Review Details

Berkeley 2.0 Stereo Powered Bookshelf Speakers

Product Rating:

Product Review (submitted on February 5, 2023):

The Berkeley 2.0 Stereo Powered Bookshelf Speakers have delighted me with a very detailed, spacious and resolving sound that defy their very low price point. The only thing that gives away the fact that these are entry level speakers is a small amount of background hiss at low level in nearfield listening, but even that can be forgiven once you hear the amazingly detailed and surprisingly robust sound coming out of these small speakers that again defies their small size and price point. The sound stage coming from these speakers is surprisingly deep and wide and detailed and classical and jazz recordings coming through these speakers are a real treat, as are pop and rock music, though those are less to my personal musical tastes but sound equally great out of these speakers. Also, these speakers, unlike the McKinley, are less sensitive to the quality of connecting cables and speaker cables that are used with them, so using cheap cables and the included speaker wire doesn't seem to detract from the sound quality of the reproduced sound. I had to use my nice cables with the McKinley to get them to sound decent. Speaking of that model, if you are on the fence between the two and can live without the remote, I recommend the smaller Berkeley over the larger McKinley for the main reason that the Berkeley sounds considerably better in terms of detail, imaging and soundstaging. The larger McKinley speaker sounds like a $99 speaker. The Berkeley sounds like a $200+ speaker.