Edifier R2000DB Bookshelf Speakers REVIEW

6 min readAug 28, 2017

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For many years, I’ve considered myself a musicophile. I have had a love of great music since I was a kid and have always appreciated how pieces are written and finessed into a final composition. This love of great music hasn’t lessened over the years, but my ability to hear it has. I am now considered ‘hard of hearing’ and a lot of my higher range of hearing is non-existent. This makes it hard for me to enjoy music unless I’m using a very high-quality set of headphones or speakers. So, I’ve been on the search for awesome speaker setups for a couple of years now. About six months ago, I reviewed the Edifier e235 Luna 2.1 Speaker System. It has continued to be a fantastic addition to my home office, so when I decided to search for a good ‘all-around’ bookshelf speaker, I turned back to Edifier and found the R2000DB Multimedia Speakers.

The R2000DB speakers are a well-rounded, versatile speaker that will work for just about any type of listening experience. The pair of speakers are finished in a high-gloss piano finish for a unique, premium look. You can connect to the speakers via Bluetooth, digital optical, or RCA. The R2000DB are considered bookshelf speakers, which are classically a compact speaker that is intended to be placed on a raised surface — i.e. a bookshelf. They are typically a ‘consumer grade’ quality speaker system that is worked into a home theater.

The R2000DB speakers are listed on Edifier’s website as ‘multimedia’ speakers, which means you can use them across platforms and genres by design. Edifier engineers certainly took care when designing these remarkable speakers as they ensured that all users have the best possible experience no matter what their hearing level is. The speaker box is made from wooden MDF to minimize acoustic resonance and the speakers each feature a 25mm ‘Eagle Eye’ tweeter, which has been newly developed as a silk dome to ensure that the speaker produces the clearest sound possible. The R2000DB has built in Digital Signal Processing and Dynamic Range Control to minimize distortion. Both of these features are ones of great value to me since I have trouble distinguishing the smaller noises in life and sounds blend together quite a bit for me.

The R2000DB speakers ship with a remote control, a user manual, a 3.5 mm-RCA cable, a dual RCA-dual RCA cable, fiber optical audio cable, and speaker connecting cable. One speaker is active, while the other is passive. This means that the power and controls live on one of the two speakers while the other is simply connected to the main unit. Speaking of controls, these speakers have built-in and wireless controls available. On the back of the active speaker, you can adjust the volume, bass, and treble by turning the built-in knobs. On the remote, you have the option for power on/off, volume control, mute/unmute, input select, and a couple of preset sound options (classic and dynamic).

The setup of the speakers was very easy. You plug the active speaker into power and then connect the passive speaker using the connecting cable. From there, you choose your input method. I decided to go with a Bluetooth connection because I detest wiring. I was surprised to find that before I even pressed the ‘Bluetooth’ mode on the remote, the speakers were already in pairing mode. I selected them from the Bluetooth menu on my phone and began listening to some streaming music from Pandora. I listened to a couple of tracks and then moved over to Netflix to see how the pair managed more sophisticated, multilayered soundtracks from movies. Here are my notes from these experiences.

Queen Crazy Little Thing Called Love: I was really happy with the sound quality of this track. It’s got a pretty standard classic rock ‘n roll feel to it so the variety of instruments was heard really well. I did adjust the bass/treble to try and get more depth from the music but felt like it was somewhat short sided.

2pac California Love: Because I thought maybe it was the track that was causing the deep bass sound to be lacking, I moved to a different Pandora station that included some 90s hip-hop. California Love came on and I turned the bass knob all the way up and the treble all the way down. I have to admit that while the music still sounded wonderful, I just wasn’t getting the bass I was hoping for. Even though you have the ability to adjust these levels, the built-in bass setting can’t replace a standard subwoofer. I’d love to see if one can be paired with these speakers to make a really awesome system.

Civil War: This was the first movie I pulled up on Netflix. The soundtrack for Civil War is complicated. It’s one of those movies that you find yourself turning the volume up and down constantly because the sound effects are so vibrant and extreme that you have to manually balance between it and the vocal track. Each scene is just a bit different. If you can recall, the movie opens up on the Winter Soldier being ‘programmed’ in the past. The entire scene is vocal driven and very hard to hear unless you crank up the volume. This scene leads right into the opening credit sequence which is rich with the Civil War musical theme. It blares through speakers and I was hoping that the variety between the two scenes would blend better with the Edifier speakers, but sadly, I found myself fiddling with the volume again. I don’t see this as the fault of the speakers — I think it has more to do with the way the movie was mixed and mastered. I was able to hear the vocal track well when the volume was turned up, which is saying something because I typically have trouble with voices.

Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl: This is really where I found the Edifiers shined. This movie has a wonderfully amazing award-winning sound mix. The superior sound mix came through loud and clear. I pulled up a specific scene where Captain Jack Sparrow comes face to face with Will Turner for the first time in the Blacksmith hut. The scene is composed like a symphony. First, some gentle sound effects enter — feet walking across the ground — then dialogue is added in. Next, the soundtrack opens up to include the score and finally, the specialized sounds from the sword fight are added in. Once the fight really kicks in the scene erupts into a full mix track of music, vocals, sound effects, and subtle nuances. It can be hard to decipher, but with this movie, the sound track really is another character because of how it is carefully pulled together. I knew this would be an ultimate test for the Edifier speakers because of the subtleties that could easily be lost on lesser quality speakers. I was able to enjoy the swordfight scene like I could in the theater. The speakers provided a very balanced, cinematic sound and I eventually had to remind myself that I was in the middle of testing.

Finding a speaker system that is easy to set-up and use and are enjoyable to listen to can be a very tricky combination. I’ve been looking for a very long time for a standard set of bookshelf speakers like the R2000DB and I really couldn’t be happier with their performance. Because I am hard of hearing I wasn’t sure how I would like these but found a rare gem in a sea of rocks. I love the style of these speakers and love that Edifier actually described them as having a “High-gloss piano finish” because when I look at them, I think of a grand piano. The R2000DB speakers are really the perfect compliment to any home or office and they can be used for any type of listening experience. If you want a premium set of bookshelf speakers, invest in the Edifier R2000DB Multimedia Speakers.
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For more information, visit edifier.com/r2000db.
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Originally published at macsources.com on August 28, 2017.