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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

amirm

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Edifier MR4 powered "studio" monitor (speaker). It was sent to me by the company and costs US $130.
Edifier MR4 Review Studio Monitor Computer Speaker.jpg


This is a very small speaker. It looks larger in the marketing material. You can easily carry it with one hand. I was impressed by the use of waveguide and help from Klippel Germany on the measurement side. Unlike typical "multimedia/PC" speakers, you have balanced inputs:
Edifier MR4 Review Back Panel Balanced Studio Monitor Computer Speaker.jpg

That should help reduce possibility of ground loops/hum. Connection to the other speaker is through one pair of wires which means the crossover is passive and there is one amplifier per channel.

There are notches for LF and HF shelving. I set the in their detent which on the HF side, was to the left of center. I made the NFS measurements below using that, and "monitor mode." If you click the power button twice, you get into music mode. I made a few measurements to quantify the difference:

Edifier MR4 Measurements Music vs Monitor Mode Frequency Response Studio Monitor Computer Spea...png


I expected the Music mode to have much more exaggerated lows and highs but instead, it seems to have a more even on-axis response. Getting to the same place with the HF control requires boosting it to the 2 dB marker.

Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than an anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.

Measurements are compliant with latest speaker research into what can predict the speaker preference and is standardized in CEA/CTA-2034 ANSI specifications. Likewise listening tests are performed per research that shows mono listening is much more revealing of differences between speakers than stereo or multichannel.

Reference axis was the center of the tweeter (aligned by eye). It is getting colder with the measurement room temp at 14 degrees C. Accuracy is better than 1% for almost entire audio spectrum indicating a well designed speaker.

Edifier MR4 EVO Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker is and how it can be used in a room. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:
Edifier MR4 Measurements Frequency Response Studio Monitor Computer Speaker.png


As you could tell from the (in-room) preview in the intro, there is a dip in the lower treble frequencies. And we have some resonances/peaking centered around 600 Hz. Outside of this though, directivity control is good due to use of that waveguide. More on this later.

Near-field response shows uneven treble response so maybe this is why we are deficient close to the crossover frequency:

Edifier MR4 Measurements Driver Frequency Response Studio Monitor Computer Speaker.png


Unfortunately the early window reflections exaggerate this:

Edifier MR4 Measurements Early Window Frequency Response Studio Monitor Computer Speaker.png


Resulting in a shelved predicted in-room response:


Edifier MR4 Measurements Predicted in-room Frequency Response Studio Monitor Computer Speaker.png


I am impressed by the amount of bass this little speaker is producing. It is flat down to 70 Hz! The broad deviations are very audible but rather easy to correct with EQ as you see later.

At 86 dBSPL playback level distortion was good but at 96 dB, speaker fell apart making all kinds of squealing sounds. I played with volume vs input level and got some improvements but still horrid at 96. So I reduced level to 90 dBSPL where I could still hear odd noises:

Edifier MR4 Measurements THD Distortion Response Studio Monitor Computer Speaker.png


Edifier MR4 Measurements Distortion Response Studio Monitor Computer Speaker.png


The waveguide pays dividends in directivity and beamwidth in the horizontal axis. It is unusually good for speakers in this price range and even higher:

Edifier MR4 Measurements Horizontal Beam width Response Studio Monitor Computer Speaker.png


Edifier MR4 Measurements Horizontal Directivity Response Studio Monitor Computer Speaker.png


And the wide width means that you can move left and right at your workstation without much change in tonality.

Vertically is not as good and this is typical of 2-way, non-coaxial designs:

Edifier MR4 Measurements Vertical Directivity Response Studio Monitor Computer Speaker.png


For fans of timing tests, here is the waterfall:

Edifier MR4 Measurements CSD Waterfall Studio Monitor Computer Speaker.png


Impulse response:

Edifier MR4 Measurements Impulse Response Studio Monitor Computer Speaker.png


And for the first time, step response:

Edifier MR4 Measurements Step Response Studio Monitor Computer Speaker.png


Edifier MR4 Listening Tests and Equalization
First impression defies the look of the measurements: the sound is warm and reasonably nice sounding. That extended bass response really helps here. I took out the EQ tool and made some quick adjustements:

Edifier MR4 Equalization EQ Studio Monitor Computer Speaker.png


Taking down the resonances around 615 Hz took out some of the stuffiness of the upper bass and provided more clarity. The filter next to it is there to truncate its response as there is a dip on the right that is not on the left. I then boosted the deficient region around 4000 Hz. I went easy there as I don't like bright sounding speakers.

Note that you can get part of the way there by using the rear HF control and boosting a few dB (per listening tests and measurements). Once there, you do have good sound without having to deploy EQ.

There is a cost to the extended bass: you can't get too loud. Try to do so and at first there is clicking/static is barely noticeable. Turn up the volume more and it gets quite a bit worse. I say you can only get to medium level with one speaker playing. With two speakers it should be better (I did not test). This is with content that has normal amount of lower bass. With techno/drum loop content such as Peace of Mind track you see in the EQ panel, it could get quite a bit louder with no audible distortion.

Conclusions
You are paying so little for a speaker that attempts to follow the path of much more expensive monitors with proper waveguide and balanced inputs. It takes over them with inclusion of volume control, RCA inputs, etc. Bass response is flat and impressive for such a small/light speaker. I wish it did not have the dip in lower treble though. Not sure why that is there if they did measure the speaker.

If you need an ultra cheap, active speaker and can use a bit of EQ, the Edifier MR4 makes a decent option. Just keep your expectations low as far as playback level.
 

Attachments

  • Edifier MR4 Frequency Response ASR.zip
    59.9 KB · Views: 1,520

GWolfman

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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.
 

warnerwh

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Nov 23, 2019
Messages
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184
Imo for that little bit of money the company has done a very good job. By the time you buy parts, assemble it and package it and still sell it for that little bit of money there's not a lot left for profit. The performance is not bad at all for something so inexpensive imo.
 

Maiky76

Senior Member
Joined
May 28, 2020
Messages
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Likes
3,705
Location
French, living in China
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Edifier MR4 powered "studio" monitor (speaker). It was sent to me by the company and costs US $130.
View attachment 172727

This is a very small speaker. It looks larger in the marketing material. You can easily carry it with one hand. I was impressed by the use of waveguide and help from Klippel Germany on the measurement side. Unlike typical "multimedia/PC" speakers, you have balanced inputs:
View attachment 172728
That should help reduce possibility of ground loops/hum. Connection to the other speaker is through one pair of wires which means the crossover is passive and there is one amplifier per channel.

There are notches for LF and HF shelving. I set the in their detent which on the HF side, was to the left of center. I made the NFS measurements below using that, and "monitor mode." If you click the power button twice, you get into music mode. I made a few measurements to quantify the difference:

View attachment 172729

I expected the Music mode to have much more exaggerated lows and highs but instead, it seems to have a more even on-axis response. Getting to the same place with the HF control requires boosting it to the 2 dB marker.

Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than an anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.

Measurements are compliant with latest speaker research into what can predict the speaker preference and is standardized in CEA/CTA-2034 ANSI specifications. Likewise listening tests are performed per research that shows mono listening is much more revealing of differences between speakers than stereo or multichannel.

Reference axis was the center of the tweeter (aligned by eye). It is getting colder with the measurement room temp at 14 degrees C. Accuracy is better than 1% for almost entire audio spectrum indicating a well designed speaker.

Edifier MR4 EVO Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker is and how it can be used in a room. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:
View attachment 172730

As you could tell from the (in-room) preview in the intro, there is a dip in the lower treble frequencies. And we have some resonances/peaking centered around 600 Hz. Outside of this though, directivity control is good due to use of that waveguide. More on this later.

Near-field response shows uneven treble response so maybe this is why we are deficient close to the crossover frequency:

View attachment 172731

Unfortunately the early window reflections exaggerate this:

View attachment 172732

Resulting in a shelved predicted in-room response:


View attachment 172733

I am impressed by the amount of bass this little speaker is producing. It is flat down to 70 Hz! The broad deviations are very audible but rather easy to correct with EQ as you see later.

At 86 dBSPL playback level distortion was good but at 96 dB, speaker fell apart making all kinds of squealing sounds. I played with volume vs input level and got some improvements but still horrid at 96. So I reduced level to 90 dBSPL where I could still hear odd noises:

View attachment 172734

View attachment 172735

The waveguide pays dividends in directivity and beamwidth in the horizontal axis. It is unusually good for speakers in this price range and even higher:

View attachment 172736

View attachment 172737

And the wide width means that you can move left and right at your workstation without much change in tonality.

Vertically is not as good and this is typical of 2-way, non-coaxial designs:

View attachment 172738

For fans of timing tests, here is the waterfall:

View attachment 172739

Impulse response:

View attachment 172740

And for the first time, step response:

View attachment 172741

Edifier MR4 Listening Tests and Equalization
First impression defies the look of the measurements: the sound is warm and reasonably nice sounding. That extended bass response really helps here. I took out the EQ tool and made some quick adjustements:

View attachment 172742

Taking down the resonances around 615 Hz took out some of the stuffiness of the upper bass and provided more clarity. The filter next to it is there to truncate its response as there is a dip on the right that is not on the left. I then boosted the deficient region around 4000 Hz. I went easy there as I don't like bright sounding speakers.

Note that you can get part of the way there by using the rear HF control and boosting a few dB (per listening tests and measurements). Once there, you do have good sound without having to deploy EQ.

There is a cost to the extended bass: you can't get too loud. Try to do so and at first there is clicking/static is barely noticeable. Turn up the volume more and it gets quite a bit worse. I say you can only get to medium level with one speaker playing. With two speakers it should be better (I did not test). This is with content that has normal amount of lower bass. With techno/drum loop content such as Peace of Mind track you see in the EQ panel, it could get quite a bit louder with no audible distortion.

Conclusions
You are paying so little for a speaker that attempts to follow the path of much more expensive monitors with proper waveguide and balanced inputs. It takes over them with inclusion of volume control, RCA inputs, etc. Bass response is flat and impressive for such a small/light speaker. I wish it did not have the dip in lower treble though. Not sure why that is there if they did measure the speaker.

If you need an ultra cheap, active speaker and can use a bit of EQ, the Edifier MR4 makes a decent option. Just keep your expectations low as far as playback level.


Hi,

Here is my take on the EQ.

The following EQs are “anechoic” EQs to get the speaker right before room integration. If you able to implement these EQs you must add EQ at LF for room integration, that is usually not optional… see hints there: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...helf-speaker-review.11144/page-26#post-800725

The raw data with corrected ER and PIR:

Score no EQ: 3.7
With Sub: 6.4

Spinorama with no EQ:
Edifier MR4 No EQ Spinorama.png



Directivity:

Better stay at tweeter height

Horizontally, better toe-in the speakers by 10/20deg and have the axis crossing in front of the listening location, might help dosing the upper range.
Edifier MR4 2D surface Directivity Contour Only Data.png

EQ design:

I have generated two EQs. The APO config files are attached.
  • The first one, labelled, LW is targeted at making the LW flat
  • The second, labelled Score, starts with the first one and adds the score as an optimization variable.
  • The EQs are designed in the context of regular stereo use i.e. domestic environment, no warranty is provided for a near field use in a studio environment although the LW might be better suited for this purpose.
  • Beware of the LF boost, you've been warned

Score EQ LW: 5.0
with sub: 7.8

Score EQ Score: 5.4
with sub: 8.0

Code:
Edifier MR4 APO EQ LW 96000Hz
December162021-135008

Preamp: -3.5 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 67.70,    0.00,    1.23
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 605.59,    -2.88,    2.17
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 834.79,    1.95,    4.88
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 3245.43,    3.22,    1.45
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 6496.80,    2.52,    2.03
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 10470.00,    1.54,    3.32
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 13055.35,    -2.46,    4.75

Edifier MR4 APO EQ Score 96000Hz
December162021-134901

Preamp: -3.5 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 67.70,    0.00,    1.23
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 612.59,    -3.35,    1.98
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 827.79,    1.95,    4.88
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 2955.45,    3.36,    3.15
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 6285.98,    2.27,    2.28
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 10478.50,    1.54,    4.99
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 13202.41,    -2.87,    2.67

Edifier MR4 EQ Design.png


Spinorama EQ LW
Edifier MR4 LW EQ Spinorama.png


Spinorama EQ Score
Edifier MR4 Score EQ Spinorama.png


Zoom PIR-LW-ON
Edifier MR4 Zoom.png


Regression - Tonal
Edifier MR4 Regression - Tonal.png


Radar no EQ vs EQ score
Nice improvements
Edifier MR4 Radar.png


The rest of the plots is attached.
 

Attachments

  • Edifier MR4 Normalized Directivity data.png
    Edifier MR4 Normalized Directivity data.png
    307.1 KB · Views: 325
  • Edifier MR4 Raw Directivity data.png
    Edifier MR4 Raw Directivity data.png
    455.9 KB · Views: 326
  • Edifier MR4 Reflexion data.png
    Edifier MR4 Reflexion data.png
    139.8 KB · Views: 248
  • Edifier MR4 LW data.png
    Edifier MR4 LW data.png
    132.1 KB · Views: 415
  • Edifier MR4 2D surface Directivity Contour Data.png
    Edifier MR4 2D surface Directivity Contour Data.png
    289.5 KB · Views: 241
  • Edifier MR4 3D surface Vertical Directivity Data.png
    Edifier MR4 3D surface Vertical Directivity Data.png
    446.3 KB · Views: 245
  • Edifier MR4 3D surface Horizontal Directivity Data.png
    Edifier MR4 3D surface Horizontal Directivity Data.png
    453.3 KB · Views: 245
  • Edifier MR4 Horizontal 3D Directivity data.png
    Edifier MR4 Horizontal 3D Directivity data.png
    401.1 KB · Views: 251
  • Edifier MR4 Vertical 3D Directivity data.png
    Edifier MR4 Vertical 3D Directivity data.png
    418.9 KB · Views: 187
  • Edifier MR4 APO EQ LW 96000Hz.txt
    386 bytes · Views: 498
  • Edifier MR4 APO EQ Score 96000Hz.txt
    389 bytes · Views: 882
  • Edifier MR4 No EQ Spinorama.png
    Edifier MR4 No EQ Spinorama.png
    182.5 KB · Views: 694

Walter

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It seems like a good choice for nearfield listening in the under $200 range if you already have a DAC, either external or built into your source. However, for only a few dollars more, the Neumi BS5P includes digital inputs and measures better, but seems to have noticeably less bass output.
 

Walter

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Hi,

Here is my take on the EQ.

The following EQs are “anechoic” EQs to get the speaker right before room integration. If you able to implement these EQs you must add EQ at LF for room integration, that is usually not optional… see hints there: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...helf-speaker-review.11144/page-26#post-800725

The raw data with corrected ER and PIR:

Score no EQ: 3.7
With Sub: 6.4

Score EQ LW: 5.0
with sub: 7.8

Score EQ Score: 5.4
with sub: 8.0
That is one of the more drastic improvements from EQ, isn't it? Or have I just not paid enough attention?
 

restorer-john

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I’m guessing it’s Photoshoped in.

Yes, judging by the dodgy looking feet and the strange blur at the top rear of the 'photo'.

Reminds me of this:
1639640237817.png
 

Vict0r

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I voted "great" instead of "fine", as I think that there's tremendous value here if you don't mind medium volume levels and a little EQ. Really solid offering from Edifier. There aren't THAT many affordable yet decent micro monitors around. I hope they keep it up!
 
Last edited:

Matias

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Sputnik

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Vict0r

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Matias

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The Kali LP-6v2 is €470 for a pair here in The Netherlands. The Edifier MR4 is €129 a pair. That's hardly a fair comparison. :p
You are right, now it is too much.
 
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