#1 Kreshna's Edifier M3400 review
Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 1:07 am
Subtle Comfort at Low Price
Edifier M4300 review by Kreshna
Category: Multimedia Speakers
Manufacturer: Edifier
Model: M3400
Price Range: US $50
So I was looking for a set of multimedia speakers for my study; nothing fancy, and nothing 5.1 either; just something for adequate (or more than adequate) music listening while working with my laptop. While Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 is probably the finest choice out there, it is slightly beyond my budget. I was thus looking for something more modest like Logitech Z-2300, Z-4, or even the el-cheapo X-230. Logitech X-230 is particularly interesting because despite belongs to US $50 price range, many reviews describe it as "a steal for its price tag". However, Mr Bamboo Head of TechReport told me that Edifier M3400 sounds even better than Logitech X-230 while belongs in the same price range, so it could be an interesting pick.
I tested the Z-2300 at the first store I dropped by (the song was Macarena --sue the store owner). Well, the bass sounded very impressive,
but the mid and high
were intolerably muffled and not very clean either. Suspicion confirmed; Z-2300 is way too "gaming-oriented" that they sacrificed the midrange and treble for the bass. Alas, the store does not have X-230s in stock, so skipped it and I went to Edifier M3400 and.....
....and I was totally blown.
Oh, of course the bass was weaker than that of Logitech Z-2300, and not really spectacular. The midrange, however, was so clear and clean while the mid-bass was integrated warmly with the midrange. "Aha!" I thought, "exactly what I'm looking for". Moreover, its bass unit and satellites looked heavier and more solid than the Logitech X-230, so I did not bother to test the latter. Besides, the price tag is IDR 465.000,00, which is about US $51; I had little to lose anyway, and happily made my purchase.
Green Lantern would hate these speakers.
I'm talking about Alan Scott; the Golden Age Green Lantern whose weakness is anything made of wood. Well these speakers are! Right from the bass unit to the satellites. Moreover, they are heavy. Certainly heavier than most multimedia speakers out there.
What makes me happier is that the bass unit also acts as central unit, which means that the satellites, the wired remote control, and the audio cables are plugged to the bass unit. I don't know about you, but I always hate all the cabling asimmetry that comes with plugging everything to the right satellite (or front-right in 5.1) in many other models. Barring the weight of the speakers, I did setup process with ease.
The remote is pretty much rudimentary: a large master volume knob and two jacks (one for headphone and another for aux input), but that works for me. What actually pisses me off is the bass knob, which is located on the lower-back of the bass unit. It is not really comfortable to change the bass level; not to mention that the bass unit is quite heavy to tilt forward for the purpose. However, changing the bass level is not something you're supposed to do very often with a good set of speakers.
Fortunately, it was later proven that I wouldn't need to change the bass level at all.
No hissing! Whoa.
Let me remind you that I bought this unit to play music with my laptop; an old laptop with shitty AC97 onboard audio, to be precise. Thus, I actually expected at least some degree of hissing when maxing out the volume during idle time.
Well, the hissing just ain't there. At all. I maxed out the volume back and forth and just failed to notice anything. How did they manage it with a set of cheap multimedia speakers is beyond me.
But how do they sound?
Now I have set up the speakers in my study, it's time to do some tests. I set the bass level knob somewhere around two o' clock position and started browsing my CDs.
I first inserted Cafe Del Mar Volumen Dolce and played Lazy Summer Days by Elcho; the song makes use of accoustic guitar in most part --it sounded very convincing on the Edifier M3400! Thumbs up for the midrange!
After it finished, I put 24 Hours in Paris and tried Elle (Louie Vega Mix); it is a chill house tune with accoustic guitar during the intro part. Not only the guitar was very convincing, but so were the beats!
Still wondering how the speakers would handle more beats, I tried Saltwater by Chicane, Warmth Reheated by Talismantra, Landing by Moby, and Traffic by Tiesto. All songs rocked, but I was still not satisfied, so I further abused the M3400 with more "bass-heavy" songs like Dude Descending The Stairs by Apollo 440, It Began in Africa by The Chemical Brothers, and Manual by Carl Cox. Needless to say I was getting more convinced that I don't need Z-2300 to rave solo.
However, such music alone could not reflect the full-range capability of the speakers; I need more "mainstream" songs for the purpose, so I tried When You Gonna Learn (Digeridoo) by Jamiroquai. Not only the digeridoo instrument sounded very deep and clean, but the overall sound was rich and clean as well.
The bass and mid-bass are pleasantly warm in jazzy tunes. I tried In These Shoes by Kristy McColl, Give Me The Night by Smoma (originally performed by George Benson, IIRC), Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing by Incognito, Just The Two Of Us by Poppi Kamadhatu, Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) by US Three, and Georgy Porgy by Smoma again (originally performed by Toto). I was convinced that I was actually sitting in a lounge with while working with my laptop!
But how about the treble? Well I also tested Pina Colada (Jazz Mix) by Digby Jones (album: Cafe Del Mar Volumen Ocho), Summertime by Coco D'Or, and No Ordinary Morning by Chicane. The treble sounded very clear in all songs.
I usually despise rock/metal, but wondered whether Edifier M3400 could maintain a clean sound when playing such tunes in high volume. So I tested the speakers with Tourniquet by Evanescence and Love Walks In by Van Halen (among the few rock songs I actually like). Needless to stay that they sounded very clean.
How about exotic instruments commonly found in world music? First I tried Pheli War by Bhali Jaghpal (album: Putumayo Asian Groove). The intro is a solo play of Indian sitar, and it sounded very clean on the M3400. I also tried Bali Mood by Bali Lounge, and the exotic gamelan and flute were smooth. Finally, I played one of my Buddha Bar albums, and all those Arabian instruments sounded nice as well.
However, what makes me impressed with Edifier M3400 is that the overall sound stays nice and whole in low volume, including the bass. It should be noted that I never needed to "compensate" by turning the bass knob during my test. I never needed to change the equalization level on my WinAmp either --I just left everything flat and let the M3400 handle the rest. As my late dad said, "if it needs equalizer, then it is crap." Edifier M3400 does not need such thing, fortunately.
My overall impression can be summed up with "comfortable", because no matter what song you listen to, and whatever volume level you set, the sound is always comfortable. Music sounds rich and clear. The bass is strong, but warm and subtle --certainly does not overwhelm the midrange and the treble like Logitech Z-2300 does.
Hey, where's the bass unit?
With a good subwoofer, you are not supposed to be able to tell where the bass comes from; you can put it on your left, right, or far in the corner, and it should not matter at all. However, that one big box included with multimedia speakers is not subwoofer; it is bass unit, since it is not large nor powerful enough to cover the necessary low range frequencies like what a sub does. Thus, with most multimedia speakers, it is quite easy to tell where the bass comes, and it is a bad thing if you don't have the space to put the bass unit centered (like below your desk).
The M3400 manual honestly mentions that the set comes with a bass unit instead of a subwoofer. I don't have sufficiently large space below my desk to put the unit in centered position, so I had to put it somewhere to the left and prepared for the worst.
It did not happen.
Relying on hearing alone, I simply could not tell where the bass unit is. In fact, everytime I listen to the set, I'm always tricked into thinking that all the bass actually comes from the satellite speakers --which is impossible, because no speakers that small can even hope to drive such deep and clean bass. I even tried crouching and putting my ear close to the bass unit, and still couldn't tell whether the bass unit was actually making any sound at all. Only when pressing my hand on it, I could feel it vibrates and assured myself the unit worked.
I'm pretty impressed; it is merely a bass unit and it acts like a good quality sub.
If you don't mind the subtle "ooomph"....
While the mid range is excellent, and the mid-bass is warm, the low-bass sound tends to be too subtle in certain frequencies. I played my favorite album, Cafe Del Mar: Dreams Vol. 2; the first song is Forty-Two by Sonic Adventure Project, whose entire intro consists nothing but low throbbing pulses. Well, the pulses just sounded way too subtle even when the bass knob was set to full! My cheap home theater can play play Forty-Two's intro decently, and its sub is not exactly Rockford either. Yet M3400's bass unit is kinda weak when playing that particular part.
However, while the low-bass tends to get weak, it is clean and whole. I further test it with Breathe by Prodigy and and James Bond's Theme Song by Moby; their bass tend to get distorted when played with multimedia speakers, especially at high volume. I played the songs with the M3400 and pumped the volume pretty loud (but not THAT loud, mind you), and the bass stayed very clean on both songs.
Games
Most games I play in my laptop is old DOS games running in I DOSBOX, so I tried Wing Commander Armada. The exploding Dralthi during the intro was handled gracefully, and so was the gunfire. I also tried WarCraft III, and the tweeter played the clashing swords quite nicely. Overall, the gaming experience with M3400 is satisfactory, although not spectacular.
Movies
I'm not really into watching movies with my laptop. Besides, M3400 is a 2.1 setup anyway. So I only tested Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Trek: First Contact. While the sound effects sounded nice, the dialog was also very clear thanks to the excellent midrange drivers. Like gaming, movie experience is satisfying, but not exactly spectacular. Do remember that Edifier M3400, being 2.1 it is, is not exactly "home theater" setup.
Bottom line
If you are looking for explosive gaming experience, or if breaking your neighbor's windows is among the things that rock your boat, then Edifier M3400 is not for you. However, if you are a music listener looking for nice sound quality with warm bass at low volume, then the model serves you nicely. Nonetheless, this one is really a steal at US $50 price range.
Edifier M4300 review by Kreshna
Category: Multimedia Speakers
Manufacturer: Edifier
Model: M3400
Price Range: US $50
So I was looking for a set of multimedia speakers for my study; nothing fancy, and nothing 5.1 either; just something for adequate (or more than adequate) music listening while working with my laptop. While Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 is probably the finest choice out there, it is slightly beyond my budget. I was thus looking for something more modest like Logitech Z-2300, Z-4, or even the el-cheapo X-230. Logitech X-230 is particularly interesting because despite belongs to US $50 price range, many reviews describe it as "a steal for its price tag". However, Mr Bamboo Head of TechReport told me that Edifier M3400 sounds even better than Logitech X-230 while belongs in the same price range, so it could be an interesting pick.
I tested the Z-2300 at the first store I dropped by (the song was Macarena --sue the store owner). Well, the bass sounded very impressive,
but the mid and high
were intolerably muffled and not very clean either. Suspicion confirmed; Z-2300 is way too "gaming-oriented" that they sacrificed the midrange and treble for the bass. Alas, the store does not have X-230s in stock, so skipped it and I went to Edifier M3400 and.....
....and I was totally blown.
Oh, of course the bass was weaker than that of Logitech Z-2300, and not really spectacular. The midrange, however, was so clear and clean while the mid-bass was integrated warmly with the midrange. "Aha!" I thought, "exactly what I'm looking for". Moreover, its bass unit and satellites looked heavier and more solid than the Logitech X-230, so I did not bother to test the latter. Besides, the price tag is IDR 465.000,00, which is about US $51; I had little to lose anyway, and happily made my purchase.
Green Lantern would hate these speakers.
I'm talking about Alan Scott; the Golden Age Green Lantern whose weakness is anything made of wood. Well these speakers are! Right from the bass unit to the satellites. Moreover, they are heavy. Certainly heavier than most multimedia speakers out there.
What makes me happier is that the bass unit also acts as central unit, which means that the satellites, the wired remote control, and the audio cables are plugged to the bass unit. I don't know about you, but I always hate all the cabling asimmetry that comes with plugging everything to the right satellite (or front-right in 5.1) in many other models. Barring the weight of the speakers, I did setup process with ease.
The remote is pretty much rudimentary: a large master volume knob and two jacks (one for headphone and another for aux input), but that works for me. What actually pisses me off is the bass knob, which is located on the lower-back of the bass unit. It is not really comfortable to change the bass level; not to mention that the bass unit is quite heavy to tilt forward for the purpose. However, changing the bass level is not something you're supposed to do very often with a good set of speakers.
Fortunately, it was later proven that I wouldn't need to change the bass level at all.
No hissing! Whoa.
Let me remind you that I bought this unit to play music with my laptop; an old laptop with shitty AC97 onboard audio, to be precise. Thus, I actually expected at least some degree of hissing when maxing out the volume during idle time.
Well, the hissing just ain't there. At all. I maxed out the volume back and forth and just failed to notice anything. How did they manage it with a set of cheap multimedia speakers is beyond me.
But how do they sound?
Now I have set up the speakers in my study, it's time to do some tests. I set the bass level knob somewhere around two o' clock position and started browsing my CDs.
I first inserted Cafe Del Mar Volumen Dolce and played Lazy Summer Days by Elcho; the song makes use of accoustic guitar in most part --it sounded very convincing on the Edifier M3400! Thumbs up for the midrange!
After it finished, I put 24 Hours in Paris and tried Elle (Louie Vega Mix); it is a chill house tune with accoustic guitar during the intro part. Not only the guitar was very convincing, but so were the beats!
Still wondering how the speakers would handle more beats, I tried Saltwater by Chicane, Warmth Reheated by Talismantra, Landing by Moby, and Traffic by Tiesto. All songs rocked, but I was still not satisfied, so I further abused the M3400 with more "bass-heavy" songs like Dude Descending The Stairs by Apollo 440, It Began in Africa by The Chemical Brothers, and Manual by Carl Cox. Needless to say I was getting more convinced that I don't need Z-2300 to rave solo.
However, such music alone could not reflect the full-range capability of the speakers; I need more "mainstream" songs for the purpose, so I tried When You Gonna Learn (Digeridoo) by Jamiroquai. Not only the digeridoo instrument sounded very deep and clean, but the overall sound was rich and clean as well.
The bass and mid-bass are pleasantly warm in jazzy tunes. I tried In These Shoes by Kristy McColl, Give Me The Night by Smoma (originally performed by George Benson, IIRC), Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing by Incognito, Just The Two Of Us by Poppi Kamadhatu, Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) by US Three, and Georgy Porgy by Smoma again (originally performed by Toto). I was convinced that I was actually sitting in a lounge with while working with my laptop!
But how about the treble? Well I also tested Pina Colada (Jazz Mix) by Digby Jones (album: Cafe Del Mar Volumen Ocho), Summertime by Coco D'Or, and No Ordinary Morning by Chicane. The treble sounded very clear in all songs.
I usually despise rock/metal, but wondered whether Edifier M3400 could maintain a clean sound when playing such tunes in high volume. So I tested the speakers with Tourniquet by Evanescence and Love Walks In by Van Halen (among the few rock songs I actually like). Needless to stay that they sounded very clean.
How about exotic instruments commonly found in world music? First I tried Pheli War by Bhali Jaghpal (album: Putumayo Asian Groove). The intro is a solo play of Indian sitar, and it sounded very clean on the M3400. I also tried Bali Mood by Bali Lounge, and the exotic gamelan and flute were smooth. Finally, I played one of my Buddha Bar albums, and all those Arabian instruments sounded nice as well.
However, what makes me impressed with Edifier M3400 is that the overall sound stays nice and whole in low volume, including the bass. It should be noted that I never needed to "compensate" by turning the bass knob during my test. I never needed to change the equalization level on my WinAmp either --I just left everything flat and let the M3400 handle the rest. As my late dad said, "if it needs equalizer, then it is crap." Edifier M3400 does not need such thing, fortunately.
My overall impression can be summed up with "comfortable", because no matter what song you listen to, and whatever volume level you set, the sound is always comfortable. Music sounds rich and clear. The bass is strong, but warm and subtle --certainly does not overwhelm the midrange and the treble like Logitech Z-2300 does.
Hey, where's the bass unit?
With a good subwoofer, you are not supposed to be able to tell where the bass comes from; you can put it on your left, right, or far in the corner, and it should not matter at all. However, that one big box included with multimedia speakers is not subwoofer; it is bass unit, since it is not large nor powerful enough to cover the necessary low range frequencies like what a sub does. Thus, with most multimedia speakers, it is quite easy to tell where the bass comes, and it is a bad thing if you don't have the space to put the bass unit centered (like below your desk).
The M3400 manual honestly mentions that the set comes with a bass unit instead of a subwoofer. I don't have sufficiently large space below my desk to put the unit in centered position, so I had to put it somewhere to the left and prepared for the worst.
It did not happen.
Relying on hearing alone, I simply could not tell where the bass unit is. In fact, everytime I listen to the set, I'm always tricked into thinking that all the bass actually comes from the satellite speakers --which is impossible, because no speakers that small can even hope to drive such deep and clean bass. I even tried crouching and putting my ear close to the bass unit, and still couldn't tell whether the bass unit was actually making any sound at all. Only when pressing my hand on it, I could feel it vibrates and assured myself the unit worked.
I'm pretty impressed; it is merely a bass unit and it acts like a good quality sub.
If you don't mind the subtle "ooomph"....
While the mid range is excellent, and the mid-bass is warm, the low-bass sound tends to be too subtle in certain frequencies. I played my favorite album, Cafe Del Mar: Dreams Vol. 2; the first song is Forty-Two by Sonic Adventure Project, whose entire intro consists nothing but low throbbing pulses. Well, the pulses just sounded way too subtle even when the bass knob was set to full! My cheap home theater can play play Forty-Two's intro decently, and its sub is not exactly Rockford either. Yet M3400's bass unit is kinda weak when playing that particular part.
However, while the low-bass tends to get weak, it is clean and whole. I further test it with Breathe by Prodigy and and James Bond's Theme Song by Moby; their bass tend to get distorted when played with multimedia speakers, especially at high volume. I played the songs with the M3400 and pumped the volume pretty loud (but not THAT loud, mind you), and the bass stayed very clean on both songs.
Games
Most games I play in my laptop is old DOS games running in I DOSBOX, so I tried Wing Commander Armada. The exploding Dralthi during the intro was handled gracefully, and so was the gunfire. I also tried WarCraft III, and the tweeter played the clashing swords quite nicely. Overall, the gaming experience with M3400 is satisfactory, although not spectacular.
Movies
I'm not really into watching movies with my laptop. Besides, M3400 is a 2.1 setup anyway. So I only tested Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Trek: First Contact. While the sound effects sounded nice, the dialog was also very clear thanks to the excellent midrange drivers. Like gaming, movie experience is satisfying, but not exactly spectacular. Do remember that Edifier M3400, being 2.1 it is, is not exactly "home theater" setup.
Bottom line
If you are looking for explosive gaming experience, or if breaking your neighbor's windows is among the things that rock your boat, then Edifier M3400 is not for you. However, if you are a music listener looking for nice sound quality with warm bass at low volume, then the model serves you nicely. Nonetheless, this one is really a steal at US $50 price range.