Edifier MS50A Wi-Fi smart speaker review: Sleek design, big heart

In 2023, home speakers are more than just a piece of audio equipment. They’re also part of the decor, with aesthetics just as high on the priority list as the sound that they put out.

Not only does the Edifier MS50A excel in both of these areas, but it also comes packed with a feature set that rivals designer speakers way out of its price bracket.

If you’re looking for an alternative home speaker setup that looks low-key while sounding immense, then the Edifier MS50A should be a serious contender.

Techs and specs

Looking at the Edifier MS50A, the understated design wouldn’t give away the mammoth audio hardware that sits inside. Housed in its case is a 40w speaker that comes complete with both a 4” subwoofer and a 0.75” silk dome tweeter. What that ultimately translates to is some of the best audio I’ve ever heard from a home speaker.

Whether you’re into classical piano, or some hardstyle drum and bass, the MS50A truly brings it to life with resonance in both the low, mid and high frequencies. That continues at the higher volumes, although you’ll rarely find yourself needing to push the speaker that far.

Even on lower volumes, the MS50A is more than loud enough to fill a small living room. In fact, I daren’t push this any further than half of what it’s capable of for fear of a neighbourly noise complaint. It’s easily possible to power a small house party and sound remarkable while doing it.

What's more, if you wanted to, you can also easily pair two of these speakers together for a dual-speaker setup within the Edifier Home app.

• Looking for some over-ear headphones from Edifer? We have a review of those too

Heard and not seen

The ying to the MS50A’s yang is its physical design, which is nothing short of drop-dead gorgeous. Although the outer materials are made of plastic, this is a solid-feeling speaker, coming in at 2.3 kg in total.

Most of that weight appears to have gone into the internal components, which is where it matters most. The outside is coated in a plastic shell with a wooden veneer appearance. While this sounds tacky, it looks remarkably sleek when placed on a bookshelf, and easily blends in with its surroundings.

Up top are the controls for the MS50A, letting you either play, pause, skip, or adjust the volume with a ring atop the device. There’s also a subtle LED ring to let you know what mode the speaker is currently in.

These controls are slightly finicky, and a lack of a remote could compound the frustration here. However, I rarely found that I had to interact with the speaker physically at all, thanks to a frankly stacked feature set.

• Edifier also has an offering of some desktop gaming speakers

Spared no expense

The Edifier MS50A is a smart WiFi speaker, which means that it can be linked up to services like Spotify and Amazon Music. What’s more, since it connects directly to your local WiFi network, audio can be sent to the speaker via Apple AirPlay.

As such, music is only ever a few taps away on your phone or laptop, with the volume and play/pause function controls available right at your fingertips. It truly makes the whole listening experience seamless, fitting right into and assisting your daily routine.

Another benefit of connecting to the local WiFi means that anyone in the house can connect to it. This means you can set it up once and your whole house or guests can have access to the music instantly - a godsend for parties or less tech-savvy family.

What’s more, this speaker also features a voice assistant function in the form of Amazon’s Alexa. If you’re already deep into the Amazon ecosystem, then this inclusion will be the final feather in the MS50A’s cap.

Android users may lament the lack of Google Assistant, the more reliable of the smart voice assistants out there. However, as an Apple user, the voice assistant isn’t something that I ended up using a whole lot, and quite enjoyed the more manual process of picking which music to put on, almost like selecting a record from a physical collection.

• If earbuds are more your speed, Edifier has some of those too

The Verdict

Edifier is onto a winner with the MS50A, a low-key speaker that blends in perfectly with the home environment it’s plunged into.

The sound that this puppy is capable of producing rivals that of the much more expensive SONOS speakers. This is for a fraction of the cost, with 90% of the same functionality.

If you were to link a couple of these speakers together, you’d easily have a high-quality sound system that would wow any visitor, and easily power a house party into next week.

4.5/5

Review unit provided by the manufacturer. GGRecon uses affiliate links, if you purchase any products from our links we may earn a commission.