Edifier’s new retro-style wireless speaker range looks very cool, and has the features to take on JBL and Sonos

Edifier ES Series speakers and headphones on a display stand that puts them all at different heights.
(Image credit: Edifier)

  • Edifier reveals 3 speakers, from tabletop to super-portable
  • 6W, 34W and 60W speaker models
  • New ANC headphones with 92-hour battery life

I'm a big fan of modern tech in retro clothes: give me a hi-res audio player that looks like an old AM radio and you can take my money. And I'm also a fan of corporate PR nonsense. So the launch of the new Edifier ES Series of speakers and headphones has put me in my happy place.

Corporate PR nonsense first: The letters ES carry "layered meaning", because the E means "Elegant", the S stands for "Superb (or Luxurious)", and if you put those two letters together they stand for "Edifier Sound".

Nonsense aside, I love the look of the speakers: there are three models of increasing elongation, beginning with the super-cute square of the ES20, stretching into the rectangular ES60 and then the bigger box of the ES300. And the specs are impressive for all three.

Edifier ES850NB over-ear headphones in brown sat on top of a spiral notebook on a desk or similar furniture

It's not just speakers: there are new 92-hour ANC headphones too (Image credit: Edifier)

Edifier ES20, ES60, and ES300: key features and pricing

The flagship here is the ES300, a 60W, handcrafted wooden speaker with leather-look accents, a braided grille and a metallic control panel. Behind the grille there's a 4-inch long-throw mid/bass driver and dual 1.25-inch silk dome tweeters.

The ES300 has hi-res audio up to 24-bit/96kHz, and it has dual-band WiFi and AirPlay 2. Wired ports are USB-A and Aux, and there's a built-in ambient light system with three effects and two colors.

The ES300 is $399.99 in the US, £299.99 in the UK* and AU$399 in Australia.

The portable ES60 is smaller but still punchy, with 34W of power through its dual 22mm tweeters, oval mid/bass driver with neodymium magnets and passive bass radiator. It has Bluetooth 5.4 with multipoint and stereo pairing, USB-C for audio input and charging, and promises 9 hours of playback. Like its bigger sibling it too has ambient lighting built-in.

The ES60 is $199.99 / £119.99 / AU$199.00.

Last but not least there's the teeny ES20, a 6W portable Bluetooth speaker with a 43mm full-range neodymium magnet driver and a 55mm passive bass radiator and a class D amp. It's IP67 rated, has Bluetooth 5.4 and includes a high sensitivity microphone for calling; once again there's built-in ambient lighting.

The ES20 is $89.99 / £49.99 / AU$99.

Edifier has also launched a set of headphones, the ES850NB. They're wireless over-ears with wired and wireless Hi-Res Audio certification, 40mm dynamic drivers and support for LDAC as well as the usual AAC and SBC. There's active noise cancellation, AI call clarity, and up to 92 hours of battery life.

The ES850NB headphones are $169.99 / £119.99 / AU$179.

All four models from the Edifier ES Series are available now.

* US prices are from Edifier's press release; UK and Australian prices are from retailers' websites.

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Carrie Marshall

Contributor

Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than twenty books. Her latest, a love letter to music titled Small Town Joy, is on sale now. She is the singer in spectacularly obscure Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.

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