Eclipsing what came before.
More than three years ago we reviewed a fancy pair of speakers from Edifier. The Luna Eclipse were awesome to look at, and they also sounded great; pairing up perfectly with a TV, computer, and even your phone. However, they did have their limitations, being wired-only speakers. So, a few years down the line, Edifier has brought the Lunas back, even better than before. We check out the Edifier e25HB Speakers.
Or rather, we think we are. These speakers are either called the Edifier e25HB or the Luna Eclipse HD, as we've seen both names used on the Edifier site. Regardless of the combination of words and numbers, they are essentially the same as the older version in terms of looks and dimensions, although this time we had them wrapped in red, instead of black (although black and white is also available). They still feature the same forward-facing speaker, and mid-positioned sub-woofers, in a curved and very pleasing-on-the-eye shape.
In fact, root around with your hands on these things and you'll be hard pushed to feel out any differences from the original pair at all, so what's the crack, eh? Well, whereas the Luna Eclipse were tethered to your musical device by a wire, the Edifier e25HB Speakers go wire free... if you want.
Yep, these bad boys feature Bluetooth 4.0, so you can hook up your phone, tablet, or laptop without having to plug anything in. Syncing to them is as easy as Bluetooth Edifier speakers always are, and the connection was strong and stable, even throughout the house. Unlike the previous version, this means that they can be used in more situations, including as book shelf speakers to which any Bluetooth device can connect.
However, they still serve very well as desktop speakers for you computer, or connected to your TV. As most Smart TVs have Bluetooth these days, that's no problem, but just in case your hardware doesn't, the Edifier e25HB Speakers also boasts an optical/coaxial connection, as well a standard 3.5mm aux port. If you have a wall-mounted TV and are wondering where you can stick these, Edifier also sell stands for the e25HB Speakers which connect to the underside of each and raise them up. Looks pretty swanky, actually.
Combined, the Edifier e25HB Speakers have an output of 74W, the same as the Luna Eclipse, but still hugely powerful. We spent most of the time with ours connected to the TV (with an Optical cable, just for ease) and the sound they kicked out was impressive. The bass especially was deep and resonating, while the treble helped to reproduce highs and vocals that were sharp and clear.
Having them physically connected to the TV was great, but we found the convenience to pair with any Bluetooth device whenever we wanted was hugely useful. Therefore, the Edifier e25HB Speakers became our new living room sound system, and we were interested to see how by simply adding wireless capabilities, Edifier have completely altered how people might use them.
Sexy looking and awesome sounding, the Edifier e25HB Speakers are a definite and logical improvement to a product that was already great.
£179.99
Available from www.amazon.co.uk