Audioengine A2+ Wireless

Sources split. PCMag (on a desk, angled up), AV Nirvana (angled desk stands) and TechRadar (head height) hear a balanced, even neutral, balance, and Twittering Machines hears it as rich and slightly plump on the desktop. Erin's anechoic measurement shows a clearly coloured speaker: an upper-bass bump near 200 Hz over a broad midrange dip, a swing of about ±3 dB. Several owners hear it as muffled or bass-heavy in the wrong way, and Amazon's sound mentions run 257 positive to 95 negative.

Everyone describes a small speaker's bass: punchy and clean for a 2.75-inch woofer, but with no real low end. PCMag and TechRadar say it lacks deep bass, headphone.guru says it can't carry bass-heavy music on its own, and Wirecutter, which once picked it, now says it isn't tuned to make up for its lack of bass. On a desk, Twittering Machines and AV Nirvana found it full and punchy for the size. Nearly every source, and several owners, say a subwoofer transforms it; there is an output for one.

“this is a system that doesn't deliver the truly deep lows”

PCMag

“Bass-wise, the A2+ was punchy and somewhat restrained.”

AV Nirvana (angled desk stands)

“it isn’t really tuned to compensate for its lack of bass”

Wirecutter

Mostly praised. TechRadar calls the midrange the system's sweet spot, headphone.guru hears vocals forward and clear, and PCMag hears rich low mids. The measurements temper this: Erin's data show a midrange dip that a desk only partly fills, and Archimago found male voices could lack fullness on the older A2.

“The mid-range is the sweet spot here.”

TechRadar

“They are front and forward at the listener with enough clarity to differentiate them from the rest of the music.”

headphone.guru

Smooth and clean: Twittering Machines calls the silk dome silky with no bite, AV Nirvana hears a pleasing touch of zing without fatigue, and TechRadar and PCMag find the top end clear. PCMag adds that the highs sound muted if the speakers sit flat and fire at your chest. Erin measured the tweeter range as fairly even on axis, apart from a shallow dip of about 2 dB between 3 and 5 kHz.

“that silk dome tweeter sounds, you guessed it, rather silky without a hint of bite”

Twittering Machines

“the speaker exhibited plenty of balance and a pleasing hint of top-end zing”

AV Nirvana

Good up close, limited beyond that. Twittering Machines found the speakers disappeared, and AV Nirvana heard real depth and width from under two feet away but an ordinary stage with the pair on a bookshelf. headphone.guru finds the stage narrower than full-size bookshelf speakers, and TechRadar never stopped hearing the sound come from the two boxes.

“These little speakers also do a fine job of disappearing”

Twittering Machines

“I was always aware sounds were emanating from the two shiny enclosures, rather than hanging in the air before me”

TechRadar

A consistent strength at the desk. TechRadar, AV Nirvana and PCMag all single out true stereo imaging and separation, which one-box Bluetooth speakers can't match.

“they’re capable of true stereo imaging, something of a rarity in the predominantly one-box Bluetooth speaker market”

TechRadar

“It's actually quite astonishing that such vivid imaging is possible when sitting less than two feet from a pair of speakers”

AV Nirvana

Clear and detailed for the size and price, according to TechRadar, AV Nirvana and headphone.guru.

“They definitely have a knack for detail retrieval.”

TechRadar

“the speaker maintained a tight delivery punctuated with satisfying levels of detail when pushed”

AV Nirvana

Loud enough at the desk, not beyond it. AV Nirvana, listening nearfield, pushed it into the 90 dB range without strain, and headphone.guru heard little distortion. PCMag heard some distortion in the deep bass only at maximum volume. Erin found the bass compressing between his 86 and 96 dB tests at 1 m and says it won't play loud beyond arm's length. TechRadar says it struggles in larger rooms, and owners report distortion at maximum volume or not enough level.

“The A2+ was perfectly happy accommodating louder listening conditions.”

AV Nirvana (nearfield desk)

“these speakers struggle to serve larger rooms”

TechRadar

“the A2+ at max volume sounds hella distorted and can’t be listened to that loud”

r/BudgetAudiophile owner

Sources agree it is a nearfield desk speaker: AV Nirvana heard the stage turn ordinary on a bookshelf, and TechRadar says it struggles to fill larger rooms. They split on how to set it on the desk. PCMag, TechRadar and AV Nirvana say to angle or raise the tweeters to ear level, because flat on a desk they fire at your chest and the highs are muted. Erin, measuring it, says to leave it on the desk below ear level, sit about 20° above the tweeter and toe it out slightly; on stands at ear level he heard the midrange dip. Twittering Machines preferred the fuller sound on the desk and found it leaner when raised on blocks.

Sources split. headphone.guru, with the volume knob at maximum in a silent room, heard only a faint trace of hiss at 12 inches. Some owners hear idle hiss, hum or crackle at desk distance, including an Amazon owner who heard it over Bluetooth and a Reddit owner who hears it from a few feet away at night; another owner says his was silent except when a Wi-Fi router sat next to it. Amazon's noise mentions run 14 positive to 25 negative.

A flexible set of connections for the size: Bluetooth with aptX (aptX HD on the Next Gen), USB audio, RCA and 3.5 mm inputs and a variable subwoofer output. TechRadar notes there is no digital optical input, no Wi-Fi and no multi-device Bluetooth, and there is no remote or tone control. Erin would like DSP to smooth the response.

“In other words, the system has excellent connectivity, considering it also connects via Bluetooth.”

PCMag

“They lack a digital audio input though.”

TechRadar

Sources split between reviewers and some owners. Reviewers found setup took minutes, and headphone.guru called the Bluetooth connection one of the fastest it had used. The only volume control is a knob on the back of the left speaker, with no remote. Some owners report Bluetooth that stops playing on a Mac or speakers that need a power cycle after reconnecting; Amazon's Bluetooth mentions run 33 positive to 24 negative.

Solid, well-finished MDF cabinets with a high-gloss or satin paint finish; AV Nirvana found them rock-solid and TechRadar premium, and Amazon's build mentions run 31 positive to 6 negative. AV Nirvana's one nitpick was unfinished surfaces inside the ports. Reliability reports are few: a Reddit owner's pair developed a rattle after four years, and Amazon's summary notes some units that stopped working.

“The cabinet is rock-solid, attention to detail is well above average”

AV Nirvana

“There’s nothing cheap looking about the A2+.”

TechRadar

Sources split. PCMag, AV Nirvana, Twittering Machines and TechRadar found it good value at $269 a pair, and Erin prefers it to a similarly sized $299 rival while noting that the Kali LP-UNF is much more even for $30 more, at twice the size. Several owners expected more for the money, and Amazon's value mentions split 61 to 54.