Presonus Eris 3.5 nearfield desktop studio monitors active

[tea for two]

https://www.presonus.com/products/Eris-E35
3.5 inch woofer therefore the name.

Specs
https://www.presonus.com/products/Eris-E35/tech-specs

Approx 9ft*13ft rectangular room untreated.
Literally bedroom with typical bedroom furniture with 1/3 "studio."
Apartment flat with neighbours left right above below.

Working solely on headphones I've had to take a 2 month break from last project : there was a constant slight pain in my left ear for 2months from working on last album.

To try to not go there again.

In £100 range smallish monitors as accurate colourless neutral as available : although this is possibly a pipe dream.
As well as High and Low frequency adjustable dials.

Testing
M-Audio M-Track 2*2 usbC audio interface on imac2017.
Placing the Eris 3.5 on isolation pads approx 2.5ft 30 inches from rear wall.
Connected through Balanced ¼” TRS.
Auditioning Choral, Dub, Drum N Bass, EDM, Electronica Ambient, Folk, HipHop, Orchestral, Rock : my own music as well as some reference commercial releases.

Sound
Adjusting High and Low frequency dials on rear of Eris 3.5 to represent similar to my AKG K712 openbacked headphones.

Eris 3.5 Low :
Surprisingly well represented within the mix in this untreated average sized room.
Although Bass on Eris 3.5 has body it is lacking accuracy clarity definition compared to my K712 headphones.
Kicks also lack accuracy clarity definition compared to my K712.
Low frequency Bass, Sub Bass obviously for these Eris 3.5 is unsuitable.

Eris 3.5 Mid :
Somewhat V shaped which I prefer. I can pick out clearly enough different layers of instruments sounds in the mid range.

Eris 3.5 High :
Easy going top end.
No brittleness no harshness no over sparkliness to my ears.

Neutrality :
Similar to my AKG K712.

Stereo Imaging :
I was a trifle taken aback by the decency of the imaging.
I wasn't expecting this from Eris 3.5.

Loudness :
Volume dial approx 34% on M-Audio M-Track 2*2 audio interface
and approx 75% of max volume on Eris 3.5 is plenty loud for me in this average sized room.

Overall Impression
In an average sized untreated room, for recording mixing an instrumental a song that doesn't have low freq Bass sub Bass, that has upto 16 tracks, as well as considering translation to mobile phone, hifi : I would be fine on this Eris 3.5.
However for critical decisions on say reflections, transients, fx plugins, eq compression soforth, selecting sounds shaping sounds, shaping Bass and Kick, I would reach for my AKG K712.
After I sorted these on my K712 thereafter I would be fine to record mix on this Eris 3.5.

Drawbacks
No XLR inputs.
V shaped mid for those that prefer a more forward mid.
Low end unsurprisingly.

Alternatives
£100 range
Alexis M1 Active 330 & Alesis Elevate
Edifier MR4
Mackie CR4-X
M-Audio BX4.
I haven't tested these can't comment on them.
There are other alternatives.

£200 range
IK Multimedia iloud Micro.
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ik ... loud-micro
JBL 104
Tannoy Reveal 402.
I haven't tested these can't comment on them.
There are other alternatives.

Conclusion
Presonus Eris 3.5 performed fairly colourless neutrally for a variety of styles for my own music.
Well worth auditioning for low budget £100 bearing in mind the points raised in this mini review.
I am keeping this Eris 3.5.

::

Price :
£79-£88 pair new.
£96-£104 Bluetooth version pair new.

[Arpangel]

TFT, uncoloured? very difficult at £100/200 impossible.
I’ve got the 3.5's, all I use them for is to "hear what I’m doing" out and about. They are very boxy with a "cardboard" low end.
I was going to get the mini Genelecs, and wish I did now, at least they’re a credible stab at something better.

[tea for two]

My hearing's gone to pot. Preehaps this coloured my opinion of Eris 3.5. And or mebe it's the M-Audio M-Track interface.
I auditioned my own music in a variety of styles so I knew what I was listening for. As well as auditioning reference commercial releases in a variety of styles.
£100 is my budget. Not even £200 in which instance I would gone for IK Multimedia iloud Micro.
Those mini Genelec 8010A at approx £500 pretty shure sould be a fair improvement over £90 Eris 3.5.

[Arpangel]

My hearing's gone to pot. Preehaps this coloured my opinion of Eris 3.5. And or mebe it's the M-Audio MTrack interface
I auditioned my own music in variety of styles so I knew what I was listening for. As well as auditioning reference commercial releases in a variety of styles.
£100 is my budget. Not even £200 in which instance I would gone for IK Multimedia iloud Micro.
Those mini Genelec 8010A at approx £500 pretty shure sould be a fair improvement over £90 Eris 3.5.

Be careful, continual headphone listening can lead to problems, keep the volume down.
I’d hope the Genelecs would be better, but nothing surprises me these days.
At £500 they are just too much, for me, for what they are.

[tea for two]

Just to return to £100 price point we can't expect the earth.
What we can be is familiar with our own music familiar with reference commercial releases thereafter we are aware of what we look for.
With these ingrained we can then work with £100 monitors.
For this reason I can work with this Eris 3.5 and am keeping it.

Were we used to more expensive monitors this Eris 3.5 can serve as checking the overall mix master on cheaper monitors. If the mix master translates well to this Eris 3.5 bearing mind it's limitations then it's pretty much alright.

Regarding the Bass I have placed this Eris 3.5 on concrete floor + thin carpet of flat apartment on isolation pads approx 2.5ft 30inches from rear wall.
For me this Eris 3.5 gives plenty body for Bass as long as it's not low frequency Bass, sub Bass.
I can mix most of my Drum N Bass and EDM on this Eris 3.5.
My ideal listening mixing position is laying down lol on the floor.

[Arpangel]

Just to return to £100 price point we can't expect the earth.
What we can be is familiar with our own music familiar with reference commercial releases thereafter we are aware of what we look for.
With these ingrained we can then work with £100 monitors.
For this reason I can work with this Eris 3.5 and am keeping it.

Were we used to more expensive monitors this Eris 3.5 can serve as checking the overall mix master on cheaper monitors. If the mix master translates well to this Eris 3.5 bearing mind it's limitations then it's pretty much alright.

Regarding the Bass I have placed this Eris 3.5 on concrete floor + thin carpet of flat apartment on isolation pads approx 2.5ft 30inches from rear wall.
For me this Eris 3.5 gives plenty body for Bass as long as it's not low frequency Bass, sub Bass.
I can mix most of my Drum N Bass and EDM on this Eris 3.5.
My ideal listening mixing position is laying down lol on the floor.

"Tech tip"
Put the Eris in a corner, and stack loads of books on and around them, heavy ones, I’ve done this before, you’ll get more bass, it might not be good bass, but you’ll get more of it!
The books help to tighten things up.

[muzines]

Put the Eris in a corner, and stack loads of books on and around them, heavy ones, I’ve done this before, you’ll get more bass, it might not be good bass, but you’ll get more of it! The books help to tighten things up.

Does it matter what genre?

I mean, is the bass better with science-fiction, or you need to go for biographies and non-fiction? Does a bit of light fictional romance soften up the high end? Maybe a touch of fantasy to make everything sound "bigger"..?

This is an area of audio research I feel has been sorely lacking...

Maybe someone needs to emulate all this into a simple plugin, with genre selectors - perhaps even by author...

[Essex Boi]

This is an area of audio research I feel has been sorely lacking...

Maybe someone needs to emulate all this into a simple plugin, with genre selectors - perhaps even by author...

Isn’t that what these new fangled audiobooks do?

[tea for two]

Does it matter what genre?

I mean, is the bass better with science-fiction, or you need to go for biographies and non-fiction? Does a bit of light fictional romance soften up the high end? Maybe a touch of fantasy to make everything sound "bigger"..?

This is an area of audio research I feel has been sorely lacking...

Zuke mos def can help with the style of books
I believe they are the styles I couldn't quite reach in my early teens.

[Arpangel]

Put the Eris in a corner, and stack loads of books on and around them, heavy ones, I’ve done this before, you’ll get more bass, it might not be good bass, but you’ll get more of it! The books help to tighten things up.

Does it matter what genre?

I mean, is the bass better with science-fiction, or you need to go for biographies and non-fiction? Does a bit of light fictional romance soften up the high end? Maybe a touch of fantasy to make everything sound "bigger"..?

This is an area of audio research I feel has been sorely lacking...

Maybe someone needs to emulate all this into a simple plugin, with genre selectors - perhaps even by author...

Of course it matters, I find comedy works well, Spike Milligan books in particular, but they have to be old, the older the paper the deeper the bass, and the warmer the top end.

[Drew Stephenson]

You'll get the best damping with Joyce, Steinbeck, Proust and other 'heavyweights'.

[tea for two]

I feel these Eris are particularly suited to EBM
that's Erotic Body Music lol not Electronic.