Okay, so I recently got into these Edifier speakers, the R1280DB and the R1280T. I wanted to see what the fuss was all about, and whether there was any real difference between them. Honestly, I just wanted some decent sound without spending a fortune.
First off, I unboxed both of them. They looked pretty much the same, you know? Like, side by side, I couldn’t really tell them apart. They both had this classic, kind of old-school look, with a wooden finish. Blackwood is what they call it, I think. Nothing fancy, just simple and they seemed like they’d fit in anywhere in my room.
I hooked them both up to my computer. Now, the R1280DB, that one has these digital inputs, which are supposed to be better for sound quality. They say it’s less prone to interference and all that. The R1280T, it just has the standard RCA connections. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just a more basic way to connect.
- I played some music through the R1280DB first, using the optical input. Sounded pretty good, I gotta say. Nice and clear.
- Then I switched to the R1280T, using the regular RCA cables. Also sounded good! I mean, I’m no audiophile, but I couldn’t really tell a huge difference.
I messed around with the controls on both. They both have these knobs on the side for volume, bass, and treble. Pretty standard stuff. I tweaked them a bit to see if I could make one sound better than the other. Honestly, they both sounded pretty similar to me even after messing with the settings. They were both loud enough to fill my room, and the bass was decent. Nothing earth-shattering, but good for what I paid.
Connectivity
Here’s where things started to diverge a little. The R1280DB has Bluetooth, which is pretty handy. I could connect my phone and play music wirelessly. The R1280T doesn’t have that. It’s strictly wired. For me, that’s not a deal-breaker, but it’s something to keep in mind. Also, the R1280DB has a coaxial input, which the R1280T doesn’t have.
So, after playing around with them for a while, I realized that for me, they were both pretty much the same sound-wise. I’m sure someone with super-sensitive ears might be able to tell a difference, but for the average person like me, it was hard to discern any significant change in audio quality. The R1280DB has those extra connections, which is a plus. But if you don’t need Bluetooth or those digital inputs, the R1280T is probably just fine. It’s a bit cheaper, too, as far as I can tell.
In the end, I decided to keep the R1280DB, just because I liked having the Bluetooth option. But really, I think either one is a solid choice if you’re looking for some decent-sounding bookshelf speakers that won’t break the bank. My little experiment proved to me that you don’t always need the fanciest or most expensive option to get good sound. Sometimes, the simpler, cheaper option does the job just as well.