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 [Review] Edifier MP120, Interesting little speaker

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TSpower911
post Sep 16 2019, 11:39 AM, updated 4y ago

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Hi guys.
Thanks to Edifier I'm getting another chance to review another product from Edifier lineup.

The portable bluetooth speaker MP120 cool2.gif

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Edifier has gone minimalistic with box designs. It's a tight, thick and high quality cardboard box as compared to my very old mp230 filmsy box in the past.
Pretty much similar box to many current smartphone box packagings.

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There are several logo prints on the side which seemed "generic" to many bluetooth speaker packagings. Could've just skipped the logo part to make it looked clean but it's fine I guess

The back of the box is packed with tiny words and basic details and specs.

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Check out the beautiful packaging. Really loved the firm fit of the box showing the speaker and a small compartment for accesories.
Listed inside is the speaker, micro USB cable and some paperworks all wrapped in recyclable bags and paper

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This 2 items here is the only important stuff you get in the box
A sleek looking anodized aluminum speaker box and a Micro USB cable.
Like many current tech reviewer said, it is preffered that a USB-C connector is used instead for future generations.
Nevertheless the Micro-USB included by Edifier is one of the best quality cables I've ever seen.

TSpower911
post Sep 16 2019, 11:39 AM

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Speaker came in this fancy wave looking grill cutout. Pretty dense holes and hard to peek into the drivers.

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Came with 2 grey rubber strips similar to many Edifier product
Has a MCMC approved logo too. I believe this is for the bluetooth used inside.

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The left side of the speaker includes slots for classic 3.5mm connection, micro-USB slot for charging and a micro-sd card for mp3 storage.
There's a tiny red LED near the micro-USB for charge indicator. Red for charging and off for fully charge. (You can check the charge percentage level via bluetooth)
Wished the USB slot can be used as a micro-sd card reader though. Guess I'm asking too much from this little guy. rolleyes.gif


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The other side sports power and playback functions.
The power button also serves as input selector indicated by the small RGB LED underneath where red is for micro-sd playback, green for AUX and blue for Bluetooth

Easy to use playback functions.
Play/Pause basically does what the name say, play and pause. Works for both micro SD or bluetooth.
The play/pause button also functions as a disconnect button for bluetooth in case multiple user wished to use them.

The volume up/down button serves as volume for short presses. Long presses on these will function as skip track.
Universal and functional bluetooth interface here. thumbsup.gif

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Interesting logo design from Edifier. Definitely the first I've seen here

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Basically the same space grey anodizing color on this guy here. How well can it handle daily use I'm not sure. Even my HA-III anodizing on my flashlight do suffer from pocket wear.



TSpower911
post Sep 16 2019, 11:40 AM

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Alright. Enough pictures. How well does it do?

First off, the specs
Specification MP120
Bluetooth Version Bluetooth 5.0
Bluetooth Profiles A2DP,AVRCP
Input type AUX/ TF card / Bluetooth
Effective distance 10m
Power output L/R: 4W+4W
Treble driver 1 1/2 inch
Freq. Response Range 100Hz-15KHz
Usage Time Upto 19 Hours
Weight 0.324Kg
Dimension 170x26x60mm


Impressive little guy in my opinion.
I was a little skeptical when I first held the MP120. Blocky aluminum body that feels heavy. Only 2 tiny little 1.5" speakers pushing a tiny 2 inch passive radiator, how much can Edifier push in this small package?



Turning it on makes some generic bluetooth sounds from a female voiceover. Not my cup of tea. sweat.gif
Would definitely prefer if it makes normal beep boop sounds rather than screaming POWER ON when i turn it.
There's also a "low battery, please charge" announcement when it hits 10% or lower. Pretty annoying warning but that's a feature I don't mind it having.


But when I hit my favorite tunes on this it blew my mind.

Thick creamy full sound from it.
Massive hard hitting bass with very upfront vocal mids. Giving it a very large spacious sound.
They sound better than my LG 4k tv anytime.
I'll talk more about sound later, the user interface is more important.

I was told that this doesn't have aptX bluetooth codec but I don't think this speaker even needs it.
Youtube non-stop leaves no delay gaps in it so I'd say the bluetooth is pretty advanced by now.
Maybe it did struggle some delay when I used it for PUBG but overall I think this is more for media content rather than gameplay
It is definitely an improvement in quality when I compared the usefulness of my classic MP230 speaker to this wireless MP120

Alright, some sound opinions after extensive usage.
Edifier has opt for a bassy mid sound signature in the MP120. Pretty pleasant sound when you use it on a quiet living room on moderate low volume youtube content.

They are a pleasant smooth sound especially on vocals. I watch a lot of LinusTechTips videos as well as many tech channels such as UnboxTherapy or LewLater, The Verge, and some music youtube channel like Davie504 bass challenges.
The mid low warmth is a wonderful sound signature for the youtube content I watch. Great projection without harsh trebles to hurt my ears on long period of time.
There are times I just skipped my car stereo and used this as my main to see if they can replace my old car speakers and they do but with a caveat.

This bluetooth speaker works great as party music and room filler but the bassy nature of this speaker doesn't cut environmental noise too much.
Trying to obtain clarity in a noisy environment is definitely losing here.
When I tried to play in a family gathering, the speaker just couldn't stand out, leaving a muddy bassy sound.
The hard dip in the treble range did cause an issue here so for party just play music and not vocal podcasts.
It works okay in a noisy old car revving engine but the mids couldn't appear without trebles helping out.

I think this is a common thing that spans over many current bluetooth speaker. Bassy mids with minimal trebles that specs a strict DSP for bass reproduction. It is, afterall a selling feature for many consumers who are looking for big sound on small speakers.

Oh did I mention how the speaker struggle to stay in one spot when you max the volume out? The bass is hitting real hard shaking the whole speaker. You can clearly hear the DSP trying hard to produce bass from small speaker while retaining the full frequency spectrum. Sounds like a hard compression when you hit the max volume. Good job in making it loud without distortion.

As for my current use case, I wanted a different perspective.
I let my dad use the speaker for a few days and he has been enjoying the speaker well.
He watches general whatsapp group videos and usually play bird singing videos using his phone.
The poorly compressed whatsapp videos sounded clean and distortion-free with the MP120.
Annoying tik-tok videos sound less harsh thanks to the treble cut nature of this speaker.

Also thanks to the 19 hour battery life, letting my dad run jungle bird singing sounds for his pet birds whole day sings perfectly without problems.
Having a speaker that can run 5 hours a day for 6 days without needing to charge is impressive.
And getting the speaker to shine in the treble region works perfect thanks to the advanced DSP tuning made by Edifier. There is no loss in volume despite me mentioning how it sounds like a cut in treble.


Other things to mention would be how Edifier includes active noise reduction in the speaker DSP. I had some noisy crackling vinyl music "in MP3 format" and you can hear how it starts with a brief crackle then silence up until the music kicks in.
Maybe that's a bluetooth feature? I'm not sure.
Plugging the speaker into my noisy tube preamp via AUX into preamp headphone out does the same noise reduction.
Interesting feature which is great for general usage. Audiophiles would disagree as it cuts the original noise sounds from music but I find the feature effecient and useful.

Micro-SD card playback is a feature I don't really use. I mean it plays well and works fine skipping tracks and all but the lack of visual interface makes it a basic player with minimal functions. You gotta sort your music properly in your card if you wish for specific playback.
I can see how this works great for looping relaxing theraphy music stored in a hidden cupboard top or something. Works great for small offices


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Conclusion
I think this is a great speaker for what it cost. Pretty loud, pretty clean, easy to use and most importantly, a beautiful looking speaker for display.
Again I thank Edifier for this wonderful opportunity to test this unit. It's a great experience and I can't stop using it whistling.gif laugh.gif

Next improvement perhaps?
-maybe include a soft cloth case? The anodizing felt scratchy and sounds like it'll scratch anytime when placed on any surface.
-USB-C on the next gen?
-Maybe opt for a bluetooth board that doesn't have vocal announcements? Making beeping sounds can easily transform this into a premium device
TSpower911
post Sep 25 2019, 10:12 PM

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more2teayap
post Apr 13 2020, 08:02 AM

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QUOTE(power911 @ Sep 16 2019, 11:40 AM)
Turning it on makes some generic bluetooth sounds from a female voiceover. Not my cup of tea.  sweat.gif
Would definitely prefer if it makes normal beep boop sounds rather than screaming POWER ON when i turn it.
There's also a "low battery, please charge" announcement when it hits 10% or lower. Pretty annoying warning but that's a feature I don't mind it having.
*
This, I agree it's really annoying and cringy.. laugh.gif Hope they will change it to beeps instead.

This post has been edited by more2teayap: Apr 13 2020, 08:02 AM
penmarker
post Apr 13 2020, 03:13 PM

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single piece aluminum is a premium finish for Edifier. very nice
spiderbatman P
post May 19 2020, 06:32 PM

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Is there a microphone in this to take phone calls?
TSpower911
post May 19 2020, 08:08 PM

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QUOTE(spiderbatman @ May 19 2020, 07:32 PM)
Is there a microphone in this to take phone calls?
*
Nope no microphone.

 

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