Edifier Aurora 2.1 MP300 Multimedia Speaker Review

In the quest for affordable stylish yet impeccable sound quality when it comes to speaker systems you aren’t really spoilt for choice nowadays. Although the majority of multimedia speakers may tick one of these boxes (or even two!) finding a multimedia speaker set which has the lucky three can be gruelling task.

So where do you start? Well Technology Blogged of course, because in the quest for affordable sound quality in a stylish package we have turned to Edifier, one of our favorite companies for audio products. We have already reviewed their Sound To Go MP250 Portable speaker which was a fantastic product, so felt it necessary to do so with its higher price tagged brother, the Aurora MP300 2.1 Multimedia Speaker.

Review: Design & Build Quality

After reviewing Edifiers Sound To Go Speaker I expected nothing less on the design front from the Aurora and packaging wise you get the exact same deal; a glossy white and red box a see through cut out of the speakers and awards scattered on top of it. Because of my already pumped up view of Edifiers products (due to past design) before taking the Aurora out of the box I really did hope that this product could make the same impact on me as the MP250, because I’d hate to have to cut down a product when I gave a smashing review of the last one.

Luckily my worries were ended when I took the product out of its packaging. The review model sent was black and initial impressions of the Aurora for me were okay, however it has to be said that sneekily it did look like any other speaker set. The difference naturally came in the hands of the sub woofer which stood out like a cat in pajamas (ha!). The Aurora is available in 10 different colors for you to choose from pre purchase (see this link) and the black on our model looked classy, businessy and serious. For anybody who likes a bit of color though (and I do to be honest) i’d have to say that you will prefer a brighter more colorful version than the one pictured in this review.

As far as build quality goes the sub woofer is top notch and well weighted, featuring a brushed aluminium tubed finish. The Edifier websites states that the Aurora has a “Sophisticated design and magnetically-shielded full range spherical satellites with metal weave speaker grill” which sounds great, however the quality of the sub woofer in your hands can be summed up in two words without any fluff. These words would be “very good”.

On the speaker front my first impressions of quality were skeptical due to their lightness, and with the whole system weighing in at (taken from Edifier) 1.00Kg (Net) and 1.30Kg (Gross) I am fairly confident that over 2 thirds of that weight is down to the sub woofer. Overall the speakers feel okay, however they do feel as though they come with a lower spec Multimedia system than the sub woofer does. Protecting both speakers is a metal mesh front as made popular on all of Edifiers products and this aids in the speakers feeling as though they will last the length of their warranty, despite their light feel. On the right speaker there are buttons to control the volume.

Portability wise the Aurora 2.1 Multimedia Speaker set is as portable as can be for a speaker set of this range and quality (see sound quality review below), however if you are after seriously bag friendly speakers you should definitely check out Edifiers Sound To Go.

Connectivity Options & Sound Quality

The main purpose of these speakers is to be used at your desktop computer (or at least that is what they are best for and what I used them for most) and so USB cable connectivity is a must for a product like this, and Bluetooth would be a true god send for a product like this. Currently you’ll have to settle only for the ‘must’ part that is USB connectivity though, because wireless connectivity isn’t available for this product yet (future updates of the Aurora maybe). This for me was fine because I would only use a multimedia speaker set like this in a fixed position anyway and not transport them. For others however this could be a huge turn off.

Setting up the speakers is as easy as one two three because you practically have everything you need anyway minus the PC, and the audio input cable shipped with the Aurora I found to be reasonably long meaning I could face the speakers around half a foot away from my PC.  The speaker wires coming out of the sub woofer however were a little short, and so you have to keep the speaker and sub woofer fairly close to one another.

Now on to the biggie that is sound quality, and I am very happy to report that the Aurora surpised me a couple of times. The sub woofer performed with a kind of patriotism Edifier should be proud of when I played Lil Wayne’s A Milli, and tracks from DeadMau5 played terrifically too. Once you crank the bass up and begin to play with your equalizer though the sound coming from the bass does become warped and rattly, however this is a product not designed for a nightclub but for a desk.

The speakers shipped with the Aurora have a claimed power output of 22W (which is great for a desk) and they proved to also be quite good. Mid ranges didn’t sound phazed out at medium volume like a lot of speakers seem to do, however as with the bass once you crank the volume up the sounds did start to fall apart.

Pricing

Amazingly all the quality and brilliant performance from the Aurora doesn’t come at a cost to your wallet, because currently the Aurora is retailing at a very reasonable £59.95 at John Lewis and cheaper elsewhere online.

Conclusion

There is no way on this earth that I could not recommend the Aurora 2.1 MP300 Multimedia Speaker set for the price it retails at and I honestly believe that it is steal. At 22W this speaker set isn’t the most powerful in the world, nor is it the best in the world and nor can it play your music wirelessly, however it never intended to be or do any of those and for that reason I have fully enjoyed using them for the past 4 days.

So should you buy them? Or more importantly is your quest for affordable stylish yet impeccable sound quality over? Well the answer to that question in my opinion is yes. Edifier have brought to market a product which for me has filled that three times lucky gap, and I could comfortably bet that no other speaker system on the market retailing at the same price could match Edifiers Aurora or make you want to dance as much.

8/10