Why settle for ordinary when you can spice up your gaming setup with a pair of unique-looking RGB-laden desktop PC speakers? Edifier’s Hecate G2000 Pro speakers instantly stand out in both looks and sound, with the small desktop 2.0 speakers outputting a much larger soundstage than their size would have you believe. These versatile speakers are enjoyable for both gaming and music listening, and offer good value with plenty of connectivity options.

Design of the Edifier Hecate G2000 Pro

The design of the Edifier Hecate G2000 Pro 2.0 system has a different speaker design that I haven't really seen before: A squished and elongated hexagonal shape, with a clear, see-through speaker enclosure and bright RGB lighting. They look unique and modern, maybe even a little futuristic — and while I’m not a fan of the overuse of RGB lighting in general, I like them. (You can also easily turn the lighting off, so you aren’t left stuck with distracting flashing lights 24/7.) Both speakers aim the sound toward your ears with a 10° tilted angle built into the shape of the speaker, so there's no need for any angled desktop speaker pads or stands.

The right speaker contains all the tech, with controls on the top of the speaker — four rubberized silicone buttons — and power and connectivity options on the rear. The two speakers are connected by a hardwired 1.5-meter braided cord, which is plenty of length for most desk sizes. Large rubber feet on the bottom of the speakers soothe vibrations and stop the speakers from slipping around the space. The speakers are solidly built and feel very sturdy and weighty when you hold them.

On the rear of the speakers is the opening for the bass reflex port, a clear port that you can see inside the transparent speaker enclosure, and complete with a little mesh dust filter midway along the port to keep the inside of the enclosure clean.

Performance of the Edifier Hecate G2000 Pro

I put the Edifier Hecate G2000 Pro speakers through their paces, testing them while gaming and listening to lossless audio via my PC and via Bluetooth on my phone.

In gaming, the sound is clear and positional audio cues are easy to detect. The 7.1 virtual surround sound is enabled via the Xear software and does some heavy lifting in games that have good positional audio composition; however, in games that have more of a stereo soundscape, the 7.1 just seems to add echo and reverb to the mix, and doesn’t sound good at all. While playing Battlefield 6, I was impressed with the volume and gravitas of the cinematic explosions and sound of crumbling infrastructure, with individual sounds of gunfire and footsteps easily identifiable in the chaos. My set of Logitech speakers that I usually use on my gaming PC includes a subwoofer, so the bass rumble of explosions is far greater — with the desk and room vibrating when the volume is high. You won’t get that with the Edifier Hecate G2000 Pro, but the rumble is still impressive for a small 2.0 speaker setup, and the clarity and depth of the soundstage are impressive.

There is no port for a subwoofer on the G2000 Pro, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for what are essentially a pair of bedroom PC speakers. Being able to watch a movie or play games without waking up the whole house or even your neighbours gives these speakers a valuable niche, but they still have enough power with 32W total output power to turn up the volume and blast some tunes when the timing is right. You can add some dynamic bass boost via the Xear software, but I found that sound from the speakers without the added bass was far superior, with the default flat EQ offering the best experience.

Inside the Hecate G2000 Pro is a single 3-inch speaker driver. It does a great job for just one driver, but not having any separate tweeters or high-frequency speakers means it’s trying to accomplish quite a bit. The overall soundscape suffers slightly because of this, with some muddying at lower volumes — but only slightly. The overall sound is superb for a pair of small mid-range desktop gaming speakers, with an excellent soundstage and big sound not relative to the size of the G2000 Pro. Obviously, they aren’t as bottom-heavy as a 2.1 system with the lack of a dedicated subwoofer, but the bass is still impressive for such small speakers.

Specs

Features and Software of the Edifier Hecate G2000 Pro

One of the best aspects of the Hecate G2000 Pro is the number of connectivity options you have for your audio sources. There’s an AUX port that I used to connect to my sound mixer, a USB-C port for connecting directly to the PC (included USB-C to USB-A cable plus a USB-A to USB-C adapter) via USB-C or USB-A, and also a Bluetooth connection. Although the speakers work flawlessly when connecting via Bluetooth, I did find the source audio wasn’t as clear as it was via the AUX or USB connection. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack located on the rear if you want to connect a pair of headphones — and you can enable 7.1 surround for the headphones in the Xear software options.

The downloadable audio software for the G2000 Pro is very basic. Right-click on the speaker icon for interactive actions, and you can enable/disable the EQ, Dynamic Bass, Audio Brilliant, Smart Volume, and Voice Clarity; there’s also a separate 7.1 surround option for use with headphones through a connection on the speaker. You can also change the lighting without having to use the buttons on the speakers themselves. A volume slider is included, but it's completely unnecessary with the physical buttons on the speakers and various Windows OS volume controls. Most of all, the small selectable UI elements make for a terrible experience; the radial buttons are tiny and an annoyance.

I also found that making any changes to the lighting managed to disrupt any music that was playing on Spotify, so there are some software conflicts there. To be honest, you do not need this software at all to use these speakers on a Windows PC, and I could not notice any discernible improvement in sound quality when listening to music. The 7.1 audio in games is okay if the game supports it, but leave it off in a game that doesn’t; the sounds you hear can be pretty terrible.

Bottom Line

For a mid-range set of speakers at $249 MSRP, the Edifier Hecate G2000 Pros are pretty good. They are an improvement over the Edifier G2000 speakers ($109 MSRP) in power output, driver size, and pretty lighting, but do lack the ability to connect a subwoofer. The sound quality, clarity, and loudness are impressive for the speakers' size, and these speakers sound great even without the added PC software. They are loud enough for any bedroom gaming setup and will appeal to anyone who loves to add a little RGB illumination to their gaming space. The transparent speaker enclosure is novel and looks great, and definitely offers something unique to any battlestation.

One of the simplest upgrades you can make to your desktop setup is a pair of the best PC speakers, many of which are on sale now as part of Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days. We've tracked down six of the best deals on speakers we've tested, some of which are among the best we've tested on the market.

If you want an alternative to headphones or don't want to keep relying on your monitor's junky internal speakers, you need a dedicated pair of PC speakers that you can use for listening to music, watching movies, and of course, playing games. The picks below are all compact, stereo speaker systems that should easily fit on most desktops — though there are larger surround sound systems available, like the SteelSeries Arena 9, if you have the space (and cash) to spare.

• Check out all the PC speaker deals on Amazon

Starting with an old favorite of Tom's Hardware, the Creative Labs Pebble V2 are about as simple and straightforward as PC speakers come. We've seen them for a couple of dollars less before, but at just $28 for a 2.0 stereo set of speakers, it's hard to complain. The speakers connect via USB-C (power) and 3.5mm (audio), and there's a volume dial on the front of the right speaker for quick adjustments.

We've reviewed the Pebble Pro set, which comes with an optional power boost to round out the low-end, as well as modern wireless connectivity with Bluetooth, but they're around $60. For a no-nonsense set of speakers that you plan on exclusively using with a desktop, however, the base Pebble V2s remain our go-to option.

Up a step in quality, you can save a solid 27% off the Edifier G2000 speakers, which currently rank as our best set of PC speakers for 2.0 gaming. With 32W of peak power, the G2000s are substantially more powerful than what you get with the Pebble V2, helping to deliver better low-end performance out of the 2.75-inch drivers.

In addition to USB and 3.5mm connections, the speakers also support Bluetooth, and there's an optional input for a subwoofer if you want to expand to a 2.1 stereo setup in the future. This is the first time this pair of speakers has dropped below $80 this year, with the set mostly selling for around $90 and $100 on sale, so now's a great time to pick them up.

If you're after the illustrious Audioengine A2+ speakers, they unfortunately aren't on sale right now. The Edifier M60 set does a decent impression, however, and they're half the price right now at $149.99. Peak power is more than doubled compared to the G2000, up to 66W peak with the internal Class-D amp; the drivers are enlarged to 3 inches, and Edifier includes a 1-inch tweeter to help separate the high-end frequencies.

For connections, Edifier includes USB-C, 3.5mm, and Bluetooth, and the speakers come with a pair of aluminum stands that angle the drivers up toward your ears at 15 degrees (an extra with Audioengine speakers).

For around the same price, you can pick up a pair of the GX-10DB speakers from the Japanese brand Onkyo. These speakers are similar to the M60 set, featuring a 3-inch driver and 3/4-inch tweeter, though with a lower 30W of total power through the Class D amp. Onkyo also includes 3.5mm, USB-C, and Bluetooth inputs, along with an optical input and an RCA output for a subwoofer.

The main reason to go for the Onkyo's is the enclosure and DSP chip, which is better than what you get with the Edifier's. Both the white and black versions are on sale, and regardless of the color you choose, you get a pair of wood-finished angled stands and speaker grilles with the Edifier logo.

If you have a bit more budget, the larger GX-30ARC speakers from Onkyo are also on sale, and they currently rank as our top multi-use 2.0 PC speakers. They're virtually identical to the smaller GX-10DB set, just with larger 4-inch drivers and a bump up to 50W on the amp. Onkyo also includes an HDMI CEC input with these speakers if you want to us them with a TV or console.

You can read more about both sets of speakers in our Onkyo Creator Series review.

Stepping up once again to a 5-inch driver, the Fluance Ai41 speakers are on sale for around $255. Similar to the Edifier M60 set, these are modeled after Audioengine's A5 speakers, though they cost half the price right now. Plus, Fluance includes some extra goodies that Audioengine doesn't, such as a remote that controls volume, treble, and bass, in the box.

In our Fluance Ai41 speaker review, we found that the audio quality was excellent for the price, assuming you have space for larger speakers on your desktop. The speaker accepts RCA, Bluetooth, and optical inputs, and the two satellites connect with the included 18-gauge speaker wire.

At the high end, the OXS Thunder Pro soundbar is on sale for a solid $150. It's a 5.1.2 system with Dolby Atmos support, with the soundbar packing dual 3/4-inch tweeters, dual 2.5-inch full-range drivers, and four 1.5-inch full-range drivers. You can optionally purchase a neck pillow with two additional 1.75-inch drivers, though we found the neck pillow to be mostly a gimmick in our OXS Thunder Pro review.

Although the soundbar is angled toward PC, it includes two HDMI inputs (one of which supports eARC), a USB-C and USB-A connection, a microphone and headset input, as well as a separate 3.5mm audio input. OXS also includes a wireless remote, as well as a wired desktop volume rocker.

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The resurgence of physical media has been in full swing in the alternative music scene for a while. Nowadays, likely as an effect of streaming services' shenanigans, even mainstream audiences are catching on to the tactile experience and ownership offered by a CD or a vinyl record. We covered the Syitren RM1 CD player frame only a few weeks ago, and now the concept is back in full-system form thanks to Trettitre's Retro Ambient Sound System (RASS).

The spiffy-looking setup comprises a vinyl turntable with RGB backlighting, a compact disc player, and a cassette player — all atop a magnetic metal rack complete with a phone holder. The star of the show is the record player, a unit packing an actual Audio-Technica AT-3600L phono cartridge, a self-balancing tone arm, and even a manual speed knob for up to ±5% adjustment. There's Bluetooth support with high-end AptX, AptX HD, and AptX Adaptive codecs, as well as an auxiliary 3.5 mm output.

The physical controls appear to be both simple and reassuringly sized — no menus or touchscreens here. Hi-fi vinyl player units do spend a large portion of their mechanical design on ensuring full vertical stability, however. The vertical orientation of this TTT-LP3 unit is almost a worst-case scenario for this task, so the self-balancing tonearm has its work cut out for it. It's worth noting that since all the components are magnetic, you can just pick them up and put them on a table.

The units are all fully wireless and attach to their frames magnetically, though there's no combined charging mechanism or power supply — each unit has its own battery, USB-C charging port, and Bluetooth connection. The TTT-LP3 record player does have the ability to charge wirelessly with the included T-shaped adapter.

The TTT-DP3 CD player's interface looks to be straightforward. There are physical buttons with individual shapes, and a small OLED screen for displaying track information. The dust cover atop the disc is also magnetic, which is quite a nice touch. Oddly, though, the specs do not list high-end audio codecs for this unit, a strange choice given that CDs have by far the widest sonic range of the physical media types on offer.

As for the TTT-CP3 cassette player, there's not much to say, in a good way. The buttons are decidedly chunky and inviting — one can only hope they elicit the same satisfying clunk as in old-school hi-fi units. As with the CD player, there's no mention of high-end audio codec support, but cassette tapes aren't known for low noise floors or pristine treble, anyway.

You can preorder Trettitre's Retro Ambient Sound System at Kickstarter for $399 if you're quick, with $76 shipping, under the "late pledge" or "early bird" headers. After that, the unit will set you back $429. The individual components are also available if you don't want to grab the entire setup.

With subscription services on the rise, it's probably not surprising that many people are seeking reassurance in the physicality and immutability of tangible media such as game cartridges, vinyl records, and CD players. So the Syitren RM1 CD player frame should fit right in. A lot of people seem to agree, as the $109 player has already collected over $540,000 on its Kickstarter — well beyond the initial goal of $3,000.

The RM1 is a compact disc reader fully encased in a transparent "borderless" acrylic frame, ready for hanging on a wall or sitting on a shelf. The components and mechanical parts are all fully visible, and the transparency extends to the read head assembly, battery compartment, and onboard buttons. There even appears to be a backlight LED under the moving harness for added visual appeal.

To fully avoid pesky cables, the unit is capable of Bluetooth audio output and uses a rechargeable 2000 mAh battery in an 18650 size that should be good for six to eight hours of playback and charges in one to two hours via a USB-C port. The unit is capable of reading standard CDs as well as data discs with MP3 files, just like in the good old days before subscriptions. There's also a 3.5-mm output jack if you want to wire the audio out to a separate unit.

Those who lived through the 90s and 2000s will notice design cues taken from the iconic Bang & Olufsen Beosound 9000 tower CD player/changer, which was always visible in movies and shows where the set director said: "We need a futuristic-looking piece of audio gear."

Syitren's offering isn't the only one of its type, with its main competitors being the Coolgeek M1, the Clearframe CD Player, and the Moondrop Discream 2. All share the same root concept of making the CD and mechanical parts visible, though in my personal opinion the RM1 has the best execution. It does seem to be aimed at nostalgia and industrial design lovers rather than audiophiles, and for its affordable price, that's a perfectly fine bar to clear — especially considering the convenient, cable-free nature.

The claims of "hi-fi" audio output merit some inspection, though, as digital mediums live and die by how they're turned into physical signals. Over Bluetooth, the unit only supports SBC (baseline) and AAC codecs, with modern protocols or lossless transport notably absent. The wired output specs say "over 70 dB" of dynamic range, THD (distortion) "under" 0.1%; these figures are lower than even early desktop CD players.

These days, even an affordable audio interface such as my Audient Evo 4 is orders of magnitude better, with a dynamic range of 113 dB (remember, decibels are logarithmic) and THD under 0.0015%. That said, the RM1 should be fine for use with compact Bluetooth speakers — just don't expect a grandiose experience when hooked up to bigger amplification.

You can preorder a Syitren RM1 at Kickstarter for $109 just for the main unit, or $139 with the firm's N200 Bluetooth speaker that's dressed in Braun-inspired design cues. $169 gets you two RM1s ($84.5 a piece), and you can get a four-pack for $319 ($79.75 each). If you just want the N200 retro speaker, you can purchase those separately for $59, in beige or black colorways.