Key Takeaways

Edifier's HECATE G5000 desktop speakers are solidly constructed, come with three unique sound profiles, and most of all, they sound absolutely fantastic.

Edifier's HECATE G5000 desktop gaming speakers are certainly not cheap, but when you spend a lot of time at your desk, investing in a quality speaker setup is practically a must. You can use these speakers for an immersive gaming or movie-watching experience, or just blast your favorite songs.

My favorite aspect of these desktop speakers from Edifier is how well they fill a room. With many speakers, even expensive ones like these, everything sounds great when you're right next to them. But as soon as you put some distance between you and the speakers, you lose the song's small, atmospheric traits. The HECATE G5000 speakers clearly define a song's nuances, even when you're all the way across the room.

I only wish that these speakers didn't have such a gimmicky "gaming" design. The sleek design and RGB lights, I can get behind. But the "gaming label" on the side? Yeah, that's not for me. But without further ado, here's everything I learned during my time testing Edifier's HECATE G5000 speakers!

Specs As Reviewed

• Frequency Response: 55Hz - 20kHz
• Woofer Driver (each):  4-inch Nomex mid-bass driver
• Tweeter Driver (each): 3/4-inch titanium-film dome tweeter
• Amplifier Output: 88 Watts
• Noise level: ≤25dB(A)
• Inputs: Bluetooth, AUX, USB, Optical, and Coaxial inputs
• Headphone Jack: No
• Bluetooth Version: 5.0
• Audio decoding: APTX HD, APTX, SBC
• Dimensions (each): 7.4 x 8.7 x 10.6 inches
• Weight (each): 18.3 pounds

Design: Each Speaker Features the Word "Gaming" on the Side

The first thing I noticed after unboxing Edifier's HECATE G5000 speakers was how heavy they were. A product being heavy isn't always an indicator of premium quality, but in the case of these specific speakers, it is. Each speaker contains aluminum side panels and a wooden enclosure that's undergone three cycles of polishing, grinding, and spraying.

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Moving past the speaker's internal construction, the external design elements are striking, but likely won't be for everyone. The word "gaming" is boldly shown off on the side of each speaker and then, there are four 360-degree surround RGB light strips. You can swap between eleven different ambient modes until you find something you like.

If you want speakers that'll serve as a statement piece on your desk, the HECATE G5000 speakers will certainly do that. But if you want something understated that just kind of blends into the background, these speakers might not be the perfect option for you.

Sound Quality: Wowza, Color Me Impressed

There are three unique sound modes to swap between for gaming, movies, and music. Unfortunately, there's no way to customize a sound profile with your preferred levels of bass or treble---you just have to trust that the three pre-set modes will perform well enough. Luckily, they do!

The only thing that bugged me about the sound modes was the voice who announced when a mode changes. You can't turn the volume of the voice down at all---either on the speaker itself or through any sort of app---but this wasn't the only weirdness I encountered with this voice. When she would announce entering "Movie Mode," she would say the word "mode" more as "mood" with a strong accent. I guess you could say that each sound profile is a mood all on its own, but I'm pretty sure that's not what Edifier was going for.

Starting with Game Mode, the speakers put more emphasis on deeper bass notes. The speakers are still able to catch higher frequencies and ambient sounds that Music Mode sometimes misses. When playing a game, I'd switch the speakers into either Game or Movie Mode, but definitely wouldn't ever use Music Mode because it doesn't sound as wide or full.

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I tested out Movie Mode by streaming a few clips of The Dark Knight, and it sounds more spacious than either Music or Game Mode. It's more immersive, picking up on little details like cars whizzing by in the background or a door slamming off-screen. When testing a single scene in the movie where a car zooms by, the sound gets buried in Game or Music Mode, but is clearly picked up in Movie Mode.

Dialogue between characters in The Dark Knight didn't really seem to change a whole lot between the three modes. Conversations sounded most clear in Movie Mode, but also the most quiet. It's as if you're having a true-to-theater experience, where in order for the dialogue to be loud enough to hear it, you have to put up with wall-shaking, intense action scenes when there are explosions or crashes. If you don't like this feature of moviegoing, I'd stick with Game Mode while watching a movie.

Even though these are marketed as gaming speakers, Edifier's HECATE G5000 speakers truly shine in Music Mode. To the speaker's ability to handle lower frequencies, I used a YouTube video with subwoofer frequencies. I know this isn't an official test in any way, but I was better able to test specific frequencies this way rather than just listen to a bass-heavy song. Edifier markets the HECATE G5000 speakers as responding to frequencies as low as 70Hz, but the speakers handled 60 Hz fairly well too. Anything lower was a no-go.

For songs, I tested Nothing is Safe by clipping., Time by Hans Zimmer, and Wasted Times by The Weeknd. In short, the speakers handled each song swimmingly. With every song at roughly 40 to 50 percent volume, they sounded full, well-balanced, and filled a large room effortlessly.

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With Nothing is Safe by clipping., the HECATE G5000 speakers caught all the little nuances within the song, like the high-pitched clangy notes in the song ringing out. On a smartphone, those notes that are meant to ring out and vibrate are just cut short. The song sounds like a voice and a beat on a smartphone, whereas it sounds like an experience on these speakers from Edifier.

The song from Hans Zimmer is from the movie Inception, and I used it to test the speakers because of its wide range of instruments and frequencies. On Edifier's desktop speakers, Time sounded spatially wide and I could hear all the instruments clearly. In the beginning of the song, there are these lower bass notes, and then as the song progresses, higher frequencies get mixed in. Edifier's speakers handled this beautifully. My laptop's speakers? Not so much.

Trying to listen to Time on my laptop started out okay, though I could only faintly hear the lower frequencies in the beginning of the song. As higher frequencies came through in the middle of the song, the bass notes disappeared. My laptop couldn't handle meshing different frequencies together nearly as well as the HECATE G5000, which is completely what I expected.

Wasted Times by The Weeknd sounded amazing on Edifier's speakers. Even at only 30 percent volume, the song filled the large room I was listening in, and it didn't distort one bit when I doubled the volume. The speakers handled the mixture of high and mid frequencies from The Weeknd's voice just as well as they did the lower bass notes. Through my laptop's Bowers & Wilkins rotating soundbar, the song sounded better than many other laptops and smartphones, but obviously not as good as Edifier's speakers. Absolutely none of the bass is there on my laptop, and it doesn't sound well-balanced because of this.

Verdict: These Speakers Make Everything Sound Wonderful

Edifier's HECATE G5000 desktop speakers sound fantastic and effortlessly fill a room with well-balanced sound, no matter what you're listening to. You can keep them directly connected at your desk or TV for regular use, but also hook up your phone via Bluetooth during a party. At $500, they are pretty pricey, but I think they're worth it if you're after this specific aesthetic and you have the money to drop on them.