Majority D40X review: Style, substance, and a scintillating price tag

If you’re a music lover like me, owning a pair of the best desktop speakers will be super important. As much as I love having a compact portable speaker to take around the house with me, Bluetooth-only devices just don’t have the same level of sound quality as wired, wall-powered speakers.

Enter the Majority D40X bookshelf speakers: with aux, Bluetooth, RCA cable, and even SD card input, these speakers have some top-shelf specs. And they’re under $100? Sign me up! I jumped at the chance to review these speakers. Ever since the JBL 104 BT speakers left my setup, I’ve been craving something with just as much oomph to power me through my work day.

I loved how easy the D40X speakers were to set up, I loved how cool they looked on my desk, and I loved how the wide range of input capabilities meant I could play music from (almost) any device. But are they some of the best bookshelf speakers under $100? Find out the whole story in this Majority D40X bookshelf speakers review.

Majority D40X review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A pair of sub-$100 bookshelf speakers from British audio brand Majority
• What does it cost? $99 / £99
• Who is it for? People who want great sound quality and style for under $100
• What should you use it for? Bedroom dance parties, or something less embarrassing to admit
• What are its weaknesses? I wish the soundscape was just a little more complex

Majority D40X review: Specs

Majority D40X review: Price & availability

The D40X bookshelf speakers are available on Amazon U.S. for $99 and Amazon U.K. for £99. This price places them firmly in the ‘affordable’ range of bookshelf speakers.

Other speakers I’ve tested are the JBL 104 BT, which had a more decadent sound quality, but cost $60 more. The D40Xs are $240 cheaper than our best speakers for music — the Kanto Ora desktop speakers. The Kanto Oras provided a wide soundscape, making them feel bigger than their size — but for $349, you’d hope so.

Majority D40X review: Design

The D40Xs are constructed simply, but well. They’re made of hardwood and are relatively lightweight at 8.4 pounds (although I promise they somehow feel lighter when you hold them). Their sleek black design looks right at home on my walnut desk. The yellow Kevlar driver on each unit implies style and substance, and I was mesmerized by their pulsation while playing bass-heavy tracks.

The connection inputs are all on the back of the speakers, and there are a lot of them. You have the option of a 3.5mm jack input (and there’s a headphone output with a 3.5 jack, too), SD card, RCA cable, and USB-A input. These are all playback options; they’re not there for looks alone. I tried to plug in my iPhone 11 for playback but the USB-A connection just charged my phone. I mostly used the 3.5mm aux cable connected to my MacBook Air M2 and Bluetooth to my phone for testing.

One of my biggest complaints with the JBL 104 BT speakers was the weakness of the mains connection port. Even the slightest knock on my desk would dislodge the mains cable and the speakers would power down. Thankfully, that problem is non-existent with these speakers.

Majority D40X review: Controls & connectivity

As I mentioned in the ‘design’ section, the Majority D40X speakers have a wide range of connection types. The options that most people will use are Bluetooth and Aux connection. The speakers run off Bluetooth 5.3, which connects easily to my phone. I was able to go into the back garden with my phone in my pocket and the speakers were still playing in my bedroom upstairs, so the range is pretty good, too — I’d estimate about 30 feet.

If you have a micro SD card, you can slot this into the back of the speakers to play tunes from said SD card. Also, if your playback medium has a USB-A connection, you can plug it into the speakers for playback — but it didn’t work with my iPhone 11.

Despite this wide range of input options, I settled on playing music through my laptop’s aux cable. While the differences in sound quality between Bluetooth and aux were mostly inaudible to my human ears, I found that playing via aux provided an ever-so-slightly richer soundscape.

The D40X speakers also come with a handy little remote. After putting the batteries in, I had fun pausing/playing my music from my bed. I tested the range by going downstairs and into the garden — the remote needs to be in the same room, or at least without a brick wall between it and the speakers. This is very normal though; I’d expect this from any TV remote.

Majority D40X review: Sound quality

Seeing as these speakers are under $100, I expected a narrower, more restrictive soundscape, especially as they’re undoubtedly compact speakers. But during testing, I was met with wondrous sonic weight. I wish the bass was a tiny bit more powerful, but you can increase bass with the remote — be warned, it does crackle a little at max. These speakers don’t have the ultimate bass performance of the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX speakers, but the D40Xs do have Bluetooth, so if you need a wireless connection, these will be your best bet.

‘Bloom’ by Half Happy is a sun-soaked indie track with glittery vocals and soul-searching bass, all of which were transmitted incredibly through the D40X speakers. The bass vibrated into the desk and the soft vocals were smooth like whipped cream. Every time the lead guitar licks kicked in, the high-frequency range handled it adeptly, piercing yet not pinching. ‘Tiny Bikini’ by Amyl and the Sniffers was every bit as punky and rambunctious as I hoped it would be, the spitting guitar thudding through the D40X speakers with gusto.

When I switched up to ravier tunes, I really had to stop myself from pausing writing this review to have a mini dance session. But then I remembered that my dancing is akin to an insect shedding its exoskeleton and I decided to tap my foot along with the beat instead. ‘BACKBONE’ by Chase & Status and Stormzy is one of those DnB tracks that’s impossible to ignore because of how confident it is, but wow, through the D40X speakers, I couldn’t stop my foot tapping no matter how hard I tried. One of my current obsessions is ‘3AM (LA LA LA)’ by Confidence Man; the ‘90s rave track feels like that liminal period between 2am-5am, none of which was lost through these compact but mighty speakers.

To test these for a movie night, I watched my favorite movie ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ with my laptop plugged into the D40Xs. If you’ve never watched it, and you care even a little bit about music — watch it. It’s got the best movie soundtrack of all time, and I’ll die on that hill. I particularly loved how the heart-wrenching soundtrack literally gave me butterflies during emotional scenes. On top of that, the dragon sound effects roared through the speakers with pure power. I definitely think these would hold up during movie nights.

Majority D40X review: Verdict

I couldn’t believe these speakers were only $99. The sound quality almost matches that of the JBL 104 BTs, and the built quality far exceeds them. I do wish the bass was a little more robust, but considering these bookshelf speakers are affordable and sub-$100, I’m not going to complain too much. These speakers are ideal for those mid-afternoon dance parties that invigorate you for the last few hours of work, or even just getting you hyped for a party or night out. The sleek wood finish matched my desk perfectly and gave a modern, industrial aesthetic to my desk setup. What’s more is the base is smooth so it won’t scratch your desktop, and the compact speakers can produce a vivid soundscape. When you compare price for quality, the D40Xs are up there with perhaps the best value-for-money speakers I’ve ever used.