Edifier MG300

Verdict

The Edifier MG300 is a solid gaming soundbar with lots of volume and decent overall audio, even if it is lacking a bit of bass and precision. It’s small, fits well on smaller desks, while also offering reasonable build quality for the price. A £60 soundbar isn’t going to set the world alight, but the MG300 does a decent job.

Introduction

The Edifier MG300 is a small gaming soundbar that looks to add a convenient solution for those after a gaming soundbar at an affordable price.

Cheaper speakers have offered little in the way of an engaging option compared to a similarly priced gaming headset, where your money traditionally goes a bit further. While the MG300 isn’t going to set the world alight, it still makes for a competent speaker that won’t cost the earth at just £59.99 / $59.99 / €59.99.

I’ve been testing it with my PC for the last few weeks to see how well it stacks up. Let’s take a closer look and find out.

Design

• Small form factor
• Intuitive controls
• Some RGB lighting present

The Edifier MG300 is a single unit, a soundbar with no additional speakers or subwoofer, unlike more expensive options such as the Razer Leviathan V2 Pro. It’s compact too, sitting at just 485mm wide, meaning it’ll fit best underneath a monitor and work well with people who are limited on desk space. It’s smaller than the 27-inch monitor I have sitting on my desk, and didn’t look unsightly when placed there.

Edifier’s soundbar leans into its gaming aesthetic as more affordable speakers tend to – that is, with a bit of gusto. It’s mostly sharp edges and angular finishing, which is a shame as other speakers tend to go for a more egalitarian look so as to not to be immediately assigned as a gaming speaker. Nonetheless, it looks decent, with solid-feeling plastics used in its construction. At 900g, it is also especially light, so is easy to manoeuvre.

The controls are all kept on the top and in the middle of the soundbar and are within easy reach. The top row contains buttons for changing the RGB lighting effects, playing and pausing media, and turning the speaker on and off. In addition, the bottom row houses volume controls, and a microphone.

Otherwise, there is a generous helping of RGB lights across the top and sides of the MG300 to give it a little more flair than speakers such as the Majority D80. The lighting is akin to that found on cheaper peripherals though, with a range of patterns which aren’t the most pleasing to the eye. At least it’s easy to change thanks to the dedicated button on the control panel on top.

Features

• Dual connectivity
• Easy to pair over Bluetooth
• Pair of sound modes

Connectivity with the Edifier MG300 is solid too, offering both USB input to a PC, as well as Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless playback via a phone, for example. The MG300 also operates simply by a simple USB connection, with no need for any external power, keeping cable clutter to a minimum.

Bluetooth connectivity was simple with either my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra or FiiO M11S music player I house all my local music files on, and the MG300 enters its pairing mode with a press and hold of the power button. The LED on the front above the Edifier logo pulses blue, and the speaker should show up on the device you want to pair it to.

With that Bluetooth connection, it reveals that the MG300 unfortunately can’t handle simultaneous audio streams. It either works over Bluetooth or through wired USB, with no way of playing on one and stopping the other. This is a bit of a shame, as other more standard Bluetooth speakers have this feature.

There are also a pair of modes that can be chosen in game or movie, which are engaged with a double tap of the play/pause button. The problem here is that there isn’t an audio cue to tell you which mode the speaker is in. The noise it makes for choosing between either one is identical, which is an oversight.

Sound Quality

• Reasonable audio
• Lack of bass
• Microphone isn’t the best

Being a more affordable speaker means the MG300 arrives with little in the way of expectations concerning its audio quality. With this in mind, Edifier’s soundbar offered solid audio with both music and games, although with some shortcomings.

For instance, the likes of Rush’s YYZ and Let’s Groove from Earth, Wind & Fire demonstrated the lack of low end. The MG300 therefore lacks a certain amount of fun or energy in its sound, and audio at times felt quite hollow. When playing Counter-Strike 2, gunfire and explosions lacked impact.

The mid-range was reasonably strong, with the MG300 handling vocals in tracks from James Taylor or Mac McAnally reasonably well, although the top-end here seems a little lacking. For instance, the competing percussion in Steely Dan’s Do It Again lacked a certain precision and sharpness found with more generalist speakers even in the same price range.

The two modes seemed to do very little between them, apart from push vocals towards the front of the mix, having little effect on anything else. In addition, while the mic is a nice-to-have, it offered meagre pickup with a lot of echo given it is further away than a dedicated boom microphone found on headsets.

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