Nostalgic retro beauty in a box! The new Edifier MP230 is a stunning bluetooth speaker reminiscent of a vintage style electric guitar amp. 

 

The cabinet is rectangular in shape with rounded corners. The front and backside of the Edifier MP230 speaker is covered with fabric grille mesh (non-detachable). The front grille mesh feature a metal Edifier logo badge, as well as the classic button function tray you find in most retro speakers with cassette trays such as the popular boom box - one of the most recognizable icons of the 1990s.

 

The Edifier MP230 is a lot smaller and compact than a boom box. It measures 16cm long, 11cm deep and 8.5cm high and weighs just 770 grams. The Edifier MP230 button tray seems to be made of copper alloy, which contrast beautifully with the steampunk copper finish of the MP230 speaker. The tray contains a total of 5 buttons for controlling skipping of tracks, volume, power and connectivity modes. The buttons have a satisfying clicky actuation. Volume control has 16 volume steps so, you can change volume in gradual clicky step increments. 

On the bottom of the MP230 speaker, there are 5mm tall anti vibration isolation pads (one on each corner) made of rubber to help dampen vibration. The 5mm thick pads provide enough elevation to keep the entire enclosure off the desk and allow air to flow underneath the speaker. 

On the rear side of the Edifier MP230, there is a black plastic faceplate trim containing the connectivity ports: 3.5mm aux, micro SD card slot and recessed USB-C port, which is dual purpose - for charging and audio streaming. The cloth grille is made with black and copper color threads and measures 15cm long and 6cm high. The button tray measures 14cm long and 1cm deep so, it's compact and protrudes very little.  

The Edifier MP230 wood cabinet enclosure is not solid wood but veneer wood, which is typically made with medium density fiberboard (MDF) and a thin layer of real wood glued on top to make it look like solid wood. Veneer wood is as durable as solid wood but does have one "Achilles heel" and that is moisture (as well as heat), which can seep under the top layer of wood, causing the glue to loosen. That said, this would really be an issue if keeping the speaker in a poor ventilated area like a kitchen or bathroom so, this isn't likely to be something to worry about if you plan to keep the speaker in a sitting room or bedroom. 

Hardware include two front facing 48mm drivers (10 watts each), two small passive radiators at the back and a passive class D amplifier, which has the highest efficiency out of the three main types of amplifiers (class A, class B and class AB) but it is not as good sounding as a class AB amplifier. The Edifier MP230 is capable of 20 watts RMS, which is twice more powerful than the Edifier MP280 bluetooth speaker. At the same volume level, the volume output is noticeably louder in wired mode than in bluetooth mode. There is no distortion at 100% volume (see video volume test).

Inside the cabinet, there is a 2600 mAh rechargeable battery, which recharges via maximum 10 watts input (5V/2A) in 1.5 hours and can provide up to 10 hours at 100% volume. There is no quick charge support.The Edifier MP230 retro speaker is fitted with a bluetooth 5.0 chipset . When siwtching from bluetooth to wired, the bluetooth connection disconnects but it will re-connect automatically in 2 seconds after being initially paired to a device. When playing audio, the status led will show solid blue (for bluetooth) and green for wired mode. The 3.5mm aux input lets you hook the speaker to a phone but you can also connect a pair of headphones into the aux port for private listening. The micro SD card slot is a neat useful addition that lets you play audio off of a memory card.

Accessories include an unbranded male to male 3.5mm audio rubber cable (60cm long) and an unbranded USB-A to USB-C rubber cable (1.4 meters long). Overall, the Edifier MP230 does not disappoint. It is a beautifully crafted piece of equipment that will look good anywhere you put it. The aesthetics is the biggest selling point for the MP230. A few other selling points are the wired modes (aux and USB) and ability to be charge the speaker whilst playing audio in bluetooth and wired mode.

 

There are some potential deal breakers too: no built-in mic for taking calls, no powerbank function for charging external devices, no mobile app support, not enough bass and treble, no AAC/SBC codec and no EQ band for tweaking the stock sound signature, which favors the midrange over the bass and treble.

It would have been nice also if the internal battery had a larger capacity (e.g. 5000 mAh) and the  cloth grille fabric mesh was detachable so, you could show off the speaker cones and passive radiators. 

 

The Edifier MP230 speaker is powerful enough for a desktop setup but the sound is nowhere as good as the Edifier M201BT desktop speaker subwoofer combo, which doesn't look as beautiful but delivers much better stereo separation and sound quality. You can buy the MP230 speaker from amazon.