When I first unboxed the Edifier S880DB MKII, I wasn’t expecting much beyond a compact powered bookshelf setup with some nice design flair. Then I plugged them in — and immediately realized Edifier wasn’t playing around this time.
These speakers sound far larger than their footprint suggests. They project a clean, balanced, and downright impressive soundstage that fills small and mid-sized rooms without strain. They’re the type of desktop or living-room speakers that make you pause and say, “Wait, all that came from these?”
And yes — that Hi-Res Audio badge isn’t just a sticker for marketing cred. The S880DB MKII actually earns it. Buy it on Amazon!
Edifier has always had a knack for making gear that looks more expensive than it is, and the S880DB MKII continues that tradition. The matte white finish paired with warm wood side panels walks the line between modern and classic. They’re small enough for a desk setup but refined enough to live in a media console or bookshelf system.
Everything feels solid and premium for the price. The drivers — a 1.25-inch titanium dome tweeter and 3.75-inch aluminum mid-woofer — look serious, and they perform like it. Around back you’ll find a subwoofer output, RCA inputs, USB-C, optical, and coaxial digital inputs. There’s even Bluetooth 5.3 with LDAC for high-resolution wireless playback.
The only catch? The controls. The awful controls.
Let’s get this out of the way — the Edifier S880DB MKII has the worst remote I’ve used in years. It’s a sleek, circular “hockey puck” with a small screen and touch controls that sound cool on paper. In practice, it’s a mess.
It’s unresponsive, clunky, and incredibly easy to mis-swipe. You’ll try to change the volume and instead switch inputs or pause your music. There’s no tactile feedback, and every gesture has to be 100% perfect to register. Sometimes it’s slow to wake, other times it reacts late and jumps multiple steps at once.
It’s a shame because the rest of the system is so well executed. The rear-mounted knobs for bass, treble, and volume actually feel good — precise and analog-smooth — but they’re buried behind the speaker. Unless you’ve got the active speaker sitting right in arm’s reach, they’re essentially useless for day-to-day control.
You end up with a high-end speaker trapped behind a terrible user interface. It’s like driving a Porsche with a Nintendo 64 controller.
If you can forgive the controls, the S880DB MKII absolutely redeems itself the moment you press play.
The sound is seriously impressive for its class. The titanium tweeters are crisp and revealing without veering into harsh territory. Cymbals shimmer naturally, vocals sit front and center, and there’s a spaciousness that feels open and confident.
The aluminum mid-woofers deliver more body and depth than you’d expect from a speaker this compact. Bass reaches surprisingly deep, with enough punch to make small rooms feel alive. No, you’re not shaking the walls — but the low-end authority is genuinely satisfying for music and games alike.
On the detail front, these speakers pull ahead of many “multimedia” systems. The MKII’s tuning is noticeably more refined than Edifier’s earlier S880 models. There’s better instrument separation, a cleaner midrange, and smoother top-end response.
Feed them a high-quality LDAC stream or a lossless USB connection, and you’ll instantly hear the payoff: wide stereo imaging, real depth, and a tonal balance that feels like a proper hi-fi setup. I ran them with a SMSL DO400 and they sounded mind blowingly sweet.
Movies also benefit — dialogue is crisp, effects stay localized, and the speakers handle dynamic swings better than most compact competitors. Buy it on Amazon!
Here’s where the experience splits.
When you’re listening? You’ll smile. When you need to control something? You’ll sigh.
The Bluetooth connection is rock solid once paired, and USB works flawlessly with both Windows and Mac. But the process of switching inputs, changing volume, or toggling sound modes is a chore.
Edifier’s “ConneX” app offers some relief, giving you a digital interface for playback and EQ control, but even that feels secondary. For a company that absolutely nailed the acoustic and industrial design, the user experience feels like it was developed by a completely different team.
It’s a rare case where the hardware outshines the human interface by a mile. Please Edifier, never use this this remote design again and fire the person who designed it.
At around $449, the S880DB MKII sits in a crowded segment dominated by powered monitors like the Audioengine A5+, Kanto YU6, and Klipsch R-41PM.
Compared to those, the Edifier wins on refinement. The tonal balance is more even, the highs smoother, and the midrange more honest. The LDAC support and sub-out are also strong points — not something every competitor offers.
However, those competitors also come with proper remotes and more intuitive front-panel controls. For anyone used to traditional volume knobs or quick input switching, Edifier’s approach can be maddening.
If you mostly “set and forget,” the Edifier’s strengths shine. But if you’re constantly adjusting or switching sources, you might find the user experience infuriating over time.
The Edifier S880DB MKII is a near-perfect small hi-fi speaker trapped in a frustrating shell. It delivers a crisp, powerful sound that rivals systems twice its price. It’s compact, beautifully built, and packed with connectivity options that make it ideal for modern setups.
But that remote. Oh, that remote. Just awful...
It turns an otherwise premium experience into a game of patience. The knobs on the back feel like an afterthought, the touch remote feels like an experiment gone wrong, and neither matches the polish of the sound quality Edifier achieved here.
If you can live with the clunky controls — or find a way to minimize their impact — you’ll be rewarded with one of the best-sounding small speakers under $500. But if ease of use matters to you, the S880DB MKII will test your tolerance for frustration.
Edifier deserves credit for pushing their engineering and acoustic design forward — the MKII version isn’t just a refresh; it’s a genuine step up in fidelity. For serious listeners who want high-end sound in a compact, elegant form, this set is an absolute win. However the overall control of the speakers is mostly hindered by the worst remote I've ever tested and for that, I can't recommend these. Buy it on Amazon!
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