Amazon has introduced a brand new Hearth TV Soundbar that prices simply $119, with help for each Dolby and DTS audio codecs, regardless of its low worth. It is accessible to order proper now from Amazon within the US, although there is not any phrase on a UK or Australian launch but.
The system, as we reported in our Amazon September occasion stay weblog, is a straightforward two-driver soundbar with 40W of output energy. DTS:X virtualization guarantees some measure of “full, three-dimensional digital audio and not using a roomful of audio system”, although I extremely doubt it’s going to be fooling anybody with out extra speaker drivers.
It connects over HDMI ARC or optical, although Amazon is taking nice pains to say that it really works finest and super-seamlessly with Hearth TV units (together with TVs and streaming units), it appears to be like prefer it’ll work with any TV. Based mostly on our conversations with Amazon reps, it looks like Amazon is emphasizing how nicely it really works with Hearth TV to make it clear {that a} soundbar is a hassle-free improve usually for folks unfamiliar with the tech, moderately than there being an enormous quantity of particular sauce concerned. There’s additionally Bluetooth for streaming music from something.
And that is the fascinating factor right here, actually. There’s not a lot to it, aside from that Amazon is aware of the way to put stable audio into very cheap merchandise, together with compact ones. At 24 inches large, it’s going to work with TVs of 32 inches as much as 50 inches, and my guess is that it will ship a extremely stable improve on bass and readability (particularly of dialogue) in comparison with the built-in audio system in low-cost TVs… together with Hearth TVs.
Will it rival one of the best soundbars for total audio? Clearly not. However there are so few soundbars at this sort of worth from trusted names (the Sony S100F will likely be its massive rival), so if it is good, it might change into the brand new normal improve for anybody fighting their TV’s audio. Particularly as a result of it’s going to little doubt get reductions among the many Black Friday offers – round 40% is typical with Hearth TV merchandise, so if this turns into a $70 soundbar… I guess nothing else matches it then.
Ought to’ve gone one additional
Nevertheless, I am a little bit stunned Amazon did not go a step further with this soundbar. The subsequent massive factor in TV audio units just isn’t even needing the HDMI cable. This goes double for cheaper TVs, like Hearth TVs, that will solely have three HDMI ports.
Going wi-fi means the soundbar would not must take up one in every of your HDMI ports, and means much less cable mess and confusion usually. The one factor is that you just want compatibility with the software program of the TV… however Amazon can provide that. It is already harping on about how nicely it really works with Hearth TVs!
It could require higher wi-fi tech to be concerned than simply Bluetooth, and that will put the worth up, in order that’s the apparent limitation to my plan. However like I say, it appears a serious missed alternative to me – Amazon might be main the best way on providing a wi-fi low-cost house theater setup. It is already bought a system referred to as Alexa House Theater coming, the place Echo units can be utilized as wi-fi encompass audio system. I am amazed the soundbar is not on the forefront of that.
