Audioengine A5+ Speakers Review: Thunderous Sound, High Price

Last updated on 2022-09-19
By Yvonne

The Audioengine Audioengine 5+ Speakers Review: High Quality, Thunderous Sound and Expensive. Although the Audioengine A5+ speakers bookshelf are quite expensive, they have a great sound quality, an excellent soundstage, and can play your favourite music. In terms of sound quality, you won't find any better speakers.

Audioengine A5+ 2-Way Active Speakers

We like this

Solid build quality
Excellent audio fidelity
Booming bass
Aesthetic

The Things We Hate

Extremely expensive
To fully enjoy the experience, you will need a DAC

Although the Audioengine A5+ speakers are more expensive, they offer a rich soundstage and bring your content alive. The Audioengine A5+ speakers are among the best available.

This article explains.

Expand

Design
The setup process
High quality sound
Prices
Concurrence
Final Verdict
Specifications

Audioengine A5+ speaker were purchased by us to allow our expert reviewer to thoroughly evaluate and test them. Continue reading to see our complete product review.

Audioengine's A5+ speakers are one example of a rare case where the expensive price is offset by a performance level that exceeds what you might expect of a pair computer speakers. They are among our top-rated bookshelf speakers, with their powerful bass and excellent clarity as well as a sturdy build quality. These speakers can take everything, including your Spotify playlist and your vinyl collection.

Design: An eye-catching design

Attention is drawn to the Audioengine A5+. All black models, like the one we tried, matched our monitor flawlessly, but stood out from our desk. The speakers measure 10.8x7x9 inches (HWD), while the right measures 10.8x7x7.8 inches (HWD). The speakers were heavy, which was something that we noticed when they were being set up. They won't fall off the table, so they can be easily moved around. However, at 9.6 and 15.4 pounds, each speaker may cause injury if they do.

Each speaker has a 5 inch woofer, and 0.75-inch silk dome Tweeter. You'll also find a volume knob in the lower right corner of each speaker, next to the IR receiver and power indicator.

Although the Audioengine A5+ is a costly speaker, they are well worth it if your goal is high-fidelity sound.

All the outputs and inputs are located at the back. The right speaker has a wire input. It is a passive speaker. You'll find the remaining ports on the left speaker, including RCA and 3.5mm audio as well as power. There is also a USB charging port for your smartphone or other devices. You can connect any audio device to the Audioengine A5+.

The Audioengine A5+ speaker system is not only flexible, it's also extremely powerful. The 5-inch woofers can shake the house if you crank up the volume.

Setting up: How to get serious

Audioengine A5+ speakers are true. We mean that they can be used with any type of audio equipment because they are targeted for audiophiles. It is not as easy as plugging the Audioengine into your computer and pressing play.

The speakers come in cloth bags that can be opened to allow you to move them about without damaging them. A cloth cable bag will also be included. You will need speaker wire to connect both speakers. It comes with a 16AWG length of speaker wire. The wire is pre-stripped which makes it very useful. Be aware, however, that you will need to replace the damaged cable yourself if it gets cut. This can prove frustrating.

It's not as easy as plugging the Audioengine A5+ into your computer and pressing play.

The rest was easy once the speakers had been connected. The power was connected and an RCA cable ran from the speaker's right to the Audioengine D1 DAC. We were now ready to enjoy the music.

High quality sound:

We were skeptical about the Audioengine A5+ because it is a very expensive speaker set that doesn't offer much extra functionality. It was the most amazing audio experience that we have ever experienced. It lived up to all of our expectations.

The speaker specs show that each one has 130mm woofers, and 20mm tweeters. These speakers are loud and sound great, thanks to their 50W RMS power output and 150W peak power output. These ratings will allow you to turn these speakers up without worrying about damaging them.

We had a vision when we first set up the Audioengine A5+ that it would allow us to listen to music at maximum volume while at work. We were blown away by the loud sound of these speakers. These speakers will make you want to keep some distance from yourself before turning them up at maximum volume.

We were able to still hear the speakers, so we could test the A5+. The Audioengine A5+ was tested with Tidal using the HiFi plan. We connected the speakers with an Audioengine D1 DAC (digital to-analog converter), with RCA cables. This allowed us to see the speakers' capabilities and ensured there wasn't any bottleneck.

Audioengine A5+ speakers are not only great for music; any media that you listen to through them will be a vivid experience.

Joanna Newsom's album, 'Divers' was our first listen. After the first verse of the song 'Leaving The City,' the instrumentation explodes on the track. It was loud and clear, with the swells from harps, guitars, horns, horns, piano, and horns. Normally when testing speakers with complex tracks like this, some of the more subtle sounds bleed into each other—not so with the Audioengine A5+.

Joanna Newsom's music is certainly not mainstream, so we switched to pop music. Kim Petras' "I Don't Want it At All" was played to us. It was louder than the original, and it made us feel the bass. The chorus is when the bass hits its highest volume, but we still hear the full-range of the high-end.

We finally played M.I.A.Finally, we played M.I.A.'s "Come Walk With Me" to determine if the bass would cause problems with these speakers. The breakdown of this track is one of our most chaotic. It's a mess of different sounds and it was easy to hear every one. The intro was vibrant and clear, as were all of the background vocals. The Audioengine A5+ can play almost any type of music.

Audioengine A5+ speakers are not only great for music but also any other media. The Audioengine A5+ speakers brought life to everything, whether we were watching Season 8 of Game of Thrones or putting in some time into The Division 2.

Prices: Open your wallet

You will pay $399 for the Audioengine A5+ (MSRP), but this is a great deal. Although the price tag for this pair of speakers is high, it's not difficult to find comparable products. If you are looking for superior sound quality and price doesn't matter, the Audioengine Audioengine A5+ is the right choice.

Despite this, you can find many speakers that are within the same price bracket and of similar quality. The soundstage is what will make the difference. While some speakers are more studio-sounding, others have an effervescent sound that is perfect for entertaining. Speakers of this quality are expensive. If you're on a budget, you can get the job done for a quarter of the price—it just won't sound as good.

Audioengine A5+ vs. Klipsch R-15PM

The competition can be intense when you are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a pair speakers. Even though they are $100 less expensive than the A5+ at $499, the Klipsch R-15PM bookshelf speaker is the nearest rival. Klipsch speakers have more inputs that the Audioengine A5+ including optical and USB audio. The Klipsch speakers are slightly larger with a 5-inch woofer, and a 1-inch tweeter.

These speakers have a very similar sound quality. Although the Klipsch speakers are more sophisticated in their high-end, they suffer from a weaker bass. If you wish to achieve the same bass output as the Audioengine A5+ speakers you will need to pair Klipsch R-15PM speakers and a subwoofer. This is a difficult sell for 500 speakers. The Klipsch speakers will be better for jazz and classical music lovers. It all boils down to personal preference.

Audioengine's A5+ speakers have to be the most powerful computer speakers available. These speakers will give life to all multimedia content and games. You don't even have to pair them up with a subwoofer. Although the Audioengine A5+ is expensive, it's well worth it if you are looking for hi-fidelity sound.