Surprised at this Chinese powered speakers for peanuts...

I haven't heard them in person, but they got raving reviews and comes with DAC on their own...

Has anyone heard the Vanatoo transparent One Encore that can be pre-ordered?  thanks

Note these speakers are NOT working out for me, they're working out for my daughter. However, I've been recommending them to people who ask my opinion on inexpensive stereo stuff (I get asked about this at least twice a year) or nearfield monitors for recording (once every two and a half years maybe). If I didn't already have my recording monitors sorted out, I'd use Edifyers in a second as most speakers designed for that simply suck, or are much more expensive.

   I completely agree with you Garcia...They are bi-amp-ed while the Audio Engines are not so treble sounds better to me, although Audio Engines are good too. I am glad they are working out for you...that's why I shared the info for others to try. 

   Happy new year to everyone and good listening to all...

I sent a pair of Edifier powered speakers to my daughter for her birthday last year although I hadn't auditioned them (R1700s I think). Hoped they'd work as they're  so inexpensive (150 bucks or something). I visited her later in the year and was amazed at how good those things sounded. Seemed easily as good as some Audio Engines I actually had heard in a friend's system.

audioman58  right on

I have a larger/more powerful variant of the Edifier, the Swan M200 MKIII (powered 2-way w/5.25" woofer & unique backward sloping speaker case). The Swan is physically very similar to the top-of-the-line Edifier. My guess is they're made in the same Chinese factory by same Chinese OEM. This is very satisfactory, musical sound for nearfield listening. 

I've also researched Vanatoo extensively. They're now taking pre-orders for the "Encore" version of their top-of-the-line Transparent One model (also 5.25" woofer, but far more capacity for bass output than the Edifier or Swan). 

The Adam line of powered monitors is a whole 'nother thing because of their folded ribbon tweeter, described by many users as either "bright" or "accurate & detailed," depending on your perspective (I haven't heard them).

Suffice to say that the great majority of powered/active 2-ways monitors are used by music pros (mixing, tracking, etc) who have little use for euphonic, musical audio reproduction. They favor a rather ear-unfriendly "forensic" sound that helps them detect anomalies in level or phase, distortion, reverb decay, and so on.

An in-house R&D'd alternative is the powered sound from Adam Audio, a German company that specializes in state-of-the-art studio monitors. Their budget line hits a similar price point. They did the design in Berlin, basing it on their various lines. It is manufactured in China. You can even audition them at Guitar Center. I love the T7v. http://www.onerivermedia.com/blog/adam-audio-studio-monitors-compared/

Mistral Audio is a better example of hifi design stealing. 

We are speaking about Audio. Not bashing ,the . U.K and US.
by a country mile the  Chinese has ,and continues to steal $$$ Billions in 
patented properties ,for the last 30 years, as well as  devalue their currency ,
Still going unchecked . Their Slave labor and human rights abuse  and mainly Government owned  companies. China is the worst example of piracy by far in the World. you can get many good buys. Myself  choose not to be part of it          i would rather pay a bit extra for a better ,more ethical product. 

The Edifiers are good. There is a Seattle company run by a couple former engineers that is making a jaw dropping set at a similar price range on Amazon. Search for Vanatoo. Transparent One were the set I heard at RMAF. They floored me with how amazing they are. Check them out if you can. They are a marvel, seriously.

I agree with you. My girlfriend uses a pair for her tv. I think they sound great, especially for the money. 

Hi!
thanks for sharing this information. Sorry to bother you but I couldn’t find the optical input. 
Copying a technology and developing a nice product is peanuts to what England did to China and the number of Chinese people killed under McArthur direction.
I’m just saying!
dan

I looked for internal photos. I found some. They told a tale.

Part of it’s charm is that the woofer design minutia has most of it done right. Which I’m willing to bet my last dollar that they simply copied those things according to how others have done it. That the woofer was a spec job on a costing sheet ---and they simply managed to make a good choice.

As the rest of the woofer and the rest of the whole package is average.

That those well done aspects of the woofer play out in clarity and quality in the mids and upper mids, and some other important parameters in the bass through mids range.

A lot of these design tricks and tweaks of importance, don’t really cost money to implement. the requirement is that the lore and knowledge has to be there, it has to be gone through, it has to be learned, sweated over, intellect and vision applied, all of that.

What is upsetting to those who sweat their lives away creating these moves toward perfection, is that most off shore aspects will..er..simply copy those efforts, but not really have much understanding of the very why of them.

And then, with their cheap labour and better overhead, steal the market from the people who did all the actual hard and heavy lifting parts. 

Which means variable outcomes, and then the next generation of product from them can very well be worse as they don’t know what they are doing the minutia dance for, or what the minutia means, or even be aware that the minutia is there at all. Just mouthing the words of a foreign language.