Review Tech

Edifier T5 Subwoofer Review

Here’s my Edifier T5 Subwoofer Review. It’s the first time I’ve collaborated with a friend on the blog. I’d asked him to have a look (and more importantly, a listen) at the T5 for a couple of different reasons.

Firstly, he’s really enthusiastic about record players, amplifiers and all sorts of audiophile gear. And secondly, he listens to completely different genres of music than I do. He gave me a a fairly in depth summary of his thoughts on the sound quality, build quality and design features.

So, let’s get into the review and see what me and my mate Mike thought of the Edifier T5 Subwoofer.

Please note, all contact between me and my friend was done via Zoom, Facetime and WhatsApp video call.

Edifier T5 Subwoofer Review
Edifier T5 Subwoofer Review

Edifier T5 Subwoofer Review

The Edifier T5 Subwoofer is an 8 inch sub that delivers powerful sound with highly accurate, distortion-free bass. What’s interesting is that it comes with a low pass filter, which helps your sub to only play the sounds that your speaker can’t properly handle.

At first glance, the styling of the T5 looks really good and the build quality looks typical of that which Edifier have become synonymous. I really hope the sound quality is up to par with it.

The box arrived from the courier and I have to say, I didn’t expect it to be so heavy. The eight inch driver really adds to the overall weight on the unit. I opened up the box and was greeted with quite a lot of single use plastic and quite a lot of foam packaging which is disappointing, but to be honest it was expected.

Because the unit is quite heavy and has some really great looking straight lines and angled edges it’d be easy for it to become damaged in transit. It’s certainly well protected, the outer packing box was damaged on arrival but the unit was not.

The subwoofer comes with everything you need to get setup and can either be really simple or, quite complex. This depends entirely on your current audio setup.

Side profile of the T5.
Side profile of the T5.

Edifier T5 Subwoofer Review Sound Quality

I don’t normally mention the user manual in my reviews. But for this one, I will. I had to read the manual to understand how to connect it to an amplifier. As the Edifier website mentions that it can be connected to a stereo amp, we thought we’d give it a go.

My friend used the below set up with the T5 to connect to his amp:

  • Turntable to AMP via RCA.
  • RCA out of subwoofer to RCA in on the amp.
  • Speaker out on the Amp to DALI bookshelf speakers.

For the sound quality test we decided to pair these up to his existing setup of DALI speakers (Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries), because they are simply awesome and we thought the added 70Watts of low end would compliment the overall sound of his setup.

Depending on which set up you go for, you may need to match the sub volume with the volume of your amp. You’ll also need to match the frequencies. The DALI speakers can play frequencies well above 50HZ, this means we’ll need the sub to play the frequencies below that. So we set the low pass filter to 50. This freed up the DALI’s to show off their full range.

It took lots of listening and tweaking the low pass filter and volume to find the sweet spot that we both agreed on. Which, was difficult in it’s self over video call. I’d imagine it’d be a lot easier to setup on your own, as you only have your own pair of ears to tune it to.

So once we’d set them up, which was slightly more complicated than I was used to. We pulled the first record out of it’s sleeve and placed it on the turntable. It was an LP called Ultra Mono by Idles.

Grounds from Ultra Mono by Idles

I thought it’d be really rather difficult to get our opinions down on paper for a subwoofer review. I had this preconceived idea that because the Edifier T5 is just a standalone subwoofer, it’d just put out a lot of wall rattling noise and not add anything to improve the overall sound stage of the existing setup. But, I was wrong and I’m glad I was.

It’s fantastic. The first song has a strong bass line and super quick drums. And as soon as the first track started the sub produced amazing low end that really complemented the DALI’s.

The bass is really punchy and extremely responsive. I thought it’d be a good idea to listen to some hip hop next, which is a genre well known for hard hitting bass elements.

I wanted to play a favorite album of mine, Mac Miller’s ‘GO:OD AM’. It’s an extremely well produced album with moments where a dedicated subwoofer comes into it’s own. A track called ‘In The Bag’ has a really hard hitting bass undertone and it sounded simply brilliant. My only worry is that the heavy low end would end up ultimately annoying the neighbours!

I can’t comment on how loud they could be cranked up because we conducted the sound test over video call. But, my friend commented that his book shelf speakers started to distort before the T5 Subwoofer did. Edifier themselves mentioned that the T5 would give distortion free sound. So, this test bodes well for people who want a compact, budget and really powerful sub.

The T5 also has an auto standby feature which helps to use as little power as necessary. This means it can be left plugged in when not being used without drawing excessive amounts of power, it’ll then switch off on it’s own.

Back of the Edifier T5
Back of the Edifier T5

Build Quality & Design

The design is really quite minimal. We were sent the grey colorway. It looks quite understated and with the grill removed, it looks even better. The black driver and silver cone combine well to create a sophisticated look that’ll fit in any home with any decor style.

In terms of the overall style, there is not much more I can say. The only thing I didn’t like (and Mike agreed) is the holes for the grill would look much better had they been colour matched with the overall grey theme. This would have allowed them to blend into the body of the sub for an even cleaner look.

Now the build quality is where Edifier usually excel, and at first glance the T5 seems to follow in those footsteps. It’s made with a really good quality and super thick MDF enclosure, the dense fiberboard materials ensures it’s super strong and also reduces overall resonance, which in turn increases audio quality.

The actual driver itself looks really well made and the rubber surround is reassuringly thick. This gives me confidence in the quality of the sound producing components. But, if you look a little bit closer you’ll see that it doesn’t quite live up to the lofty expectations I’ve come to take for granted in Edifier products.

For example, the outer vinyl covering isn’t particularly well finished around the edges. I’ve seen these slight issues before on the XM3BT. The knobs on the back of the T5 also feel a little cheaper compared to something like the knobs on the back of the S350DB’s for example. Their more expensive products don’t tend to suffer the same fate, so perhaps it’s just to keep costs down.

This subwoofer is only around £129. I’ve seen it as low as £89 plus postage, so it is fairly competitively priced. The low cost may account for the lack of quality control. Having said that though, it does come with a 2 year manufacturers warranty, which kinda makes up for the ever so slight reduction in build quality.

It definitely won’t put me off recommending the sub, but do bear in mind if you up your budget to around £200 there are better subwoofers available.

On the back of the sub you’ll find all of the controls and ports that can be adjusted to set the sub up to your own liking. You can adjust the Volume, LPF and set the phase. It’s great to see a phase switch aswell. This allows you to try different subwoofer polarity options, essentially it gives you more customisation options when setting up the sub for different applications. For example, music vs cinema setups.

Overall I’m really please with the sound & the build quality is fine. It certainly added an extra dimension to my friends audio set up. And, had I been given the opportunity to keep this unit, it would have been used in a home cinema setup in the office / games room. It really is a multi functional sub woofer with an entry level price.

How Much & Where To Buy?

We found the Edifier T5 Subwoofer for around £129 on Amazon. Using our affiliate (no extra cost to you) link you can check it out by clicking here, it’ll take you straight to details page on Amazon.

Summary & Verdict

Score: 7.5/10

I almost scored the T5 an 8. I really wanted to give this an 8 out of 10. But, my friend’s comments on the build quality really stood out to me. I agreed with him. But, that doesn’t take away from the awesome deep, full low end that this sub pumps out. I’m a big fan of the understated, minimalist style too, which helped claw half a point back, taking us up to 7.5/10.

It’s currently selling for around £129 on Amazon, which is a bit of bargain for a well made and great sounding sub. It’s perfect for anyone that wants a compact, budget subwoofer to add a little extra depth to their audio setup.

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Disclosure:

If you use any of the Amazon links in this article they are affiliate links. This means that if you go onto buy something from Amazon I may get a small commission. It won’t cost you anything extra but it helps me to pay for the running costs of the blog and allows me 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.

This Subwoofer was sent to us in an exchange for writing our Edifier T5 Subwoofer Review. It was then returned.

2 Comments

  1. Cherian George

    EDIFIER T5 SUBWOOFER, I am loving it 💕

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