Why is it that while we clearly have the technological edge in our present day, so many devices’ golden ages of aesthetics are in the past? Automobiles, watches, video game consoles. And stereo equipment. You can’t forget about that.
While a case could be made for the laptop and cell phone as living through their own golden ages, as a rare exception among personal electronics, there’s no modern-day equipment that looks as handsome as stereos did in the past, save for those purposefully mimicking the old days.
Edifier just launched three new speakers and a pair of headphones, all harkening back to a past age. They’re absolutely gorgeous, all clean designs with subtle two-tone coloring, crisp speaker grilles, and minimalist controls. And you can pick all of them up for sale today.
“A symbol of Edifier’s evolving vision, the ‘ES’ in the series’ name carries layered meaning,” reads a doe-eyed press release Edifier posted on June 11. “E for Elegant, capturing the series’ sleek, modern design language.
“S for Superb (or Luxurious), representing the elevated quality, premium materials, and refined finish.” Luxurious seems awfully wedged in there, but ok. “And ES as Edifier Sound, reflecting Edifier’s legacy of high-performance audio and immersive listening experiences.”
There are four new ES-series speakers, all available now:
- ES20: This diminutive 6W Bluetooth speaker measures about 3.5 by 4 by 2 inches. It’s practically a baby. That’s why it’s impressive that you can get up to 15 hours of playback between battery charges. Its IP67 dust and water resistance rating makes it worthy of tagging along to the pool or beach.
- ES60: Upping the power to 34W (and the size), the ES60 sacrifices some battery life. You can eke out up to nine hours of playback from this portable Bluetooth speaker. It’s IP66-rated, which means it’s dust and water resistant, but not to the same degree as the ES20.
- ES300: Now we’re getting into some more serious power. This 60W speaker features dual 1.25″ silk dome tweeters and a 4″ long-throw mid-bass driver, which is why it’s designed to be more of a stationary speaker compared to its two siblings.
- ES850NB: These over-the-ear headphones feature active noise cancellation that can lower heard noise by up to 45 decibels, while squeaking out up to 92 hours of battery life, which is frankly incredible.
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