Edifier D12 wireless speaker review

One-minute review

If you’re looking for a budget-friendly speaker that looks sophisticated and comes with lots of connectivity options, the Edifier D12 is well worth considering. 

Coming in at a reasonable $129.99 / £99.99 / AU$129, this wireless speaker comes with support for Bluetooth 5, as well as a 3.5mm AUX input, stereo RCA inputs, and a 3.5mm line out. That means you can just as easily hook it up to a turntable as you can use it to stream music wirelessly from your smartphone. 

In spite of its relatively low price, the Edifier D12 feels well-built, and looks subtly stylish, with a dark wooden cabinet and tactile dials to adjust the bass, treble, and volume of your music. 

Its audio performance certainly isn’t the best we’ve heard; mids are recessed, and there’s a lack of clarity and detail in the treble that means you won’t get the most accurate reproduction of your music. However, it can reach high volumes, and the bass response is more than robust enough for our ears - and for the price, it makes a great option for casual listening or soundtracking your parties. Just don’t expect to be blown away by heaps of rhythmic accuracy or sonic detail.

Edifier D12 price and release date

• Available now
• $129.99 / £99.99 / AU$129 

The Edifier D12 is available now for $129.99 / £99.99 / AU$129, putting it at the lower end of the wireless speaker price scale. 

For comparison, the Sonos One (our pick for the best wireless speaker you can buy today) costs $219 / £199 / AU$319 - though the Edifier D12 doesn’t come with the heft of the entire Sonos ecosystem behind it. 

Edifier’s speaker is more similarly priced to the Apple HomePod mini ($99 / £99 / AU$149), though it’s much bigger, and sonically more powerful. Again, it doesn’t come with the innovative connectivity features that the HomePod mini does, but you’re getting a robustly-made and loud wireless speaker with the Edifier D12.

Design

• Subtly stylish
• Control dials
• Wooden cabinet

The majority of wireless speaker manufacturers tread a fine line between standing out from their competitors and ensuring their products don’t jut out like a sore thumb in most homes. Edifier manages to do both with the D12, creating a speaker that looks well-made and more expensive than it really is. 

Enveloped in a dark wooden cabinet, the Edifier D12 harks back to the hi-fi system of old, without looking overly kitsch. On the front is a removable black fabric grille that overlays a small LED light in the top right corner of the speaker - this light lets you know which input you’re using to play music, shining blue for Bluetooth, and green for an AUX connection. 

Remove the grille and you’ll find two four-inch woofers and two 0.75-inch tweeters, as well as two ports for improved bass response.

The top panel of the speaker is finished in black leather-look plastic, and houses three control knobs: one to adjust the bass levels, one for treble, and one to control the volume. You can also press the volume knob down to power the speaker on and off. 

We like the tactile feel you get from turning the knobs to adjust the sound of the speaker - it’s certainly more satisfying than interacting with an app or pressing buttons.

You get a remote control with the Edifier D12; it feels a little flimsy, but it gets the job done, allowing you to turn the speaker on and off, adjust your music playback, toggle between different sound modes (more on those later), and switch between inputs.

Connectivity

• Bluetooth 5
• AUX input
• Stereo RCA inputs

The Edifier D12 comes with Bluetooth 5 connectivity, allowing you to stream music from a phone or a laptop. Pairing our iPhone 13 mini was really simple, and we didn’t experience any annoying connectivity dropouts during our tests. 

There are also a number of physical inputs around the back of the speaker, including a 3.5mm AUX input, stereo RCA inputs, as well as a 3.5mm line out and a power cable.

You get a 3.5mm RCA cable in the box for a wired connection to your music sources, as well as a RCA-RCA audio cable, which allows you to connect the Edifier D12 to your TV (provided it has the necessary ports). 

There’s no optical or HDMI connectivity, so it doesn’t seem as though home cinema is the focus with this speaker, but it’s nice to have the option to use it to boost your TV’s audio. 

Audio performance

• Loud volumes
• Mids sound recessed
• Adjustable treble and bass 

For the price, the Edifier D12 is a powerful-sounding speaker that will reproduce your music faithfully - if not with the utmost detail and clarity. 

Listening to A-Punk by Vampire Weekend, the vocals sound clear and rich, though the mid frequencies are pretty recessed - the guitar sounds a little muddied by the bass (we certainly wouldn’t want to turn the bass dial up any further than the default). The Edifier D12 isn’t the last word in rhythmic accuracy, but it makes for an enjoyable listen, especially when the undulating flute harmonies kick in. 

There’s a slight sense of stereo separation, but it’s not convincing enough to give a real feel of distinct left and right channels. The speaker performs better with sparser musical arrangements; Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy has plenty of bass punch, with her staccato vocal commanding plenty of attention.

You really notice the lackluster mids in tracks like Little Simz’ Offence. We missed the lushness in the sweeping strings, and the cartoony sound effects don’t cut through the mix to make the impact they should.

Still, we’re hesitant to be too critical of the Edifier D12’s audio performance. At this price, there are few speakers on the market that can deliver such loud volumes, and it would make a perfectly respectable speaker to soundtrack a party, or for casual listening. Just don’t rely on it for careful analytical music sessions.

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• Read our guide to the best Bluetooth speakers you can buy today