Edifier QR65 Review: Speakers That Killed My Desk Charger

Edifier QR65: The Short Version

The Edifier QR65 sounds like a $400 pair of studio monitors, charges your laptop at 65W, and looks like it belongs in a sci-fi movie. That’s a lot of things in one product, and somehow most of them work. Three weeks on my desk, and my standalone GaN charger is in a drawer. If you want one fewer brick and one more reason to stop wearing headphones at your desk, check the current price on Amazon.

Why My Desk Had a Charger Problem

I already reviewed the CukTech 15 and it solved my charging mess. Then I started looking at my desk from across the room and counting boxes. Monitor. Speakers. Charging station. Laptop stand. Hub. That’s five separate things, four of them with their own power cables.

What if the speakers were also the charger?

I’d seen the QR65 floating around Chinese audio forums for months. Edifier isn’t some unknown brand there. They’re publicly traded on the Shenzhen exchange, founded in 1996, and they own STAX, the headphone company that audiophiles get religious about. When they put GaN charging inside a speaker, I figured it wasn’t a gimmick.

Three weeks in, the CukTech sits in my office drawer. At home, the QR65 handles both jobs. One product, two problems solved, one fewer cable.

What You Get

The aluminum stands come in the box. This matters because Audioengine charges $35 for theirs separately, and most competitors either include plastic feet or nothing at all.

How the QR65 Desktop Speakers Sound (And Why LDAC Matters)

70W across four drivers at desk distance is more than enough. Let me put it differently: I had to turn the volume down to 40% for late-night coding because the bass was vibrating my monitor.

The 2-way setup does what it should. Treble is clear without being sharp. Vocals sit in the right place. Bass reaches down to 55Hz, which isn’t subwoofer territory, but it’s deep enough that I don’t miss a sub for Spotify at my desk. Electronic music, podcasts, game audio, all solid. I spent an evening A/B testing against my old Creative Pebbles and, well. It’s not even a conversation.

Here’s the thing about LDAC. Most Bluetooth speakers claim “Hi-Res” and then use SBC or AAC codec, which maxes out at 320kbps. LDAC pushes up to 990kbps at 24bit/96kHz. I connected my Pixel via LDAC and played the same FLAC file over LDAC wireless and USB-C wired. Could I hear the difference?

Honestly, barely. Maybe on very quiet acoustic tracks. But the point is that the wireless path isn’t a bottleneck anymore. You can ditch the cable between phone and speakers without guilt. For someone who switches between laptop USB audio during work and phone Bluetooth during breaks, that flexibility is genuinely useful.

65 Watts of “Wait, My Speakers Can Do That?”

This is the feature that made me buy the QR65 over every other desktop speaker.

The right speaker has a built-in GaN charger. Two USB-C ports at 65W each and one USB-A at 60W. I plug my MacBook into USB-C1, phone into USB-C2, and earbuds into USB-A. Three devices charging from my speaker. No separate charger. No extra brick on the power strip.

I measured USB-C1 delivering 63.4W to my MacBook Pro 14" using my USB power meter. (Yes, I bring a USB power meter to speaker reviews. I’m that kind of person.) That’s enough for full-speed charging on a 14" MacBook. A 16" MacBook Pro would want 96W, so it’ll charge slower than a dedicated brick, but still charge while in use.

The GaN runs warm under load. Not hot. I checked the speaker surface near the charging ports after two hours of dual-laptop charging: about 38 degrees Celsius. Perfectly fine.

Actually, wait. I want to be precise here. That 65W per USB-C port is the max per port, but total GaN output is shared. I haven’t hit a scenario where all three ports throttled simultaneously, but I also haven’t tried charging two laptops and a tablet at once. For a normal desk setup of laptop + phone + one accessory, it’s plenty.

The Stuff I Don’t Love

No desktop EQ app. The Edifier ConneX app is iOS and Android only. No Windows app. No macOS app. If you want to tweak the EQ, adjust the lighting, or set up custom sound profiles, you need your phone. Every single time. In 2026, for a $370 product marketed at desk setups, this is a miss.

I emailed Edifier about a desktop app. Their response: “Currently not planned.” Cool.

The touch controls on top of the speaker are finicky. Volume up requires a light swipe, but “light” is doing a lot of work in that sentence. I’ve accidentally maxed the volume twice while reaching for my coffee. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s the kind of thing that makes you flinch.

$370 is a lot for Edifier. I know that sounds strange because the product justifies the price. But Edifier’s brand lives in the $30-$80 range in most people’s heads. The Edifier G1500BAR on our speakers ranking is $28. Telling someone to spend 13x that on the same brand requires a conversation. The product is good. The brand perception gap is real.

And they’re not small. 213mm tall per speaker. If you’re running a tight desk with a 27" monitor and a laptop stand, measure first. My dual monitor setup has room, but barely.

QR65 vs Audioengine A2+ vs Razer Nommo V2 X

The A2+ sounds about 10-15% better in the mids. I’ll give it that. But no Bluetooth LDAC, no charging, no included stands. Add the $35 stands and you’re at $334 for less functionality. The Razer is half the price but sounds like half the price and has no real wireless codec support. The Kanto doesn’t even have Bluetooth. None of the competitors charge your laptop.

Buy This If / Skip This If

Buy it if:

• You want to replace both your desk speakers and your desk charger with one product
• LDAC Bluetooth matters because you switch between wired laptop and wireless phone
• You’re willing to pay a premium for fewer boxes and cables on your desk
• The included aluminum stands and Infinity Mirror lighting fit your aesthetic

Skip it if:

• You need a desktop EQ app for Windows or macOS
• $370 for Edifier-branded speakers doesn’t sit right, even if the specs justify it
• Your desk can’t fit 213mm-tall speakers beside your monitor
• You already have a great charger and just want the best-sounding speakers under $300 (get the A2+)

Edifier QR65: The Bottom Line

8.5/10. Wait, let me break that down.

The QR65 is the first desktop speaker I’ve used that actually reduced the number of things on my desk instead of adding to it. Speakers plus charger in one box. LDAC wireless that doesn’t compromise audio quality. Aluminum stands included. 70W of clean, room-filling sound. For a company that owns STAX and has been making speakers since 1996, none of this should be surprising. And yet, at $370 with no desktop app, it feels like Edifier built a 9/10 product and shipped it with 7/10 software support.

Tom’s Guide gave it 4.5/5. Pocket-lint gave it 9/10. I’m at 8.5/10 because that missing desktop app costs it half a point, and the brand-versus-price tension costs it another. But the core product? Genuinely good.

If your desk setup philosophy is “fewer things, each doing more,” the QR65 is what Chinese internet calls 真香. You tell yourself $370 for speakers is crazy. Then your charger disappears, your cables halve, and you stop reaching for headphones during the workday. True fragrance.

Related: See where the QR65 ranks in our Best Desktop Speakers 2026 guide. For more on Edifier and Chinese audio brands, check our Chinese Brands Desk Gear Guide.

-> Check price on Amazon

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