Active speakers are becoming more popular among people who don’t have the space or time for a full-sized sound system. It’s a great idea to have a great pair of speakers with a built-in amplifier and ports for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and legacy inputs. Active speakers take up less space and allow you to stream music from your phone or connect old devices like a turntable or CD player. The new Edifier S1000W wireless bookshelf speakers are a great addition to the company’s amazing line-up of high-quality and affordable products. The S1000W are a beautiful pair of speakers that look as good as they sound.
Edifier S1000W: Description
Edifier used to be known for making high-quality cheap speakers, but now it also makes more expensive ones. The company’s desk speakers, the S1000MKII, are great, but the new Edifier S1000W shows that the company thought they could still be better. Just like the S2000 MkIII, the S1000W are neither “small” nor “light.” The Edifier site doesn’t say anything about the S1000W’s size, but I used a tape measure to find that it is 260mm deep, 210mm wide, and 350mm tall.
Even though it’s thinner than the S2000, these speakers still take up a lot of room. The speakers themselves are tilted away from the user. This is likely done so that the drivers hit the ear at the right time. The S1000W speakers support Wi-Fi and Bluetooth v5.0, which is said to support up to aptX but not aptX HD or LDAC. They also work with Apple AirPlay 2, voice control services from Apple and Amazon, and Internet services like Spotify and TIDAL Connect at up to 24bit/192kHz.
Edifier S1000W: Pricing
Amazon and Edifier Online both have the Edifier S1000W active speakers for $449.99.
Edifier S1000W Specifications Table
If you have room for the Edifier S1000W, it sounds good for most people and can be used wirelessly, which gives you a lot of options. These are big, retro-style bookshelf speakers, but underneath all that wood is a heart of modern ease, with support for apps, Bluetooth, Apple Airplay 2, Amazon Alexa, and more. Let’s find out if the Edifier S1000W is a good buy.
| Features | Edifier S1000W |
|---|---|
| Speaker Type | Active Speaker |
| Input Type | 2x RCA line-in; 1x Coaxial / 1x Optical |
| Channels | 2 |
| Power output | 35W × 2 (woofer) + 25W × 2 (treble) 120W total |
| Drivers | 5.5-inch aluminum woofer, 1-inch titanium dome tweeter |
| Frequency response | 45Hz-40kHz |
| Audio specs | Tweeters: 1 inch titanium domes Mid-bass: 5.5 inches aluminum cones Enclosure: bass-reflex |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect |
| Streaming services | Amazon Music, Tidal and Spotify |
| App | Edifier Home app (iOS/Android) |
| Controls | Remote control, Rear right speaker knobs, App |
| Check Price |
Edifier S1000W: Operation and setup
The Edifier S1000W couldn’t be easier to set up. Just connect the power cord and the two speakers together, and you’re ready to go. When the speakers are turned on for the first time, they go into setting mode and can then be paired with the optional smartphone app. On the other hand, you can just start listening to the songs right away. With the included remote, you can switch between sources, turn up or down the volume, and do other simple things like skip, pause, or continue a song.
On the back of the speakers, there are three buttons that let you change the volume and fine-tune the treble and bass to change the way the sound sounds. Pressing and holding the Bluetooth button on the remote for five seconds will start the pairing process. A blue flashing LED on the front of the right speaker shows that the S1000W are in pairing mode. Once they are in pairing mode, smartphones and other devices can quickly find them.
Edifier S1000W: Build and Design
The Edifier S1000W speakers have a unique look, just like the S1000MKII speakers that came before them. The sides are made of real wood, which looks great against the dark body of the speaker. The grille has a unique “floating” style that makes it stand out in a subtle way. These feel great, from the wood on the sides to the smoothness of the rest of the speaker body. That’s a strange feature for speakers, as Edifier seems to have made them like headphones or something else that people often touch.
Even so, it is still a nice touch. Edifier says that the speakers are slightly tilted back because it makes the sound better. I’m sure it is, especially since these are meant to be both computer speakers and desk speakers, but it gives them a unique look. In general, they look half-modern and half-retro because of the wood, the moving grille, and the way they lean back. The remote sensor and LED are on the right speaker, which makes it a little different from the other two. Still, neither speaker has any buttons or ports on the front, so they look pretty much the same.
Edifier S1000W: Connectivity
The Edifier S1000W system is made up of both an inactive speaker and an active speaker. The active speaker is where the system’s amplifier is located. Turning the “active” speaker around, there are two RCA line outputs, a speaker out to connect to the “passive” speaker (there is no wireless link between the two), optical and coaxial inputs, a power on/off switch, and dials for controlling the volume, treble, and bass. Even if something goes wrong, you can restart it with a pinhole.
There is no HDMI port for linking to a TV, which the more expensive Klipsch Five has. However, the optical port can be used to connect to a TV. The Edifier S1000W can be connected to other devices like a PC, CD player, turntable, or active subwoofer through its connectivity choices. I used the RCA output on the Edifier to connect it to the FiiO R7 portable amplifier, and it worked well.
There is Bluetooth (v5.2), just like the S2000 MkIII, but Wi-Fi is new. The Edifier doesn’t handle high-resolution audio over Bluetooth because it uses AAC instead of aptX-HD. But with Wi-Fi, it can handle audio streams up to 24-bit/192kHz through Tidal Connect, as well as AirPlay 2 for iOS devices and Spotify Connect. Multi-room grouping is possible with AirPlay 2 and Alexa Multi-Room, and you can handle the S1000W with your voice if you connect it to a compatible speaker like an Apple HomePod mini or an Amazon Echo.
Edifier S1000W: Sound Quality
The Edifier S1000W has a 5.5-inch aluminum bass unit for the lows and midrange and a 1-inch titanium dome tweeter for the highs. Its sound is similar to that of the S2000MkIII in that it seems to be tuned toward the warm side of neutral. It doesn’t sound as full as the Q Acoustics M20 HD, but it still gives you hard, strong bass. The first track on the Ant-Man theme for ‘Quantumania’ is a fast-paced, exciting piece of music with strong bass notes that the Edifier eats up with attack and movement.
It’s a powerful track to listen to. The trumpets rise and fall, and the drums have a lot of force. However, if you’re looking for deep bass like a subwoofer, you won’t find it here. The bass output is lively, punchy, and well-controlled, but the low sounds won’t go as deep as a sub. I did hear some distortion in the low frequencies, and when I looked more closely, I saw that it came from the woofer cone. I’ve heard it while playing Hans Zimmer’s Dune and in the Football Weekly podcast (AirPlay) with deeper male sounds.
But the bass isn’t out of control, and I didn’t hear it in the higher levels. When I turned the bass dial, it didn’t make much of a difference. Since the distortion was only coming from the active speaker, it could have been that the woofer was slightly off. With GoGo Penguin’s Raven, the Edifier’s aggressive approach to low frequencies is again clear. The speaker has no trouble delivering the fast, rolling bass beats without losing the beat. The treble in the song is clear and has a good amount of shine.
The advantage of having two speakers is that you can make a stereo picture. The Edifier S1000W’s performance shows that it can make a stereo image with good depth and good placement of instruments and vocals in a big, wide soundstage. The middle is resolved with detail and clarity by the speakers, but I wouldn’t say it has a fanatical level of detail or sharpness. The Edifier won’t smooth out recordings and make them perfect.
Edifier S1000W: Controls and Remote
A few physical settings are on the back of the right speaker. There is a row of three buttons, and the volume is controlled by the one on top. You can also use this button instead of the remote to switch between the different sources. The other two knobs are just a simple equalizer with settings for bass and treble. I mostly left these at 12’o clock, but I can see how they could be useful if you need to cut a little high or add a little bass. It’s helpful to have some basic settings on the speakers themselves, but you’ll probably want to use the remote for everything but the EQ.
The power button and the stop button are both on the top of the remote. The volume and playback buttons are in the middle of the remote, and there are a number of inputs around them. The playback controls are easy to use and let you easily stop, resume, or skip songs over Bluetooth or other connections that are enabled. Lastly, you can also handle the speakers with the Edifier Home app. However, other than being able to pair devices and turn on Amazon Alexa, all the other controls are the same as what you’ll find on the remote.
Edifier S1000W: Pros and Cons
The Edifier S1000W are two active bookshelf speakers that offer great sound quality and a wide range of features at a reasonable price. They have a sleek retro design and are durable.
Pros
- Great neutral sounding but fun sound signature
- Remote has every button you need
- Dynamic, fluid performance
- Great aesthetics
- Wi-Fi connectivity beings AirPlay 2, Spotify, TIDAL Connect and more
Cons
- Heavy
- Some may wish for a HDMI port
Final Words
For the price, the Edifier S1000W is a great active sound system. The music quality is great, and there are almost all of the inputs you could want. I wish the speakers had balanced XLR inputs so they could be used as studio monitors, but that’s not who they’re made for. The Edifier S1000W is a great pair of active speakers with great sound and a great finish for anyone who needs a small audio system for streaming music or connecting older devices.
