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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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Nov 20, 2019
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Just picked up a pair for my home office. I use Adam T5V at my work office, where I have significantly more space. I needed something small, didn’t want to deal with the fiasco of my AudioEngine experience, so took a chance with the Edifier after seeing this review.

I was surprised that Edifier classifies these as bookshelf speakers, not computer speakers, on their website. I would not use these as studio monitors or as bookshelf speakers. You are not going to play these loud, but in the 85 db range, they are great for vocals (e.g. Zoom meetings, YouTube videos) and for playing music while I work. For this purpose, they are exactly what I needed - decent quality speakers at a relatively low price.

I rated them as “fine” without thinking about price or value, but based purely on my need for a very small pair of powered speakers. ;)This rating may change as the included speaker wire hasn’t broken in for the required 200 listening hours yet - that attaches the right speaker to the left. I expect the harshness to be mitigated a bit with significantly more detail and fluidity in the midrange and more attack in the low end, as soon as the break in period is over.;)

You should do a high-end review on your YT channel.Maybe changing the power cable can lift them to unknown hights? ;)
 

JBab

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Dec 21, 2021
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So I ended up getting these speakers, but have a few questions...

1. Should you EQ & listen to these speakers in monitor OR music mode?
2. I see 3 different EQ's for these speakers, which one should you use for desktop listening?
> Band 1-3 made by amirm
> Band 1-7 EQ LW made by Maiky76
> Band 1-7 EQ Score made by Maiky76

Thank you :)
 

SimpleTheater

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So I ended up getting these speakers, but have a few questions...

1. Should you EQ & listen to these speakers in monitor OR music mode?
2. I see 3 different EQ's for these speakers, which one should you use for desktop listening?
> Band 1-3 made by amirm
> Band 1-7 EQ LW made by Maiky76
> Band 1-7 EQ Score made by Maiky76

Thank you :)
According to Amir and the Scientific Audiophile, you should use music mode.

I put a mic at my listening position and ran REW, then adjusted. Because these are rear ported, distance from a wall are going to make a big difference, and since they're for desktop listening, the difference between a foot away from them or three feet can make quite a bit of difference.

Here's my before and after REW.
 

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flaviowolff

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Sep 20, 2019
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Thanks to this review I'm using this pair with an old Velodyne CH8 + miniDSP DDRC-24 (Dirac Live), and I find it spectacular for the cheapo price of this setup. Also very clean looking.
 

JBab

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According to Amir and the Scientific Audiophile, you should use music mode.

I put a mic at my listening position and ran REW, then adjusted. Because these are rear ported, distance from a wall are going to make a big difference, and since they're for desktop listening, the difference between a foot away from them or three feet can make quite a bit of difference.

Here's my before and after REW.
Thanks for that clarification!

I'm sitting ~85cm from both speakers, and cannot really hear much of a difference between the 3 EQ's mentioned.

Really not sure what EQ to go with still. :(
 

flaviowolff

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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.

I'm curious as to why you didn't address that dip in your EQ.
 

Walter

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A Q of 2 is pretty broad. As for why he chose 4k instead of 3k, if you look at the on-axis measurements, there is a broad dip from roughly 2500Hz to 8000Hz, so I'm guessing he was trying to fix the critical range under 5kHz to be "good enough" without going to the trouble of using multiple filters. He was testing these in nearfield, so on-axis is mostly what matters. The room's contribution will be much less in that usage.
 

BioCentauri

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Feb 21, 2022
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Hi. newbie here and recently awakened audiophile. Learned a lot from this forum and @amirm , thank you.
Implemented the advice as well.
My setup: Thinkpad --> USB --> Topping D10 Balanced --> Trs-Trs --> Edifier MR4 --> Philips 9500
Happy camper now.
Question: Should I do a REW like @SimpleTheater? and 2 EQ's, one for the MR4 as a desktop, and another for the 9500?
Thanks again.
Mydesk.jpg
 

SimpleTheater

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Hi. newbie here and recently awakened audiophile. Learned a lot from this forum and @amirm , thank you.
Implemented the advice as well.
My setup: Thinkpad --> USB --> Topping D10 Balanced --> Trs-Trs --> Edifier MR4 --> Philips 9500
Happy camper now.
Question: Should I do a REW like @SimpleTheater? and 2 EQ's, one for the MR4 as a desktop, and another for the 9500?
Definitely two EQ’s. My AKG’s need a completely different EQ than the Edifiers. You probably don’t need to use REW if you follow Amir’s EQ from his review.
 

lc155

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Nov 9, 2018
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Have a question for owners of these speakers. In some models that Edifier have, like the r1280t, the volume is digitally controlled and apparently does not save on a power cycle, defaulting to a fairly high volume for me (specifically, engineers claim it will only save a volume range of 20-40 which seems stupid af to me).

Just wondering if this behaviour is noticed on the MR4s at all, or if all the volume settings are saved on a power cycle? Edifier claims it doesn't, but I am doubting that simply because the volume knob on the MR4 isn't an endlessly scrolling one, so messing with the volume level despite it being set to a specific level would be really dumb design.
 

Pedro Fernandes

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Apr 18, 2022
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Hey guys! That's my first post here.
I've just got the MR4s and they sound pretty nice and flat, but I really miss the sub-bass frequencies at low volumes.
They are costing a total of a minimum brazillian salary :')
@lc155 , the volume knob isn't infinite, it works like a normal one.

I have a presonus1818vsl audio interface, you guys know any software that works as a digital crossover, so I can use a subwooffer?
 

lc155

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Hey guys! That's my first post here.
I've just got the MR4s and they sound pretty nice and flat, but I really miss the sub-bass frequencies at low volumes.
They are costing a total of a minimum brazillian salary :')

@lc155 , the volume knob isn't infinite, it works like a normal one.

I have a presonus1818vsl audio interface, you guys know any software that works as a digital crossover, so I can use a subwooffer?

How's the hiss on them?
 

lc155

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I use PC toslink > balanced dac > balanced inputs of MR4 with volume knob always set at maximum and there is zero hiss at idle.

What is your listening distance? I presume you mean no hiss at that listening distance, because no hiss at all even when very close to the tweeter sounds impossible for this type of speaker, Edifiers aren't noiseless. (It is also kind of interesting that opinions on hiss for this speaker seem very divided!)

Also kind of interesting that you have the MR4 set to maximum instead of using that to control volume instead of else being maxed.
 

Eggs Ackley

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Sep 20, 2021
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They are dead quiet. I use them as PC desktop speakers 30 inches apart, 24 inches from my head angled up about 20 degrees. I keep the volume at max and use the volume control of the computer. Why mess with a knob when the mouse is already in my hand? Plus there is scale from 1 to 100 for precise settings. Knobs are so passé. Oh, and no hiss from the headphone jack at full volume.
 
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lc155

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They are dead quiet. I use them as PC desktop speakers 30 inches apart, 24 inches from my head angled up about 20 degrees. I keep the volume at max and use the volume control of the computer. Why mess with a knob when the mouse is already in my hand? Plus there is scale from 1 to 100 for precise settings. Knobs are so passé. Oh, and no hiss from the headphone jack at full volume.

Interesting. I have to say that out of the (small sample size) I have heard, nobody has mentioned them being as quiet as you have. Can only hope mine will be that good!
 
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