Edifier S50DB Review
Review Tech

Edifier S50DB Review

It’s a first for me, I’ve never reviewed a sound bar before so I was quite excited to get a hold of one and write my Edifier S50DB Review. When I got the email to say there was a unit available for review I immediately made some space on the TV Unit and waited for the delivery driver to arrive with the parcel.

The email did say that the box is pretty battered, I imagine it’s been used as a review unit quite a bit, passed around to other bloggers etc so I can understand why that would be the case. I’ll be skipping my usual ramblings about branded product boxes for that reason.

The Edifier S50DB is a powered soundbar and whilst it’s limited in terms of functionality it does do the basics extremely well. Edifier aren’t as well known as some of the other players in the soundbar market place such as Bose or Sony, but they certainly should be because they’re audio equipment always delivers.

Whilst waiting for the delivery of the soundbar I published my latest review of the Edifier NeoBuds Pro, so once you’ve read this one, go ahead and read that review as they’re great headphones.

I’m looking forward to checking it out as it gives me an excuse to binge watch Squid Game for research purposes! Without further ado, let’s get into my review. I’ll start with my first impressions.

Edifier S50DB Review
Edifier S50DB Review

Edifier S50DB Review

First impressions first then. As I mentioned the box was battered, but the S50DB soundbar was well protected thanks to the polystyrene inserts. Even though there was quite a bit of polystyrene use, there was not as much single use plastic used in the packaging as I’d have expected there to be, which is good to see.

Once I’d finished unboxing the soundbar the thing that stuck out like a sore thumb right away was the overall styling and design direction Edifier have chosen to follow. Instead of the ultra modern, silvery sci-fi style look other brands have gone for, Edifier have done the complete opposite; they’ve designed a really classic looking soundbar finished in a walnut style wood effect, I think it looks superb.

The Edifier S50DB Soundbar is priced at £249.99 / $299.00 on Amazon, which I wouldn’t exactly describe as budget friendly, so I’m hoping they really nail the sound and build quality aspects of this unit. Speaking of sound quality, let’s get this plugged in and connected to my TV to test how it performs.

Sound Quality

Once I’d wired it up and got the TV ready to binge watch that new Korean TV series I thought I’d try out the different EQ modes the S50DB has pre-configured. The EQ pre sets are as follows:

  • Movie
  • Music
  • News

Movie mode ensures the focus is on dialogue, the characters voices sound clear and it slightly reduces the level of overall bass. It does a fantastic job of bringing your attention to the vocals, but it does mute the bass a little too much for my personal tastes. I want explosions, car engines and planes flying over head to really rumble that bass and it’s just slightly too quiet for my liking.

There isn’t any way you can tweak the settings either, so you’re kinda stuck with the pre-sets.

Music mode really opens up the full potential of the soundbar, it brings the bass back into the fold and really gets that high end singing. I tried music mode when watching Squid Game and I really do prefer it over the dedicated Movie Mode.

I was slightly confused by news mode. I can’t imagine for the life of my when I’m listening to the news that I’d need a dedicated mode. There’s definitely a distinct difference between movie and news modes. News mode removes pretty much all bass and tweaks the vocals to really focus them.

When it comes to overall audio performance, I really do think the S50DB performs well. The audio output comes from four tweeters and two mid-range units. The mid-range drivers do a fantastic job of producing the bass as well as the mid range frequencies.

If you’re a bass junkie, you can always plug in your own subwoofer, (something like the Edifier T5 would be perfect) there’s a dedicated sub input on the back of the soundbar.

Movie and music audio sounds precise in terms of instrumentation and vocal detailing. I was also somewhat surprised by what sounded like (to me at least) decent left /right channel separation, a car traveling left to right for example, is a real highlight.

I also like that it’s angled design allows for the sound to be pointed towards your ears. It’s certainly a massive improvement over the native, built in speakers in my TV.

Overall then, I’m really pleased with the audio performance, even at the higher end of the volume scale there is little in the way of sibilance or distortion, which is a real quality identifier. Next, I’ll look at the build quality and design features of the Edifier S50DB.

The Edifier S50DB Review: A fantastic soundbar.
The Edifier S50DB Review: A fantastic soundbar.

Build Quality & Design

I mentioned it briefly at the start of the review, but I think the design and styling looks so, so good. The classic look of the dark walnut enclosure paired with a silver control panel is a match made in audio styling heaven.

The unit itself is really heavy and feels solid. I don’t think you’d cause much damage if you dropped it.

At the front of the S50DB you’ll find the plastic grilles that cover the drivers. I was a little disappointed to find out that I couldn’t remove them. I often like to at least have a peak at what’s under the hood, so to speak. But, there’s an obvious bonus to the non removable grilles.

Soundbars are often at the perfect height for toddlers and small children to poke at with their grubby little fingers, so by having permanent dust covers, you’ll protect your new soundbar from any damage.

At the back of the unit you’ll find the different input options, including optical, coaxial line in, aux in and Bluetooth support. You won’t find support for a HDMI cable but I tend to prefer optical anyway. Other soundbars have more connection options at similar price range.

In terms of the design, I like the different elements they’ve pieced together. You’ve got wood, matt silver and gloss black plastic all bundled together to form a great looking soundbar that’d fit into any homes current decor. Can you tell I like it yet?

Oh, and I nearly forgot. The bundled remote is fantastic too!

On with my scratch test then. The wood effect really does look fantastic so I was a bit nervous of using a sharp letter opener to try and scratch it. I ran the letter opener over the wood and plastic components and it didn’t leave any scratches at all, not even tiny ones. I’m confident this will last a life time providing the internal components match the ridiculously strong build quality of the enclosure.

How Much And Where To Buy

The Edifier Soundbar will set you back £249.99 / $299.00. It’s a bit out of what I’d define as budget but it’s certainly cheaper than some of the other names in the audio market.

It’s available to buy from Amazon and you can do so by clicking the button below.

Edifier S50DB Review Summary & Verdict

It might not have the same amount of connection options as some of it’s competitors, but the Edifier S50DB is honestly, a great soundbar. It’s so far ahead from others in terms of the styling. I was really impressed with the audio performance, especially the amount of bass that’s produced in music mode.

Score: 8/10

Obviously it doesn’t offer the same levels of bass as the soundbar and subwoofer combos that you can buy, but if you really do miss that room shaking, neighbor annoying bass when watching movies, you’ve got the option of connecting your own anyway.

It might sound expensive but if you look at the alternatives it’s actually quite competitively priced. It’s well worth adding it to your short list of soundbars to try.

You’ll like these if:

  • You want a stylish soundbar.
  • You want simple, no thrills audio performance.
  • You don’t need fully custom EQ settings.
  • You don’t need room shaking bass

You’ll not like this if:

  • You’re all about that bass.
  • You want HDMI connectivity.
  • You want AirPlay or Chromecast connectivity.
The bundled remote works well and is great quality.
The bundled remote works well and is great quality.

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Disclosure

The Amazon links in this article are affiliate links. This means that if you go onto buy something from Amazon after clicking on them we may get a small commission. It won’t cost you anything extra but it helps us pay towards the running costs of the blog. It allows us to bring you great content! Thank you so much for your support.

CodeWithMike is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to www.amazon.co.uk.

CodeWithMike is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to www.amazon.com.

The soundbar was sent to us in exchange for writing our Edifier S50DB Review. The opinions are our own and we have not been paid to write this article.

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