Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/10/23/review_laptop_speakers_edifier_mp300_plus/
Edifier MP300 Plus 2.1 laptop speaker system
Awesome audio
23rd October 2008 11:02 GMT
Review Portable laptop speakers aren't easy to get excited about. Most tend to look cheap, sound cheap and often aren't all that portable.
Edifier's new MP300 2.1 speaker systems kicks the first two preconceptions into the long grass with some ease and while not exactly light or small, the set makes remarkably good use of the space it takes up.
Edifier's MP300 Plus: high standard of manufacture
The MP300 comes in three parts: the 60mm-diameter by 280mm long tubular sub-woofer and two 55mm-diameter spherical satellite speaker pods. Across the board, the standard of manufacture is very high indeed, the woofer being constructed of aluminum while its base and the satellites are of high quality plastic. The whole rig is decked out in the best Spinal Tap black.
Edifier has thought hard about how best to utilise the space around a laptop, so the sub-woofer is intended to sit in the no-man's land behind the lid - out of sight, out of mind, but not out of earshot.
The two satellites connect to the sub-woofer with 55cm cables that join together about 3cm from the end and so share a common multi-pin socket. The sub-woofer, in turn, connects to the mains power supply and your computer – or MP3 player or PMP - with the supplied 3.5mm-to-3.5mm cable. Actually, Edifier supplies two 3.5mm cables: a short, 55cm one and a long, 1.7m one, which is a nice touch.
If we had to be nit-picky, we'd have liked the satellite cables to have been a shade longer - a stereo spread of around 200cm would give a better sense of separation than the 110cm maximum allowed.
All told, the MP300 weighs 1.3kg, but comes with a handy, padded nylon carry case and is certainly “packable” for long holidays.
It also comes with a handy, padded nylon carry case
Power output is rated as 3.5W for each of the satellites and 15W for the sub-woofer, while the whole thing runs off 12V power. With no passive-operation option, no power means no noise. The system proved to be very well shielded, and proved wholly immune to the strange throbs and squeaks that many portable speaker systems can be prone to in a technology intensive environment.
Two little silver knobs on the top of the right-hand satellite speaker control the volume – hold the left one down to reduce the volume, hold the right to increase, or tap them both together to mute. All in all, a simple, elegant and effective way of doing things.
Also available in silver
Not to beat about the bush, the sound produced by the MP300 is excellent. Not excellent as in 'excellent by the standards of PC speakers' but excellent period.
That tubular aluminum sub-woofer produces a solid, punchy and tightly focused bass wholly devoid of overload rumble or resonant boom. The satellites manage the higher frequencies with aplomb. No matter what we played - and no matter how loud we played it; this thing can pump out some serious volume – we didn't even get a sniff of distortion or break-up.
In fact, such is the volume of the MP300 that you need to be careful you don't have it - and whatever noise making application you have running - set to maximum. When we inadvertently fired up the Runrig track Alba with the volume of our MP300, PC and iTunes all set to max, the cleaner had a heart attack, the office cat turned suddenly tartan and the windows blew out. OK, that's a slight exaggeration but you get the idea. It was a definite Maxell moment.
Testing caused a little disruption in the office
Thankfully, the MP300 comes with something called EIDC - Electric Intelligent Distortion Control, which, according to the user guide, “automatically adjusts and protects the system from input overload”, which is nice to know.
By way of a test, we listened to the best of Swedish electro-pop on Robyn's self-titled 2007 album, Bruckner's ninth and Rammstein's Mutter, all played though iTunes on a Dell Inspiron 1525 channeling the sound signal through a USB audio adaptor.
All three albums sounded rich and colorful, with plenty of detail. Even the second movement of the ninth - always a good way to separate the men from the boys, especially with the Vienna Phil. and Carlo Maria Giulini giving it an almost physical energy - thundered out clear and composed.
And any compact speaker system that can handle German hard rock without losing it's composure needs no further recommendation. Hier kommt die Sonne indeed.
Watching 300 with the soundtrack pumping through the MP300 was also highly amusing. Seldom have blood splatters sounded quite so visceral and liquid when away from a high-quality home cinema surround sound system.
Seldom have we heard such sound quality away from a home cinema set up
Edifier wasn't a company we had heard of before being aurally accosted at a trade show by an MP300 turned up LOUD. The company's R&D operation is based in Vancouver and its brain trust includes some well -nown names from the audiophile world, including Peter Duminy of B&W. After our time with the MP300, it's a company we'll be keeping a close eye on in future.
Come November, the MP300 will available from a branch of John Lewis near you from the frankly ludicrously low price of £50.
Verdict
We can't really think if a single major criticism of the MP300. OK, it's a little heavy and the satellite speaker cables could be a shade longer, but set that against the cost, the look, the superb sound and frankly its a no brainier. We know what we want for Christmas.
Edifier MP300 Plus 2.1
In short, the best laptop-friendly speaker system we've tried.
- Suggested Price:
- £50
- More info:
- The MP300 page on the Edifier website (http://www.edifier.com/eng2005/product/s0006_00.htm)
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