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Edifier MR4 Review (Budget Monitor)

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 21 7.3%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 86 29.8%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 143 49.5%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 39 13.5%

  • Total voters
    289

tomtoo

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It's a bit all over the place. For little monitors in this size/class, it might be the best I've seen. Definitely better than the PreSonus Eris 3.5 and Mackie CRX3 I tested earlier this year. But those two products are terrible so saying that the MR4 is better isn't necessarily as good as it would otherwise sound.

Lets imagine, you have not much money, and like easy decent sound on you PC. What would you say?
 

tomtoo

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I mean realy, the wont fill a room, and for sure not energyze a dance party. But i think you can plug them in and have a sound that not makes you run away in the first seconds. Thats not bad for the price.
 

Katji

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Thanks for adding the step response plot.

At $130/pair, this looks like a reasonable solution. Probably much better than most consumer PC speakers.
How much do mid to high end Logitechs cost? (Which are usually defended by someone when they're dissed, even here.)


I cant decide how much this looks good. It's got a lot going for it, but can't play loud... maybe ok for nearfield listening.
Desktop like the marketing pics and the "studio monitor" thing?


I've had other cheaper Edifier loudspeakers and they are so SPL limited that I find it hard to recommend them beyond being used for Youtube. Even at lower volume levels they struggled with dynamics...Just get something with at least a 5" woofer I'd say.
I didn't think the...Luna Eclipse was like that, and I heard them in a kitchen that was not small.
Size would be the only argument for these, since you can spend $200 for a pair for JBL 305's which are FAR FAR FAR better.
And do these HISSS like those seem to be known for?
 
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Katji

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Lets imagine, you have not much money, and like easy decent sound on you PC. What would you say?
I'd say buy them, and forget the Logitech shxt.

I'm biased, and I'll explain that more/again but I'll start with this: try sending email to Logitech asking about how they used Klippel, you might get a standard/automated reply and that's it.
 

Koeitje

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How much do mid to high end Logitechs cost? (Which are usually defended by someone when they're dissed, even here.)



Desktop like the marketing pics and the "studio monitor" thing?



I didn't think the...Luna Eclipse was like that, and I heard them in a kitchen that was not small.

And do these HISSS like those seem to be known for?
Yes they hiss. But I prefer hiss with good sound when playing music over no hiss with bad sound.
 

LightninBoy

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Can the people that voted "Not terrible" and "Poor" point the rest of us towards a better pair of active micro monitors with balanced inputs for $130?

I ended up voting "Fine". But almost went with "not terrible" because the JBLs 305 and 306 monitors can often be found for under $200. And if using for true monitoring, that extra $70 bucks spent is well worth it.
 

MZKM

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What is the difference between normalised vs other charts, please?
Normalized treats the on-axis as flat, so it lets you see the imaging performance (how similar the off-axis curves are), soundstage width (SPL decrease off-axis), and directivity control (change in slope at the crossover region; check the upcoming speaker review for a speaker with poor directivity matching), and the vertical shows how finicky they are for near-field usage (how wide and severe the crossover dips are). As well as gives a glimpse at how performance would be if EQ'd to be flat.
 

Hydrav

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Even though it is 400 usd a pair, more than double, I would still save money until I could get the Kali LP-6 V2 as a definitive monitor.

Price is not the only issue, there is also size. For a fair comparison these should be compared with other speakers which have approximately the same size. The Kali's are a lot bigger, people looking at these small Edifiers probably dont want, or wont be able, to have speakers as big as Kalis standing on their desks.

Same with the JBL 305P MKII, they're significantly bigger speakers.

Also, is this a sign that Edifier will be seriously going after Klippel measurements in the future? If so it could become a huge player in the so-called audiophile (I despise that term) market. The Chinese already have the DAC/AMP market covered, if Edifier starts making cheap speakers which measure well... They're not resting on their laurels for sure.
 
Last edited:

Zerohour

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Thanks for the review! Glad the results are quite good, been waiting for a decent review ever since I saw these were announced!

Finally a pair of decent speakers I can recommend (other than the Edifier 1700BTs) to friends who wants a no-fuss 2.0 speaker but doesn't want anything too expensive. Bonus points for being quite small too

(pics I've found looking around):

 

Willem

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To me these seem to be excellent budget PC speakers that may make many people happy in these times of working from home. Of course they will be left in the dust by my Harbeth P3ESRs and 2x100 watt Quad 405-2 desktop system, but that is irrelevant. Many people need something decent for not that much money. So how good are they for the very specific requirements of desktop computer speakers? So, first, how good are they with speech, since that is what desktop computers are now often used for? Second, how well are the tweeter and woofer integrated at nearfield distance (I have tried quite a few small speakers, and some do not integrate well at near field distance)? Third, how badly do they hiss?
If they score respectably on these three variables, they may be a good buy indeed for their target market. The low power does not matter much at near field, and for this use an onboard DAC is probably good enough. Equalization should be easy with the quoted anechoic measurements uploaded into EQ Apo on the PC, and with a UMI-1 and REW that can even been improved upon for in room response. They will probably sound better if they are raised with the listening axis (tweeter?) at ear level. That will also reduce potential boom from the desk surface. See here for some elegant ones: https://www.k-m.de/en/products/spea...72-table-monitor-stand-structured-black?c=195
 

hardisj

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Lets imagine, you have not much money, and like easy decent sound on you PC. What would you say?

Right. It's about managing expectations. I wish they were better but compared to what else is available, they're good. I don't want to give the impression that they're great overall nor do I want to imply they're junk within their category.
 

BenB

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This speaker appears to respond well to EQ. I'm not entirely sure how most customers will likely use this speaker, and whether or not their systems will have EQ capabilities.
 

sarumbear

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Normalized treats the on-axis as flat, so it lets you see the imaging performance (how similar the off-axis curves are), soundstage width (SPL decrease off-axis), and directivity control (change in slope at the crossover region; check the upcoming speaker review for a speaker with poor directivity matching), and the vertical shows how finicky they are for near-field usage (how wide and severe the crossover dips are). As well as gives a glimpse at how performance would be if EQ'd to be flat.
Thank you for the clear explanation.
 

dfuller

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Can the people that voted "Not terrible" and "Poor" point the rest of us towards a better pair of active micro monitors with balanced inputs for $130?
Neumi BS5P lacks balanced inputs but is significantly better in all other respects.
 

Ericglo

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Price is not the only issue, there is also size. For a fair comparison these should be compared with other speakers which have approximately the same size. The Kali's are a lot bigger, people looking at these small Edifiers probably dont want, or wont be able, to have speakers as big as Kalis standing on their desks.

Same with the JBL 305P MKII, they're significantly bigger speakers.

Also, is this a sign that Edifier will be seriously going after Klippel measurements in the future? If so it could become a huge player in the so-called audiophile (I despise that term) market. The Chinese already have the DAC/AMP market covered, if Edifier starts making cheap speakers which measure well... They're not resting on their laurels for sure.

Size is the only reason one should consider these over the Neumis.

For those in other parts of the world, try contacting Neumi. They might be receptive if they see there is a market.
 

thewas

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Size would be the only argument for these, since you can spend $200 for a pair for JBL 305's which are FAR FAR FAR better.
Also we shouldn't forget that the 305 are real active bi-amped DSPed loudspeakers which makes their value for money even greater.
Yes they hiss. But I prefer hiss with good sound when playing music over no hiss with bad sound.
My personal choice between both is the same but some people seem to be more annoyed by hiss. I use loudspeakers to listen to music so the hiss is only an issue in the gap between two tracks.
 

beagleman

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The wide range of votes, is maybe indicative of the forum ranking stuff in different ways.

I always take price into consideration, along with size of the speaker.
 

anphex

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Thanks for adding the step response plot.

At $130/pair, this looks like a reasonable solution. Probably much better than most consumer PC speakers.

Makes you think how much money Logitech and folks make with speakers like this:
1639681915492.png


It's 45 €, more or less 50 $. For... this...
 
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