Edifier Luna5 Encore Review

If you are on the lookout for a decent iPhone dock then you are certainly more than spoilt for choice, however if you are on the lookout for alien looking and quite honestly obscenely sized speakers you are left a little in the dark. This is the point naturally where we headed on over to Edifier to test out their Luna5 Encore speaker. See what’s what below.

Review: Design, Build

When you pop in to your local hardware store what do you expect to see? Well on the look out for iPhone and iPod Touch compatible speakers you’ll come across various products reaching out to various markets, however there will always be one product which grabs your attention for the design alone, and the Edifier Luna5 Encore is one such product.

Following on from a product grabbing your attention from design, the Luna5 Encore, honestly, could be seen from half way across a store if you had a keen eye because the thing is quite literally huge. Edifier clearly took the word ‘Lunar’ in this product seriously, because if it was a planet, it would be Jupiter, dwarfing all others. To give you an on-paper idea as to the size of this speaker, the specifications are 376mm x 390mm x 240mm (W x H x D).

The speaker itself is a mixture of glossy plastics with the back of our review model being white which reminded us of the Samsung Galaxy Tab in quality. Giving the speaker a little bit of push and shove revealed that the speaker is also well built and creak free, which re-instated for us that Edifier products are very well built indeed.

Moving on to the area where your iPhone or iPod Touch will sit and the speaker itself boasts a unique ‘floating dock’ as it is being marketed and touch sensitive buttons which glow red for input which add a touch of quality to an already well built product. The buttons themselves are sensitive enough, and are very resposive to touch indeed. Around the front of the device the Encore also includes a 3.5mm input should you want to use another type of music personal or link in your computer.

Whether or not you actually like the looks of this product despite the good build is a matter for personal taste. For me personally I thought it was a bit of an eye soar at first, however as always you get used to stuff and I can honestly state I have become accustomed to it now, despite it’s size.

Practicability, Sound

In the design and build part of this review above I noted that this speaker is on the large side of life, and this really shows when trying to find a place to put the thing. Perhaps this is just me, and my desk is too small, however sitting next to a Bose system the Edifier Luna5 Encore was a little too big for comfort in my books. This, however, is for a reason, as the Luna5 features five speakers in the form of a subwoofer, two tweeters and two mid-range speakers.

Due to the combination of five speakers the Luna5’s sound quality is very good indeed and offers up pretty much perfect low and mid-range tone and very respectable bass indeed. Edifier have seen fit to incorporate a unique 5 driver speaker system with vibration resonance control technology built in for perfect sound quality, and where as I had no real world way of testing it out, there is a good chance this had a part to play in the great sound quality it pumps out. For me personally I was most impressed by the bass that the Encore produces, because it quite simply matched and exceeded in some cases the bass on my standalone subwoofer when playing Lil Wayne’s ‘A Milli’.

When I got round to cranking up the volume on the Luna5 (I did this in a small and large room) the Luna5 performed admirably and filled the rooms very well. As with all speakers when the volume was on full the mid range of all songs (especially Dubstep scene music) tended to wonder off, however I don’t recommend playing this thing on full for too long, unless you have reinforced ears.

Pricing

Edifier is well known for providing great looking and high performing products at good all round prices, and with this in mind the Luna5 jumps in at around £150.00 RRP, a decent price and one which will undoubtedly make a lot of consumers favour them over competitors.

Verdict

I was very impressed with Edifiers Luna5 Encore docking station when it came to sound with the bass playing a key role in this. Price wise I was also very impressed that it will set you back just £150 in store, whilst other lesser sounding speakers cost more.

Whether you like the look of this product despite the good price great build and admirable sound quality is another thing, and the choice as to whether it will look good in your home is yours. For me personally, it wouldn’t suit, however for a lot of people I am sure it will, so on that basis I can award the Luna5 a good all round score.

7/10