These speakers are considered as one of the best with their price range. They are only slightly more expensive than AE A2+ but comes with a subwoofer. In fact it’s a super solid subwoofer, but more on that later. Does that mean their sound quality below A2+? Many people would disagree. There are also many other 2.1 speaker systems from more recognized brands in the same price range that ended on my shortlist. The reason why I chose M50W in the end is because the brand comes from SQ-centric customers compared to more generic market. The design and finish define it as you can see below.

Unboxing photos

Early impressions

It could be because I had read so many rave reviews about the speakers prior to ordering them, but when I heard them for the first time, I felt they had been a bit overrated. They produced good sound, but still a tad below my expectation. However the local rep constantly reminded the customers to give them a burn-in time of minimum 100 hours before they will truly spark. Fair enough.

One thing that already caught my admiration was the subwoofer. Even though it can be considered compact with only 6.5″ driver, it pushes solid and round bass. It is surprisingly very heavy too, most of the 17kg packaging weight is from the sub. This alone concluded that I had made the right decision to picking this set over the A2+.

I am now in around 20 hours of burn-in time and have already been noticing the sound improvements. Even with low volume, I can hear most of the frequency ranges, an indication of high quality speakers. Can’t wait to hear when they have unleashed their true potential. I plan to write a full review after spending (a lot) more time with them. But for now, I am very happy with the Swans HiVi M50W and would recommend them to anyone looking for 2.1 multimedia speaker system in $200-$300 range.

The goods

• Superb finish, every piece uses high quality material
• Excellent subwoofer built and performance
• Looks awesome
• Can go really loud

The bads

• Initial listening might not show the true potential, require burn-in and some tweaking
• The satellite is just a tad big for a multimedia speaker at 14 x 14 cm, may require extra space on your desk
• Not easily obtainable in some countries

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