Bestisan SR01 active speakers: review
These are near-field speakers from Bestisan, as in, “Best Artisan”.
They have two stereo line inputs, a USB port, and can also be connected to via Bluetooth. Because they are powered, they do not require a separate power amplifier. Instead they come with a small AC adapter. There is no built-in battery.
“Near field” means that they are larger and fancier than “computer speakers”, but are not large enough to be called “bookshelf speakers” or “wall-mounted speakers”. Indeed, they cannot be mounted on a wall: there is no hook, all the connectors are on the back, and there is no cavity like on many wall-mounted speakers, so you need some space behind them to connect your music sources and to be able to turn the speakers on, because the power switch is also on the back.
But you don’t need to do it manually every time — there is a remote control, which allows to turn the speakers on and off, change volume, switch between the audio sources, pause and skip tracks when a Bluetooth or USB device is connected.
You can also choose between three sound profiles, marked “music”, “normal” and “movie”. There is no detailed description of what these profiles do, but it seems that in the “movie” mode the middle frequencies are brought up, which helps to understand speech better. In the “music” mode bass and treble are enhanced, and it seems that some extra processing is going on to make the sound more “three-dimensional”, but maybe I am just imagining things.
You can also control bass and treble with separate knobs on the side of the right speaker. And there is a knob to adjust the volume and select music sources if you don’t want to use the remote. There is also a slot for a USB stick, so you don’t need to start up your computer if you want to listen to music files from a memory card.
Talking about a computer, I found that the provided audio cable is too short if your computer is located below desk and on the other side of the right speaker. If you are going to add an extension cable, make sure all the connections are tight, otherwise you’ll hear loud buzz instead of music.
The speakers can go quite loud. The right speaker rattled at high volume and with lot of bass, I am not sure whether I should send them back for a replacement. But in all other respects, they seem to be quite decent considering the $80 price.
If you want to go with a slightly better known brand, the $100 Edifier do not have Bluetooth connectivity, for Bluetooth you need to get the R1280DB, which cost $130, considerably more than $80 for the Bestisan.
If you want to get your small speakers from a well-established brand, then for this money you can buy a pair of passive Polk speakers with a larger driver, just regular bookshelf/wallmount speakers. Or you can get a pair of Klipsch, also non-powered and without Bluetooth connectivity. Klipsch does sell active Bluetooth-enabled nearfield speakers for $400, although the last time I visited this page, they were offered for $300.
So, all in all, the Bestisan speakers seem to offer a lot of features for below-$100 price in attractive cabinets that match my son’s desk. He said they are also pretty good for gaming.
See the video for more details and for an audio test.
