AIYIMA S4000 Active Bookshelf Monitoring Speakers Review – Stunning Looks, Neutral Studio Sound
AIYIMA S4000 is a $189 USD pair of Active Bookshelf Speakers with a Studio Monitor design, PVC Veneer + 15mm wooden enclosure, a 25mm horn silk dome tweeter and a 4″ white honeycomb mid-bass driver. Today we will review the AIYMA S4000 and explore how it compares to the market, including comparing it with FiiO SA1.
Introduction
AIYIMA is not a household name for speakers, and they are best known for producing some of the most affordable hifi electronics, with a good build quality, exceptional price performance ratio, and usually a more spartan design. It is interesting to see such a beautiful pair of speakers designed by a company that usually makes streamers, but don’t worry, S4000 has a ton of advanced streaming features, making them a very good option for those who want both a beautiful set of speakers and a crisp sound.
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Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4tJBgNF
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c34ruO25
Build Quality – Design
AIYIMA S4000 are designed to be a studio monitor bookshelf pair of speakers, with a thick PVC Veneer + 15mm Thick Wooden enclosure. This makes them some of the speakers with the thickest frame that you can find around this price point. They also have a huge 25mm horn silk dome tweeter at the top, with high sensitivity, paired with a 4″White honeycomb mid-bass driver. At the back of each speaker, you will find an L-Shaped Bass Port, and they also come with a remote that connects to the speakers via BT protocols and has a 20 meter range. Amplification is handled by Dual TPA3118 Amplifiers for the midrange and the bass, and an AD82178 chip for the treble.
On the right loudspeaker you can find the AC input that supports both 100 V and 240 V voltages, an XLR input for the DAC line in and an RCA input also for the DAC line in. There is a Subwoofer output based on a single RCA connector and there are three wheels, one for volume control, one for treble control and one for bass control. Given the rather small size of the woofer, the company promises a bass response down to 45Hz, and with a thick MDF cabinet, S4000 aims to reduce resonance, while for those who prefer convenience, they come with a Bluetooth V5.0 Chipset. As AIYIMA also makes and sells a subwoofer, the 800X, you can purchase it alongside the S4000 to create a setup with a full-range response.
Technically, S4000 has a rated output of 40W + 40W, and they have a maximum power output of 50W + 50W. They also have a SNR or Signal To Noise Ratio of 85 dB and you can use either the RCA or the XLR input. Overall, S4000 comes with a rich set of features, has a superb design and considering the price point, they are some of the most complete speakers on the market.
Subjective Usage And Placement
Aiyima s4000 is a fairly simple active pair of speakers with extra bluetooth. They have an RCA, an XLR input and a bluetooth input. There is very little difference between the XLR and RCA inputs, but they do sound really good when powered via Bluetooth. Default cable is a very basic 2-Pin cable that is easy to replace, but the cable between the speakers is quite short, allowing you to mainly use them as nearfield monitors. Speaking of which, they have a somewhat narrow sweet spot and firing range, they have to be aimed at you, at about your height, for the sound to be right.
If you’re even slightly closer to one speaker, you can hear the entire soundstage image moving, the entire sound gets stronger on that side.Neither speaker doesn’t get hot even after hours of usage, and they can fill up a room, but they are best used in a smaller room as they do not have a lot of bass and can easily be overpowered in the low-end. This being said, they do have a very low self-noise and feel snappy, with a good overall usage. The design is most definitely stunning and I would keep them around just thanks to their beautiful look. Room treatment is important and they are sensitive to being in a room with good acoustics, sounding worse in a room with poor acoustics.
Sound Quality
Pairings – Although Aiyima S4000 is an active pair of speakers, they do not have a standard digital input and instead they have Bluetooth, RCA and XLR inputs. They sound the same if powered by the RCA or XLR inputs, but bluetooth has a slightly different sound. All of this being said, I have used a couple of DACs to power them including Luxsin X9 and FiiO Warmer R2R. They vastly prefer a warmer sounding DAC like FiiO’s warmer R2r than a neutral one.
Overall Signature – Aiyima s4000 sounds crisp, sharp and detailed. With a fairly natural soundstage, they have a very open default sound that has more treble than it has bass, and more upper midrange than lower midrange. You can fine tune this using the Bass and Treble adjustments at the back, but those are not adjustable from the remote. The remote does allow you to select the input, increase or lower the volume and to change songs if S4000 is connected via bluetooth to a smartphone / BT source. They almost have a flat response and are almost neutral in the studio style, with an analytical and clear sound.
Bass – At their default, bass is quite neutral, flat and it feels like s4000 was refined for a studio tuning. They are not one bit warm, not very engaging, and manage to present music as it is. At the back there is a bass adjustment wheel, which you can set to max, for a very slight increase in bass, around + 6dB at most. Using it still creates a fairly flat and neutral-ish sound, just with a bit of extra warmth and body to each instrument. S4000 has an analytical sound and will reveal details, micro details and micro dynamics well, bass is fast but shallow as it rolls off below 50 Hz.
Midrange – Vocals are flat, and at default those sound neutral analytical flat – neutral in style, so you can expect a cold, flat voicing. This works well for S4000 as it gives vocal space, they have a good amount of upper midrange, although regardless of the settings there is always a bit more upper midrange than there is lower midrange. S4000 works great for rock, metal but also for ACG and EDM. They work really well for monitoring, mixing and mastering, and are very good for a nearfield setup, feeling like they were not made for a far field listening experience. In fact, you cannot have a far field experience with them due to the short length of the cable that connects the speakers.
Treble – top end is crisp, sharp, and at default has a slightly silky texture. Treble extends up to 18 kHz, it has a strong presence, and using the treble adjustment wheel at the back creates a far brighter sound, upper midrange also gets stronger and S4000 feels always like it is bright more than it is warm. This is also caused by the very powerful tweeter driver which has a much larger size relative to the mid woofer, creating so much more impact and presence than the midwoofer ever could for the lower midrange and bass.
Dynamics And Textures – S4000 follows a neutral, monitoring style tuning with an analytical and technical edge, so they have a compressy dynamic range, they don’t reveal a lot of dynamics, and instead will sound quite flat, revealing textures and micro bits of information instead of focusing on contrast. They are great at revealing aliasing and clipping, making great studio and mixing monitors.
Loudness Saturation Gradient – You can get a decent volume from S4000, but you can’t push them too much, as the AMP inside can struggle. This being said, they can reach 100 dB and up to 110 dB in a smaller room, creating a sharp, open and airy sound. Bass does not get much stronger, and in fact the entire tuning is consistent across volume levels, leading to a similar experience regardless of what volumes you prefer. They have a low clipping and low self noise but they do sound best if setting them at max and using the DAC to set the volume.
Soundstage – Aiyima s4000 has a wide soundstage with a natural instrument separation. They don’t have a cutting-edge separation, but they have plenty, enough to keep music exciting and wide. Clarity is top notch and so is lateral separation. Layering is natural, not overly strong with more emphasis on technical detail and resolution than on spacing or creating an engaging or big sound.
Comparisons
Aiyima S4000 vs FiiO SA1 (189 USD vs 169 USD) – You don’t really have to worry about the price because if you wait and camp a bit, you might find the S4000 for the same price as SA1. This being said, S4000 is far prettier, but larger too, with a larger body, and they allow for more EQ to be processed. They consume about the same power in person. SA1 is smaller, easier to place in a tiny space, but not quite as pretty as S4000.
SA1 has smaller drivers so bass rolloff happens even earlier, but both have a sound that is mid centric, bright, sharp and crisp. Both have a sharp bass roll-off below 50Hz, so for the best results you will need an additional subwoofer, and both have an output for the said subwoofer. SA1 only has RCA inputs, but has USB input, while S4000 has no USB DAC input, but they do have bluetooth and XLR input as bonuses. Since they both have small drivers, I would pick the one that I prefer aesthetically, the sound is smoother and warmer at default for SA1, but to get the most out of both you have to use a bit of DSP and EQ.
Value and Conclusion
Aiyima S4000 might be the most affordable, most beautiful pair of speakers in the entry-level range with a driver of this size, and their value is unbelievably high. They are simply stunning and feel refined, high-quality, but they do not have a lot of bass, so I would recommend buying them only if you have a subwoofer of any kind to compensate for their limited bass extension.
This is the first pair of speakers I am reviewing from aiyima and I feel like the company is heavily underrated, as they have produced a beautiful pair of speakers, for a low price, but with a high resolution, clean and crisp sound. They might even make a subwoofer in the future, but even if they don’t, S4000 is one of the easiest to recommend entry-level speakers both for their beauty and top sound.
PROs
- Bright, Brilliant and crisp sound
- Sharp and well-defined
- Tonal balance is neutral, studio type of quality
- Strong instrument separation
- Absolutely beautiful
- Bluetooth sound is actually very good
- XLR inputs as well as RCA inputs
- Low to zero self noise
- Efficient and neat
- Good eq and fine tuning support
- At times resolution is so good, they reveal so much that I don’t even think what I’m hearing is part of the song
Cons
- Bass depth is limited due to the driver size.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4tJBgNF
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c34ruO25
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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