PreSonus Eris E5 BT Powered Desktop Speaker Review

The BT stands for Bluetooth, which depending on your need may be quite useful. I have these set up on my desktop, so Bluetooth is an interesting feature that isn’t as important as some other features of these speakers. Most of the wiring has stayed the same with the new E5 BT, so the only notable change is a new power cord, take note if you’re upgrading as you will need to run a new one (like I did) on your desktop. The biggest difference here is the bigger drivers and the overall sound. Let’s jump right into the review.

There is a lot of plastic like the previous model, but that’s not a bad thing, why fix it if it’s not broken, right? PreSonus finishes the E5 BTs in matte black on the front and they just disappeared nicely on my desktop. They have larger drivers, so the overall cabinet size is slightly larger, but still very compact. In the back are balanced and unbalanced inputs which I was not expecting at this price point. The acoustic tuning knobs were also a very welcome sight. On the front are Aux-in and Headphone outputs, just like the previous model. At just $249, these speakers look like a great value, but how do they sound? Let’s find out!

Audio Quality

This is what really matters, the audio quality. After setting up the Eris E5 BTs, I popped in some music and just started listening. I took full advantage of the acoustic tuning knobs on the back, leaving the high range unchanged for the most part but increasing the lows ever so slightly to see how it improved over the older models. The lows are much better, and the overall sound stage was excellent. You could definitely hear the improvements made in this model.

I did unfortunately have one issue with the speakers, they had a rather loud buzz that never went away right from the get-go. I tried a few things to fix it, even using the same cables I had with my current E3.5s, and no luck. Sadly, PreSonus wasn’t able to get me out another pair to fully test and listen to without the buzzing.

Now that doesn’t mean these were bad in any way, overall. Since they kept the new price quite reasonable, I feel the upgrade is worth it. Just make sure to take into account the slightly larger size and having to run a new power cord up into your desk. $250 is actually a great value for these and the added Bluetooth may be quite useful to you as well. Great job Presonus, the Eris E5 BTs are speakers worthy of the Presonus name.