Recommendation for super small PC speakers (nearfield)

[JustAnAudioLover]

Hi there!

I'm currently looking to get some speakers for my PC. My desk is very small (100 x 40 cm, so about 40 x 15 inches). I'm usually sitting directly in front of the desk (my legs under it) so I'm very close to the speakers. The spekaers would be placed directly against the wall, with the left one directly in a corner. I don't need any wireless connectivity option, but I'd like active speakers if possible. I can live with an amp, but I'd prefer not to.

Currently, I'm using a pair of Soundcore Motion Plus speakers, paired in stereo over Bluetooth. Works fine, nice sound, but I'd like to get something a bit better. To give you an idea, the sound signature of the Motion+ is pretty pleasing to my ears, and even though they lack a bit of bass it's fine (and I'm not using the bass boost option as it makes the speakers too boomy). Oh and the Motion+ at 35% volume is PLENTY loud for me. So I don't need a lot of power at all.

Most options are not possible for me due to size. The small KEF LSX II for instance would be way too huge. Also I'd like to not have a subwoofer (even if that obviously means worse bass). Kanto Ora seem to be a good option but they are on the bigger size, I'd like something smaller if possible.

I'm not looking for monitoring speakers, just something to enjoy music, so no problem with speakers that have boosted bass for instance. But, I'm pretty sensitive when it comes to treble, so monitoring is very much not an option for me, that puts Edifier's MR3, MR4 and M60 out of the equation. Same for iLoud's Micros.

Edifier's E25 seems pretty nice, but can't find many reviews on them. The Creative Pebble Nova seem quite nice too, but unavailable where I live. Fiio's SP3 are apparently notorious for being pretty bad speakers for their price.

So, to sum up:

* Super small speakers, put directly against a wall
* About 40cm away from ears
* Will listen at pretty low volume
* Sound signature with no harshness in the high frequencies
* No subwoofer
* Active speakers preferred (but not required)
* I'd like if possible to not go over 300 € for the pair

Thanks for your help!

 

[Talisman]

Adam D3v

 

[Arindal]

My completely subjective impression was that among the very tiny desktop monitors

Eve Audio SC-203

was really good in hyper-near field environments. Particularly liked the fact that the projected image was at comfortable distance from the listener under such conditions, and they were fun even at low volume. Not overly loud, of course.

 

[JustAnAudioLover]

Adam D3v

Thanks. How would these compare to the iLoud Micro?

 

[JustAnAudioLover]

My completely subjective impression was that among the very tiny desktop monitors

Eve Audio SC-203

was really good in hyper-near field environments. Particularly liked the fact that the projected image was at comfortable distance from the listener under such conditions, and they were fun even at low volume. Not overly loud, of course.

Thanks, unfortunately these are very expensive, at 555 € locally :/

 

[anotherhobby]

Thanks. How would these compare to the iLoud Micro?

I got a pair of iLoud Micro's for my wife's office a couple of years ago. They sound pretty good for their diminutive size, and the room correction/calibration actually works pretty well. I think for the price they are a fairly decent package.

 

[JeremyFife]

Over budget (sorry about that) but super small if you can accommodate the subwoofer unit: Kali IN-UNF?

There is an interesting thread comparing little Kef 'eggs' to very (very) good Genelecs: https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...s-kef-hts-3001-comparision-in-midfield.61329/

I think the Kefs are only available second hand now, but that's ok for speakers. You'd need an amplifier, but there are plenty of excellent desktop amps for under 100 (Aiyima, Fosi - reviewed on this site). Worth a look.

 

[kyuu]

But, I'm pretty sensitive when it comes to treble, so monitoring is very much not an option for me, that puts Edifier's MR3, MR4 and M60 out of the equation. Same for iLoud's Micros.

Not sure what you mean by "monitoring" not being an option due to being sensitive to treble? In any case, it's kind of difficult for anyone here to know what you find "harsh", so recommending a speaker to avoid that is pretty much impossible. Luckily, since you're using your PC as your source here, it's extremely easy for you to use EQ to make the treble sound any way you like with pretty much any speaker. I would recommend getting Equalizer APO with Peace EQ for the front-end.

For speakers, with your requirements kind of hard to do better than iLoud Micro, Adam D3V, or one of the Edifiers.

 

[JustAnAudioLover]

Not sure what you mean by "monitoring" not being an option due to being sensitive to treble? In any case, it's kind of difficult for anyone here to know what you find "harsh", so recommending a speaker to avoid that is pretty much impossible. Luckily, since you're using your PC as your source here, it's extremely easy for you to use EQ to make the treble sound any way you like with pretty much any speaker. I would recommend getting Equalizer APO with Peace EQ for the front-end.

For speakers, with your requirements kind of hard to do better than iLoud Micro, Adam D3V, or one of the Edifiers.

Yeah it's true that i can eq, that may be the best option in case I get a speaker a bit too harsh for my taste.

I think I'll go with the Edifier M60 for now as those are really small, I'll report back once I have them

 

[AnalogSteph]

I think I'll go with the Edifier M60 for now as those are really small, I'll report back once I have them

If nothing else, they would still leave enough budget for a decent measurement solution. I'm not entirely convinced they'd be quite as good as the - even smaller - iLoud Micros, but at least they're a "proper" active speaker (not like I have any major complaints about the passive crossovers in the MR3, mind you).

 

[Penelinfi]

Can be difficult to recommend speakers without "harsh treble" if you're also stuck in a corner with reflective surfaces nearby.

Monitors don't need to correlate with supposed harsh treble either. It might be good to play around with EQ to see if there's any particular frequency that irritates you. If not then it could be something else you'd need to investigate

 

[JustAnAudioLover]

So, I just received the Edifier M60 a few hours ago.

Set them up, first impressions: very nice design, on par with what I would expect from more expensive speakers. They're also really tiny, a lot more than I'd have thought. Which is great, because at 15cm deep, they're already on the bigger side for my desk.

Bluetooth works reliably, as does USB-C connection on Linux. You can switch sources by pressing the touch power button on top of the left speaker, which avoids problems I had in the past with bad source auto-detection from some other speakers. Only gripe, the cable between the two speakers seem proprietary, and not even that solid. Why not use standard speaker cables? That's really unfortunate.

Sound is very nice, they definitely sound bigger than they are, and the bass is very impressive as well. I put them directly against a wall so that obviously helps, but it's still very good. No sub bass though, as expected from such tiny things.

They have a good level of detail, the "phantom center" is really well done too. Only problem is you can easily locate when sound is coming directly from the left or right speaker (as opposed to the center), but that's pretty normal given they are literally like 50 cm from my ears. The included stands are a big plus.

With toe-in, they sound very precise and detailed but the sound stage is pretty narrow obviously, as on my desk they are about 80cm apart from each other. Without any toe-in, you lose a bit of detail but they sound wider.

I tried to push the volume a little and got away from the desk, and I can confidently say they can absolutely fill a small room with good sound quality. No sub bass again, but you wouldn't imagine they are as small as they are with your eyes closed. I can easily picture speakers twice as big without any problem, even in the bass.

So overall these are great speakers: very good build quality, the touch controls are well done (even if less intuitive that physical buttons), mini desktop stands are included, all required cables as well (male jack to male jack, male RCA to male jack, USB-C to USB-C). They are immediately recognized as speakers on Linux as well. Sound is great, you could have told me these were €300-€400 speakers and twice as big and I would have believed it, but they're actually €150 so that's an amazing deal in my book.

I don't recall how my old Edifier's 1280BT sounded, but I'm pretty confident they didn't sound as good, despite being a lot bigger.

So that's a very good purchase for me, they fit nicely on my desk and bring me a great sound that's not fatiguing and very detailed!

 

[JustAnAudioLover]

Oh and, compared to a pair of Soundcore Motion+, that's a big improvement, even in the bass department. Plus they're a lot more convenient to use, but that's to be expected given they're something like 4x bigger in total volume, and "serious" speakers instead of basic Bluetooth "party" speakers (even if the Motion+ are great at what they do).

 

[AnalogSteph]

Only gripe, the cable between the two speakers seem proprietary, and not even that solid. Why not use standard speaker cables? That's really unfortunate.

You need 4 conductors for 2-way actives, that's not happening with twin lead unless you're using two. Having just one cable with a single connector makes things much neater and way more foolproof. I am pretty sure they would have used about the most generic / inexpensive connector they could find that did the job.

I don't recall how my old Edifier's 1280BT sounded, but I'm pretty confident they didn't sound as good, despite being a lot bigger.

1280DBs? They presumably are pretty much 1280Ts with BT added, and those have treble issues due to a poor excuse of a crossover and woofer breakup. More "multimedia" than truly hi-fi.

 

[kyuu]

Hard to find a good picture of the speaker interconnect on those M60s. This was the best I could get:

Looks like perhaps a DIN cable?

 

[JustAnAudioLover]

You need 4 conductors for 2-way actives, that's not happening with twin lead unless you're using two. Having just one cable with a single connector makes things much neater and way more foolproof. I am pretty sure they would have used about the most generic / inexpensive connector they could find that did the job.

1280DBs? They presumably are pretty much 1280Ts with BT added, and those have treble issues due to a poor excuse of a crossover and woofer breakup. More "multimedia" than truly hi-fi.

Why couldn't you use a twin cable? Many active speakers do use them to pair the main speaker to the other one.

The 1280DB/T in my experience were absolutely fine, not "audiophile" but really nice especially for their price. But this was a pretty long time ago so maybe I was more easily impressed at the time, not having heard any actual "high end" speaker before.

 

[JustAnAudioLover]

Hard to find a good picture of the speaker interconnect on those M60s. This was the best I could get:

View attachment 443491

Looks like perhaps a DIN cable?

Nope, the four pins are visually symmetrical both horizontally and vertically.

I found some replacement cables for iLoud Micros that seem to be roughly the same shape (not sure if they're 100% the same though). But other than that, nothing, so it does seem like some kind of proprietary cable.

EDIT: Seems like it's called a 4 pin aviation connector, but it's hard to find actual cables made from them. The connectors though can be found to build DIY cables, but those don't have the push system so they probably can't fit inside the speaker. So really a proprietary cable for the speakers, which is unfortunate.

 

[JustAnAudioLover]

SO! I'm actually stupid.

I felt like the imaging was nice but not perfect. And why is that? BECAUSE I INVERTED THE DAMN SPEAKERS!

The active speaker actually goes to the right, and the passive one to the right. After inverting them, the sound is so damn better! I realized the problem when listening to a music I really like, and an instrument ended up appearing on the right side where it was supposed to be on the left.

Now I'm seriously impressed. The sound is incredibly detailed and immersive, the speakers are very musical and I'm pretty speechless with getting such a good sound for such a low price!

Just be sure if you purchase them that you don't invert the speakers

Oh and, compared to the Soundcore Motion+, the difference is now massive. Completely different league.

 

[HeadDoc12]

SO! I'm actually stupid.

I felt like the imaging was nice but not perfect. And why is that? BECAUSE I INVERTED THE DAMN SPEAKERS!

The active speaker actually goes to the right, and the passive one to the right. After inverting them, the sound is so damn better! I realized the problem when listening to a music I really like, and an instrument ended up appearing on the right side where it was supposed to be on the left.

Now I'm seriously impressed. The sound is incredibly detailed and immersive, the speakers are very musical and I'm pretty speechless with getting such a good sound for such a low price!

Just be sure if you purchase them that you don't invert the speakers

Oh and, compared to the Soundcore Motion+, the difference is now massive. Completely different league.

I was gonna suggest Vanatoo, but it sounds like you are happy with your choice. Enjoy!

 

[Penelinfi]

Looks like a mini DIN 4 pin power or 4 pin power DC cable to me; also the bottom pins are slightly closer together. This plug also has the correct tabs and a push pad on the barrel