Verdict
With 36 watts of total power, plenty of connection options, including Bluetooth, and a price tag far closer to $100 than it has any right to be, the Edifier MR3 Powered Monitor Speakers bring plenty to the table for those looking for a budget pair of monitor speakers.
The Good
- Lots of connection options
- Bluetooth Capable
- Open Detailed Sound
The Bad
- Lacks the bass and volume of larger speakers
The Design
The Edifier MR3 are well-sized compact speakers. Shorter even than the height of a 15” laptop, despite housing a 3.5”” woofer and 1” tweeter. That makes these speakers easy to place on most desks, bookshelves, or anywhere else you might want them.
They are available in both black or white, with the speaker cabinets covered in a textured finish rounded off by a smooth matte finish to the front of these grill-less speakers. Copper accents on the woofer, and the multi-function button on the front of the right speaker, add to a sophisticated look that wouldn’t look out of place in a much more expensive setup than their price tag would suggest.
images: Edifier
That multi-function knob also allows quick access to powering the speakers on or off, adjusting the volume, and switching between different EQ settings. That’s super convenient if you want to switch between a monitor EQ setting for audio mixing, and then a more enthusiastic EQ for casual listening.
Connections
The key to a good monitor speaker, other than its balanced sound, is to ensure that there are a variety of connection options to satisfy even the most demanding pro-sumer user. And here the Edifier MR3 doesn’t disappoint.
As a powered pair of speakers, it’s the right speaker that houses all of the connection ports, including the basics such as your power cord and sprung speaker terminals. Now whilst the Edifier MR3’s do come with a speaker cable to connect them to each other, I would suggest upgrading to a better quality cable down the line.
image: Edifier
In addition there are balanced TRS inputs, RCA inputs, and a 3.5mm audio jack, on the rear of the right speaker, to allow connection to a range of audio sources. From guitars and audio mixers through to CD players and turntables.
The front of the right speaker also provides two 3.5mm audio ports. One for attaching a pair of headphones, and the other as another audio source input. This is great for quickly connecting occasional audio sources, such as a laptop or mobile phones, as the port is easily accessible on the front of the speaker.
Speaker Placement and Room Acoustics
The Edifier MR3’s allow you to tailor the sound to compensate for less than ideal rooms or speaker placement, to ensure a flat frequency response. The main focus of any monitor speaker.
Two dials on the rear of the right speaker allow the high and low frequency levels to be adjusted by plus or minus 6 dB. Whilst the Edifier Connex mobile app also provides 3 settings for compensating for low frequency noise, bad acoustics and desktop placement.
If you do place these speakers on a desk then I would recommend angling the speakers up towards yourself as this helps prevent sound reflecting off the desk and results in a better sounding speaker. There aren’t any speaker stands included with these speakers, but you can buy desktop speaker wedges fairly cheaply from websites such as Amazon.
How do they sound?
The Edifier MR3’s are well suited to near-field listening for video editing and audio production, and with 36 watts of power are also good for everyday listening in a medium sized room. They support a decent frequency range of 52 Hz up to 40 kHz and are tuned for a flat response so that audio mixes can be listened to “as is”, without any coloration.
That flat sound profile produces a balanced sound that makes clearly hearing the various layers of instruments and vocals easy to hear. These are simply a great pair of monitor speakers for those on a budget.
They are surprisingly good for casual listening also. Listen to something like Billie Eilish’s “Ocean Eyes”, and you can clearly hear instruments dart from left to right in the background whilst Billie’s vocals soar over the top of them. These sound great, especially at this price.
These aren’t going to sound as good as high-end monitor speakers, but for the money these sound great.
The Verdict
The Edifier MR3 offers a lot for it’s budget price of only $130. A pair of powered monitor speakers with 36 watts of power, plenty of connection options, including Bluetooth, and good sound to boot. That’s worth a look in anyones books.
