Edifier E3350 review

£70 barely covers the cost of a couple of premium PC games, but for the same princely sum, you can pick up this 2.1 desktop speaker system from Edifier.

Looking at the price, we can understand your scepticism, especially after you've unboxed this package.

The curved, pyramidal subwoofer feels plasticy and the tacky silver power button does it no favours.

The columnar satellite speakers feel cheap-to-the-touch, too, but at least there's a bit of weight to inspire some confidence in the set-up.

As for the Edifier's styling, it makes a nice change to boring square boxes.

The E3350 isn't the neatest of set-ups and requires a lot of tidying to keep all the cables out of sight. The leads run from each speaker to the subwoofer, and then there's the cord that runs from the small volume control unit to the sub.

Finally, there's the 3.5mm-3.5mm interconnect that runs from your portable device or PC to the speakers.

Sit them close for best results
To get the best integration between satellites and subwoofer, you need to position the sub close to the speakers, but this shouldn't be a big problem considering the relatively small footprint of both elements of the package.

Pleasingly, the results are very good. Low frequencies exhibit weight, depth and composure during XX's Heart Skipped a Beat.

The subwoofer's punchy delivery makes for a lively, rhythmic and very listenable sound.

Sure, detail levels could be slightly higher and top notes are hardly the most refined, but remember, this is all coming from a £70 2.1 package.

The consumer electronics world is full of surprise bargains and this budget desktop speaker system has to be one of them.

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