Monster sound from edifier!

Edifier, a chinese speaker manufacture, recently release a super montrous heavy metal speaker for music lover. It's S550 and S730 that will captivate heart of enthusiast people around the globe. Let's take a look at both of them ;)

S550, as we can see from the image on the left, is a really nice-looking design speaker. The speaker is designed and inspired by Phil Jones, one of the most famous audio artist who settles in Japan currently (if I'm not mistaken). Except the design, Phil Jones has fine-tune the overall sound of this speaker too, to be sound as please as possible for everyone.

But how about the specification. Below is the specification for S550 taken from Edifier website :

Specifications:

• Power output: RMS 5 x 35W + 120W (THD=10%)
• Signal to noise ratio (amplifier): >=85dBA
• Input sensitivity: 5.1Ch: L/R: 480mV +/- 50mV SW: 175mV +/- 30mV
• Stereo: L/R: 520mV +/- 50mV SW: 200mV +/- 30mV
• Frequency response: L/R: 140Hz ~ 20kHz SW: 20Hz ~ 133Hz
  

Features:

• Luxurious 5.1 speaker system with 10 inch subwoofer- Wooden MDF housing for all speakers
• Passive radiator on both sides on the subwoofer to exaggerate bass performance
• Magnetically shielded drivers for all speakers
• Switchable dual input ports for both 5.1 channel and stereo inputs
• Multifunctional wired controller with 2.5 inch LCD display (dimmer included)
• Headphone output on wired remote controller
• Master volume controls both speaker output and headphone output
• Volume booster for extra power output
• Separate bass and treble adjustments
• Multifunctional wireless remote controller included
• Dolby decoder circuitry included in digital version

Edifier S550 will be sold around Rp 3.800.000,-. Will the price worth it? For bass lover who need 5.1 speaker for their small home theater system, this S550 really can rock your room. Equipped with 10" subwoofer with 2-way design for each sattelite and 3-way design for its center channel will make S550 not disappointed.

Meanwhile S550 will be targeted to hit small home theater market, S730 is another beast from edifier targeted for music lover. This 2.1 speaker with its total 300 RMS has the power needed for shaking your small room!

The design looks similar with S550. This is really obvious because this one was also designed by Phil Jones! Phil Jones interference in the design and fine-tuning process will ensure S730 will have a maximum overall sound for music lover. Especially bass lover since it's using 10" subwoofer for 2.1 configuration. Only logitech with its Z5500 has doing the same thing. (Well, audiophile will say it's really overkill to have 10" in 2.1 setup, but who care anyway :P)

Okay, let's take a look at the specification, shall we?


Specification :

• Total Power Output: RMS 75W x 2 + 150W
• Frequency Response: 20Hz~20KHz

Features:

• Heavy metal 2.1 speaker system with 10 inch subwoofer
• Wooden MDF housing for all speakers
• Multifunctional wired controller with 2.5 inch LCD display (dimmer included)

This speaker will arrive in Indonesia market around June. That's the information I got from official Edifier distributor in Indonesia. The price will be tagged at around Rp 3.300.000,-. Can't wait to audition this one. It should sound awesome!

With both speaker, it's clearly seen that Edifier has put so much effort for entering new level of computer multimedia speaker market. I think now they can be put at the same level as Klipsch, Altec Lansing or JBL in this criteria ;).

If only Edifier put the lower price tag for this speaker, I would be at the front row of sales queue, then :P. Absolutely!

Cheap soundcard for music..

Via has been famous in soundcard era for the recent years - thanks to its flagship Via Envy chipset. Via Envy has a characteristic that make it very suitable for music lover-the chipset never resamples any sample rate for songs. Every songs will be played "as is". This feature is really important for audiophile because fidelity and accuracy is the most determine factor for high quality music.

But Via Envy also has always been associated by its high price, especially for guys like me who cannot afford, or maybe at least must think ten thousand times before buying a Via Envy soundcard priced more than $100. Of course, Via offered us a cheap alternative solution - Via Envy PT, which was used in Chaintech AV710. Unfortunately, the card is rarely be seen in the market. Once in a time, I even has tried to contact Chaintech distributor in Singapore, asking about this $30 soundcard and got answer "out of stock".

Maybe Via sees this matter and recently, Via had launched some new chipset intended for cheaper market - Via Tremor. Via Tremor will support maximum 6 channel output and 2 channel input. And it will support maximum resolution 24 bit and 48 KHz sampling rate for analog, while for digital, Tremor will support resolution 24 bit and 96 KHz sampling rate - very similar to Via Envy 24 PT. Along with Via Tremor, Via also launched Via Envy 24 MT which is intended for notebook or mobile devices. But forget about Via Envy 24 MT as this seems not a cheap solution anyway :P. Let's see all the features Via Tremor offers below...

Benefits of VIA Vinyl Tremor

• High audio performance - With up to 24-bit resolution/96kHZ sampling rates for digital input/output and 20-bit/48kHZ analog connections, the VIA Tremor is capable of providing superb audio playback and recording quality to the PC audio enthusiast.


• Flexible range of connection options - 6 outbound streams and 2 simultaneous input streams, along with an integrated S/PDIF transmitter, allow for a wide range of connections that can support Dolby Digital/Dolby Digital EX Surround Sound. A direct access general purpose connector allows for easy use of expanded connection boards, and a MIDI port is also provided.


• Multiple applications - Applications include gaming, high fidelity home theatre entertainment, music playback and recording.


• Easy to integrate - I²S and AC-link input and output for easy connection with many codec or ADC/DAC solutions. Also supports Windows® WDM drivers.

So has any company decided to use Via tremor and produced cheap soundcard for music lover? Yes, there are several company like PPA International and Encore Electronics that has started producing several soundcard based on this chipset. This soundcard is really cheap, some even can be found as low as $10 in newegg.com! But please keep in mind that you will always get what you've paid for. For a $10 soundcard, you cannot expect the card will use a high quality ADC and DAC from respective companies like AKM or Wolfson :).

Current top line of Altec Lansing Computer Speaker...

Just like Klipsch, Altec Lansing had being been famous in the home theater speaker systems first before they entered the computer speaker market. Later on, Altec Lansing is ultimately known as well-known computer speaker vendor because of their build quality and sound quality. Altec Lansing is close to Klipsch in terms of sound quality, but slightly cheaper at that time. So in this case, design is the determine factor for most people for choosing one. Besides for people who are willing to spend more than $250 for computer speaker, the difference of $10-$20 would not be a major factor anyway ;).


FX-6021 is the latest and the current top line of speaker Altec has right now. It features an unique design by introducing 12 microdrivers, 6 on each satellite. While the subwoofer design is minimal, it complement the satellite perfectly. Altec also include a wired remote controller for this speaker system. Just take a glance at this speaker and we easily become interested for its design. But how about the sound quality? Just take a look at the specification below first ;)

SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS :
Altec Lansing’s superior sound comes from our proprietary technology, which utilizes custom-built, high-fidelity drivers, state-of-the-art equalization circuitry, and a harmonious mix of the following specifications:

• Sound pressure level (SPL): 105 dB
• Total continuous power: 75 Watts RMS
• Front Speakers: 12.5 Watts/channel @ 4 ohms @ 10% THD @ 180 - 15000 Hz 2 Channels Loaded
• Subwoofer: 50 Watts @ 4 ohms @ 10% THD @40 – 180 Hz Single Channel Loaded
• System response: 32 Hz – 18 kHz (-10dB)
  
• Signal to Noise Ration @ 1 Khz input: > 75 dB
• Drivers (per satellite) : Six 1" fullrange Micro Drivers
• Subwoofer driver:One 6.5" long-throw woofer
  

The subwoofer can only go as low as 40 Hz which is not too bad anyway as this is only 6.5" subwoofer. The configuration of 6 microdrivers will make FX6021 emphasizes high frequency and slightly lower mid frequency. Even the sound pressure level is stated at 105 db, I don't think there is anyone who wants to play it that loud. Our neighbor must yell at us before we can reach that volume....

In my opinion, this is a good speaker system. Excellent design with absolutely famous Altec Lansing sound quality in mind will certainly makes this speaker find its way into its lover ;).