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PreSonus Eris E8
4.45 4.45 out of 5, based on 4 Reviews

The Eris E8 is PreSonus' current flagship and represents their attempt in the bang-for-buck monitor market.


18th February 2015

PreSonus Eris E8 by CKBeattie

  • Sound Quality 4.0 out of 5
  • Ease of use 5.0 out of 5
  • Features 4.0 out of 5
  • Bang for buck 4.0 out of 5
  • Overall: 4.25
PreSonus Eris E8

I am by no means a professional, up-market studio owner but I have shadowed in a number studio environments for a few years with a variety of monitors and monitor setups so I would say I have a pretty good idea what something should sound like to my ears. I'm writing this review because of the lack of material there is on these speakers and I think they deserving of a honest consumer review.

The Eris E8's are PreSonus' stab at the affordable monitor world. And they are, at anywhere from £170-190 a unit depending on where you get them from. I won't bore you with specifications because they're all over the web, but the Eris come in three basic sizes, E4.5, E5, and E8's; 4.5", 5.25" and 8" woofers respectively.

First Impressions
Because I am in the market now for affordable monitors to start my own critical listening environment, I had a few monitors in mind. The Yamaha HS8's and E8's were of those few and I had a chance to A/B both speakers for over an hour each. I needed an eight inch monitor that was going to deliver in the low end enough to be able to tell what's going on down there. The E8's did not lack, in fact, I think they even went lower than the HS8's. The low end was also tight and defined- something you obviously won't get with Rokkit's. The 1.25" dome tweeter delivered proper high frequency response without being overly hyped and I found this to be especially satisfying when listening for long periods at louder levels. Dispersion was also not a problem with the E8's when moving around from the ideal listening position which was something I was also looking for. Over all, the transient response was good and the fact that the monitors' peak SPL is 105dB means there's plenty of headroom for those dynamic moments in your mix.

In Comparison
I decided to get used to each monitor by listening to them for a long period of time. I think constantly switching back and forth between your A pair and B pair at first doesn't really paint a proper representation of the sound of each speaker in your brain and doesn't give your ears enough of a chance to get used to either. I started with the E8's first. I listened to everything from Jazz, Electronic Music to Hip-Hop and Classical. The E8's delivered in all these areas decently. I progressed on to the HS8's, playing the same songs. Immediately I noticed some differences. At first I wasn't pleased by the mids being ever so slightly harsh but it took me less than a minute for my ears to adapt- this is where the HS8's took the stage. I can't really describe this certain depth the HS8's had over the E8's but they felt more revealing. The mids were not harsh- they were just more revealing in that particular frequency range. The highs felt more silky and flatter. Also, I did try different placement but overall I determined the E8's were at tad more muddier in the low-end domain. In the end I went for the HS8's.

All In All
I don't feel as if this is really fair, because the HS8's are slightly more expensive than PreSonus' counter-part. PreSonus are also pretty new to monitor world and the E8's are a definitely good stab at the affordable market. Also maybe I am a little bit biased because I've wanted the Yam's for a while, but I do think I made an honest comparison to myself. At any rate, if you're looking to mix and master music and are looking for an affordable monitor that isn't a Rokkit- the E8's will not fail you at all. Their front port design means they're suitable for small spaces which gives them the upper hand over most other monitors in this price range. Despite what I've said about these compared to the HS8's, the differences are only small. These monitors are great and you will not be disappointed.

Please trust your own ears, demo them yourself as they may sound different to you. Ask your sales consultant to try different set ups to really get a sound of them.

Last edited by CKBeattie; 18th February 2015 at 11:39 AM.. Reason: Additional Info

  • 4
7th April 2019

PreSonus Eris E8 by natifix

  • Sound Quality 5.0 out of 5
  • Ease of use 5.0 out of 5
  • Features 5.0 out of 5
  • Bang for buck 5.0 out of 5
  • Overall: 5
PreSonus Eris E8

Ive owned a pair for two years now and have had an amazing experience with them. Im a music producer and artist who does his own stuff in house.

I have owned krk, m audio, polks, and klipschs for referencing. These presonus eris 8' are impressive.

For inexpensive speakers, these are hands down the best pair of monitors I can find.

I have no compaints. I have them set up proper in my design studio and I relocate them for mixing. They have good definition and imaging when setup correctly.

I use the T10 sub with them, but only when working on the bass end of things and as needed. I usually use the setup with the sub off. These produce enough low end, you dont need a sub, if you have experienced ears. If you are new, like me, I strongly reccommend you get the T10 sub. They are made to go together.

Love the eq settings and the placement curves. The ability to use unbalance is handy, as well as having both styles of balanced, the xlr and the 1/4.

these things can snap! the kick is amazing! I mean that in a good way. Im learning to make drum and bass and have to say, they are really nice!

The high end is sweet, crisp, and clear. The sweet spot is wide and I can move around and be in it always. I use a lil wider field and sit inside the triangle with the merge just behind my head, and I get two feet foward and back or side to side.

Couldnt be happier for $400 a pair. Honestly. These sound better than my krk and m audio... hands down.

When I get a set of Focals ... or B & W's I will know what thousands of dollars of monitor buy you, till then, these are doing exceptionally well!

8th April 2019

PreSonus Eris E8 by CPhoenix

  • Sound Quality 5.0 out of 5
  • Ease of use 5.0 out of 5
  • Features 5.0 out of 5
  • Bang for buck 5.0 out of 5
  • Overall: 5
PreSonus Eris E8

I'm not seeing how you can do better at this price range.

I've owned JBL LSR 4326p, Yamaha HS50m, M Audio BX5 (v2) in the past. My experience has been... the BX5's were my first ever and I bought them b/c they "sounded better" at Guitar Center. It took me 6-7 years worth of gaining experience to realize they were pretty hyped soundwise which was why I couldn't get good mixes to save my life. I "graduated" to Yamaha in search of a flat response, but to be honest... I got very bad results on the low end from the Yamaha's. It's likely b/c of the 5 inch cone. I simply couldn't accurately balance the high/mid with the low end. It was bad man. Metering didn't even help me, I had a very difficult time learning those monitors so I sold them. Also, they kept intercepting radio stations. JBL's were good, but sold them off b/c I needed cash.... also, I didn't like how I had to manually adjust one speaker in the software to get them at the same volume. I didn't use them long enough to give a fair assessment. But for the time I had them, I liked that. So, that's my experience with monitors.

All of that to say, I finally grew tired of using only headphones (Sennheiser HD650... they're extraordinare).. so I grabbed these. They were on sale.

1) These monitors have a lot of clarity, surprisingly. I can hear very good detail.

2) Most importantly, everything I mix on these translates pretty damn well almost everywhere, and easily... b/c I can hear what's going on and correct it before I print. When I playback mixes on my cell phone speaker, bluetooth earbuds, car (of course), or bluetooth speaker... it sounds like I thought it would.... which I can not say the same for the other 3 monitors I've owned. I used to have to do a lot of back/forth and re-tweaking to get the mix to translate well. Now... honestly I can't remember the last time a song sounded different on another system and made me want to tweak it. It just doesn't happen anymore.

3) There's a solid amount of features on the rear. I like how you can adjust the acoustics of it, depending on how you have them placed.. and I like having the high pass filter (see below)

4) I don't hear much bass, even when I'm not using the filter. The good news is... mixes still translate well. The bad news is.. I just can't hear what's happening much below 120hz. Is my kick boomy? I dunno lol. Did I play the right notes on the bass? No idea lol. It translates, but.... I'm blind in the low end. So.. I paired it with a Temblor T10. The Temblor throws out a tremendous amount of bass, so I dial it waaayyy back when I pair these together. I don't know if that's normal or not, b/c this is my first sub woofer. So... in short, do yourself a favor and pair these with a good sub so you can feel your music. I didn't take points off b/c... it's an 8" cone, so.. I think it's scientifically impossible for it to reproduce adequate bass.

5) I like that the port is in the front

6) These are also great for BBQ monitors. I "DJ'd" my family BBQ last year and everyone wouldn't stop complimenting on how good quality the music sounded. They give pristine audio across the spectrum that they're able to reproduce.

I will be keeping these for the long haul. They're easy to learn. My mixes come out great (not good, great). When I upgrade, I'll be paying close attention to whether the upgraded monitors really sound $1-2k better. I'll find out one day. Until then, I'm very happy with these.

14th February 2025

PreSonus Eris E8 by stratblue

  • Sound Quality 4.0 out of 5
  • Ease of use 5.0 out of 5
  • Features 4.0 out of 5
  • Bang for buck 1.0 out of 5
  • Overall: 3.5
PreSonus Eris E8

Great sounding monitors for those on a budget. I really enjoyed using mine but if they go wrong out of warranty forget about getting any spares, as far as Presonus is concerned they just want me to chuck their stuff in the bin and buy something else. It's a shame they don't support their gear with spares, mine would have been an easy fix if I could just get a new HF driver. Can't say it fills me with the confidence to buy any more Presonus gear if it's basically landfill in waiting.