R1280DB Powered Bluetooth Bookshelf Speakers - Optical Input - Wireless Studio Monitors - 4 Inch Near Field Speaker - 42W RMS - Wood Grain (Black)

I’ve been genuinely impressed with these Edifier powered Bluetooth speakers. They deliver clear, rich sound that fills the room without distortion, giving music, podcasts, and movies way more presence than you’d expect for the price. The balance between lows, mids, and highs is excellent — everything from deep bass lines to vocals and high notes come through clean and well-defined. That makes them a great all-around choice whether you’re listening casually, streaming videos, or hosting friends. Pairing via Bluetooth is smooth and reliable, and the wireless freedom means I can easily switch between devices or place them wherever sounds best in the space. They also look great on a shelf or desk thanks to their classic design. For anyone who wants quality audio without hauling around extra gear, these hit the mark. Overall, they feel like a really high-value purchase and powerful and enjoyable every time you use them. I’d easily call them a five-star pick.

I have a set of R1850DB's that I have been using for many years now, and seeing as I have updated my gaming and typing desk setup, I wanted some new bookshelf speakers so that I could use the existing set for the living room TV. I wanted Edifier speakers again, since the previous set worked so well, sounded so good, and lasted a long time. These are sexy, simple, and one major plus is that the controls on the right speaker are on the side, instead of the back. No more having to stand up and reach behind the speaker to operate the controls. I know they have a remote but I prefer using the knobs and buttons... Now I can adjust what I need much easier (even though these come with a remote too :p) I think these sound great, and even though I am not an audiophile, I can find happiness in even a mediocre sound system (my car >,>.) At my desk, when I am watching videos, movies, and shows; or when I am gaming, I do enjoy a nice, premium sound, especially for the price. The main difference is the way the speakers connect. The previous set had a cable, this set has the speaker wire that has exposed copper to feed into the pinchy things that clamp down and secure them. I don't mind the wire that the set came with, but I wanted something prettier, so I bought some 16AWG speaker wire that looks nicer and cut it to length, which means I wont have excess either! I will be getting the T5 Edifier sub as well, that will be coming in this week. It is in no way a reflection of how I feel about the sound and depth of these speakers, I think they sound awesome as they are. I have never had a sub though, and adding the sub to my new setup is a way to try something more immersive especially for multimedia consumption and gaming! Overall, I can easily recommend these speakers. They look and sound awesome, and can get really loud and deeply heavy for bookshelf speakers. Nice, clear sound, and easy to use controls. I know that particularly in audio, there is such a wide range of preferences. Audio is highly subjective. It can also be extremely convoluted and confusing, regarding function, form, sound, connectivity and compatibility between different platforms, etc... In regards to this set of speakers and my limited knowledge of audio equipment, I can definitely say with confidence that they are extremely worth the price, and I would argue that most people would be perfectly happy with them! :)

Very neat and compact set of speakers, IMO its a little too directional so they feel more like studio monitors and they can get very loud. nice sound profile for most music. the remote kinda sucks which is unfortunate. it often take multiple inputs for it to register once

Others have complained about these speakers and I'll address those complaints first. Bluetooth works well with my ~4 year old Moto X Pure Android phone. My only complaint about Bluetooth on these speakers is that I wish that it was "always on" and would auto-switch to the BT input whenever something connected, and would switch back to the last input when disconnected. Instead, you have to manually select the input on the chintzy little remote. I am not sure about the specs but it may support aptX because latencies were very low when watching things on my phone. I have had no problem with low gain. I control the volume to my TV's audio line output using my TV remote, and it's easy to adjust both the speaker audio level and the TV line out to be quite loud without getting anywhere near the maximum setting of either, leaving a lot of headroom if I want the speakers to be exceptionally loud and easily avoiding any sort of clipping or distortion. I cannot possibly imagine a normal and compact soundbar of similar price would sound any better. Those tend to have even smaller loudspeakers in them, and you can't really gang up parallel speakers without causing nasty interference patterns. The different frequency ranges seem reasonable in accuracy. If you want a "colorful" speaker, get a Bose or one of the other countless brands that try to impress people with accentuated mid or low ranges. Personally I respect a speaker with a relatively flat response. I'm also not shocked that these have poor bass reproduction. The woofer is small and has to drive a wide frequency range. If you buy these expecting a lot of bass, you are delusional. If you are desperate for tons of bass, get a big and more expensive 3-way speaker or a supplemental subwoofer. I have never once in my life desired a remote-controlled bass/treble control. The fact that these speakers have convenient knobs for both on this price class is pretty good to begin with. Generally, I find a setting I like (usually in the center or near to it) and leave it there forever. Yes, these are not powerful overall. They are loud enough for my family room. They are much more than adequate for a computer system. If you are looking for a booming home stereo system, why are you buying bookshelf monitors? As for my own pros/cons, I'd say that they don't sound amazing. They sound quite good, much better than the built-in speakers on my TV, and much better than an old 2.1 Altec Lansing system I still had from the early 2000s. They do not sound as good as my giant Denon amp combined with a nice and big 3-way passive speaker setup. I can't put my finger on where the deficiency is in their quality is, but it's just a little off somehow. It probably has to do with the smallish woofer having to reproduce so many frequencies at once. But again, it's pretty good, and these are inexpensive for a pair of powered monitors. They are compact and attractive. I am sick of having passive speakers with a separate amp/receiver, so just being able to route the TV directly to the speakers and have that be the end of it is very enticing. It saves a lot of space and look nice and neat. The remote is tiny and feels like it's going to break apart in my hand. The input jacks are not really recessed so if you are planning on placing the speakers on a ledge against a wall, you may want to get L-shaped connectors or else the right speaker will need to sit an inch or more forward from the wall. The analog and digital inputs are nice and it's easy to switch between them with the remote, assuming you don't lose it. Thus far, it's about what I expected for the price, which was about $130 at the time of this writing. With this feature set, form factor and price point, I feel like there isn't much to complain about. If they break down, or blow out, or feature stop working, or anything like that, I'll come back to amend my review.