Edifier MP200 Bluetooth Speaker Review
Reviewed by Louise Totton
We spend a lot of time listening to music in our house – I have recently invested in three Amazon Echo Dots, as well as a Spotify premium subscription so the kids are slowly turning our house into something of a mini disco. The thing is, the quality of the sound output from the Dots is a little flat, and the speakers on the kids’ tablets and phones are tinny at best. I have connected the Dot in the lounge to my main TV soundbar, and the one in the kitchen is connected to the fabulous Edifier Bric Connect speaker, but upstairs we can only listen to the inbuilt speaker on Dot, and the kids have to use the phone and tablet speakers. That was until the incredibly cute Edifier MP200 cube speaker landed on our doorstep to try out.
The speaker is really compact – it is a lovely curved cube design, with the faces around 2-inch square. It is available in a range of colours, but we were sent the bright green one to try out. There are both bright and muted colours in the range so there would be something for everyone, but ours was going in the girls’ room so the bright green was ideal. As well as having curved edges, the MP200 has a lovely smooth, soft rubberised finish which makes it feel lovely to hold as well as providing grip and making it less likely it will be dropped.
The speaker can output sound either via its Bluetooth 4.1 connection, via USB from a laptop, or using the MicroSD slot. There is no option to connect via a 3.5mm headphone jack, but I don’t think that matters as pretty much any device you would want to stream sound from would have Bluetooth anyway. The device is charged via the USB lead supplied and fully charges in around an hour. A full charge will provide around 10 hours of playback.
Pairing to a device is an absolute doddle and I had it connected to my Samsung smartphone, my daughter’s iPhone and the Amazon Echo Dot in no time at all. The speaker has a Bluetooth range of up to 10 metres (30ft), which is plenty for most houses. We were able to stream music from the Dot in my bedroom with the MP200 in the girls’ bedroom and the connection was solid and reliable. The quality of the sound is absolutely fabulous and is much richer and stronger than I would ever have expected from a speaker of this size. The sound output is 5.5w, with a sound level of 30dB. This is more than loud enough for almost any situation I can think of in the home and even turned up full the sound is clear and didn’t distort in any way.
This is a truly portable device – as well as being a really neat, small size, it also has an attached wrist strap in case you are in a position where you are likely to drop it. This also doubles up as a way to position the speaker – you could hang it from the bathroom door to allow you to stream the radio whist you’re in the bath or shower. The fact that the speaker is IP54 rated, and therefore splash and dust proof means that if you did want to listen whilst in the bathroom, you need not worry about it getting splashed or suffering from the effects of steam in the room. You can even use the button on the side to skip tracks if there is one you don’t want to listen to and because it is splash-proof, you don’t need to dry your hands first. The charging port and SD slot are covered by a rubberised plug that blends perfectly with the main body of the speaker, again providing protection from the elements.
Finally, as well as being a really neat little speaker, the MP200 also doubles up as a speakerphone. If your Bluetooth connected phone rings, a press of the phone button on the side of the speaker flips in into phone mode and you can enjoy a hands-free telephone conversation – ideal for if you’re busy washing up.
We all loved this speaker. Its modern and funky looks make it a fabulous Christmas gift for an older child, but the superb sound quality and undeniable build quality and robustness means that any music loving adult would be delighted with it too. It’s a complete bargain at £28.99 and we absolutely love using it.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £28.99
For more information or to buy visit www.edifier.com.
