Odds are pretty high that if you’ve ever shopped on Amazon around Prime Day or any other major shopping holiday, you might have bought an Echo orEcho Dotfor nearly free. Or maybe you got one bundled with another smart home purchase.
They’re great assistant devices for home automation and the like, but they wouldn’t exactly be my first choice if I wanted to relax with a new album release. If you want to upgrade the speaker half of your smart speaker, though, you can get pretty respectable audio for less than you might expect.
The Edifier MS50A is a Wi-Fi speaker made for Alexa and designed to resemble classic bookshelf speakers. With support for direct streaming from Spotify and Tidal along with Alexa integrations, the looks are the only thing old-fashioned about it. You’ll need an Alexa device if you want to use voice controls, but the MS50A is still a lot more than just an upgraded speaker for your Echo or Echo Dot.
Edifier MS50A
It may look and sound like a traditional bookshelf speaker, but the wireless capabilities of the Edifier MS50A make it fit right in with your modern Alexa devices. Whether you add it to a speaker group in the Alexa app or cut out Alexa altogether by using Spotify Connect, the MS50A brings traditional Hi-Fi sound without the tangle of wires.
Price and availability
With an MSRP of $150, the MS50A fits into the gap between the Echo andEcho Studioor other pricierspeakers with Alexa built-in. That may seem expensive to some, but for those accustomed to the sticker shock of the Hi-Fi world, Edifier’s MS50A is more of a value or entry-level option. Although it mostly lives at full price, sales occasionally happen, with 30% being the most discounted; the occasional $25 off is more common.
Design, hardware, what’s in the box
The Edifier MS50A looks fairly unassuming, and it could pass for a significantly older bookshelf speaker with its wood exterior and fabric speaker cover. If it weren’t for the touch controls on top and the lack of inputs on the back, it would fit right in on either side of a turntable and amplifier stack in your LIT prof’s study (or what you imagine their study looks like anyway).
The woofer/tweeter combo in the MS50A doesn’t appear too out of the ordinary, but the specs they sport inspire some confidence. At almost an inch across, the tweeter is pretty sizable for a speaker this small. At 15W, it’s responsible for almost half of the total power draw of 40W, the other 25W of which goes to the 4" woofer. While it’s far from an impossible task to put speaker drivers this big in a box this size — Amazon managed to cram a 5.25" woofer, three 2" drivers, and a 1" tweeter in the similarly-sized Echo Studio — it’s nice to see that Edifier hasn’t tried to use the fabric grill cover to hide tiny lackluster drivers.
The most noticeable anachronistic detail keeping the MS50A from fitting in with classic bookshelf speakers is the touchpad and button on top. The physical button in the middle toggles mute on and off, and there are dedicated zones in the touch ring around it for play/pause, next, previous, and playback modes. you’re able to also swipe clockwise or counterclockwise to turn the volume up and down, respectively, though it’s a bit sensitive in my experience.
The MS50A doesn’t have a mic of its own, so you’ll need to make sure you’re still within range of an Echo or other Alexa device if that’s how you want to control it. However, that doesn’t seem like a huge issue, given Alexa’s reputation of hearing you talk from three rooms over.
Sound quality
The MS50A has good clarity in the low-end, even in bass-heavy tracks. That deep booming sound can cover up some of the mid-to-high ends of the spectrum. And while the vocal-forward tracks also sound a little flat-to-hollow in the mids, nothing sounds like it’s being covered up by anything else. The MS50A sound quality is far better than your standard Bluetooth speaker, but once you slap the Hi-Fi label on something, it’s held to stricter standards.
With how crystal-clear that low-end of the spectrum can sound, it feels like some basic equalizer settings could have gone a long way. But unfortunately, the Alexa EQ settings aren’t compatible with the MS50A, and there are no EQ settings in Edifier’s app. The lack of EQ settings is frustrating yet understandable, given the potential for your audio streams to come with theirownEQ settings and bring headaches and muddy sounds with them.
With the low-mids, tenor vocals, and performance taking a slight hit in favor of extra bass — and everything from the altos up getting the 19mm tweeter all to itself — it’s safe to say the Edifier MS50A has a somewhat V-shaped sound profile. That’s not to say it’s bad, as the V-shaped profile is popular for a reason, just not for everyone. If you prefer a flatter sound that can more accurately recreate music to its original mix, just know that extra bass won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
Software and performance
To set up the Edifier MS50A for anything other than Alexa, you’ll need Edifier’s Home app. In addition to connecting it to your Wi-Fi, this is where you’ll set it up in a stereo pair if you have two, as well as download any firmware updates. You can also pop in to see what’s playing on your speakers, but your streaming app of choice handles the music playback as long as that choice isn’t YouTube Music. Unfortunately, Alexa devices don’t support Google’s music service.
While you may’t cast to the Edifier MS50A from YouTube Music on Android, you can stream Spotify and Tidal through it over Wi-Fi, leaving your phone’s audio free, or cast to it from the Amazon Music app. You can also have Alexa stream directly to the MS50A if you have the Edifier skill enabled in your Alexa settings and keep your phone out of the equation altogether. For Apple enthusiasts, the MS50A also works as an Airplay 2 device, allowing iPhone users to cast YouTube Music to it in a bizarre twist of fate.
While the MS50A is made to work with Alexa, and not as a standalone Echo replacement, you still have plenty of flexibility even though it doesn’t have a mic of its own. Any Echo on your network can stream to it after enabling the Edifier skill in Alexa. Alternatively, you can connect it to an Echo through Bluetooth if you just want to upgrade your Echo Dot’s audio by leaps and bounds.
Competition
If you’re looking to upgrade the sound in your Alexa lineup, the Echo Studio is the gold standard the Edifier MS50A has to compete against. Going back and forth between the two, the Studio has better mids and features like spatial audio, and it’s still an Echo, so it can handle all your Alexa needs without an extra device hanging around. It also costs $50 more than the MS50A, which can add up once you throw around the words “stereo pair.”
Speaking of pairs, the Audioengine A1-MR stereo pair is dangerously close to the same price as a pair of on-sale MS50As, and about $70 cheaper than a pair at regular price. While the A1-MR does have the same Wi-Fi streaming support, it lacks the Bluetooth and Alexa integrations of the MS50A. It also needs wires for its stereo setup, but it also has a wired input and a subwoofer output. They also don’t have the same classic styling as the Edifiers, if that’s an important factor, but they still don’t look out of place next to modern Hi-Fi equipment.
Should you buy it?
Alexa diehards will probably spring the extra cash for the Echo Studio or another speaker with Alexa built-in. However, if you picked up an Echo through incident rather than intention, you might want to make your existing Echo sound better instead of purchasing a new one. If that’s the case, the standalone Wi-Fi features make the MS50A more useful than a Bluetooth speaker you’re able to connect to your old Echo Dot. Its sound quality is within spitting distance of the more expensive Echo Studio, though it lacks some of the features that make it better thanjusta speaker.
Plenty of Echo devices also come equipped with a 3.5mm stereo output. If your Echo supports it, you could give the Audioengine A1-MRs Alexa support that way, but you could also opt for powered speakers without Wi-Fi support if you were only in it for better audio from your Echo. If you want to avoid the tangle that comes with all those wires, though, the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi of the MS50A will give you a cleaner setup.
It’s up to you where you draw the line. While the MS50A sounds pretty good, some pricier options sound great or even fantastic. Just glancing at our picks ofthe best smart speakers on the market, you could spend more to get the Denon Home 150, the Sonos One, or theBose Portable smart speaker, but you could apply the same logic to any of those too.
I’m in no rush to put the MS50A away. Once it’s set up, it’s easy to use with or without Alexa, and the sound blends seamlessly into the background while I’m busy writing. The main function of bookshelf speakers has always been to make pleasant background noise while looking good out in the open, and the MS50A definitely pulls that off.
