40Hz – 20kHz
- Bass Unit: 5 inch driver, magnetically shielded, 5Ohm
- Satellite Unit: 2.75 inch oval shaped driver,4 Ohm and 3/4 inch PV dome tweeter, magnetically shielded, 4Ohm
- Dimension: Subwoofer — 248 x199 x 294mm (W X H X D)
Satellite — 96 x 234 x 118mm (W x H x D) - Gross Weight: approximately 5 kg
- Power Input: 100V-240V wide range AC power adapter,18V