'More than just a pretty face’: the Edifier ES60 is a fantastic speaker... with a couple of compromises

Edifier has been on a roll recently, with its products having earned stellar ratings from the reviews team at Tom’s Guide. I’d just finished reviewing the Edifier QR65 computer speakers when I picked up the Edifier ES60, and I was expecting to be blown away. Alas, I was not. Don’t get me wrong: the ES60 is excellent, but it takes a lot to earn a spot among the best Bluetooth speakers — especially when it’s priced more or less the same as a Marshall and JBLs.

The ES60 excels at delivering punchy bass with plenty of warmth and low-end impact, and there are many features at play, such as USB-C passthrough and customizable LED lighting. It sports a premium, retro-style design, and the build quality is top-notch. But if you want nuanced vocals or better battery life, look elsewhere.

For the complete breakdown, read my full Edifier ES60 review.

Edifier ES60 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A wireless Bluetooth speaker with 360-degree sound, integrated LED lighting and USB-C passthrough
• Who is it for? Anyone who wants punchy bass in a portable speaker, and doesn’t mind the price tag
• How much does it cost? $199 / £119
• What do we like? The great build quality, retro-style design, meaty bass, customizable LED lighting, and the user-friendly companion app
• What don’t we like? The underwhelming battery life, non-nuanced vocals, and lack of EQ customization

Edifier ES60 review: Specs

Edifier ES60 review: Price & availability

Edifier is a traditionally budget brand that has been moving into the more “premium” realm with its bookshelf and gaming speakers, and now with Bluetooth speakers too. The Edifier ES60 is priced at $199 / £119 at Amazon, and as you can see, it’s a little more expensive in the United States of America.

It’s available in either Black or White and it bears quite a bit of resemblance to a Marshall speaker, with gold accents. It’s priced similarly to one, too. The ES60 is up against heavy lifters, like the Marshall Emberton III ($159), the JBL Charge 6 ($199), the JBL Flip 7 ($149), and the Bose SoundLink Flex 2 ($149).

But can a “budget” brand go toe-to-toe with premium manufacturers? It comes close, as you’ll see in my review below, but if you’re going to be spending nearly $200 anyway, I don’t see why you wouldn’t just get the Emberton III or one of the JBLs.

Edifier ES60 review: Design & controls

• Premium, retro-style design
• Integrated, customizable LED lighting
• Straightforward controls

The Edifier ES60 is a treat for the eyes. When I first unboxed it, I immediately noticed that it bore a striking resemblance to the Marshall Emberton III. Not that that’s a bad thing at all; it’s the opposite. The ES60 looks extremely premium, with gold accents and LEDs that illuminate the surface under the speaker.

Covered in soft faux leather, the ES60 excels in the design department. It doesn’t feel out of place on a coffee table or on your work desk. It’s fairly portable too, measuring 7.5 x 3.9 x 3.6 inches and weighing 2.3lbs. Its weight means you don’t need to worry about unintentionally knocking it about. I’ve also had no trouble carrying it around in my backpack.

Like I said, the ES60 features integrated LED lighting whose color and effect can be customized via the Edifier ConneX app (more on that soon). It creates a bit of ambience and looks delightful. I love how Edifier implements LED or RGB lighting in its speakers, as I’ve seen with the Edifier G2000 Pro ($199) and the Edifier QR65 ($499). You can also disable the LED lighting entirely if you want to conserve battery.

Controls are fairly straightforward, located on the top of the speaker. These enable you to increase or decrease the volume, play/pause playback, switch on/off the LED lighting, and the power button doubles as the input source button. When pressed, they all give good tactile feedback. Nothing to complain about here.

Edifier ES60 review: Features

• Built-in microphone
• Stereo mode with two speakers
• IP66 waterproof and dustproof

There’s no dearth of features when it comes to the Edifier ES60. Similar to the JBL Charge 6 and the JBL Flip 7, you can pair two ES60s together to create stereo sound. I didn’t have another at my disposal to test this out, but it’s good to know that this feature exists for those who want a more immersive sound experience — or want to soundtrack a large social gathering.

The ES60 is fitted with a built-in microphone for when you receive calls while listening to music with your smartphone connected. I tested this by speaking to my partner over the speaker, and she said I sounded clear. The integrated noise-canceling technology does well to isolate and amplify your voice in noisy environments, too.

If you want to use the ES60 while showering, by the pool or in a desert, you can certainly do that as the speaker is IP66-rated. It’s fully protected against dust and high-pressure water jets from any direction, which means you can use it in the shower, no problem. However, the speaker can’t be submerged.

While IP66 is perfectly fine for most personal use cases, the competition goes further. For instance, the JBL Flip 7 and the JBL Charge 6 are IP68-rated so they can be submerged in 1.5m of water for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the Marshall Emberton III is IP67-rated so it can survive being in 1m deep water for half an hour too.

Edifier ES60 review: Connectivity & app

• Bluetooth 5.4 with SBC
• USB-C wired playback (with passthrough)
• User-friendly app but limited EQ options

The Edifier ES60 utilizes Bluetooth 5.4 to seamlessly connect to your laptop, smartphone or other Bluetooth-enabled device for wireless playback. It’s worth noting that the only wireless streaming codec the ES60 supports is SBC, so there’s no AAC, LDAC or aptX Adaptive for hi-res, detailed listening over Bluetooth.

I’m surprised at the lack of codecs. The Marshall Emberton III, the JBL Flip 7 and the JBL Charge 6 all feature SBC and AAC. Bose takes it a step further with the SoundLink Flex 2 by letting you stream audio using aptX Adaptive as long as you have a Snapdragon Sound-certified device.

What you do get, though, is a USB-C port around the back for more stable listening over a wired connection. Passthrough is a nice addition here — that means the ES60 is charged while it’s plugged into an audio source.

Then there’s multipoint connectivity, which enables you to connect the speaker to two devices simultaneously and swap between playback sources as you wish. I tried this with my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL and MacBook Air M2, and it worked seamlessly. Multipoint connectivity works when the speaker is plugged into, say, a laptop too, as you can change input sources by pressing the power button.

The ES60 utilizes the Edifier ConneX smartphone app for customization, whose user-friendly interface makes it easy to use. Here, you can adjust the lighting, update the firmware, and choose from four EQ presets, such as Music, Game, Movie and Outdoor. However, and this is one of my biggest gripes with the ES60, you can’t customize the EQ to your liking. This means that if you aren’t happy with, say, the vocals (like I wasn’t), you can’t rely on the EQ to save you. Disappointing, really.

Edifier ES60 review: Sound quality

• Punchy, desk-shaking bass
• Though it’s small, it doesn’t get overwhelmed
• Vocals lack character

The Edifier ES60’s design and features wouldn’t matter if its sound quality was trash. Thankfully, it’s not — as long as you don’t mind a bit of a compromise. The ES60’s sound signature is warm, and for a speaker of its size, the bass is powerful and punchy, enough to rattle your desk when playing at high volumes.

A well-endowed speaker, it’s equipped with dual 22mm tweeters, one mid-bass driver, and a passive bass radiator. The Class-D amplifier delivers 34W of sound and a 360-degree listening experience, so you can hear music from either side of the speaker. I tested the speaker by listening to my usual testing songs on Qobuz, the best music streaming service for hi-res audio.

Good things first. I kicked things off by listening to ‘Papercut’ by Linkin Park. Right off the bat, I was able to appreciate both Mike Shinoda’s and Chester Bennington’s raps, with every word sounding clear and discernible. Even though it’s a heavy rock track with high-gain guitars and turntable scratching, the speaker didn’t get overwhelmed, resulting in a well-rounded listening experience.

To test the bass, I listened to MGMT’s ‘Little Dark Age’ with its thick, driving bassline. To its credit, the ES60 did a fantastic job of accurately and powerfully reproducing the bassline. Every note plucked is loud and clear, with plenty of warmth and low-end impact. The ES60 also excelled at balancing softer instruments, like a flute, against the double-bass driving kickdrum in Eluveitie’s ‘Ambiramus.’

I then listened to ‘Black Madonna’ by Cage the Elephant. The mid-tempo drum beat and percussion sounded steady and not aggressive, giving other instruments room to float on top. The track sounded very good, but the reverbed vocals sounded a bit too scratchy for my liking. This was also the case with Alt-J’s ‘Every Other Freckle’ where Joe Newman’s vocals felt a bit all over the place. The transition between his low hums and high-pitched “coos” didn’t feel very clean, the vocals thereby losing their accuracy and clarity.

Overall, while the ES60 is good for casual listening and does well on the bass front, it’s a little lacking when it comes to treble and vocal accuracy. If you want a dynamic speaker that excels regardless of the song or genre you’re listening to, I’d recommend either the Marshall Emberton III or the JBL Flip 7.

Listen along to my review with the Edifier ES60 testing playlist:

Edifier ES60 review: Battery life

• 9 hours of battery life
• Pales in comparison to rivals

Edifier claims that on a single charge, the Edifier ES60 can last up to nine hours. In my testing, when the speaker was playing at approximately 70% volume with the LED lighting turned off, it lasted just under nine hours between charges.

Sounds decent, doesn’t it? It really isn’t, especially when compared to similarly priced rivals. The Bose SoundLink Flex lasts up to 12 hours. The JBL Flip 7 lasts up to 16 hours. The JBL Charge 6 lasts up to 28 hours. The Marshall Emberton III lasts up to 32 hours. All of these speakers cost either the same as or a little less than the ES60. It’s a shame that Edifier hasn’t packed a bigger battery into the speaker because its short battery life massively holds it back.

Also, bear in mind that you’re paying nearly $200 for the ES60. I’ve tested cheaper speakers that have lasted longer. For instance, the Tribit StormBox Mini+ retails for $39 and still manages to upstage the ES60 with its 12-hour battery life. Even the EarFun UBoom L ($79) which also sports a rectangular design comfortably lasts over 16 hours on a single charge. What gives, Edifier?

Edifier ES60 review: Verdict

The Edifier ES60 is visually stunning, with customizable LED lighting that lights up the surface underneath, and retro styling that, frankly, makes it look like a Marshall speaker. Tactile controls, gold accents, and features such as USB-C passthrough take it from being just any other speaker by a traditionally “budget” brand. It packs satisfying, punchy bass that’s sure to keep you headbanging for days on end.

But looks aren’t everything as the ES60 struggles to keep pace with heavy hitters, the likes of JBL and Marshall. While the bass is excellent for its size, vocals lack nuance and character, EQ customization is limited, and the 9-hour battery life is a significant Achilles’ heel.

If you don’t mind these tradeoffs, then you’ll love the ES60. It makes for a pretty centerpiece, and the desk-rattling bass is beautiful. But even then, I keep asking myself, “Why wouldn’t you just buy the JBL Flip 7 or the Marshall Emberton III?”