Wow is thes two speakers I have going on today going to be tough! These are two very comparable speakers that I am putting head to head today. I have had the pleasure of using both the Klipsch The Sixes and the Edifier S3000Pro for a while so I really did put them through their paces and try out some of my favorite albums on them. At the end of the day, I am just a music (and movie) lover, so do not take what I am saying as gospel! Think of this as just one guy’s honest opinion, I always advise people to do as much homework as possible before spending hundreds of dollars on anything!
The Price
We have to start this comparison battle off by looking at the price you can be expecting to pay for these. These are two high-quality speakers so if you think you are getting these for around the 100 bucks mark, you are very mistaken. Still, as far as higher-quality speakers go, I feel that these are two that do offer fantastic value for money.
Klipsch The Sixes:
We are starting with the Klipsch The Sixes. As I write this on Amazon you can get the Walnut Veer versions for $549. The Ebony version (which is the one I tested) will cost you slightly more at $579. I have to be honest and say that for my personal taste, I would have to spend the extra 30 bucks and get the ebony version. To be fair, neither of these is a bad price at all. Want to know something weird? I had a look on eBay and I could not find these on there at all. They have tons of Klipsch The Fives on eBay, but none of The Sixes which I found very odd.
Edifier S3000Pro:
Next up we have the Edifier S3000Pro. On Amazon right now these are priced at $799.99 which is quite a leap up from the price of The Sixes isn’t it? Edifier to be fair are all about premium sound so the asking price for these on Amazon did not surprise me at all. Of course, I did have a look on eBay to see what these things are going for on there. There are more than a few of these on there, but to be honest with you, you are not actually saving anything. Heck, some are even more expensive than they are on Amazon. I think if you were to shop around you might be able to save a few bucks, but nothing significant.
The Verdict:
I have to start by saying that I do not think that $799.99 is out of line for the Edifier S3000Pro at all, I think when you consider just who Edifier are and what their pedigree is, what they are asking is reasonable. However, I do have to say that I feel The Klipsch The Sixes takes this round.
The Design
Now, this is the round I am very excited for in this speakers battle. These are two very cool looking sets of speakers, but they each have a special and unique style and they are both styles which I find very cool! Even as I write this intro, I am not sure which way I am going to go here!
Klipsch The Sixes:
As I said before the Klipsch The Sixes come in two different designs. There is a walnut version, but the one I am specifically talking about here is the ebony design. The dimensions of these are, 11 x 8.6 x 16.75 inches so they are a good size, but at the same time they do not take up a ton of space. Check out this short, Klipsch’s The Sixes – Unboxing video if you want to get a closer look at these. The whole design of these is just so cool and kind of retro. The speaker grille takes up the majority of the front of the speakers and that is a design I do like. Underneath the speaker grill, you have a little brass style plate, one of the speakers has the Klipsch logo on it and the other has your power switch and dials. It is a design I think is very cool and the wooden feet they sit on also help add to the personality of the speakers.
On the top, we have a flat surface with these four brass-colored holes which does not sound like much, but that little sprinkle of color really does look awesome. On the back of the right speaker, you have your hookups, your standards that you would expect are here, but there is also an optical and a USB port on here too which is pretty cool. The speakers have a nice weight to them and feel very “premium” when you take them out of the box. They come with a standard Klipsch remote control that has a slim profile it has all the buttons you need, including a handy Bluetooth button to easily connect it to your phone or whatever.
Edifier S3000Pro:
Before I was sent the Edifier S3000Pro to check out, I thought they were going to be much bigger than they are. The dimensions here are 10.55 x 9.13 x 14.02 inches which put these in a comparable size (give or take an inch or two) with the Klipsch The Sixes. These have that Edifier classic style to them and I was just in love with these as soon as I took them out of the box. I do not think I have used a set of Edifier speakers that have not wowed me! These have a classic woodgrain style to the sides of the speakers that I really do like, it makes them look like speakers my grandparents would have used. I also really like the four small circular brass colored feet that they sit on. The grill on the front is kind of weird, it can be removed, but you need Hulk like strength to do so and it is kind of at odds with the retro style the speakers have. I do not hate it, but I think a grill similar to what The Sixes have might have been a better design choice here.
I do like the minimalistic look on the front though, no dials or switches here to get in the way of the flow of the design. Around the back of the speakers, you have your dials, power, and connection options on the right speaker. No matter how you want to hook these up, Edifier has you covered. Bluetooth, optical, coaxial, auxiliary, and balanced inputs await you here so you can connect your turntable and also have your phone connected to it via Bluetooth if you want to quickly stream some music. I really love the remote that Edifier gives you with this. While the speakers have a kind of retro look to them, the remote has a very sleek and modern design. It gives you quick access to the various hookups and it even has some fun sound presets that you can play with.
The Verdict:
While I like both speaker designs, I think that I am giving this round to the Edifier S3000Pro. I like what the Klipsch The Sixes are offering, but the classy style that the S3000Pro has really made me like them the more I looked at them. However, I do have to be honest and say that if these were my speakers I had out on display all the time, I would have to remove the grill. This could be just me being weird, but I think they look far better without that grill on there.
The Sound
We come to our main event in this epic comparison contest. Now, I tested these out with my Sony PS-LX310BT Wireless Turntable and they both impressed me. I do have to say that sound is very subjective and the difference here is very minimal so keep that in mind.
Klipsch The Sixes:
Man, the Klipsch The Sixes really did impress me right out of the box. While I listen to pretty much any kind of music, I consider myself a rocker at heart, and for the 80s and 90s rock music, these speakers just blasted the songs right into my heart. It was the way that the instruments sounded that really hit me, man! The first record I tried was Use Your Illusion II by Guns n Roses (I prefer this over Use Your Illusion I) and as soon as Civil War kicked in with the “My Hands Are Tied” I was like hell yeah and I cranked the volume up even louder. Which, by the way, I am very happy to say these speakers did not falter with at all. Even at louder volumes, the clarity was amazing and the bass, oh my goodness do these have rocking bass!
I am a huge Guns n Roses fan, but the next record I tested out was Contraband by the supergroup Velvet Revolver which featured members of Guns n Roses, I really wish that this group could have done more music together as this album is awesome. Also, this is a band that my wife actually likes too so I got her to listen to it with me and she was also very impressed with how good these speakers sounded. I did also test out the Bluetooth connectivity with them as well and was impressed there too. I am not a massive fan of streaming music, but I get that the convenience of it is great and it sounded good enough to me. My wife streams the majority of the music she listens to and she had no trouble with getting these paired to her phone or with the sound quality.
Edifier S3000Pro:
The main question you are probably asking about the Edifier S3000Pro speakers is if they are worth that extra couple of hundred bucks when it comes to the sound. I think that the sound quality these provide is very similar to the Klipsch The Sixes. Have a watch of this Edifier s3000pro sound test and you can hear them in action. I kept all of the settings at their default when I first tested these out with Jane’s Addiction: Alive At Twenty-Five – Ritual De Lo Habitual. I am a massive fan of this band and still think Dave Navarro is one of the coolest dudes around. I skipped to the track, Jane Says and I was very impressed. I became even more impressed when I played around with the various settings and got the sound even more to my liking. By the way, I have to give Edifier major props for how easy they make tinkering with the sound on these speakers.
Another album I want to give special mention to that I listened to with these is Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park. I was so into these guys when this album dropped, I was in my late teens and the perfect age for them. Of course, In The End, was the first track I had to listen to and Chester’s vocals were sublime! So good, in fact, it led me down a path of listening to more “vocal” centric music through these and I am happy to report that nothing left me disappointed. As far as streaming music goes, the sound quality there is great too, this is a feature my wife uses more often than listening to a CD or a record (hey I don’t get it either) and she was very happy with the way these worked.
The Verdict:
I hate to do this, but I do feel that a tie is the only way to call this round as the sound quality is so similar. I do think that if I spent more time with them that the Sixes may edge it out, but only just and after I had played around with the settings to get them just the way I want.
What Is The Best?
This is a really tough call and I have flipped between picking the Klipsch The Sixes and the Edifier S3000Pro many times as I try to come to a conclusion of which set of speakers I liked the best. Ok, so I am locking this in, I am going for the Klipsch The Sixes, while I do prefer the design of the Edifier S3000Pro speakers, I just do not think that they are 200 bucks better looking if you get what I mean. At the end of the day, you cannot go wrong with either of these speakers, but for me, Klipsch is the winner here…. But only just!
