Yes you're right. The mr4's is not for you, it is supposed to be a near field monitors and should be put on a desktop, not on the coffee table in the living room. Happy new year thou.🎉
Inused a pair of MR4s for 8 months and I was very impressed with how detailed they were. To say they lack character is exactly what they are supposed to do, they are monitors! For the money, if you are after monitors, ai think they would be very hard to beat.
The Edifier MR4 speakers are 'Studio Monitors' designed for the Studio as a reference monitor designed to deliver a flat response for music producers. They are not bookshelf speakers for hifi systems or TVs, they are 'powered' reference monitors. The Technics SB-F1 mini vintage bookshelf speakers are unpowered 'Bookshelf speakers' which cannot be compared to Studio reference monitors simply because they are designed for a different purpose. Your dissatisfaction with them are simply because your expectations do not match the MR4's purpose. IOW: You bought the wrong speakers.
Well I enjoy it for listening music. It's just all about preferences, I prefer neutral-bright so this MR4 is enough for me. I prefer linear bass not boomy
They are also intended as near-field monitors (but also happen to function extremely nicely as computer speakers because of their properties). As soon as you walk a few feet away from your desk the sound volume and quantity drops off dramatically. As soon as I saw Jamie's setup in the background I could tell right away its the wrong use for these speakers.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Listening is like wine tasting, something very personal that IMHO has nothing to do with tech specs and measurements (meaning: except to avoid real garbage products or with subtleties perceived only by people with really good senses). I'm actually searching for a new set of small compact speakers to go with my desktop computer. At first, listening to DSAUDIO comparisons, MR4 seemed all right to me as an all-rounder (music, movies, gaming) with it's rather clean and neutral sound. But somehow I feel like - considering long term use - I'd better like something sounding more "alive" and warmer, having more "presence". The problem for me is that too many compact speakers are tuned to deliver more bass than they physically can and that's at the cost of the rest (like muffled mids ruining voices) and that's just why I thought of monitoring speakers to go with the PC. But - speaking for myself, off course - in any case I would NEVER use monitoring speakers with a (living room) main stereo set and especially not if listening to vinyles. And I'm no audiophile and have bad hearing. Left ear busted since a 80's Deep Purple concert, don't go to a 3000 places concert room when stadion stage monitors are used... LoL.
Don't get discouraged by this......let us join in your audio journey. Your going to get much better sound with small bookshelf speakers combined with a subwoofer for the lower frequencies or larger floor standing speakers like us old school guys from the 80's. Don't give up, keep the videos going and share your journey, don't feel unappreciated, part of the trip is in the experience!
Who uses the volume knob for controlling loudness? Use your tv remote, computer, receiver or any other media playback device to control that. Also the volume knob is a digital one, so you can not rotate them continuously like your phone volume it always changes in steps.
Due to mr4's woofer size And its power If you keep Mr4's left & right speakers among max 1/2 meters You can enjoy rich sound, If you set left & right speakers wilder than 1 meters, the sound will become wick.
Stands you def need stands and heavy ones with lead shot. I disagree with the people below. The BBC LS35A is a studio monitor however it has also won the hearts of audiophiles across the world. With careful partnering and position I've heard the Edifier can be great. A good set of stands will help however these probably will be twice as much as the speakers if not more!!!
except it tells nothing about the speakers for their intended purposes....just that she chose a wrong type of speaker studio monitors are not built for musical enjoyment....even the best monitors will sound somewhat bland compared to typical hi-fi speakers, but that is what they are for
Yeah, the volume issue is a pain in the butt. However, what I really like about them is sound staging. Incredible 3d feeling when you're in the right position. As others said, they are monitors, hence no flavors and characters. You don't want them unless you're really looking for flat response speakers.
I've got the Edifier MR4 and the R1280DB (using it as TV speakers). Both are similarly specc'd . The MR4 has trs out connectors but no bluetooth. The R1280DB has bluetooth but no trs out connectors. My take? The R1280DB is louder and has better all round sound for listening to music, listening while you're watching TH-cam videos, podcasts. If you're after a budget set of desktop speakers that's what you should get, not the MR4. You'll be disappointed. The MR4 sounds noticeably quiet and more neutral sounding even if you play around with the bass and treble. And I use them for audio recording/mixing and for casual listening. If I I need the audio to be much louder then I switch to my Alto Busker 200W portable PA speaker. I'm in an apartment so those are loud, too loud for my home office/studio in fact. If you're after a very budget set of reference monitors, these will do the job. I'm just a casual/weekend muso so for studio recording/mixing purposes, the MR4 suit my needs. If you're a bit more serious then casual with audio recording/mixing I recommend you spend more to get something better than the MR4.
As if your sound sound source has no volume control of its own. Control the fine volume adjustment on your source, like for example your attached mobile phone, just let the volume at certain fixed amount in mr4.
Monitor speaker is designed to produce as flat as possible frequency, they purposely avoid any character or color. And ofc flat speaker wont fit your home entertainment needs, its like watching ungraded film, its flat its washed out, its dull, it lack of depth and contrast. Most of you home speaker is tuned to have kinda vshape response, sooo yeah. Abt the volume issue, its only happens when you put your source input in the max volume. Turn your input source volume a little bit, its will give you more control over your speaker since you got more headroom to adjust your volume knob.
So what producer do with studio monitor? To listen music right? They just using it so they have reference for neutral sound that they want. That means we can also enjoy listening music using studio monitor. It's just defend on people's preferences. All kind of speakers can use to enjoy music. Don't pretend to be smart
Actually the speaker with the knob is the Right channel, so she has placed it correctly. "L Speaker Out" on the back of this speaker really means to connect the port indicated here to the other Left speaker using the supplied cable, it does not mean that this itself is the Left speaker. You can easily confirm this by searching for left-right channel stereo test in TH-cam to test the channels on the speakers.
The MR4 is a monitor speaker for recording studios. It was not tuned to perform as a typical home speaker which is rich in bass and lower mids. That is why it sounds "not special". A studio monitor is praised for it's flatness. You basically bought the wrong speaker for your needs. Look up "what makes a good studio monitor". They will probably describe what you are experiencing at home.
Does the MR4 have that hissing sound when you turn the volume knob all the way to the max? I have the R1280T and it's making a quiet hissing sound at all volume levels, the R1280T has a volume range of 0-50 with the knob and the hissing sound gets louder and louder from 40 to 50.
You forgot that you are comparing studio monitors with classical speakers. Speakers have a colored sound, hence the ''story''. You probably prefer a sound with character rather than a flat reference sound.
Right, so you don’t get a sense of specialness from an incorrect placed studio monitors that are meant for completely different purpose that you’re using them for? Who would have thought.
I see thanks. My google Nest Audio is pretty cool but i rarely use voice commands outside of timers. Thought ill use it often for music but it sounds doodoo.
I have a specific use case question, can you have both the trs and rca inputs connected to different sources and will it switch between the 2 depending on what is feeding info to the speakers. For example ( tv plugged into rca, and pc plugged into trs ) and whichever one may be on and sending audio, will come thru the speaker at that time ? This is a solution for me being able to use one pair of speakers for either my pc or tv whichever may be on and running.
Thank you for this review! This is what we need, an aged review not just first impressions. I would have to agree to the other person in the comment that maybe it was designed for a different purpose. With that in mind, what would you recommend at the same price point for a great listening experience especially with vinyl records?
Thank you for the kind comment. Recently, I've been enjoying the Technics SB-X10. I bought them used a year ago for $90 off Craigslist. They are a bit bigger, and look quite nice. They are passive speakers, and will need an amplifier. You can usually find good deals on used amplifiers - I've seen Technics amplifiers for $30-$50 on FB marketplace. Good luck!
You don't feel special because you're used to animated speakers that enhance music artificially, like Bose, JBL 🤦🏻♂️ If you wanted that why did you purchase reference monitor style speakers, because the whole point of reference monitor style speaker is to represent sound as balanced as possible only concentrating on sound separation and soundstage. And $130 these sound like nothing else on the market, the sound like they are at least $500 worth. YOU SHOULD JUST BUY COLOURFUL SPEAKERS LIKE JBL KEEP THESE SPEAKERS FOR BROKE AUDIOPHILES.
Give the Yamaha H8S a shot, got recommended to me by rapper buddy Tom McDonald, and wow. I will never use anything else again. Makes everything else sound like mud.
Good bit not a memorable, sounds like they are doing their job as intended? These are the cheapest monitors available for editing, not for enjoying music.
The sound is meh because its got a cheap material in the woofer.. carbon/kevlar ir fibre glass perobably. The are always dull and flawed in bass and midrange.. shut in kinda. Compare to the similar but fantastic XTZ tune 4's
I agree that Edifier does not make a quality product. In my case I bought the R2000DB speakers. At first I thought they were damaged. I ended up researching TH-cam videos just to get them working with my laptop through a bluetooth connection. When I frustratingly got them to pair and produce sound, I was very disappointed. The sound has too much bass to the point I turned the bass knob all the way down and the treble knob all the way up. Also, it seems the sound has a generally muffled sound. Disappointed that I paid so much for low quality speakers. I do not recommend this company at all.
Yes you're right. The mr4's is not for you, it is supposed to be a near field monitors and should be put on a desktop, not on the coffee table in the living room. Happy new year thou.🎉
Inused a pair of MR4s for 8 months and I was very impressed with how detailed they were. To say they lack character is exactly what they are supposed to do, they are monitors! For the money, if you are after monitors, ai think they would be very hard to beat.
Thank you for doing this review. I've been looking for something like this for my desktop set up. These would be perfect for that.
The Edifier MR4 speakers are 'Studio Monitors' designed for the Studio as a reference monitor designed to deliver a flat response for music producers. They are not bookshelf speakers for hifi systems or TVs, they are 'powered' reference monitors.
The Technics SB-F1 mini vintage bookshelf speakers are unpowered 'Bookshelf speakers' which cannot be compared to Studio reference monitors simply because they are designed for a different purpose.
Your dissatisfaction with them are simply because your expectations do not match the MR4's purpose. IOW: You bought the wrong speakers.
This is probably true! Studio monitor isn't for someone to enjoy music (though some people like me prefer a neutral and honest sound).
Do you recommend some speakers that are good at a similar price?
@@danielaacevedo1150 My best recommendation is that you do your own research and appraisals. After all, it's your ears that matter. Good luck :)
Well I enjoy it for listening music. It's just all about preferences, I prefer neutral-bright so this MR4 is enough for me. I prefer linear bass not boomy
They are also intended as near-field monitors (but also happen to function extremely nicely as computer speakers because of their properties). As soon as you walk a few feet away from your desk the sound volume and quantity drops off dramatically. As soon as I saw Jamie's setup in the background I could tell right away its the wrong use for these speakers.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Listening is like wine tasting, something very personal that IMHO has nothing to do with tech specs and measurements (meaning: except to avoid real garbage products or with subtleties perceived only by people with really good senses). I'm actually searching for a new set of small compact speakers to go with my desktop computer. At first, listening to DSAUDIO comparisons, MR4 seemed all right to me as an all-rounder (music, movies, gaming) with it's rather clean and neutral sound. But somehow I feel like - considering long term use - I'd better like something sounding more "alive" and warmer, having more "presence". The problem for me is that too many compact speakers are tuned to deliver more bass than they physically can and that's at the cost of the rest (like muffled mids ruining voices) and that's just why I thought of monitoring speakers to go with the PC. But - speaking for myself, off course - in any case I would NEVER use monitoring speakers with a (living room) main stereo set and especially not if listening to vinyles. And I'm no audiophile and have bad hearing. Left ear busted since a 80's Deep Purple concert, don't go to a 3000 places concert room when stadion stage monitors are used... LoL.
Thank you, it`s what I`m looking for. In the future will upgrade, but I think will last me good some years for my not demanding needs.
An excellent honest and insightful analysis. I like this channel. Looks like a nice turntable, SL 1200 Mk2 perhaps?
Don't get discouraged by this......let us join in your audio journey. Your going to get much better sound with small bookshelf speakers combined with a subwoofer for the lower frequencies or larger floor standing speakers like us old school guys from the 80's. Don't give up, keep the videos going and share your journey, don't feel unappreciated, part of the trip is in the experience!
Thanks for the detailed review
Who uses the volume knob for controlling loudness? Use your tv remote, computer, receiver or any other media playback device to control that. Also the volume knob is a digital one, so you can not rotate them continuously like your phone volume it always changes in steps.
My DAC, CD player, and TV output a fixed volume level.
Due to mr4's woofer size
And its power
If you keep Mr4's left & right speakers among max 1/2 meters
You can enjoy rich sound,
If you set left & right speakers wilder than 1 meters, the sound will become wick.
Stands you def need stands and heavy ones with lead shot. I disagree with the people below. The BBC LS35A is a studio monitor however it has also won the hearts of audiophiles across the world. With careful partnering and position I've heard the Edifier can be great. A good set of stands will help however these probably will be twice as much as the speakers if not more!!!
I like your review. It's very honest and telling. Great review
except it tells nothing about the speakers for their intended purposes....just that she chose a wrong type of speaker
studio monitors are not built for musical enjoyment....even the best monitors will sound somewhat bland compared to typical hi-fi speakers, but that is what they are for
Yeah, the volume issue is a pain in the butt. However, what I really like about them is sound staging. Incredible 3d feeling when you're in the right position.
As others said, they are monitors, hence no flavors and characters. You don't want them unless you're really looking for flat response speakers.
This is the most helpful review of these speakers I found. Thank you
I've got the Edifier MR4 and the R1280DB (using it as TV speakers). Both are similarly specc'd . The MR4 has trs out connectors but no bluetooth. The R1280DB has bluetooth but no trs out connectors. My take? The R1280DB is louder and has better all round sound for listening to music, listening while you're watching TH-cam videos, podcasts. If you're after a budget set of desktop speakers that's what you should get, not the MR4. You'll be disappointed. The MR4 sounds noticeably quiet and more neutral sounding even if you play around with the bass and treble. And I use them for audio recording/mixing and for casual listening. If I I need the audio to be much louder then I switch to my Alto Busker 200W portable PA speaker. I'm in an apartment so those are loud, too loud for my home office/studio in fact. If you're after a very budget set of reference monitors, these will do the job. I'm just a casual/weekend muso so for studio recording/mixing purposes, the MR4 suit my needs. If you're a bit more serious then casual with audio recording/mixing I recommend you spend more to get something better than the MR4.
I was very interested in these monitors, but the digital volume control ruins everything. Thanks for pointing that out and making this video !
As if your sound sound source has no volume control of its own. Control the fine volume adjustment on your source, like for example your attached mobile phone, just let the volume at certain fixed amount in mr4.
@@baldomero2357 sometimes, they don't.
Monitor speaker is designed to produce as flat as possible frequency, they purposely avoid any character or color. And ofc flat speaker wont fit your home entertainment needs, its like watching ungraded film, its flat its washed out, its dull, it lack of depth and contrast. Most of you home speaker is tuned to have kinda vshape response, sooo yeah.
Abt the volume issue, its only happens when you put your source input in the max volume. Turn your input source volume a little bit, its will give you more control over your speaker since you got more headroom to adjust your volume knob.
Audiophile buying a studio monitor for music pleasure.
Studio monitors are used by producers rather than listener of the music.
So what producer do with studio monitor? To listen music right? They just using it so they have reference for neutral sound that they want. That means we can also enjoy listening music using studio monitor. It's just defend on people's preferences. All kind of speakers can use to enjoy music. Don't pretend to be smart
🤡
You bought these for the wrong reason. These are meant to have a colourful sound. They are meant to give an honest sound for recording.
the speaker with the knob is supposed to be on the left. look at the back of the speaker
Actually the speaker with the knob is the Right channel, so she has placed it correctly. "L Speaker Out" on the back of this speaker really means to connect the port indicated here to the other Left speaker using the supplied cable, it does not mean that this itself is the Left speaker. You can easily confirm this by searching for left-right channel stereo test in TH-cam to test the channels on the speakers.
MR4s are more Computer desk speakers, they just arent powerful enough to fill a room,
The MR4 is a monitor speaker for recording studios. It was not tuned to perform as a typical home speaker which is rich in bass and lower mids. That is why it sounds "not special". A studio monitor is praised for it's flatness. You basically bought the wrong speaker for your needs. Look up "what makes a good studio monitor". They will probably describe what you are experiencing at home.
Thanks for the review! Curious: what are you filming on? Phone or dedicated camera?
I used a Sony a6400 for this video, but some of the other videos I use the Sony a5100.
Does the MR4 have that hissing sound when you turn the volume knob all the way to the max? I have the R1280T and it's making a quiet hissing sound at all volume levels, the R1280T has a volume range of 0-50 with the knob and the hissing sound gets louder and louder from 40 to 50.
MR4 hisses at any volume!
I changed a few copies, and everyone is making noise!
You forgot that you are comparing studio monitors with classical speakers. Speakers have a colored sound, hence the ''story''. You probably prefer a sound with character rather than a flat reference sound.
Right, so you don’t get a sense of specialness from an incorrect placed studio monitors that are meant for completely different purpose that you’re using them for? Who would have thought.
I see thanks. My google Nest Audio is pretty cool but i rarely use voice commands outside of timers.
Thought ill use it often for music but it sounds doodoo.
does your turntable have a built-in preamp?
Mr4 or presonus eris e3.5? I don't know which to get.
what did you end up choosing?
Can the MR4 be directly connected to TV by using the RCA cable?
Yes
They are near field monitors. Not intended for a TV where u sit far away
I have a specific use case question, can you have both the trs and rca inputs connected to different sources and will it switch between the 2 depending on what is feeding info to the speakers. For example ( tv plugged into rca, and pc plugged into trs ) and whichever one may be on and sending audio, will come thru the speaker at that time ? This is a solution for me being able to use one pair of speakers for either my pc or tv whichever may be on and running.
Thank you for this review! This is what we need, an aged review not just first impressions. I would have to agree to the other person in the comment that maybe it was designed for a different purpose.
With that in mind, what would you recommend at the same price point for a great listening experience especially with vinyl records?
Thank you for the kind comment.
Recently, I've been enjoying the Technics SB-X10. I bought them used a year ago for $90 off Craigslist. They are a bit bigger, and look quite nice. They are passive speakers, and will need an amplifier. You can usually find good deals on used amplifiers - I've seen Technics amplifiers for $30-$50 on FB marketplace.
Good luck!
@@hellofidelity appreciate this a lot! Would be a perfect pair for my Technics SL1200Mk7
Stepped volume controls are the devil!
You don't feel special because you're used to animated speakers that enhance music artificially, like Bose, JBL 🤦🏻♂️
If you wanted that why did you purchase reference monitor style speakers, because the whole point of reference monitor style speaker is to represent sound as balanced as possible only concentrating on sound separation and soundstage.
And $130 these sound like nothing else on the market, the sound like they are at least $500 worth.
YOU SHOULD JUST BUY COLOURFUL SPEAKERS LIKE JBL KEEP THESE SPEAKERS FOR BROKE AUDIOPHILES.
Teria como fazer um vídeo comparando o som do Edifier MR4 e o Technics SB-F1?
These speakers are definitely not for music enjoyment, moreover they are positioned as sort of studio speakers.
Give the Yamaha H8S a shot, got recommended to me by rapper buddy Tom McDonald, and wow. I will never use anything else again. Makes everything else sound like mud.
Good bit not a memorable, sounds like they are doing their job as intended?
These are the cheapest monitors available for editing, not for enjoying music.
The sound is meh because its got a cheap material in the woofer.. carbon/kevlar ir fibre glass perobably. The are always dull and flawed in bass and midrange.. shut in kinda.
Compare to the similar but fantastic XTZ tune 4's
@fluffyplasma9596 its about the cheap drivermaterial.. or compare with the Eltax Monitor III's or the Denon SC-M41's
You're buying a toyota prius but wanting to go 200mph.
That's why you don't use MONITORS in your frkn Living room...
I agree that Edifier does not make a quality product. In my case I bought the R2000DB speakers. At first I thought they were damaged. I ended up researching TH-cam videos just to get them working with my laptop through a bluetooth connection. When I frustratingly got them to pair and produce sound, I was very disappointed. The sound has too much bass to the point I turned the bass knob all the way down and the treble knob all the way up. Also, it seems the sound has a generally muffled sound. Disappointed that I paid so much for low quality speakers. I do not recommend this company at all.
Marry me? 🤩