Edifier M90 review: these deceptively simple bookshelf speakers hide a secret

Introduction

Musically-minded Gollums hunting for one set of speakers to rule them all finally have a new “precious”. Edifier has equipped its M90 bookshelf pair with an HDMI connection, letting it double as a compact home cinema system when not on music or gaming duties.

It’s not the first multi-talented 2.0 speaker I’ve seen, but at $370 (a UK price was still TBC at the time of writing) it’s almost half the price of the colourful Kanto Ren. Edifier has also undercut longstanding Bluetooth bookshelf favourite Ruark’s MR1 MkIII, which isn’t as TV-friendly.

Size-wise these are more compact than the competition, though. Does that make them more suited for desk-bound listening than as a home cinema stand-in?

Design & build: fades into the background

Rather than demand your attention with colourful hues, the M90 plays it safe, with just black or white versions to pick from. Edifier has softened the corners a bit and recessed the tweeter drivers up front, but these are otherwise largely unassuming, boxy bookshelf speakers.

Design flourishes boil down to a subtle Edifier logo beneath each of the main drivers, and a single activity LED on the active speaker. There aren’t any grilles included to protect the exposed driver cones from inquisitive young fingers, nor a way to mount any.

My white review unit has a modern matte finish that has stayed free from scrapes throughout testing and avoids showing up fingerprint smudges. It absolutely looks more at home on my desk than a more traditional set of wooden bookshelf speakers would. There’s no version that ships with stands in the box like there is for the smaller M60, though, so you’ll need to supply your own if you want them pointed directly at your ears.

Being 225mm deep (plus some extra room for any connected cables at the rear) they’re just about small enough to fit on a shelf, and didn’t look out of place flanking my computer monitor on an office desk. They don’t have the presence of Kanto’s Ren speakers, though, so aren’t the greatest match for a large TV. I found them better suited to a 42in set.

Features: get connected

Most of the action is found around the back of the lead speaker, which is assigned the right stereo channel by default. The two speakers are connected via a single active cable. You can swap channels using Edifier’s ConneX smartphone companion app, which might be useful for hiding cables depending on your setup. The app is fairly basic but has more than you’ll find from a pair of basic book shelf speakers, including a 9-band custom equaliser.

There’s USB-C for a plug-and-play connection to a computer, along with an optical input, 3.5mm auxiliary input that’ll play nicely with a turntable (as long as it has an integrated phono preamp) and another 3.5mm port for adding a subwoofer. Edifier sells a few, though none are designed specifically for the M90, or you can mix-and-match with another brand.

This is also where you’ll find the only physical control: a volume dial, which is hardly the most convenient place to reach. Better instead to use the bundled remote control, which covers all the basics including input selection and playback controls. The handful of EQ preset buttons are nice to have too.

It’s the HDMI port that’ll come in most handy for home theatre setups, given it supports both Audio Return Channel (ARC) and Consumer Electronics Control (CEC). The former can send a signal from your games console or set-top box through the TV, while the latter lets your TV remote handle speaker volume. Both worked flawlessly in my testing.

Edifier includes a bunch of useful audio cables in the box – USB-C, 3.5mm, optical and RCA-to-3.5mm – but you’ll need to supply your own HDMI cable to hook the M90 up to a TV. Also keep in mind the M90 maxes out as a 2.1 channel system: if you want true surround sound, or any sort of virtual spatial upmixing, you’ll need proper home theatre kit.

Wireless streaming is entirely through Bluetooth, with no AirPlay or Spotify smarts. Edifier has included the LDAC codec, though, meaning hi-res listening can be done via your phone and not just from a wired source. Multipoint support is here as well, though using it bumps you down to a more basic codec.

Sound quality: small yet mighty

The M90 delivers a total 100W of amplification to its two 1in tweeters and two 4in mid-low drivers, divided evenly between the left and right speakers. That’s a strong output for a relatively small duo, resulting in plenty of volume on tap to fill a small to medium sized room. They were perfectly suited to my home office, and don’t suffer when you crank the loud dial to unsociable levels. There’s also enough cable included to get plenty of natural separation between the two channels.

I was impressed with the amount of low-end they were able to deliver without assistance from a separate subwoofer, at least while sat a few feet away. Pendulum’s Driver showed nice separation between bass and sub-bass, while the vicious synths on Pythius’ In My Head don’t swamp the mid-range.

Some of this was lost in translation when I moved the M90 to my larger living room and sat back at a typical sofa-to-TV distance; turning up the volume closed the gap a bit for films and streaming shows, but not entirely. You’ll either need to add that subwoofer, or step up to a larger set of speakers.

Clarity overall is really rather good for the money, with a good tonal balance at the default EQ preset. It only comes undone slightly at the high-end, lacking some control particularly with heavily layered instruments. The iconic trumpets on Ennio Morricone’s Ecstasy of Gold were a little more abrasive than I’ve heard through rival bookshelf systems, while R2D2’s Ghostwriter was a little cluttered. You can reign much of this in through the custom EQ, though.

Edifier M90 verdict

As a one-and-done audio upgrade, the M90 ticks plenty of boxes. These speakers are small enough to sit on a desk, yet output enough oomph without the need to instantly add a subwoofer. Edifier hasn’t skimped on wired inputs or a high quality Bluetooth codec, and tonal tweaks are easy using either the remote or smartphone companion app.

The flexibility of an HDMI connection also makes it a great alternative to a small soundbar for a bedroom or office TV. Given the competitive price, the M90 might also make sense if you don’t have any immediate plans to roll it into your home cinema setup.

I don’t think they’re quite as comfortable in a living room – they only get so loud and produce only so much bass for their size – so lose out to Kanto’s pricier, more powerful Ren as a partner for a bigger screen. But gamers, bedroom streamers and home workers will be very happy with the volume and clarity.

Edifier M90 technical specifications