REVIEW – When you look at the current crop of wireless speakers, it becomes obvious that they tend to resemble each other—lots of speaker grills showing with controls lined up along the top. The new Edifier D32 Wireless Speaker eschews that look and travels back in time to when speakers were also radios and looked like it. The D32 speaker would look at home in the 50s or 60s with its hand-made wood cabinet and cloth grill with old-style buttons straight out of a 50s Chevy. But does all of this cool retro vibe translate into a modern-sounding Bluetooth speaker?
What is it?
The Edifier D32 is a tabletop wireless Bluetooth speaker with a retro look. Its hand-made wood shell has smooth curves that wrap the speaker and short shiny metal-wrapped legs complete the design. A subtle Edifier logo ordains the upper left corner of the cloth speaker grill. A row of toggle switches in a metal band line up at the bottom of the speaker front.
The D32 speaker is both a plug-in and portable speaker. Plugging it in charges the internal battery. When fully charged, the battery provides up to 11 hours of playtime. A small light at the rear indicates if the speaker is either charging (red) or is fully charged (white). While on battery power, there is no indicator showing the remaining battery life.
The rear of the D32 speaker has a minimum of ports. Two bass ports (holes) provide a bit deeper bass. An AUX port is for wired (analog) audio connections, and a USB-C port allows a digital audio connection. Despite these wired connections, the main source of audio will be either wireless Bluetooth (5.3) or Apple AirPlay.
The five buttons at the front are multi-function. From left to right, the first button is both On/off and audio source selection. The second is Bluetooth pairing. The middle third button is either Mute or Play/pause, depending on if the audio connection is AUX or USB/Bluetooth/AirPlay. The fourth and fifth buttons are both Volume up/down and Reverse/Forward tracks depending on how long the buttons are pressed. Confused yet? It takes a bit of use before the functions become easier to grasp.
The D32 is powered by two 60-watt Class-D amplifiers driving two 1″ silk tweeters and a single 4″ mid-low driver. There’s full DSP (digital signal processing). The D32 is also certified Bluetooth Hi-Res and Hi-Res Wireless audio. This means that hi-res audio can be played wirelessly using Android devices. Apple does not support Wireless Bluetooth hi-res. However, hi-res can be played over AirPlay 2 (5GHz and 2.4 GHz), which the D32 speaker supports. For those who care, audio codecs supported are LDAC, ALAC, AAC, and SBC. The amplifier chips support high-resolution audio up to 24bit/96kHz.
What’s included?
- D32 speaker
- USB-C to USB-C audio cable
- 3.5mm-to-3.5mm audio cable
- Power cable
Tech specs
Click to expand
- Power: Treble 15W x 2, mid-low 30W
- Speaker driver: 1″ (treble) + 4″ (mid-low)
- Audio Inputs: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (Apple AirPlay), USB-C, AUX
- Bluetooth Version: 5.3
- Codecs: SBC, AAC, LDAC, and ALAC (AirPlay mode only)
- Dimensions: 9.84 in. x 6.3 in. x 7.04 in. (W x H x D)
Design and features
I really like the looks of the Edifier D32 Tabletop Wireless Speaker. Its design is intended to fit almost any decor with its mid-century vibe. While it’s designed to be plugged into a wall outlet and sit on a tabletop (hence, it’s name), bedside dresser, or any place a radio might have been placed years ago, the built-in battery allows it to be carried between rooms. There’s even a convenient slot at the back for carrying.
Note that even though the D32 has decent battery life, I would recommend that since it’s designed (and named) as a tabletop speaker, it should be placed in a convenient spot and left there, plugged into an outlet. It’s not designed as a typical portable speaker.
As I said, the multi-purpose buttons at the front have a learning curve but are easy to use with a satisfying click. The toggle design looks cool, but then the whole radio—I mean the speaker—does!
Edifier has a companion app for the D32 speaker—Connex. Their older Edifier Connect app shows the D32 speaker in its menu but won’t access it. You must download the newer app to gain speaker control. The Connex app allows you to control Sound Effects (equalizer/EQ), select input sources (Bluetooth, AUX, USB, AirPlay), and Volume control. Battery life is shown on the main screen in addition to what song is currently playing. EQ has 5 choices: Classic, Monitor, Dynamic, Vocal or Customized. Customized settings can be named and saved.
Music played over Bluetooth seems to be affected more by EQ settings than when streaming over AirPlay. I had a bit of trouble hearing the differences when switching between EQ settings in AirPlay. The wired USB-C audio connection will not work with a USB-C-equipped iPhone.
So how does it sound? It sounds pretty darn good. At $200, it isn’t a cheap speaker but is reasonably priced considering all of its features.
It’s a perfect size for a bedroom or home office. Or if you have a small studio apartment, the D32 speaker is good for background music, the primary use of most wireless speakers.
The D32 is not a substitute for a decent stereo system, nor does it pretend to be. Its sound can get a bit lost in a larger living room. Audio is better served by traditional bookshelf speakers if that’s your goal. A kitchen or bathroom might be a bit too humid for such a nice speaker.
When pushed, I could hear the difference between AirPlay and Bluetooth. EQ settings notwithstanding, Bluetooth has more of a bass presence. In the 70s glam-rock title song from David Werner’s debut “Whizz Kid” album, a contradicting bass drum delivers a hard double-kick after it follows an angelic choir sweetly crooning, “Ooh-ahh”. However, the bass smothers the higher frequencies a bit resulting in a slightly muddy sound. Understand that this is when the volume is turned up past a personal listening level.
Apple’s AirPlay exhibits the same drum kick in the song, but it’s not quite as visceral. It is clearer sounding with more detail. This could be the result of higher-resolution audio over AirPlay. I noticed that the clarity made the vocals sound more distant—not sounding quite as upfront as using Bluetooth or even hearing the song on my desktop speakers. I am quite familiar with this song, so I notice any differences right away. Again, this is with the volume set quite high.
The D32 is more geared for personal listening at low to mid volume than cranked up to room-filling levels.
What I like about the Edifier D32 Wireless Speaker
- Good sound from both Bluetooth and AirPlay—when played at normal volume
- Great retro design
- Well-built with hand-made cabinet
- Decent battery life
What needs to be improved?
- Audio weaknesses show at higher than normal volume
Final thoughts
The Edifier D32 Wireless Speaker sounds as good as it looks—as long as it isn’t pushed too hard. At normal volume (you can carry on a conversation), the speaker shines whether it’s using Bluetooth or Apple AirPlay. As many speakers can compete with the D32 in audio and price, you buy the D32 for its looks, which those other speakers just can’t match.
Price: $199.99
Where to buy: Edifier and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Edifier. Edifier did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
