Edifier Aurora 2.1 Speaker Review

Edifier Aurora Review

Testing and Conclusion

Once again we grab a variety of sources to test the Edifier Aurora, from a wide array of music, through games and a selection of films.

If you read our review earlier in the week of the Corsair SP2200 you’ll remember how the sub woofer dominated proceedings and that the bass adjustments struggled to enable us to find a sweet spot. The Edifier Aurora has this same issue but with even more unfortunate consequences as there is no way to adjust the level of the bass whatsoever.

Once again it’s that design award thing rearing its head. To win a design award these days the priority seems to be on a smooth surface almost entirely free of controls that would break the aesthetic lines. It’s the reason why nearly every display from TVs to phones now have capacitive power buttons rather than the genuine ‘clicky’ type. This minimalism is definitely in place with the Aurora as the only buttons that exist at all are the volume control ones on the top of the satellite. So the bass tube is pretty much running at full tilt all the time, unless you can make some manual adjustments on to the EQ on your device.

So the louder you have it, the bassier it becomes until the rest of the frequencies from your media are almost erased entirely. It’s not that I have a dislike for bass, far from it, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of the midrange nor highs. Sadly those little satellite speakers really struggle to cut through and the whole thing ends up sounding a bit muddy.

Now for the price, a low £40, and the multitude of colours available it almost begs to be used as a better-than-default laptop pair or portable MP3 type. Indeed like this we’d be able to be more understanding of the scant controls and single-focus sound reproduction. However the Aurora is solely driven from a power supply, with no battery options. So the small “stick it in your backpack” nature is moot because you need a plug handy which means that more often than not you’ll be using it in the home, and the tiny size and mediocre sound are compromises far harder to swallow in that environment.

Our next review to complete this mini series is of another Edifier product that shines a much brighter light upon them. But for now, and the Aurora, it’s definitely a case of design trumping usability. It looks great and is built well, but it’s tough to overlook that rather woolly sound.

    

Thanks to Edifier for supplying the Aurora for review. Discuss in our forums.