You don’t always think of studio monitors as part of a gaming setup. Most of the attention usually goes to pricey premium headsets with their booming surround sound, built-in mics and enough RGB to light your room like a small airport. But every now and then it’s good to take a step back, leave the headset in the drawer, and let your games fill the room. That’s exactly where the Edifier MR4s come into their own. They don’t shout for your attention, but once you’ve used them you’ll realise that headsets aren’t the be all and end all.
Straight out of the box first impressions are clean and purposeful. The MR4s are available in either black or white, both with a subtle matte finish that blends in with pretty much any setup. They’ve got a bit of studio charm without looking like they belong in a music hub. The build quality is reassuringly solid, with just enough weight to keep them stable and avoid that cheap plasticky feel.
The front panel is kept simple, with a single dial handling volume, power and mode switching, while all the connectivity is tucked away at the back. You get balanced TRS inputs (which can massively reduced interference if you can run through these), RCA, and a 3.5 mm Aux input, plus basic bass and treble controls both controlled by a small knob on the back of the right hand speaker. Those EQ knobs don’t have a huge range, but the impact is noticeable and handy for small tweaks if you want to nudge things in one direction or another.
Setup is quick and painless. Whether you’re plugging them into a PC, console or audio interface, you’re good to go in minutes. There is one powered speaker, which hooks into the other with standard speaker wire. From that point on it’s just connecting whatever you want to be delivered through them, and you’re away.
And at this point, when things start firing through the speakers, the MR4s really shine. Audio clarity is excellent, and the stereo production gives you a real sense of space and positioning. That means footsteps in stealth games, distant gunfire, a dive-bomb overtake attempt and subtle ambient effects all land exactly where they should. It makes a huge difference in competitive games, but it also ramps up the atmosphere in slower-paced titles. It’s interesting that I’ve always seen a decent headset as an essential element in game audio, but with speakers like this it’s easy to see that it’s definitely not as black and white as that – sometimes giving the audio room to breathe and develop can really make a difference.
I tried various games with these, including Gran Turismo 7, No Man’s Sky, Fortnite and Resident Evil, and across all of those the MR4s make every audio cue feel deliberate and clean. Ambient details like wind, footsteps, or subtle background music come through with clarity, and when things ramp up there’s enough grunt to carry the weight without turning to mush.
Bass is clean and controlled, with a good amount of low-end presence, but it never fights against the middle and top end. Your opinion of the outcome might vary depending on your background though – if you’re coming from a cheap pair of desktop speakers this will feel like a massive upgrade, but swapping these in after living with a dedicated sub-woofer might leave you missing that more brutal rumble.
Of course, these aren’t just gaming speakers. The MR4s sound just as good with music, video editing, or even just watching Netflix. There are two listening modes built in, Monitor and Music, which you can toggle with a press of the front dial. Monitor mode is a bit more neutral, flat and analytical, while Music mode lifts the warmth a little and adds some extra punch. I found myself using Music mode pretty much all the time, but for when you need that extra editing control the Monitor mode is a nice touch to fall back on.
The only thing I could find that might have been a nice extra would have been a Bluetooth connection to allow music to play from phones and suchlike, but for the price point we’re looking at that would have meant scrimping on some details somewhere else, and considering everything is absolutely on the money I don’t think it’s a huge complaint.
So in case I haven’t made it overly obvious, the Edifier MR4s are a brilliant bit of kit. They offer clean, clear and surprisingly rich sound in a compact package that fits effortlessly into a gaming setup. Whether you’re deep into competitive shooters, soaking up the atmosphere in story-driven epics, or just want your game menus to sound crisp and full, they deliver in all the right ways. These are genuinely impressive speakers that manage to be both refined and full of character, and at just over the £100 mark, they’re offering serious value too. They might not rattle your windows, and they won’t win any awards for connectivity, but what they do, they do incredibly well. These speakers have earned a permanent place on my desk, and if you want something that makes your games sound as good as they look, the MR4s are a seriously smart pick.