Edifier MR4 Powered Studio Monitors, 4" Active Reference Speakers

So, there are two types of people who look at this product. The first is as an audiophile who is comparing this to speakers 2 or 3 times as expensive. The second is as a non-audiophile reaching up to this price point from the $40 Logitech speakers you've had since 2017 that get the job done, but you're ready for something better. I have experience with the first type of person for headphones, but for desktop speakers, it's time to retire my old Logitechs. Pros: 1. The sound quality, compared to my $40 Logitech speakers, is incredible. It's the same feeling I got when I got my first nice pair of over ear headphones after years of using those old Apple earbuds (not airpods, the wired earbuds they gave out with iPods lol). The sound is much clearer, the bass is punchier, and it's just overall better than the Logitech speakers. 2. The power button doubles as a studio/music profile switched. Red light means studio, green light means music. The green light one sounds better to me, provided you use the bass knob in the back to turn the bass down 3 or 4dB. Otherwise the bass gets a little boomy. But, I like the dual profiles, even if these are, in no way, good for actual studio use (although, to be fair to Edifier, they are vastly better than $50 desktop speakers for studio use lol, it's all about perspective when it comes to audio). 3. These are built for desktop use. Headphone jack in the front, RCA to 3.5mm cable in the box to plug into your PC tower, and they are active speakers, so you don't need any additional equipment to run them like you do with fully passive speakers. 4. Headphone jack is adequate. Won't beat a dedicated amp/dac, but they are on par with the jacks in your PC tower, which is fine, especially if your tower is really far away like mine and your headphones can be powered by a normal headphone jack. 5. Bass and treble knobs in the back are nice for fine tuning. Again, I turned the bass down a few dB to avoid boominess, and the treble stayed at default. 6. Speaker wire is long enough to get around a 34-inch ultrawide with about two feet of cable to spare, maybe more. These will fit around even larger monitors. Neutral 1. I downloaded Equalizer APO to fine tune these just a little bit more. They sound very good out of the box, but I felt they needed a bit more tweaking. I recommend Equalizer APO to really dial in the sound you want. 2. Some folks may want to pair these with a subwoofer. I didn't find it necessary for casual desktop PC use (I also didn't want to deal with connecting a subwoofer to it, or spend anymore money lol), but if you do, it's not the worst idea in the world. The bass is gold enough for uber casual listening but it is another half step up to get a dedicated subwoofer to do it instead. Cons 1. While these are vastly better, clearer, and more sonically competent than any sub $100 speakers I'm aware of, they do have their limitations. Instrument separation gets a little stuffy with big, complex music with lots of instruments. The bass is boomy out of the box (easy fix), and it'll distort when it gets loud enough on some songs. However, I had this up at 60% volume on both the speaker and Windows, and I'm never going any higher than that anyway lol. 2. The volume knob is a step/click style and not a smooth style, and the jumps in volume are surprisingly large. You'll likely need to use both your source volume and this thing's volume knob to get the right volume for you. 3. A front cover would've been nice, like you find on other Edifier speakers like the 1280DB. Not that I mind the bare speaker look, but still, would've been a nice option. Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase. I've had nice headphones for ages (Sennheiser HD650 currently, and probably forever. If it ain't broke, don't fix it), but I still remember the Sennheiser HD558 as my entry level audiophile headphone that got me away from cheap headphones, and how I had that "I hear things in songs I know that I've never heard before" moment with them. The Edifier MR4 is that same feeling stepping away from less expensive PC speakers. Yes, this is the ground floor of audiophilia, so it's not going to impress someone who already owns or has experienced higher end speakers. However, this is still a HUGE step up from the essentially any sub-$100 PC speaker, and that's all I was looking for. It's nice to be able to get some reasonably good audio without needing to wear headphones.

INTRODUCTION --------------------------- A little run down. My short quest for new speakers came about when the Mackie CR3’s I had for 7 years decided to stop working. In that time, I was quite happy with them. I don’t produce music, but do video editing on occasion. My primary use case is casual listening to music/movies/games. In that regard, I don’t need to have the flattest sound available or desire it – I just like clean, distinctive audio. I’ve been using Sennheiser HD555 headphones with a Sound Blaster Z soundcard for about a decade now. I know there’s better sound options out there these days, but really, these do the job well enough for me and it’s not a necessity to upgrade at the moment. Particularly, I’m impressed with the Sound Blaster software and functionality. I can switch between headphones and speakers on my computer easily and with separate settings for each that changes automatically. Which seems it’d be a convenience barrier switching to a DAC. In any case, I was previously using RCA and have switched to TRS when trying these speakers. The sound is noticeably clearer and unearths sounds more hidden with RCA. I have to crank the windows output a bit higher, but it’s unquestionably better. I also don’t turn the speaker volume up more than half or 3/4th to mitigate noise. With that, I’ll move onto my experience with these two speakers I decided to try to replace my deceased CR3’s. Upon receiving the Edifier MR4 first, I threw on some lossless tracks with some variety, albeit dated. Some artists included: Boris Brejcha, The Chemical Brothers, Erik Jackson, Emancipator, Gorillaz, Hot Chip, Linkin Park, Macklemore, MGMT, Nero, Paul Oakenfold, Papadosio, Pretty Lights, Rinôçérôse, Robert Miles, Sleater-Kinney, System Of A Down EDIFIER MR4 --------------------------- Off the bat I wasn’t stricken with the high end. I like a crispness in my highs and found there was room to be desired with snares etc. But it’s definitely good enough and doesn’t invoke fatigue. Using an equalizer in addition to increasing the treble knob helps and with dialogue in entertainment; which can be a bit muted. The speakers have decent separation and pleasing bass; while having a sound that’s brought together coherently. I have an external bass, which I won’t be inclined to turn on often, as I can also amplify it through software. Playback is warm and easy to listen to. Pressing the power button once enables or disables Music Mode. From what I could tell, it raises the decibel level slightly, as well as the bass and mids for added presence, at the expense of some clarity. I’ll probably use Monitor Mode most of the time. What I particularly liked about these speakers over the E3.5’s is a perceived wider soundstage; instruments have depth and can lightly reverberate (while still having a flatness to them), which sounded more lively comparatively. Overall, these grew on me and I’ve been pleased. If they could be a bit brighter, there wouldn’t be much else I’d desire out of them. ERIS E3.5 --------------------------- The ERIS has an adequate amount of treble and clarity in the high range that I liked at first listen. At the tradeoff of it being sharper and more fatiguing with prolonged use or higher volumes. Highs can sometimes be borderline harsh without equalizing; vocals can be sibilant. I turn the bass knob to the max at +6db and lowering or not touching the treble; which only does so much for lows anyhow. Bass is present, but it’s limited and not as full sounding – the frequency it can hit is punchy though. If you EQ more bass you can get a slight rumble, but nothing compared to the MR4. Even with a subwoofer, it’s not as full sounding. The lower mids don’t feel like they quite bridge to the bass. These speakers don’t sound bad and if I had no other options in this price range or hadn’t compared it directly to a pair with more lows, they might be acceptable. They can just be a bit flat and lifeless (which is part of the idea with monitors I guess), despite having crispness on it’s side. Honestly, I didn’t give this set as much time of day, as I kept gravitating towards the MR4’s; which didn’t make me weary with listening either. If the MR4’s weren’t around as an option, I might have compared with the Mackie CR3’s again. But doubtful: as I think their updated design is ugly, still have that green accent, and apparently they’ve declined in build quality. BUILD --------------------------- Both speakers are quite similar with an understated clean design and near identical dimensions. The MR4 seems to have a slightly better build and I prefer the the carbon fiber looking cone. The volume knob for the E3.5 is smooth – the MR4 turns with an interval of 12 clicks. The E3.5 indicator light is blue and brighter for my taste: I’d cover it up if I were to keep these speakers. The MR4 has a subdued red and green LED for monitor/music mode. Unfortunately, the green light has already started acting up and stopped working in less than a weeks use. The bass/treble knobs have more length to them on the MR4 and are easier to reach back and turn than the E3.5’s. The MR4 weighs a bit more and comes with slightly nicer speaker wire than the E3.5 The E3.5 has a detachable power cord – MR4 does not. The MR4 tweeter actually measures about three quarters of an inch, not the full 1” they claim. With both these speakers I could occasionally detect light distortion/crackling in mids and highs. Not enough to be detrimental for me in keeping the MR4’s. But also due to some solid portrayal, I could hear more of the noise added to the production of certain tracks. For example, listening to some Phantogram, where vinyl grain is frequently added. I believe the E3.5’s also displayed this characteristic, but I returned them already upon noticing more of this. CONCLUSION --------------------------- I tried both these speakers in various configurations of equalizing, but made most my judgments based on how they sound out of the box or their capabilities. The Presonus ERIS E3.5 can hit a higher frequency range; while clear, I found the Edifier MR4 sounded more pleasing and I could almost picture vocalists singing into a mic, rather than just sound coming from a speaker. This carries into the overall experience between the two. The MR4 can give me the impression of being at a concert or watching a movie at a theater, to a degree. I feel the E3.5’s are lacking a bit of soul, but maybe that’s because they’re not as warm. When switching between the two to compare, I found myself wanting to just keep listening to the Edifier’s and not switch back to the Presonus. It’s more lush with it’s prevalent bass for the size and highs can be more pronounced after equalizing (though, they still have an audible frequency ceiling, whereas the E3.5 reaches higher). Given, both these speakers haven’t had a chance for a decent break-in period; but that’ll mostly round out the sound that’s already there anyhow. I’ve also seen more feedback in regards to the Presonus not working after only a year. Most products these days can be a crap shoot, but I’d rather keep the MR4’s for the sound alone and physicality of it (with the aforementioned differences) and hope I get lucky they last awhile. But the LED being faulty already isn’t ideal and I’ll probably replace the pair. I might look further into spending a bit more for different speakers. Though, it seems moving up generally doesn’t include an aux input/headphone output, which is occasionally useful. So, once again, it comes down to weighing out price/sound/conveniences. The MR4 really does sound decent for the price ($129) and I will probably just stick to this model in the end, since I’m not ready to invest in a DAC setup either, that’ll make it worthwhile for spendier speakers. Again, I'm not a music producer, so I can't speak to the decency of these speakers for actual production – you can find reviews with graphs. I'd spend the $30 extra for the Edifiers; unless pronounced highs are super important to you (especially for rock & jazz). But if you create music with any substantial caliber of bass and need to portray it, I’d probably look elsewhere than the Presonus 3.5’s. You’d likely be wanting larger speakers anyhow; though, you may be able to get away with it by adding a sub. If you do consider the Edifier MR4’s, just know there’s a small margin of highs that aren’t as present. But they can be a more fun listening experience overall and less fatiguing.

This is another good, sincere review for the Edifier MR4. I just bought and compared them to the Edifier R1280Ts, and the new Presonus Eris 3.5 (2024 Gen.2). I really liked the Edifier R1280Ts. Such a smooth, warm, and comforting sounding speaker. But it was making a pop sound whenever I'd wake my pc and play a song. So I returned them and tried the Eris 3.5. The Eris 3.5 has good build quality and I liked how it went into power saving mode. It did not make any popping sounds. But it was lacking mids, and the treble sounded shrill. They were very fatiguing to listen to. I tried to like them for a week, but returned them. My ears are still ringing. Now I have the Edifier MR4's. I read reports of hiss when the volume knob is turned all the way up. So that was the first thing I tested. I didn't connect any thing to it, I just plugged into the the wall and turned the volume all the way up, and there is absolutely NO hiss. So I keep the volume on max and control it through windows. In "music" mode they are very balanced, with some warmth, but more clarity and detail than the R1280Ts. Instruments sound like they are right in the room. I'll be playing some background music while working, and they will distract me with their amazing musicality. I'll have to stop and take a minute just to enjoy them. The MR4s are very easy on the ears! Reputable reviews say the MR4s EQ very well. It's nice to know when I have time, I can download and learn how to use Equalizer APO in order to improve them. But they sound awesome just leaving the bass and treble dials on default. Also, putting them on speakers stands that tilt towards my ears made them sound even better. My search for the best quality budget speaker is over. This is a safe purchase I can confidently recommend. Enjoy.

First off, I love the aesthetic of these speakers. The white and black with subtle carbon fiber-esque checkering is great. These are super convenient to set up - still more work and cables than a USB soundbar, but well worth the upgrade, and notably easier to set up than passive speakers with a separate amplifier or systems with a subwoofer. That said, of course these won't cover the same frequency spectrum as a subwoofer or headphones. They do a respectable job with the bass frequencies for the price and convenience. They come with soft pads underneath that help a bit with preventing scratches and isolating sound from your desk, which is a nice touch. I'd still recommend adding foam isolation pads underneath to improve this more. For making music, these are usable in a bedroom on a tight budget, but don't quite do it. I end up using headphones much more for any sort of mixing. This may be in part due to my room sound but there's an annoying bump in the low-mid frequency range, and not quite enough low bass (which is fine for speakers this size) or high treble. While using this for gaming and such, my biggest pet peeve is the volume control. It's very conveniently placed, but works in stepped increments rather than smooth adjustment. Instead of dialing in the volume quite right, you might end up with one notch being slightly too quiet, and the next slightly too loud. You can then dial it in in Windows, but that undoes the convenience in the first place. Overall these are still quite nice for regular use at such a low price, just be aware that of the small issues they do have.

This speaker is truly exceptional. While I may not be an expert on speakers, I can confidently say that it’s worth every penny. If you’re looking to enhance your music experience, this speaker is a must-have. It’s not just for music; it’s a versatile device that can elevate your overall audio experience.

I bought these for use with a keyboard and had an unusual constraint of needing something that I could package reasonably in a suitcase and fly with. The sound quality is good and clear with piano sounds and EPs which have a lot of detail in them as well as diverse frequency. I'm accustomed to Yamaha HS7's with a sub so these are obviously not that, but for their size I think they're quite good. There's only so much that can be done with a 4" woofer and since these are sold as monitors, they're not intended to be too bassy anyway. The feature of switching between "music" and "mixing" mode is a nice option that wasn't a big factor in my decision, but is great if you want a more fun sound for regular playing. Setup and connections were easy with L/R TRS cables. I did not see a mono mode to bridge signals so that's something to keep in mind if you only have one channel running to it. Build quality is good. I don't have any concerns with shipping these as long as the woofer and tweeter are protected. Some competing monitors are made of plastic and I appreciate how solid these feel. Admittedly, the front does still look pretty plasticy but nothing offensive. This was my first experience with Edifer and I'm pleased overall. Cannot speak to long-term reliability but fingers crossed on that.

These speakers got to be the number one best speakers I’ve ever used. Before getting these speakers, I used the Logi Z313 and they were so bad, I mean yes, I still can hear audio coming out but there was this extremely high pitch screech which was super annoying when I want to watch videos on YouTube or listen to audiobooks. So I told myself that I am done, I’m going to get new speakers so I did and even though it’s been a day. These suckers are absolutely hitting each spot. It was very easy to set up, sound quality was spectacular, really. And the compact design is nice for desk space without using your entire setup. If you’re looking at the Edifer MR4s you got to give them a shot.

The details in the mids and highs are pristine. (I use it for video editing to take a break from headphones). The bass on this is what you would expect for it’s value. If your looking for speakers with a little more weight in the bass, I’d rather save up and get the more higher priced monitors (HS8 etc.) For it’s price, looks, ergonomics, and sound quality, it’s definitely a buy for me. $100-$199 price range you can’t beat this. Like - I like the ports in front. (I hate reaching back to plug crap in lol) - I like the looks overall. (It’s white cmon now lol) - I like the details it brings. (I listen to music that I know and see if it brings out any details I haven’t noticed before.) - DSP inside is pristine. Dislike - Bass (not a big surprise, especially for size and price. It does the job. If you find a way to connect a sub to this setup, your set.) - The volume knob adjusts via increments. (Highly irritating lol but I just resort to adjusting the volume via my imac. I leave the speakers at 50%) - The lows n highs adjustments. (Don’t really make any difference IMO) - Left and Right speaker connectors. (Very basic pink and white wire connections. Common on budget speakers.) Overall, the cons didn’t warrant me wanting to return it. Maximize it’s capabilities by using the best possible connection available (TRS W/ audio interface or RCA) and listen within 4ft. WITH THE TWEETERS AT EAR LEVEL. Don’t recommend in a big room unless it’s sound treated. I use it in my bedroom (big rug on the floor, sound panels on the wall, and a big ass king bed. ) Bedroom is roughly 8ft. X 10ft.

Edifier MR4 - BLUFFANTES, EBLOUISSANTES ! Aussitôt reçues, aussitôt installées. Instantanément conquis. Précision, délié, graves surprenantes, aigus et médiums détaillés, le tout en quelques instants d'écoute sur des musiques un peu difficiles (le Grand Bleu, Bach, Sibelius, Vivaldi , Mesparrow comme si elle était devant moi là, à deux mètres, etc.... ). C'est vrai, pour ce prix, elles sont "énormes" ces petites enceintes sur mon bureau. Tout à l'heure j'essayerai les ouvertures de Wagner... Bon, ce ne sont pas mes Cabasses à 150W qui ressemblent à des armoires au rez de chaussée mais ces petites là sont vraiment très exceptionnelles par leur prix et par leur taille. Elles sont très parfaitement adaptées à l'écoute de proximité, aux côtés de l'écran. Bref, un délice tout en finesse ! Bravo Edifier! On pourrait regretter l'absence de protection des HP mais ils sont placés en retrait d' 1cm de la façade et puis ces enceintes là ne sont pas non plus et a priori destinées aux salles de squash... :-)) J'en rajoute après une heure : Basses profondes et harmonieuses, présence des voix et des instruments sans confusion, stéréo parfaite. Attention : du PC aux enceintes , ampli obligatoire ! J'ai choisi Topping E30II Lite Préampli DAC, totalement neutre et tout petit.

5 stars for the money. I got these for music production to tide me over until I get some Kali monitors. The MR4 are really decent out of the box and respond well to mild equalizing in the upper mids. I don't use the knobs on the back and use them in monitor mode mostly. They can get LOUD, not super loud because of distortion, but loud enough - and maintain clarity to hear your mix. You need to be vertically in the sweet spot when using, meaning have the tweeters at ear level. Horizontally that doesn't matter so much. Also they're near field so be close to them, I sit within 50cm so no problem, further out you go the Sound Pressure Level will drop significantly. Still decently loud and clear 1m away though (for loud monitoring) I've heard better speakers but these are a steal for the money! Pretty flat response especially with minor EQ tweak. Bass is acceptably good considering the size = they sound surprisingly bassy for the size. Solid purchase they'll do until I get the Kali. I also find I'm listening to and enjoying lots of music that I know well on them, often hearing new subtle details.

Sound is good especially playing physical format of music. Wired still the king

Extremely good and better quality than anything in it's price range, whenever im using it felt like i had headphones in

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