Alexa, what's new with Edifier's latest smart speakers?

Edifier’s latest bookshelf speakers and smart home theater system support Amazon Alexa for ultimate at-home convenience. While the company traditionally provides listeners with no-frills setups, its transition toward smart home speakers seems a safe, calculated move. Edifier also steps out of its comfort zone with its debut true wireless TWS2 earbuds, demonstrating that its a company ready to roll with the punches.

See: What makes a good smart speaker?

Alexa-enabled smart speakers

Media playback is made easy with the S1000A Alexa-enabled smart bookshelf speakers, and Bluetooth audio quality remains perceptibly lag-free with aptX support. Housed beneath its wooden panels is a 5.5-inch aluminum bass speaker adjacent to a Class D amplifier. It wouldn’t be an Edifier product without a sophisticated matte black finish which adorns the center and back panels.

The B8A, on the other hand, is a more comprehensive home theater system with a Wi-Fi enabled soundbar and separate subwoofer. Both are designed to mitigate internal resonance lessening frequency distortion. Just like the S1000A, users can make commands via Alexa.

A 25mm tweeter unit and 70mm aluminum driver rest in the soundbar while bass is delegated to the external 8-inch subwoofer. Altogether, the system boasts a total output of 154W and features a range of connectivity options including HDMI with ARC, optical, coaxial, and auxiliary inputs. For users looking to forgo wired listening, the system comes with Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi support to boot.

Currently, little else is known regarding the S1000A and B8A systems except that both will be available in Q1 2019 with pricing to be announced.

TWS2 true wireless earbuds

Edifier’s most significant audio leap includes Bluetooth 5.0 true wireless earbuds with IPX4 water-resistance. Listeners will reportedly enjoy a 10-meter travel distance before connectivity begins stuttering. With three hours of standalone playback time, the TWS2 battery life is just okay. However, the included 500mAh charging case provides an additional nine hours of listening, and the earbuds only require 1.5 hours to complete a full charge cycle.

We anticipate the TWS2 will be available in Q1 2019 with pricing to be determined. Once for sale, listeners can pick between black or white color options.

Head here for more CES 2019 coverage!