Edifier Hecate G2000 Pro Review: Clear and Colorful

Why settle for ordinary when you can spice up your gaming setup with a pair of unique-looking RGB-laden desktop PC speakers? Edifier’s Hecate G2000 Pro speakers instantly stand out in both looks and sound, with the small desktop 2.0 speakers outputting a much larger soundstage than their size would have you believe. These versatile speakers are enjoyable for both gaming and music listening, and offer good value with plenty of connectivity options.

Design of the Edifier Hecate G2000 Pro

The design of the Edifier Hecate G2000 Pro 2.0 system has a different speaker design that I haven't really seen before: A squished and elongated hexagonal shape, with a clear, see-through speaker enclosure and bright RGB lighting. They look unique and modern, maybe even a little futuristic — and while I’m not a fan of the overuse of RGB lighting in general, I like them. (You can also easily turn the lighting off, so you aren’t left stuck with distracting flashing lights 24/7.) Both speakers aim the sound toward your ears with a 10° tilted angle built into the shape of the speaker, so there's no need for any angled desktop speaker pads or stands.

The right speaker contains all the tech, with controls on the top of the speaker — four rubberized silicone buttons — and power and connectivity options on the rear. The two speakers are connected by a hardwired 1.5-meter braided cord, which is plenty of length for most desk sizes. Large rubber feet on the bottom of the speakers soothe vibrations and stop the speakers from slipping around the space. The speakers are solidly built and feel very sturdy and weighty when you hold them.

On the rear of the speakers is the opening for the bass reflex port, a clear port that you can see inside the transparent speaker enclosure, and complete with a little mesh dust filter midway along the port to keep the inside of the enclosure clean.

Performance of the Edifier Hecate G2000 Pro

I put the Edifier Hecate G2000 Pro speakers through their paces, testing them while gaming and listening to lossless audio via my PC and via Bluetooth on my phone.

In gaming, the sound is clear and positional audio cues are easy to detect. The 7.1 virtual surround sound is enabled via the Xear software and does some heavy lifting in games that have good positional audio composition; however, in games that have more of a stereo soundscape, the 7.1 just seems to add echo and reverb to the mix, and doesn’t sound good at all. While playing Battlefield 6, I was impressed with the volume and gravitas of the cinematic explosions and sound of crumbling infrastructure, with individual sounds of gunfire and footsteps easily identifiable in the chaos. My set of Logitech speakers that I usually use on my gaming PC includes a subwoofer, so the bass rumble of explosions is far greater — with the desk and room vibrating when the volume is high. You won’t get that with the Edifier Hecate G2000 Pro, but the rumble is still impressive for a small 2.0 speaker setup, and the clarity and depth of the soundstage are impressive.

There is no port for a subwoofer on the G2000 Pro, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for what are essentially a pair of bedroom PC speakers. Being able to watch a movie or play games without waking up the whole house or even your neighbours gives these speakers a valuable niche, but they still have enough power with 32W total output power to turn up the volume and blast some tunes when the timing is right. You can add some dynamic bass boost via the Xear software, but I found that sound from the speakers without the added bass was far superior, with the default flat EQ offering the best experience.

Inside the Hecate G2000 Pro is a single 3-inch speaker driver. It does a great job for just one driver, but not having any separate tweeters or high-frequency speakers means it’s trying to accomplish quite a bit. The overall soundscape suffers slightly because of this, with some muddying at lower volumes — but only slightly. The overall sound is superb for a pair of small mid-range desktop gaming speakers, with an excellent soundstage and big sound not relative to the size of the G2000 Pro. Obviously, they aren’t as bottom-heavy as a 2.1 system with the lack of a dedicated subwoofer, but the bass is still impressive for such small speakers.

Specs

Features and Software of the Edifier Hecate G2000 Pro

One of the best aspects of the Hecate G2000 Pro is the number of connectivity options you have for your audio sources. There’s an AUX port that I used to connect to my sound mixer, a USB-C port for connecting directly to the PC (included USB-C to USB-A cable plus a USB-A to USB-C adapter) via USB-C or USB-A, and also a Bluetooth connection. Although the speakers work flawlessly when connecting via Bluetooth, I did find the source audio wasn’t as clear as it was via the AUX or USB connection. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack located on the rear if you want to connect a pair of headphones — and you can enable 7.1 surround for the headphones in the Xear software options.

The downloadable audio software for the G2000 Pro is very basic. Right-click on the speaker icon for interactive actions, and you can enable/disable the EQ, Dynamic Bass, Audio Brilliant, Smart Volume, and Voice Clarity; there’s also a separate 7.1 surround option for use with headphones through a connection on the speaker. You can also change the lighting without having to use the buttons on the speakers themselves. A volume slider is included, but it's completely unnecessary with the physical buttons on the speakers and various Windows OS volume controls. Most of all, the small selectable UI elements make for a terrible experience; the radial buttons are tiny and an annoyance.

I also found that making any changes to the lighting managed to disrupt any music that was playing on Spotify, so there are some software conflicts there. To be honest, you do not need this software at all to use these speakers on a Windows PC, and I could not notice any discernible improvement in sound quality when listening to music. The 7.1 audio in games is okay if the game supports it, but leave it off in a game that doesn’t; the sounds you hear can be pretty terrible.

Bottom Line

For a mid-range set of speakers at $249 MSRP, the Edifier Hecate G2000 Pros are pretty good. They are an improvement over the Edifier G2000 speakers ($109 MSRP) in power output, driver size, and pretty lighting, but do lack the ability to connect a subwoofer. The sound quality, clarity, and loudness are impressive for the speakers' size, and these speakers sound great even without the added PC software. They are loud enough for any bedroom gaming setup and will appeal to anyone who loves to add a little RGB illumination to their gaming space. The transparent speaker enclosure is novel and looks great, and definitely offers something unique to any battlestation.