The QD35 affordable Bluetooth speaker is fantastic wireless option for teenagers and young adults offering good sound and an awesome lightshow that doesn’t break the bank.

Released in 2023 and available for $190, the Edifier QD35 is a desktop speaker that projects sound well despite only boasting one woofer and a single tweeter. The quality of sound depends on what you’re listening to, but it does offer high-resolution audio reproduction with wired & wireless options, USB-C rapid charging for mobile devices, and a customisable LED light show.

The speaker offers various modes, including Music and Movie modes, and the speaker is small enough to fit on your desktop or a shelf, although its size does ask for a fair bit of estate on smaller surfaces.

QD35 rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sound: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • Excellent sound projection
  • Nicely pronounced mids and vocals
  • Poor stereo separation
  • Boomy bass

The QD35 is super directional with front-facing drivers only. Its overall sound is good but I think it favours popular genres over niche ones, so let’s get into it.

Overall, the speaker has less than desirable stereo separation (naturally, due to the single cone and tweeter), but mids and vocals are defined and not overly pronounced whereas bass can be boomy with certain music, and I noticed treble frequencies can be well-defined or boxed in depending on what’s playing.

Listening to Frequent’s remix of Koan Sound’s “Cosmic Tuba“, I noticed that bass (a significant part of the song’s sonic character) can get boomy when the volume exceeds 8 (max 16).

Instrumentation in its complex arrangement is well layered, and the QD35 didn’t box the instruments in all that much despite limited stereo separation. Furthermore, hats, cymbals and percussion all had enough room to breathe.

The instrumentation in Sleepnet’s remix of Noisia’s “Could This Be” makes full use of the stereo field, and as a result, the QD35 boxed them in. Kicks and percussion instruments cut through the mix as they should while lead synths made up of intricate layers suffered with the aforementioned boomy bass even though the rest of the sounds are clean. 

Instrumentation is also a little muddied in Blink 182’s “Dumpweed” and cymbals & hats in this track have a lot more retail estate than they do on other playback devices. The vocals do sit nicely on top of the instrumentation, but I think it’s the era the song was produced in that is its downfall here.

Neck Deep’s “Damsel in Distress“, a pop-punk song released over a decade later, doesn’t suffer from any of these cramped issues… although it does get a little boomy in the chorus.

I expected No Face No Case’s “Beatdown Sessions, Vol. 1” to suffer in the QD35, given that it’s predominantly busier in the low end than it is in the mids and highs. The bass is a boomy and instruments are noticeably quieter than listening through headphones, but kick drums are well defined, hats are clean, and the vocals have plenty of room to breathe. 

The final two tracks I tested were “Tom & Jerry” by Ocean Wisdom” & “Padem” by Kylie. Both sounded perfect and more or less as they should, despite the lack of stereo separation. The bass wasn’t all that boomy, the vocals cut through cleanly, and the minimal instrumentation of both tracks was well-defined.

The speaker is better suited to pop, hip hop, and other popular music like indie sub-genres rather than bass-heavy genres like metal, punk, and electronic genres. The boomy bass is quite overwhelming when the volume is up, but popular music that doesn’t rely on stomach-punching bass sounds crystal clear.

Features: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Edifier QD35 offers high resolution audio through wired & wireless options, ultra fast charging over USB-C for your devices, a digital clock, and more.
Edifier QD35 features

Bluetooth connection is seamless, and I haven’t encountered any transmission issues as I have with some Edifier headphones in the past. Utilising Sony’s LDAC Bluetooth codec, the QD35 produces high-resolution audio.

You can switch between Music, low latency Game, Movie and Custom EQ modes in the Edifier Connect app.

My experience watching film and TV in my small room was greatly enhanced. The speaker struggles to perform so well in bigger living rooms due to its single cone and tweeter, but the sound is nevertheless good. However, Edifier states you can link up a QD35 speaker with multiple Edifier speakers and create a stereo sound which I imagine would sound great.

The LEDs are great for parties, showing off to friends, and creating nice ambient lighting. I think the LED lights do have their appeal, especially for youngsters whom I have no doubt this speaker is for. They provide a great light show with different modes that sync to your music or don’t.

LED customization is easy via the Connect app, and you can control volume via your phone, the app, and buttons on the side. I’ve written extensively about the Connect app in previous reviews, and you can rest assured everything is easy to find and customize to your taste (where applicable).

The clock on the front left is a neat addition if placed in a bedroom, and you can adjust the volume easily from your phone. Furthermore, the QD35 offers rapid charging over USB-C for mobile devices which has come in handy from time to time. And if your Bluetooth connection is interrupted for whatever reason then a 3.5mm aux port is available.

Design: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Edifier’s QD35 block-like design is not at all inconspicuous, especially with a light show, but it follows this up with excellent build quality.

It’s not subtle with its bold design by any means, and the Edifier imprint on the contoured top of the speaker, coupled with the exposed cones, transparent face and LED lights give the QD35 a futuristic edge, further cementing that Edifier has designed it for a younger audience.

The speaker will fit on your desktop, on a shelf, bedside table and anywhere else you might think of. However, its rear bass ports don’t help the boomy bass when placed against a wall, with some low frequencies resonating more so than others, and this makes it harder to place the speaker for optimal sound – especially for electronic music.

Although they look pretty cool, I think the exposed cones mean the speaker is only suited to sitting on a shelf away from children. Not a bad thing by any means, but it could potentially limit some people’s ability to place the speaker in a room.

Value: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The lack of portability is a rather steep oversight in my opinion. Sure, the QD35 is designed only to be suited to in-door environments, but leaders like JBL’s Xtreme 3 offer easy portability for the same price… well, I know which I’d pick.

However, the speaker does sound great in small rooms, and it projects pretty well in larger spaces. Its super directional nature is a little limiting while watching movies, where the cinematic soundstage is engineered to be all-encompassing, and the QD35 just can’t project in a 360 space like a home entertainment system can.

Soundscapes are nevertheless layered well, with good separation between bass, mids and treble. The boomy bass is a little irritating, especially since most people would position their QD35 against walls as I have during this review.

Final thoughts

After extensive use, it’s clear the QD35 is better suited to younger audiences. Older consumers may not be so keen on the exposed cones, the blocky design or the LEDs.

However, the QD35s light show does look cool while blasting tunes, so maybe a younger buyer may find an excellent party system in it.