Active speakers are gaining popularity with people with homes or lives that don’t lend themselves to a full-sized audio system. The concept of a great pair of speakers with an amplifier built in and connections for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and legacy inputs is brilliant. Active speakers save space and offer flexibility for streaming music from a smartphone and hooking up legacy equipment like a vinyl turntable or CD player.

The latest pair of active speakers to reach me for review come from Edifier. This innovative audio brand Edifier has launched the S1000W wireless bookshelf speakers, joining the brand’s impressive line-up of premium and affordable technology.

The S1000W are a gorgeous pair of speakers finished with a luxury wood veneer and a leather inlay that makes them as good to look at as they sound. Each speaker is slightly raked back to account for the slightly different speeds that the frequencies travel from each driver. An acoustically transparent cloth grille covers the speaker drivers. The styling would fit in with almost any kind of décor.

Each speaker houses a one-inch titanium dome tweeter with an extended frequency range that tops out at an impressive 40kHz. Meanwhile, the main woofer is a 5.5-inch aluminum alloy driver delivering a beefy bass response that can dip as low as 45Hz thanks to a reflex port on the rear of each cabinet. Each tweeter is powered by 25W of digital amplification, while the woofer gets 35W per channel. That’s an overall total of 120W output between the two speakers. This loud system has sufficient muscle to fill even a large living room with impressive sound.

The right-hand speaker acts as the main unit, while the left-hand speaker acts as the satellite. There’s no switch to reverse the position, so the right-hand speaker must be positioned close enough to a power outlet. All the electronics are housed in the right-hand main speaker, linked to the satellite unit via a special five-pin cable. The S1000W isn’t entirely wireless, but the cable supplied is long enough to connect the two speakers and create enough space for a beautifully wide soundstage.

When it comes to inputs, the Edifier S1000W offers plenty of options. The Bluetooth function supports apt-X and the Wi-Fi connection works with Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect and Amazon Alexa. However, there’s no microphone built in, which will please people who worry about digital eavesdropping. You’ll need to use your smartphone to issue commands to Alexa. The latest firmware update for the speakers adds Tidal Connect capability to select music using the Tidal app on your smartphone. Then, the S1000W establishes direct contact with the Tidal server, bypassing your smartphone.

As well as the wireless inputs, the Edifier S1000W speakers offer optical and coaxial digital inputs for connecting to a TV using a TOS-Link. The coaxial input is ideal for connecting a source like a CD player. In addition, there are two RCA line-in connectors for hooking up a tuner or other analog music source, such as a turntable with line-level output. Inputs can be switched using the smart-looking infrared remote control, which includes a power button and volume controls. Inputs can also be selected on the main speaker or by using the Edifier Connect app.

The digital heart of the Edifier S1000W is built around a Texas Instruments Burr-Brown PCM9211 DAC, delivering a finely tuned sound that serves up plenty of detail and clarity but never sounds harsh and mechanical as many digital audio systems can. This sound system feels more analog than digital. And thanks to the PCM9211 DAC, the S1000W can handle files with resolutions up to 24bit/192kHz.

Getting the S1000W connected to a Wi-Fi network is incredibly easy. I didn’t even have to enter my network name and password using the Edifier Connect app. The app automatically took the info from my iPhone and connected me in seconds. Once connected, I was offered the option of a firmware upgrade and that was also a superbly smooth process. Finally, the app asked if I wanted to link the speakers to my Alexa account. That took just a few seconds and I was ready to go.

For anyone who wants to stream music using Bluetooth on their smartphone or computer, the S1000W has impressive support. The Bluetooth circuitry is built around a Qualcomm chipset, which uses Bluetooth 5.0 and can handle aptX, AAC and SBC codecs.

The Edifier Connect app is a slick piece of software and makes using the S1000W super easy. There are no EQ controls built into the app, but on the rear of the main speaker, there are three rotary knobs for adjusting volume input, bass and treble. The controls make quite a difference and it’s good to have them; I only wish they were a little more accessible. Another missing feature is the provision of a headphone socket for personal listening.

The Edifier S1000W serves up a marvelously robust tone with plenty of bass and a silky-smooth treble thanks to the titanium alloy dome tweeters. There’s plenty of volume coming from the 120W of digital amplification and the speakers are more than adequate, even for larger rooms. The sound has lots of detail, but the most impressive aspect is the lack of hiss when the speakers are idling or playing quiet passages. Although there’s plenty of bass coming from the woofers, the sound is uncolored and neutral, enabling plenty of clarity and very little clouding of the music.

Verdict: The Edifier S1000W1 is a fabulous active speaker system for the money. The sound quality is impeccable and there’s almost every input option you could wish for. I’d like to see balanced XLR connections so the speakers could be used as studio monitors, but that’s not the target market. The Edifier S1000W are a fantastic pair of active speakers with great sound and a superb finish for anyone needing a compact audio system for streaming music or connecting legacy devices. Highly Recommended.

Tech Specs:

• Power output: 35W × 2 (woofer) + 25W × 2 (treble) 120W total.
• Amplification; Digital Class D.
• Frequency response: 45Hz – 40kHz.
• Noise level: ≤25dB(A).
• Signal-to-noise ratio: ≥ 90dB(A).
• Inputs: RCA Line-In x 2, 1 x Optical TOSLink, 1 x Coaxial, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi.
• Driver unit: 5.5″ woofer and 1″ tweeter.
• Dimensions: 19.81 x 34.54 x 29.46cm / 7.8 x 13.6 x 11.6 inches (WxHxD).