Edifier MP100 Plus review

Price When Reviewed

$59.99

Best Prices Today: Edifier MP100 Plus

Edifier’s handsome MP100 Plus portable and weather-resistant Bluetooth speaker offers stiff competition to the likes of the equally small and weather-resistant offerings from JBL (the JBL Clip, now in its 4th generation) and Tribit (the Stormbox Micro 2).

One could argue that Edifier’s product is the best-looking of the three, and it certainly matches the JBL Clip 4 in terms of sonics, although it doesn’t match that tiny speaker’s unusually strong bass reproduction.

The MP100 Plus produces extremely well-defined mid-range for its size, and there’s plenty of treble.

The speaker costs a budget-friendly $59.99/£49.99 and you can buy it from the official store, Amazon and BestBuy in the US. In the UK, look to Amazon as well as Tech4.

Design & Build

I was immediately taken with the 3.7-inch diameter, 1.8-inch thick, MP100 Plus’ design. The forest-green fabric and logo struck me as energetic and friendly–on point for its intended outdoor use. The bright lake-green version might be even friendlier, although I’m judging from its photo since Edifier didn’t send that one for this review. Should you prefer something more somber, the speaker is also available in black.

No matter which color you settle on, the back of the speaker will be black plastic, with bright yellow highlighting its buttons. The soft silicone, somewhat anti-slip ring the MP100 Plus sits upon is also yellow.

While bright yellow might seem a bit garish, you’ll appreciate the tone if you drop or misplace the MP100 Plus amidst the colors of nature. I keep a bright ornament on my key fob to make it easier to spot. (I have a bad habit of leaving my keys in odd places, including the fields where I play baseball.)

The multi-function buttons (for power, Bluetooth, volume up/down, and call control) are deeply indented, This makes them easier to locate by feel, and provides a steadier grip–they’re deep enough that it takes intent to activate them. A captive lanyard lies in a groove between the halves of the unit, and there’s a captive plug covering the USB-C port on the lower back of the speaker.

The MP100 Plus is rated IPX7 for weather resistance, which means it can be immersed in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes, but that it has not been tested for resistance to particulate matter. We’ll tell you everything you need to know about IP codes.

Immersing the MP100 Plus will take some doing as the 7-ounce speaker floats as a matter of course. And judging simply by its construction, you shouldn’t worry too much about fine particles damaging this speaker unless you work in a talc factory or shepherd caravans across the desert.

The Edifier MP100 Plus is a very well-designed Bluetooth speaker. Someone on the product-management team has obviously spent time with personal speakers in the woods and at the beach.

Sound Quality

Overall, the MP100 Plus delivers good sound from its full-range, 43mm driver, although the laws of physics make it a real task to get major thump from a speaker and enclosure this size.

Having previously reviewed Edifier speakers, I was hoping they’d solved the small-speaker-lack-of-bass problem. Alas, the low end is pretty much limited to 100Hz and higher. While 100Hz might strike you as bassy–to coin a term–a speaker that can’t reproduce frequencies lower than 100Hz will exhibit minimal perceptible oomph.

I wouldn’t call out the MP100 Plus’ lack of bass if the JBL Clip series was its only competition, but Tribit somehow managed to squeeze a bit of thump from its Stormbox Micro 2 as well. While that unit is square, and not quite as travel-worthy as the MP100 Plus, it’s the low-end standard I now go by in this weight class.

The MP100 Plus’ mid-range, on the other hand, is extremely well-defined, and there’s plenty of treble, although the speaker’s overall timbre became more strident as I upped the volume. That, however, is basically a fact of life with smaller speakers. The good news here is that the 5-watt MP100 Plus gets pretty darn loud if you need it.

Phone calls were easy, and Edifier talks up (pun intended) its noise cancellation on the built-in microphone. Voice communications were relatively clear.

This speaker has a Bluetooth 5.3 radio onboard–the latest version–and it connected to source devices quickly. I was about at three hours of listening with an 80 percent initial charge before the speaker’s 1500mAh battery dropped to around 40 percent. That means the 9-hour runtime Edifier promises is relatively accurate–at least when the speaker is played at a modest volume level.

Should you buy an Edifier MP100 Plus?

With a bit more thump, the MP100 Plus would likely have taken the top spot among our personal Bluetooth speaker recommendations, thanks to its good looks and clever design. Most people won’t be as picky as I am when it comes to bass response in a personal speaker this size; so, if you like the looks of this one, by all means, pick one up and at least give it a personal audition.

See more options in our best cheap Bluetooth speaker chart or overall best Bluetooth speaker chart if you have a bit more to spend.

This review originally appeared on TechHive.

Best Prices Today: Edifier MP100 Plus