Edifier R2850DB Review (Opinion)

[ozzy9832001]

Hey guys,

I recently picked up these speakers off e-bay to replace my Kanto YU6 speakers. I was always a bit disappointed with them even though they seemed to get decent reviews.

The 2850DB seem to lack a lot of information and the only reviews I could find about them were just videos on you tube. They were released in the US in 2021.

These speakers are on the larger size for "book shelf" speakers and really seem to push the boundaries of what a bookshelf can be. They measure at 18"Hx10"Wx12D. Each speaker weighs approx. 23.5lbs.

an active design and come with a wide array of inputs for all your needs. 2xRCA, 1xOptical (Toslink), Coax and Bluetooth 5) and 1xSubwoofer OUT. The speaker cable bridging the active right unit to left is attached on the right speaker and an XLR connection on the left. The cable length is approx. 8ft long. Unit comes with a remote control with very basic functionality (Power, mute, volume, track advance/back/play, input select, mute and bluetooth toggle). Unit has a SUB OUT for further bass extension. The speakers come with all cables to hook up your devices except for COAX. The RCA Cable is both RCA to RCA and RCA to 3.5mm (nice touch). The remote is powered by one CR2032 battery (included).

As for the speakers themselves they are made of some form of MDF, though they certainly do not feel cheap.

Side of the speaker:

Speaker has volume control and DRC - +/-6dB Bass/Treble. ON/OFF switch on back of unit.

As for the front:

Speaker is a ported design with an 8" woofer, 4" mid range and 3/4 tweeter. The unit comes with removable grills to give them a sleek and classic look.

As far as tonality is concerned the speakers are flat. Really flat. A slight brightness to the upper mid range, but it's not harsh or shrill. The bass is extremely well balanced and warm. It's tight. Not boomy or boxy and can stand out without being overpowering. Listening to some crazy metal bass songs was highly enjoyable and offered a great experience that you typically don't see in a speaker in this price range.

The speakers frequency response is: 42hz - 20khz

It is important even with the 8" woofer that Edifier included a subwoofer out. The connection is 3.5mm. The speakers come with a 3.5mm to RCA cable. It is short. Real short. About 4' if that. You'll probably need a longer one.

The subwoofer port is hard set to a cross over of 100hz at a slope of 24dB/OCT. To me, I like the slightly higher than THX crossover. I also like how it slopes off and allows the sub to really handle the low end. Blending is natural and effortless.

Overall, these speakers are tight. They are a great addition to an office workspace or someone looking for a bigger speaker but not willing to pay the really high cost. Bass is warm, detailed but not overpowered. Mids and treble are bright but not shrill and fatiguing. Out of the box they sounded great and that is a good sign for when my ears burn in to the speakers.

I cannot for the life of me understand why these speakers aren't talked about more or why reviews are so scarce.

Retail cost is: $449 on Amazon. I sold my Kanto YU6 + SUB 6 to recoup some of the price. Well worth it.

 

[fragzone]

I can get these for $230 Australian. There has to be a catch lol.

 

[olymind1]

I can get these for $230 Australian. There has to be a catch lol.

Not likely, A new pair costs 220€ tax included, more likely some Chinese brands are more expensive in US and cheaper elsewhere, while US brands/products are more expensive inside EU than Chinese products.

 

[TonyJZX]

theyre $450 usd rrp and i would imagine they have some stiff competition with actual nearfield monitor companies... like JBL Monitor Audio KRK etc.

to me the trump card is the 3 way design, that is unusual

 

[AnalogSteph]

I had no idea they even made these. A modern take on the classic 3-way bookshelf.

How is the grille frame constructed? What about noise levels?

Headphones, Speakers | A Passion for Sound -【Edifier USA】

Edifier USA official website, learn about our true wireless earbuds, soft over-ear headphones, classical bookshelf speakers and more.

www.edifier.com

Specification​

Total Output Power (RMS)	Frequency Response	Audio Inputs
R/L (treble): 14W + 14W; R/L (mid-range): 16W + 16W; R/L (bass): 45W + 45W	42Hz - 20kHz	Line In 1, Line In 2, Optical, Coaxial, Bluetooth
Bluetooth Version	Dimensions (W x H x D)	Net Weight
V5.1	258mm × 461mm × 316mm	23kg

I imagine that given their presumably wide dispersion, the room should be a little less lively than shown here, although the photo illustrates their scale and typical application quite nicely:

theyre $450 usd rrp and i would imagine they have some stiff competition with actual nearfield monitor companies... like JBL Monitor Audio KRK etc.

No way, their 3-ways are easily twice as expensive. You can just about get some 8" 2-ways for what the R2850DBs cost, and that's only if they're not on sale (lowest price I can find here right now is ~320€, occasionally they'll apparently go down to 250ish). Obviously making them a system with an active and a passive speaker already saves a good bit of cost. Their main competition is likely to be the ubiquitous 6,5" active 2-ways that everyone and their dog is selling these days.

At 45 wpc for the woofers, I can't imagine they'll be going super-duper loud... assuming 88 dB / W / m, it would be about 104 dB SPL. Certainly HiFi-worthy though, just not for those craving live concert levels. Should be just fine for most people.

 

[TonyJZX]

i will agree with you there... if your criterion is 3 way then you obviously short your market

what is the size of the woofer btw? cant seem to find it

my opinion would be that you ie. Edifier have to sell me on the benefits of a 3 way vs. conventional

 

[ozzy9832001]

I had no idea they even made these. A modern take on the classic 3-way bookshelf.

How is the grille frame constructed? What about noise levels?

Headphones, Speakers | A Passion for Sound -【Edifier USA】

Edifier USA official website, learn about our true wireless earbuds, soft over-ear headphones, classical bookshelf speakers and more.

www.edifier.com

I imagine that given their presumably wide dispersion, the room should be a little less lively than shown here, although the photo illustrates their scale and typical application quite nicely:

No way, their 3-ways are easily twice as expensive. You can just about get some 8" 2-ways for what the R2850DBs cost, and that's only if they're not on sale (lowest price I can find here right now is ~320€, occasionally they'll apparently go down to 250ish). Obviously making them a system with an active and a passive speaker already saves a good bit of cost. Their main competition is likely to be the ubiquitous 6,5" active 2-ways that everyone and their dog is selling these days.

At 45 wpc for the woofers, I can't imagine they'll be going super-duper loud... assuming 88 dB / W / m, it would be about 104 dB SPL. Certainly HiFi-worthy though, just not for those craving live concert levels. Should be just fine for most people.

The grille is made of plastic with a fairly thin mesh fabric over it.

The do have fairly wide dispersion. I listen about 5' from the speakers and need no toe in to hear them clearly.

Noise levels are tough since I don't have a way to really measure them. What I can tell you is they can get quite loud and still remain clear to my ears.

I have the volume on the speakers about 50% and the windows volume at 47% and it's already putting out 83dB to my listening position. I thought I saw somewhere they did 115db SPL, but that may not be accurate.

Distortion I can't really say, all I know is from both a close measurement 1 inch from speaker and at listening position distortion listed in REW is all below he noise floor. So they play well with my smallish office space.

I feel like where they cut costs were decent tradeoffs. The remote has a lot to be desired. I wish they had incorporated the tone controls onto it. Having to get up to adjust the bass/treble is annoying. No auto standby feature is another I would have liked to see. And probably the most compromise was with the crossover being hard coded (not sure that's the right term) at 100hz. I would have liked to see a few other options like 80 and 60.

Otherwise, for the price, I really can't find any glaring flaws. I really can't. Maybe some might say the bass is light, but I heavily disagree. I feel it's well blended. It can easily become the star of the show without being overpowering.

I have the Sawn M300MKII in my living room, and they were about twice the cost. They are louder for sure and can hit deafening volume in the blink of an eye...but sound wise...they're pretty close. The swans are a bit more forward and have some more options, but for twice the price...

 

[ozzy9832001]

i will agree with you there... if your criterion is 3 way then you obviously short your market

what is the size of the woofer btw? cant seem to find it

my opinion would be that you ie. Edifier have to sell me on the benefits of a 3 way vs. conventional

8" woofer.

3 way principle is the same as a subwoofer. Who needs a sub if the speakers already handle 95% of human hearing or we cross over past what the speakers already can handle. Frequency response is part of it for sure, but freeing the woofer up from the lowest frequency improves its performance.

The only issue is how they are crossed over and whether all 3 drivers are in phase. I've seen good 3 way implementation and awful ones. This speaker is one of the good ones.

My goal was just to shed some light on what I felt was a great sounding and affordable pair of bookshelf speakers that will be a good introduction to quality sounding music and movies.

 

[SivKiv]

8" woofer.

3 way principle is the same as a subwoofer. Who needs a sub if the speakers already handle 95% of human hearing or we cross over past what the speakers already can handle. Frequency response is part of it for sure, but freeing the woofer up from the lowest frequency improves its performance.

The only issue is how they are crossed over and whether all 3 drivers are in phase. I've seen good 3 way implementation and awful ones. This speaker is one of the good ones.

My goal was just to shed some light on what I felt was a great sounding and affordable pair of bookshelf speakers that will be a good introduction to quality sounding music and movies.

Any possibility of having these sent over to amir? While I'm not sure how exactly amir decides what he wants to review, I'd be curious how a 3 way at this budget performs, especially one that according to a few anecdotes here and there, claim that it sounds fantastic for what it is.

 

[ozzy9832001]

Any possibility of having these sent over to amir? While I'm not sure how exactly amir decides what he wants to review, I'd be curious how a 3 way at this budget performs, especially one that according to a few anecdotes here and there, claim that it sounds fantastic for what it is.

I had really considered it, but for some reason they are like a sleeper speaker or Edifier didn't market them...at all.

There is very, very little information available about them, which I find really, really odd. Almost like they were made for a reason and then forgotten about.

If Amir or Erin lived near me I'd just drop them off because I'd be so curious to see how they perform in objective data.

To my ears they are great. After getting my office 75% of the way there with treatment, they sound even better.

 

[SivKiv]

I had really considered it, but for some reason they are like a sleeper speaker or Edifier didn't market them...at all.

There is very, very little information available about them, which I find really, really odd. Almost like they were made for a reason and then forgotten about.

If Amir or Erin lived near me I'd just drop them off because I'd be so curious to see how they perform in objective data.

To my ears they are great. After getting my office 75% of the way there with treatment, they sound even better.

Yeah, it's odd how I see very little info about a speaker that, for its configuration, could pass off as a sort of flagship for the brand in a sense(although, I am aware that they have much pricier speakers too). Great to hear that they've improved after treatment, that should be a relatively good sign.

There's a thread here specifically about sending equipment over to amir to have them be measured, so if you have not seen it, maybe you could have a look in there. The first post does mention that it would be difficult if the sender isn't based in the US though, so if you aren't, that might make things difficult.

We measure audio equipment for free!!!

Yes, you read the title right. If you have audio gear that you like to see objectively measured with professional equipment, we (I) may be interested in doing that for you and our readers. There is so little objective data on equipment today. Even if you are not an "objectivists" it pays to...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Although, maybe after massive amounts of determination, you could have these sent over to amir, and maybe even potentially start a new fanbase for these .

I want to ask though, how deep do these extend into the subbass on their own? Are there any comparisons that you've been able to make, or anything just off the top of your head?

Edit: I forgot to mention, but, I'm not actually sure where Erin is based, so maybe you may have to ask him or look around abit to at least get an idea which country he's based in.

 

[Frank2]

There's a youtube channel where they record side by side comparisons of studio monitors. With good headphones, this gives an impression of differences between speakers and between the original soundtrack and the recording of the speaker's sound with microphones. Not a perfect listening test, but better than nothing:

 

[Kachda]

Do they have any hum or buzzing?

 

[ozzy9832001]

Yeah, it's odd how I see very little info about a speaker that, for its configuration, could pass off as a sort of flagship for the brand in a sense(although, I am aware that they have much pricier speakers too). Great to hear that they've improved after treatment, that should be a relatively good sign.

There's a thread here specifically about sending equipment over to amir to have them be measured, so if you have not seen it, maybe you could have a look in there. The first post does mention that it would be difficult if the sender isn't based in the US though, so if you aren't, that might make things difficult.

We measure audio equipment for free!!!

Yes, you read the title right. If you have audio gear that you like to see objectively measured with professional equipment, we (I) may be interested in doing that for you and our readers. There is so little objective data on equipment today. Even if you are not an "objectivists" it pays to...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Although, maybe after massive amounts of determination, you could have these sent over to amir, and maybe even potentially start a new fanbase for these .

I want to ask though, how deep do these extend into the subbass on their own? Are there any comparisons that you've been able to make, or anything just off the top of your head?

Edit: I forgot to mention, but, I'm not actually sure where Erin is based, so maybe you may have to ask him or look around abit to at least get an idea which country he's based in.

They go down to 43hz, which for most music is more than enough. I would describe the bass as warm. It's not forward, but it's present.

I do use a subwoofer, 2 actually, to get the low end where I want it to be and sort out a whole slew of modal issues.

On their own though, they are more than capable.

In my living room I have the Swan M300MKII, also a 3-way design, but nearly twice the cost. The Swan's get louder, but generally the same frequency response. Similar sound, the Swan's are a bit more forward in the mids and highs, which is more a taste issue. I prefer the overall tone of the Edifiers better. Seems more balanced to my ears.

Currently, the Edifiers only have 3 EQ settings in Peace. That's all I really need.

 

[ozzy9832001]

Do they have any hum or buzzing?

The tweeter buzzes slightly, but you have to have your ear on top of it to hear it. Also has to be over 70% for it to manifest. They are hooked up through RCA. The static noise probably isn't present if hooked up through digital.

 

[SivKiv]

They go down to 43hz, which for most music is more than enough. I would describe the bass as warm. It's not forward, but it's present.

I do use a subwoofer, 2 actually, to get the low end where I want it to be and sort out a whole slew of modal issues.

On their own though, they are more than capable.

In my living room I have the Swan M300MKII, also a 3-way design, but nearly twice the cost. The Swan's get louder, but generally the same frequency response. Similar sound, the Swan's are a bit more forward in the mids and highs, which is more a taste issue. I prefer the overall tone of the Edifiers better. Seems more balanced to my ears.

Currently, the Edifiers only have 3 EQ settings in Peace. That's all I really need.

Ah, alright.

Also, I assume you're based outside of the US? Because, if so, having these be sent over would be troublesome for sure

 

[ozzy9832001]

Ah, alright.

Also, I assume you're based outside of the US? Because, if so, having these be sent over would be troublesome for sure

New Jersey...though sometimes I feel like I'm not in the US.

 

[SivKiv]

New Jersey...though sometimes I feel like I'm not in the US.

Oh dang. Maybe you could DM amir or talk in that thread, you may be able to interest him, because based on what I've heard your say, sounds like this could end up being really competitive if it measures like so.

 

[IvUs]

I had really considered it, but for some reason they are like a sleeper speaker or Edifier didn't market them...at all.
There is very, very little information available about them, which I find really, really odd. Almost like they were made for a reason and then forgotten about.

I would like to say that this model is quite popular in Russia,Ukraine (and probably in Poland). Here was a lot of local technical reviews, long forum threads. System has own fans and haters. It almost always is available at local stores.
Edifier has whole line of similar systems: r2700, r2750db, r2800, r2850db. Each new model is slightly better than previous. For example R2850db has an impulse power supply but r2800 is transformer-based. I have purchased r2850db and Edifier T5 sub several month ago and believe this is good enough and universal set to hear music or tv in living room.
The price was about 400USD for r2850db and about 200US for subwoofer.

 

[ozzy9832001]

I would like to say that this model is quite popular in Russia,Ukraine (and probably in Poland). Here was a lot of local technical reviews, long forum threads. System has own fans and haters. It almost always is available at local stores.
Edifier has whole line of similar systems: r2700, r2750db, r2800, r2850db. Each new model is slightly better than previous. For example R2850db has an impulse power supply but r2800 is transformer-based. I have purchased r2850db and Edifier T5 sub several month ago and believe this is good enough and universal set to hear music or tv in living room.
The price was about 400USD for r2850db and about 200US for subwoofer.

Very interesting. I wonder if that's the secret. It was primarily an overseas release. Foreign markets (to me) may not have as much competition.

Either way, I'm happy with them but I do with there was some anechoic data on it. Maybe I'll browse reddit and can see what I can find.