Now, I’m going to keep this intro short and sweet because if you are looking for an affordable pair of studio monitor speakers that sounds great, well, this Edifier MR4 Studio Monitor is something that you are going to love!
Unboxing
But first, let’s see what’s inside of the box.
Firstly, you will find the User Manual. Then you will find a smaller plastic bag that has:
- the 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable
- the speaker wires
- and the 3.5mm RCA audio cable
Then you will find the monitor speaker itself, where there is the integrated power plug connected to the active speaker, then of course there is the other passive speaker as well.
Design & Build
So, as far as looks goes, I love the overall minimalistic look that the MR4 has. And what do you know, they are also in the right color, which is White! And by the way, it is also available in Black as well.
Build quality is rock solid, especially within this price point. Each cabinet is a combination of MDF and high-quality plastic. Then the compact cabinets with the active speaker measure at 140 x 228 x 197.5mm while the left passive speaker is measured at 140 x 228 x 184mm. So in total, the overall setup weighs just 4.5kg. Perfect for a desk or even a smaller studio setup.
Now, at the front of the active cabinet, you’ll find the 1-inch silk dome tweeter and a 4-inch woofer with a nice carbon kevlar-looking material.
Down below on the left, there is the AUX input, a 3.5mm headphones jack, and over on the right, there is the status indicator LED and the multi-function dial.
Now, on the back, there is the bass reflex port at the top, followed by the low and high-frequency trimmers (up to 6 decibels). Then there is the stereo RCA inputs, the balanced TRS inputs, and the speaker connector at the bottom. Then flanking these is the integrated power cable as mentioned earlier.
So yes, overall, it has a very nice minimalistic design and yes, it’s something which I absolutely love and I’m sure that you would like it too.
Hardware
Under the hood, the Edifier MR4 integrates a powerful Class-D amplifier that can output up to 21 Watts of RMS power per speaker. It has a wide frequency response range of 60Hz to 20kHz with a signal-to-noise ratio of around 85 A-weighted decibels.
It is nice that it has 6.35mm TRS balanced inputs for you to connect to an audio interface or even professional mixers.
But for a simpler, more direct setup, you can simply connect the RCA cables to your computer, music player, or even your TV. Or use the AUX input to connect to mobile phones (if you still have a headphones jack) and other smart devices.
I like that the multi-functional knob in front is stepped, so it’s easy for you to know which level of volume that you are at, at all times. Now, pressing the knob will also switch modes from the “Monitor” sound profile, which has a flatter sound, and pressing it one more time, you’ll go to “Music”, which is suited for general music listening.
Performance
Now, when it comes to the audio performance, the Edifier MR4 delivers some unexpected results, and some very expected too. Being studio monitors, you can expect them to produce neutral, balanced, and pure sound. And they do, and if you’re using the MR4 for audio production, then you won’t be disappointed at all.
The soundstage is quite wide despite its compact size. Frequency separation is good with excellent clarity in the high-end, and mids are strong and full. Being a monitor speaker, naturally, they are better suited for near-field and also desk setup as well. I found that a toe-in position of about 10-20 degrees works best.
And what’s actually really surprising is how great that it sounded on its low-end. While you can’t expect super thumping bass, especially on bassier tracks, the Edifier MR4 still impresses in the overall lower frequencies.
And when you switch modes by pressing the multi-function knob as mentioned earlier, you’ll notice that the sound profile changes slightly. Now, it’s not a huge difference, but you’ll notice that when you’re listening to music, especially on the Monitor mode, where the indicator is in Red, and the overall audio has a flatter sound curve
while in Music mode, the indicator is Green, where the overall audio has a beefier low-end.
I found that 75%-80% would be the sweet spot when it comes to the volume. Anything higher, you might find distortion creeping in, especially for low-end on certain music.
But what’s surprising though, is how good it sounds across most music genres, especially for Rock and vocal-focused tracks. But that’s not it, because the MR4 is also great for watching movies and gaming too, delivering precise and clear sound.
Just so you all know, I put the Edifier MR4 through my usual library of audio quality tests that include AC/DC’s “Back In Black”, Adele’s “Easy On Me”, Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” and “Oxytocin”, as well as James Arthur’s “You Deserve Better”.
And where you’ll find that the MR4 really shines is if you’re looking for a better separation for frequencies and also overall clarity, for tracks like “Dacoit Duel” (by A.R. Rahman, Matt Dunkley, Czech Film Orchestra) and Yosi Horikawa’s “Timbres”.
Verdict
So what’s the verdict then?
Well, as mentioned at the beginning, the Edifier MR4 is hard to fault.
It comes with a price of only RM399 and it delivers where it matters, which is overall audio quality, and I’m overall impressed by the excellent build quality too.
If you’re looking for Bluetooth connectivity, since this is a studio monitor, so these are not for you. But the MR4 is still a very rock-solid option if you want an affordable set of studio monitor speakers or an uprated desktop speakers.
And if you guys are planning to get yourself one, head to the Edifier Malaysia official store, which I will leave a link down below.
So, what do you think? Let me know your comments, thoughts and feedbacks in the comments section below
Get the Edifier MR4 Studio Monitor Speakers at the link below:-
