Review: Edifier MR4, affordable studio monitors for tight budgets and small spaces
Gather round ye musicians, content creators and music lovers because we have an affordable pair of speakers for each of you: the Edifier MR4.
Edifier’s active MR4 studio monitors double as computer speakers that’ll sit nicely on a bookshelf or in busy production spaces. They sound great with only one real drawback, and as a result, they make for a great first pair of affordable studio speakers.
Released in 2021, the Edifier MR4 will cost you a little over $110 two years on. At this price point, the MR4s sound exceptional with their small woofers, although they’re less suited to producers working on bass-heavy music.
Edifier MR4 rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Features: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Firstly, treble & bass EQs reside on the rear of the left speaker with RCA and TRS ports, as well as a rear bass port found on both. Honestly, the EQs didn’t provide much significance to my ears, so EQ’ing through software on your computer would be a better shout to make any frequency adjustments.
The left MR4 computer speaker is powered via a connector cable from the right, active speaker.
On the front of the right speaker resides the power button which doubles as a selector between Music & Monitor Mode, with an LED indicating whether the speaker is in Music (green) or Monitor (red) mode. Music Mode adds a subtle boost in the mid-highs, although it was almost as nuanced as the EQs in my experience.
A 3.5mm aux input & headphone output also sit on the right speaker. There’s no Bluetooth or USB connectivity like other computer speakers, and there’s no optical port for expanding your setup, but there’s the necessary connectivity for connecting to your computer or audio interface.
Sound Quality: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pushing sound are 4-inch dome woofers and 1-inch silk tweeters. The MR4s noticeably lack a lot of bass with a frequency cut off at 60 Hz, meaning there’s no sub-bass to hear. The mids and highs however sound exceptional, with the MR4s’ frequency range suiting them more to creating content, playing games and watching media rather than producing a full song.
While the bass response of the MR4s does increase the louder the volume, I had to raise it until it was somewhat uncomfortable for the bass to fill out to better levels; still though there was no deep bass. This is prohibiting for producers who need to hear those super low frequencies, and it also means you may not catch any unwanted noise or rumble in the lows of your mix.
Mixing bass on a good pair of speakers is always the way because most headphones, especially affordable headphones, just can’t compete with their small drivers. Unfortunately, the MR4s can’t compete all that much either.
The top end of kick drums, for instance, punches through but the drum lacks depth and punch. Nevertheless, the mids are crisp and dominant while song elements are well-layered. Vocals punch through while instrumentation sits underneath neatly with clarity. Cymbals and percussion are well presented with plenty of space for reverbs & tails to fill out the space in the air frequencies.
In Music Mode, the high mid boost is noticeable but it’s still fairly nuanced like the MR4s EQ settings (even when fully dialled either way). I don’t think it’d be entirely necessary to use this boost though as the mids & highs sound excellent in either mode. Naturally, Monitor Mode offers a flatter frequency response.
Design: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Edifier’s MR4 studio monitors boast a sturdy wooden build with a matte finish (white or black). They’re compact speakers that fit snugly into cramped production spaces and bedroom studios, and I think they’re real contenders for someone’s first affordable pair of studio monitors. Their compact form factor furthermore suits them to small bedroom studios, and they’d sit snugly on a bookshelf or as turntable companions too.
These active-powered bookshelf speakers don’t rely on a single woofer per speaker, meaning a broader frequency range is better reproduced with separate drivers for the woofers & tweeters per cabinet. Each speaker has a 1-inch silk tweeter and a 4-inch dome woofer as well as a bass port on the back, all helping reproduce and project a full image and accurate sound.
However, I’m not one for mess and the cable connecting the two speakers is noticeably there. Of course, the advantage here is you only need one plug socket… and the cable isn’t that big of a deal anyway.
Value: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
For a little over $100, the MR4 studio monitors/computer speakers deliver great sound and serve as an entry point into the studio monitor world. Sure, more low end would be desirable but if you’ve got a tight space and a tight budget, you’re not going to get much better than these.
Ultimately, the various connection options and their compact size make the MR4s versatile little speakers. Serving as a first studio monitor pair as well as a bookshelf or computer speaker, Edifier’s compact computer speakers are well-suited to fulfil various needs.
I’d highly recommend the MR4s to musicians looking for their first pair of monitors but for producers, I’d recommend something a little bigger like the M-Audio BX5s or Rocket KRK 5s. These speakers produce a rich low-end with woofers just one inch bigger
Edifier MR4 ($110) rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
