Not quite Atmos but still not bad, BlueAnt’s latest soundbar aims at getting a 2.1 channel Dolby Digital soundbar to living rooms for something akin to peanuts.
When it comes to upgrading the audio at home for your TV, things can get expensive. Sound is typically not a cheap technology, and the more features you go for, the better the speaker technology and brand, and all that jazz, the more the price rises.
We’ve seen thousand dollar soundbars and some that go way over that number, and there’s the monumental amount of blue sky money you can spend on an amplifier, receiver, subwoofer, and speakers if you feel so inclined and have a bottomless bank account.
You have options, but we suspect most people probably would aim to keep the costs down, and that’s where the smaller, more budget offerings come in.
Locally, BlueAnt is one of the players there, and not long after the company offered up the XT100 Atmos soundbar for under $500, it’s also offering one with Atmos’ less expansive sibling, Dolby Digital, packing in the technology not so much into a 5.1 soundbar for truely wide Dolby Digital, but something more compact, delivering 2.1 Dolby Digital support.
The soundbar is the BlueAnt XT120, and it looks to offer people looking for stereo and a hint of Dolby surround without a big price, coming in at $279 in Australia.
For that price, there are two 30W speakers and a 60W subwoofer built into the design, matching the 2.1 approach and getting sound to and from the TV over the HDMI standard pretty much every TV has. There are also options for older TVs, with optical, coax, and auxiliary, as well as Bluetooth and USB support, coming in a 2.5 kilogram soundbar made to offer punch but still be relatively inexpensive.
“This delivers a sound and punch of a soundbar that you’d expect would cost more than $300,” said Taisen Maddern, CEO of BlueAnt.
“We wanted to deliver a soundbar to Australians that offers a premium-yet-simpler experience at an irresistible price point,” he said. “It’s a fine balance to strike but one the XT120 delivers on.”
Locally, the BlueAnt XT120 will hit selected Telstra stores around the country, priced at $279 and available shortly.
