Today I’m taking a look at a new desktop Speaker system from Airpulse, the P100X. I’ve been using the Edifier D12 speaker for a while but this P100X is a whole other level and I’m quite excited.

Airpulse is part of the Edifier family and not too long ago we tried out the Airpulse A80 speakers and they were great. This new speaker is an all-in-one desktop speaker system. Put it on your desk, on a bookshelf, and enjoy some music. 

Where Airpulse went for quite a modern look with the A80’s, they’ve gone for the opposite with the P100X, they’ve gone for an old school look, a very vintage aesthetic but obviously with modern tech. The speaker is 300x180x200mm in size and it’s got a very good weight to it as well. Perfect size to put in the corner of a desk, or on a sideboard, or slot into a section of a bookshelf. It comes in one finish and one finish only. Wood construction, I assume MDF with a real wood Walnut veneer wrapped around the top and sides, and a thick fabric cover to the front and back. The front cover does come off, if you prefer the exposed look and seeing the speakers work. The speaker sits on four rubber feet, raising it off any surface and also helping reduce vibration transfer.

To the front of the speaker, three knobs, one switch. Starting at the very left, a simple on/off switch to power the speaker. Then to the right, three rotary knobs, one for Bass, one for treble, and the last for volume. To the rear of the speaker, the power in port and one line in RCA input, nothing more. 

That leads me to the specification. There is a built-in amplifier, offering a total output of 60watts, 10watts to each tweeter, 40watts to the driver. There is a 4.5” aluminum diaphragm woofer, plus two air blade tweeters, which is a Patented design and actually looks really neat. Inputs, just that line in RCA input on the back, plus Bluetooth 5.0 with Aptx HD via the Qualcomm QCC3031 chipset. P100X features two pieces of TAS5805M Class D amplifier from Texas Instrument. One of the amplifiers is connected in BTL mode to drive the two Air-Blade tweeters, the other one is connected in PBTL to drive the woofer. 

In the box, you get the speaker, power cable which is about 1.5m long, RCA to RCA and RCA to aux cables, remote control and the user manual.  

Using the speaker is very straightforward, there isn’t much to it at all. Power on/off switch, then you can switch input sources by pushing the volume button. There is an indicator light, so when you scroll through to Bluetooth, the light will go blue. You either connect to your smart device via Bluetooth or hard wired into say a record player. Volume knob continuously rotates but obviously does max out, while the bass and treble knobs twist in notches but do not go a full 360, more 240degrees. There is a remote, so you can use that instead if you want. It’s got all the necessary buttons, it’s small, there isn’t much to it but it does the job. 

At just shy of £500 retail here in the UK, that’s quite an investment and it’s got to sound good right? Well, it sounds pretty darn good and I’m really enjoying turning this up really loud and listening to some of my favorite bands. Bass and treble tweaks are noticeable when rotating the controls and for me and the music I like, I went full bass so +3 and kept treble neutral at 0. A little concerning that’s the maximum bass available but I’m happy to say it was enough for the most part. Pretty well-balanced sound profile, low to mid/high volumes, plenty of bass to rumble your shelf, very crisp and bright sound, and you can tweak that down slightly if you wanted. Volume-wise, it can get very very loud, more than loud enough have yourself a bit of a party but I will say I was wanting a bit more bass at the maximum volume. 

Is it worth the money, it’s a tough one? Airpulse is trying to get into that mid to high-end market, with the likes KEF, Bowers & Wilkins, that kind of crowd and they’re definitely there or thereabouts. Audio performance was great, I can’t really fault it unless you’re absolutely blasting out music at the highest volumes, I like how it looks but can appreciate that wont be for everyone but I’m a bit disappointed with the connections and options. 

Can you pair this with another P100x for a stereo set up, no. Can you add a subwoofer this, no. There is only one input on the back, so only Bluetooth and one hard-wired connection, which may not be enough for you if you wanted a record player and a CD player. You have to way up the pros and cons and decide how you’d use it.

If you want to find out more or purchase, head over to the official Airpulse website.

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