We were a bit taken aback when Pioneer offered us a DJ monitor duo of all things to test. Actually has little to do with gaming. On the other hand, it is by no means a stupid idea to use two desktop speakers for sound reinforcement, especially on the PC. Especially if you are actually a DJ. Apparently, Pioneer itself was curious as to whether the alternative use of the speakers for gaming actually makes sense. Well, we were persuaded.
So why not think outside the box? Quite a few players use their desktop PC or laptop to gamble, but also to listen to music or watch films. The sound of a studio monitor could definitely work here. The Pioneer DJ DM-50D-BT are also available for a reasonable price of less than 240 euros, which is no more expensive than other desktop speakers that go beyond normal PC speakers.
A small aha moment appears when unpacking. The speakers are not lightweights, each weighing more than 3.5 kg. When lifted out of the box, the bulge in which the tweeters sit lures to be used as a handle. Stupid idea, because the tweeters are unprotected, there is no grille in front of them and with a bit of bad luck you will crush one of the sensitive membranes if you are not careful. We were. Gone stupid.
On the other hand, the two 175 x 262 x 257 mm speakers, available in black or white, cut a fine figure on the table. The design is appealing, the workmanship is very good, and the boxes are extremely robust thanks to their housing made of medium-density wood fiberboard with vinyl laminate. It's nice that the important controls (volume control, BlueTooth button, and headphone jack) can be found on the front of the left speaker.
The connections are also located on the left speaker on the back. Sounds logical considering that the Class D amplifier is also in the housing. The other speaker is fed via a connection cable with a clamping mechanism. The necessary cables are included. A 3.5 mm stereo jack, cinch, and 2x 6.3 mm TRS jack await you as connection options. So basically everything is there for operation via DJ controller and mixer, laptop, PC, or sound card. There is also BlueTooth as a wireless option, so you can also connect a smartphone or tablet.
In the housings, there is a ¾” soft dome as a tweeter, as well as a fat 5” woofer, which should get a lot of oomph from the bass reflex channels facing the front. The frequency range covers 54 to 30,000 Hz. The power is given as 25W per speaker. The membranes are fired by a class D amplifier with 96 kHz sampling DSP. This ensures a decent volume for sound reinforcement in smaller rooms. It gets ugly from about 90 decibels, until then the sound remains clear.
It is also worth mentioning that you can switch between a DJ and a production mode using the switch on the back. The former is said to have a bit more punch in the low end, while the other is said to emphasize the higher ranges a bit. In practical use, however, the difference is rather small. One shouldn't forget that the speakers actually belong to the lower price range for their actual use as DJ monitors.
Let's get to practical use on the gaming PC. Of course, we started with music first, so that we could get a general impression. The speakers cut a pretty good figure there with a balanced, clear sound that has a good punch, especially in the lower mids. The last bit of boom is missing in the basses, but that was foreseeable. The woofers in connection with the bass reflex channels still get a lot out of it, especially at higher volumes.
In films, the speakers please with good speech intelligibility, but also build a decent backdrop for more monumental sound works. When gaming, the speakers also deliver a very decent performance. Thanks to the strong mids, we particularly liked what sounds out of the membranes in action titles, but the speech intelligibility in games that are heavy on dialogue is also competitive. In practice, the Pioneer speakers turn out to be competent all-rounders.
CONCLUSION
Competent all-rounders at a fair price
Basically, the dynamic duo from Pioneer is definitely an option when it comes to gaming on a PC or laptop and if you want a little more punch and sound quality. If you listen to a lot of music in addition to gaming or are actually a DJ, you could be happy about the inexpensive speaker set. The sound is quite powerful and a bit mid-heavy, which suits gaming, for example, to enjoy cracking gun sounds in shooters. For our taste, the highs sound a little bit sharp here and there, and the basses are okay for the size of the speakers. It remains to be seen whether this is ideal for use in a studio production or whether an even more neutral sound would be better - I have very little idea of that.
However, there are many alternatives in this price range that are not really worse for gaming, music, or films, and some even have a subwoofer in their luggage, such as the Edifier S350DB, which is now only slightly more expensive. The bottom line is that the Pioneer speakers are competent all-rounders with which you can hardly go wrong. The value for money fits.
Pros
- crisp mids, clean highs, and basses are okay
- many connection options
- Bluetooth
- robust processing
- handsome optics
Cons
- little difference between DJ and production mode
- a lot of competition in the price range when it comes to gaming
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