Edifier S90HD Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer and Surrounds

The Edifier S90HD Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer and Surrounds represents the holy grail for an inexpensive bedroom system. It includes a wireless subwoofer AND wireless surround speakers. Good luck finding both of these on other soundbar systems. Typically, you can find the wireless sub. Surrounds, however, almost always need to be wired. With the Edifier S90HD you get everything needed for a hassle-free surround sound system that’s perfect for a bedroom, dorm, or other small living space.

What You Get

The Edifier S90HD is a 4.1-channel soundbar home theatre system. It supports Dolby and DTS decoding, so you truly get discrete surround channel information. The system sends audio wirelessly to the subwoofer and surrounds speakers using a 5.8GHz wireless channel. Further, the system includes ample HDMI input and even output with ARC (audio return channel) support. To sweeten the pot, the system even incorporates Bluetooth v4.1 with Qualcomm aptX.

For hardware, the soundbar is beautifully appointed, with a wood veneer and magnetically shielded speakers.

The soundbar uses a 3/4-inch titanium coated tweeter and twin 2.75-inch mid-range drivers for each of the two front channels. Ports allow a deeper response from the bar that allows it to dip lower than you’d expect for the size of the enclosure.

The powered wireless surrounds use a pair of 2.75-inch midrange drivers each. Given they function as effects channels, the lack of a tweeter doesn’t bother me at this sub-$900 price point. This powered wireless design also means that you simply need two things to get your surrounds up and running. First, the right surround speaker requires power. Second, you need to run an included speaker cable from the surround right speaker to the surround left speaker.

We set up this system in a bedroom, so this speaker wire simply ran behind our bed—all but invisible. Because the powered surround right speaker also receives audio wirelessly, you get surround sound without having to run cabling from the front of the room to the back.

For the subwoofer, you get an 8-inch driver in a rear-ported enclosure. Both the subwoofer and the surrounds also sport the gorgeous wood veneer that works really well in almost any kind of decor.

Setup and Remote

Setting up the Edifer S90HD soundbar couldn’t be easier. You make your connections, and both the subwoofer and powered wireless surrounds are already paired and ready for use. They simply work without any additional setup or configuration. You can mount the surrounds on a wall (brackets are included). We opted to set ours on nightstands.

The remote control gives you everything needed to run the system, including direct input control, volume, and the ability to activate Dolby Pro Logic sound modes.

When I first selected Bluetooth, the system immediately paired with my iPhone 7 Plus. I didn’t need to press anything or run any complex setup procedures.

Edifier S90HD Specs

• SNR: ≥85dBA
• Noise Level: ≤25dB(A)
• Frequency Response: 40Hz-20KHz
• Subwoofer: 8-inch (210mm)
• Midrange: 2-3⁄4 inch (70mm)
• Tweeter: 3⁄4 inch (ø19mm)
• Power (Treble): 12W+12W
• Power (Mid-range): 32W+32W
• Power (Surrounds): 22W+22W
• Power (Sub): 70W
• Connections: HDMI x 3 (including ARC), Optical (Toslink) Digital, Coaxial (SPDIF) Digital, Stereo RCA, 3.5mm Aux, Bluetooth (4.1)

Listening Tests

We spent a lot of time with this system, listening to hours of music and movies. You can dial in the bass and surround levels as needed. Since everyone’s room is different, you’re likely going to want to raise and lower the surrounds and subwoofer as needed to achieve the best sound possible. What constitutes “best”? For us, that entailed dropping the subwoofer volume by -2 dB. Of course, we had our subwoofer placed in the front corner of the room, so the sub was loaded up pretty good acoustically—producing 4X the output as if it would be if it were sitting somewhere in the interior of the room.

We watched the last few episodes of Gotham—a dark picture with lots of fights, explosions, and character dialogue. The Edifier S90HD absolutely blew away what we were experiencing from our prior surround bar/subwoofer 2.1 combo. Add to that the presence of the surround speakers, and we found ourselves watching movies in the bedroom a lot more frequently.

Music also sounds great on this system, and I made good use of the wireless Bluetooth streaming with Apt-X. Playing an eclectic mix, I passed everything from Seal, Disturbed, and Matchbox Twenty through the system as well as classical music, film soundtracks, and hip hop. Once dialed in, I found the bass to be ample, though not punchy as you’d get with a more powerful, dedicated product.

Watching movies, I found dialogue easy to understand. This presents a critical test for a soundbar, and the Edifier S90HD passed with flying colors. Overall, everything sounds clear, precise, and full. This is a very loud system as well—you can fill the room and truly get enveloped in a movie or album.

Conclusion

For under $900, the Edifier S90HD soundbar with wireless subwoofer and surrounds really works. I’d recommend this to anyone on a budget who wants an above-average surround system without the hassle of running wires or hanging speakers. The system sounds great, looks great, has tons of flexibility, and really presents a unique solution to a common problem. Edifier has come a long way, and the company shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

That’s great news for home theater and audio enthusiasts.