These affordable multimedia speakers will give your laptop sound a boost, but ultimately they are still a bit disappointing when compared with competing systems.
The M1360 speaker set from Edifier is a little unusual in the sense that they are as small as regular PC speakers but also come with a dedicated sub-woofer. This gives the system a reasonable level of bass, but it does mean they also take up a fair bit of space on a desk.
As well as the two main speakers and sub-woofer, it has an inline remote that comes in the form of a plastic wedge with a disc on top for controlling the volume. It’s nice to have to this on hand to make quick adjustments but, like the woofer, it takes up all the more space on the desk which is at a premium for us.
The parts are unfussily designed and seem reasonably well made, although the remote on the review unit we were provided was starting to show some wear – this may not be the case if it isn’t regularly repackaged up and sent around the country.
Sound quality
The speakers perform well enough to make a huge improvement on pretty much any built-in laptop speakers, but if you’re looking for high-end sound you will need to spend a lot more to get it. To describe the sound as tinny would be harsh but the small drivers just can’t produce enough weight to the sound to fill even a small room.
They are reasonably well balanced but they do start to distort at higher volumes and there can be a lack of clarity in more complicated pieces of music. Overall they are more than capable when you are watching a YouTube video or two, but would be disappointing when used to watch a film on a computer – especially when compared with other speakers from Edifier like the E25HDs.
Price
At less than £30 they are well priced and the fact they are not world beaters comes as no surprise, but with a lot of speaker sets available at this price range competition is high. We’d recommend also considering these Z200 speakers from Logitech, or if you are set on a separate sub-woofer, the Z313s.
Verdict
While they are a passable set of PC speakers for a reasonable price, there’s not a lot to make them stand out from the crowded market.