Retro design serves the function, not the other way around
In the long conversation between beauty and utility, Edifier's D32 speaker arrives as a rare attempt at genuine reconciliation — a hand-crafted wooden cabinet evoking mid-century living rooms, quietly housing the most capable wireless audio technology available today. Released in mid-2024 at $169.99, it asks whether the objects we bring into our homes must choose between looking like the past and sounding like the future. The answer, it seems, is that they need not.
- The consumer audio market is crowded with speakers that either sound exceptional or look exceptional — the D32 enters as a direct challenge to that accepted compromise.
- Its 60W Class D amplification, LDAC streaming at 990kbps, and Hi-Res Audio up to 24-bit/96kHz place it in genuine competition with Sonos, a brand that has long defined the premium compact speaker category.
- An 11-hour battery in a speaker built like a piece of furniture creates an unexpected tension — it is too beautiful to carry, yet too free to stay still.
- At $169.99, Edifier is betting that the desire to display a speaker — to want it seen — is itself a purchasing argument that Sonos has never fully made.
Walk into a room and the Edifier D32 stops you. Its curves, wood grain, and accordion-style switch panel read as 1950s — the kind of object that looks borrowed from a vintage car dashboard or a mid-century living room. But pair your phone and the illusion shifts: what you're hearing is thoroughly modern.
The cabinet is hand-built from acoustically treated wood, housing a 4-inch midrange driver, two silk dome tweeters, and dual bass reflex ports. Dual Class D amplifiers push 60 watts total, and Hi-Res Audio playback reaches 24-bit/96kHz. Bluetooth 5.3 with LDAC codec streams at up to 990kbps — well beyond standard Bluetooth compression. AirPlay 2, dual-band Wi-Fi, aux-in, and USB-C round out a connectivity suite that leaves little uncovered. Edifier's ConneX app handles source switching and audio customization.
What makes the D32 genuinely unusual is its battery. Speakers with this kind of design presence are typically shelf-bound. This one offers 11 hours of claimed playback and weighs 3.04 kilograms — transportable, if not truly portable. It won't fit in a backpack, but it isn't anchored to a wall either.
At $169.99, it costs more than the Sonos Roam and approaches the Sonos Era 100's territory. Both Sonos options carry strong reputations for audio quality and multi-room flexibility. What the D32 offers in return is something harder to quantify: a reason to want the speaker visible. Whether that proves to be enough is the question Edifier is now asking the market to answer.
Walk into a room and the Edifier D32 stops you. It looks like it belongs in a 1950s living room—all curves and wood grain, with an accordion-style switch panel on the front that could have come straight from a vintage car dashboard. But plug it in, pair your phone, and you're listening to modern audio engineering: Hi-Res Audio support, LDAC streaming, AirPlay 2, dual-band Wi-Fi. The speaker is a deliberate collision between eras, and it works.
The cabinet is hand-built from wood and acoustically treated to tame unwanted resonance and distortion. Inside sits a 4-inch long-throw midrange driver paired with two 1-inch silk dome tweeters and dual bass reflex ports. The amplification is dual Class D, pushing 60 watts total—15 watts to each tweeter, 30 watts to the midrange and bass. That's real power for a speaker this size. Hi-Res Audio playback goes up to 24-bit/96kHz, and if you're streaming via Bluetooth 5.3, the LDAC codec will push data at up to 990 kilobits per second, which is substantially higher than standard Bluetooth compression allows.
Connectivity is thorough. Bluetooth 5.3 lets you pair two devices at once. There's an aux-in jack for wired sources and USB-C for charging or direct connection. Edifier's own ConneX app gives you source switching, playback control, and audio customization from your phone. You can also use Apple AirPlay 2 if that's your preference. The speaker comes in Black Walnut or White, and both finishes carry that same retro visual language.
What makes the D32 unusual is the battery. Most speakers with this kind of design aesthetic are meant to stay put on a shelf or table. This one has 11 hours of claimed playback time between charges, which means you can actually take it somewhere. The weight is 3.04 kilograms—about 6.7 pounds—so it's transportable rather than truly portable. It's not something you'd slip into a backpack, but it's not anchored to a desk either.
At $169.99, the D32 costs more than the Sonos Roam, which is currently the best-reviewed compact Bluetooth speaker in its class. But the Edifier delivers more raw power and a design that makes people want to look at it. The Sonos Era 100, which costs slightly more and is considered the best multi-room option for most households, came close to being the ideal flexible small speaker in testing—but it doesn't have the visual presence of the D32. The question now is whether the Edifier can match that audio quality while offering something the Sonos speakers simply don't: a reason to want it visible in your room.
Notable Quotes
Edifier positions the D32 as a high-quality wireless speaker that looks as good as it sounds, combining 1950s aesthetics with modern Hi-Res Audio and streaming features.— Edifier (product positioning)
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a speaker need to look like it's from 1950?
Because most of us spend our lives surrounded by screens and plastic. There's something about wood and analog controls that makes people actually want to look at the thing they're listening to.
But isn't the retro design just nostalgia? Doesn't it get in the way of the actual sound?
Not here. The wooden cabinet isn't decoration—it's doing acoustic work. It's treated to minimize resonance. The design serves the function.
So it's not a gimmick.
It's not. The accordion switches are real controls. The wood is real. The 60 watts of power is real. It's just that all of it happens to look like something from a different era.
What makes LDAC streaming matter if most people use standard Bluetooth?
LDAC gets you closer to the original recording. At 990 kilobits per second, you're losing less information than standard Bluetooth compression. If you have good ears and good source material, you'll hear the difference.
Is 11 hours of battery life actually useful?
For a speaker this size and weight, yes. You can take it to another room, to a patio, to a friend's house. You're not tethered to a charger. That's freedom most wireless speakers don't offer.
How does it compare to what people already know—like Sonos?
Sonos is the safe choice. The D32 is the choice you make when you want something that sounds good and looks intentional in your space.