We spend a lot of time listening to music in our house – we now have four Amazon Echo Dots, as well as a Spotify premium subscription so the kids are slowly turning our house into something of a mini disco. While we love the Dots, the sound quality is a little flat, and the speakers on the kids’ tablets and phones are tinny at best. I have connected the Dot in the lounge to my main TV soundbar, and the one in the kitchen is connected to the fabulous Edifier Bric Connect speaker, but upstairs we can only listen to the inbuilt speaker on Dot, and the kids have to use the phone and tablet speakers. That was until the incredibly cute Edifier MP200 cube speaker landed on our doorstep to try out.
The MP200 is a really compact speaker with a curved cubed design, and available in a variety of colours – we received ours in bright green. There are both bright and muted colours in the range so there would be something for everyone, but ours was going in the girls’ bedroom so the bright green was ideal. As well as curved edges, the MP200 has a lovely smooth, soft rubberised finish which makes it feel lovely to hold as well as providing grip and giving it some protection if dropped. It also has an IP rating 54 making the speaker dust and splash proof.
The speaker has multiple sound output connections; Bluetooth 4.1, via USB from a laptop, or using the MicroSD slot (it will play your music that you have loaded onto a MicroSD card without having to connect it to another device). It does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack, so no listening to it in private. The speaker is charged via the USB lead supplied and fully charges in around an hour. A full charge will provide around 10 hours of playback.
Pairing the speaker to your phone or tablet is an absolute doddle. I connected it to my Samsung smartphone, my daughter’s iPhone and the Amazon Echo Dot in no time at all. The speaker has a Bluetooth range of up to 10 metres (30ft), which is plenty for most houses. We were able to stream music from the Dot in my bedroom with the MP200 in the girls’ bedroom and the connection was solid and reliable. The quality of the sound is excellent and is much richer and stronger than I would ever have expected from a speaker of this size and price bracket. The sound output is 5.5w, with a sound level of 30dB. This is more than loud enough for almost any situation I can think of in the home and even turned up full the sound is clear and didn’t distort in any way.
This is a truly portable speaker. As well as being a really neat, small size, it also has an attached wrist strap in case you are in a position where you are likely to drop it. This also doubles up as a way to position the speaker – you could hang it from the bathroom door to allow you to stream the radio whist you’re in the bath or shower. The fact that the speaker is IP54 rated, and therefore splash and dust proof means that if you did want to listen whilst in the bathroom, you need not worry about it getting splashed or suffering from the effects of steam in the room. You can even use the button on the side to skip tracks if there is one you don’t want to listen to and because it is splash proof, you don’t need to dry your hands first. The charging port and SD slot are covered by a rubberised plug that blends perfectly with the main body of the speaker, again providing protection from the elements.
Finally, as well as being a really neat little speaker, the MP200 also doubles up as a speakerphone. If your Bluetooth connected phone rings, a press of the phone button on the side of the speaker flips in into phone mode and you can enjoy a hands-free telephone conversation – ideal for if you’re busy washing up.
We all loved this speaker. Its modern and funky look makes it a fabulous gift for an older child or teenager, but the superb sound quality and undeniable build quality and robustness means that any music loving adult would be delighted with it too. It’s a complete bargain at £28.99 and we absolutely love using it, and it even comes with a 2 year warranty!
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £28.99
For more information or to buy visit www.edifier.com.
