I don't believe that I meet the traditional definition of an audiofile, but I'm close. I am a blind musician with a mild addiction to speakers of all types. My house is filled with smart speakers, portable speakers, studio monitors, sound bars, and even PA systems. Dollar for dollar, these are some of the best value speakers I own, at least in terms of sound quality.I sort of wish I could have given these speakers 4.5 stars. To me, they feel a bit, shall we say, lightly built. Mine arrived well-packaged, but both speaker grills were dented noticeably, and they flex so easily that I decided not to try to exchange them, sure that the next set would probably have either arrived dented, too, or that they would have dented easily, anyway. However, my wife says that, since the speakers are black and since I installed them in the corners of my covered patio, the dents aren't very noticeable, at least visually. Nevertheless, my first impressions of these speakers on unpacking them wasn't exactly to be super impressed.When I get a new set of speakers, I always test the audio quality before mounting them. This way, I don't have to go through all the trouble if they sound like garbage. My friends, these speakers do not, in any way, sound like garbage. They project balanced, rich sound at acceptable volume levels, and I was eager to get them up on the wall.Mounting these bad boys was super easy. The mounts are exactly the same type which I have installed before. Two screws, thread the wire through the whole in the center, and tighten the speakers into place. I took the liberty of drilling a whole in the side of the house and threading the power cable through it, then attaching it to a smart plug on the other side. The speakers don't have a power switch, and I hung them so high that I wouldn't be able to reach one if it were present, and I wanted an easy way to power them on and off. Enter the smart plug, which I control with my Amazon app and smart speakers.Almost every speaker review I've ever read focuses on the sound of a speaker's bass and how loud it can get. These speakers get fairly loud--I won't be running them at full volume unless I want to alienate my neighbors. They also pump out a respectable amount of bass for their size. The two things that impress me most, though, are that they have a warm, balanced sound across the frequency spectrum and that they actually still sound great at low volumes.To my ears, the bass sounds rich, the highs are crisp without sounding at all harsh, and mids are forward enough to be enjoyed without giving off that terrible impression of listening to music through an old phone receiver which some budget speakers do. Hard rock sounds punchy and loud, jazz sounds full, and pop sounds... well, like pop, I guess is the best thing I can say.One traditional failing of budget speakers is that they typically don't perform very well at low volumes. I get it. Most people these days seem to be obsessed with whether their speakers can shake their pool decks and irritate the neighbors in a quarter mile radius. Mostly, those low-cost speakers of which I speak, as well as a fair number of higher-end speakers, tend to sound tinny and limited at lower volume levels. The punchy thuds enjoyed at high volumes turn into anemic little pops at low volumes. Mid-high frequencies disappear, until the sound isn't much better than what you could get directly out of your smart phone. This is not, however, what happens with these Herdio speakers. I was so pleasantly surprised to hear that the warmth which I enjoyed at high volume levels still comes through at low levels that I talked to my wife about it for long enough to be annoying. On making this discovery, I giddily experimented with listening to all sorts of music on my patio at very low volumes. Classical music, Celtic music, jazz piano tunes, ghoral music, light rock, and folk music all sounded great. I'm not saying that you won't want to make a few alterations to your EQ settings here and there. I'm just saying these speakers are legit, folks. And not because they'll make you go deaf. They probably won't do that. What they will do, though, is help to create a nice, rich listening experience in whichever oasis you choose to put them in.If you're like me, you may be hesitating to purchase these speakers on account of their low price. Take my advice. Do not hesitate. You cannot find a pair of patio speakers that sound any better at this price point, or even for $100 more. A buddy of mine just put a pair of Polk Audio Atrium speakers on his patio, for which he paid over $200, and these little Herdios blow his Polks, which I like, too, right out of the water. Think no longer or harder about your purchase. Just buy these.
