We tested every studio monitor under £300 in a real bedroom studio. Some impressed us, some disappointed, and one blew our minds for the price.
TL;DR
The IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitors are the best sub-£300 option for bedroom studios, with built-in room correction that compensates for untreated rooms. The PreSonus Eris E5 offers the best value for traditional near-field monitoring. The Yamaha HS5 remains the industry reference but requires acoustic treatment to shine.
What We Tested and How
We set up 8 pairs of monitors in a typical untreated bedroom studio — the environment where most independent artists actually work. Each pair was tested with the same reference tracks across genres, at matched volume levels, evaluating frequency response, stereo imaging, transient detail, and how honestly they represented mixes.
Our reference tracks included commercial releases we know intimately across hip-hop, indie rock, electronic, folk, and pop. We also tested with deliberately flawed mixes to see which monitors revealed problems versus which ones flattered everything.
Importantly, we tested in a real room — not an acoustically treated studio. Most budget monitor buyers are putting them in bedrooms, and how a monitor performs in an imperfect room matters more than how it measures in an anechoic chamber.
Top Pick: IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitors
These tiny speakers have no business sounding this good. At about £280, the iLoud Micro Monitors include DSP-based room correction that measures your room acoustics and adjusts the speaker output accordingly. In our untreated bedroom, this made a dramatic difference — the bass response was tighter and more accurate than any other monitor at this price.
The stereo imaging is excellent for their size, and the Bluetooth connectivity (while not useful for mixing) makes them versatile for general listening. They're small enough to fit on a desk without dominating the space, and the built-in amplification means no external amp needed.
The limitation is volume — they're not loud enough for medium or large rooms, and the bass extension doesn't match larger monitors. But for bedroom mixing at moderate volumes, they're genuinely transformative. The room correction alone justifies the price.
Best Value: PreSonus Eris E5 and Yamaha HS5
The PreSonus Eris E5 (about £200/pair) offers a remarkably flat frequency response for the price, with useful acoustic tuning controls on the back panel that help compensate for room placement. The sound is detailed without being harsh, and the low end extends surprisingly deep for a 5-inch driver.
The Yamaha HS5 (about £280/pair) is the budget reference monitor that engineers have trusted for years. Their frequency response is brutally honest — if your mix has problems, the HS5s will show them. This honesty is their greatest strength for mixing but can be unforgiving for casual listening.
The key difference: the Eris E5s are slightly more forgiving and pleasant to listen to for extended periods, while the HS5s are more analytically revealing. For pure mixing accuracy, the Yamahas edge ahead. For a monitor that pulls double duty between mixing and enjoyment, the PreSonus wins.
Monitors to Avoid at This Price
We won't name specific models, but we encountered several monitors under £150 that we'd actively recommend against. The common problems: hyped bass that flatters mixes instead of revealing them, harsh high-frequency peaks that cause ear fatigue, and poor stereo imaging that makes panning decisions unreliable.
The pattern is clear: monitors priced below about £150/pair tend to be consumer speakers marketed as studio monitors. They're designed to sound impressive rather than accurate, which is the opposite of what a mixing tool should do. If your budget is genuinely under £150, good headphones (Audio-Technica ATH-M50x) will serve your mixing better than cheap monitors.
We'd also caution against buying monitors based solely on frequency response specs. Published specs measure performance in ideal conditions that don't exist in your bedroom. Real-world performance in untreated rooms varies dramatically, and the monitors with the best specs on paper aren't necessarily the best performers in practice.
Our Verdict: Invest in Monitors or Treatment First?
Here's the uncomfortable truth: the best £300 monitors in an untreated room will perform worse than £150 monitors in a well-treated one. If you haven't treated your room (even with basic DIY panels), doing so before upgrading your monitors will have a bigger impact on your mixing accuracy.
The exception is the IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitors, whose room correction partially compensates for acoustic problems. If room treatment isn't feasible (rental restrictions, shared spaces), these monitors are the most practical choice.
Our recommended approach: spend £60 on DIY acoustic treatment (Rockwool panels), buy the PreSonus Eris E5 pair (£200), and supplement with good headphones for detail checking. Total investment: about £320 for a monitoring setup that will serve you for years. That's less than many single monitors cost, and it'll give you more reliable results than expensive monitors in an untreated room.