Price: £129.99
Available at: www.otoneaudio.com and select John Lewis stores
OTONE Audio have this year released their brand new low-profile Bluetooth soundbar, SoundBase. We go hands-on with the product to find out just whether or not this is worth your investment.
Design, build and attractiveness
There's no denying that the sleek and good looking design of the new OTONE SoundBase is one of its main pulling powers. It just looks great and goes perfectly with many home set-ups, with a wood-effect finish added to the chassis ensuring elegance and class. Soundbars aren't usually a thing of beauty, but this one is one of the better ones we've seen.
Whether your television is mounted on the wall or one that needs to sit atop the product, the SoundBase should be able to withstand the weight of most large televisions with OTONE stating it can withstand up to 80kg. The only problem we had with the SoundBase was its ease of slipping and spinning when adjusting the cables at the back of the device, so be careful if you've placing it high off the ground.
There are a pair of RCA plugs and an optical input for hooking up to the television included, though it would have been nice to also include the optical cable here for a touch more cash from the customer. There's also a Bluetooth spec which easily pairs up with smartphone or tablet devices - it took around a minute for our Apple iPhone to sync and begin blasting out some good tunes.
A neat row of buttons on top of the SoundBase allow the user to change sources, volume and bass levels as well as switching on and off. A tiny remote is also included which is great and gets the job done - but is lost very easily! Isn't that part of the charm of any remote control, though?
Performance
As noted the Bluetooth inclusion on this soundbar was a brilliant addition. Music comes out of the SoundBase with ease if you've got a device that can be paired.
The sound is produced with an integrated 3" subwoofer and two 2" mid-high range drivers that elevate noise and intensity for each scene you watch. There's also of course the bass button which brings a booming realism to key moments we watched on-screen. At times the volume did seem as if it could go TOO loud - especially with the bass switched on. The sound would reverberate, but it wasn't a common problem and was easily fixed by turning down the volume a tad or by removing the bass option.
Most of the time we were treated to a finely tuned sound whose quality was echoed whether we watched movies, television or played a game on the Xbox One. It's solid if a little boomy from time to time, and something that can outdo even itself. You don't need to be on the highest volume to get your money's worth here.
If you're looking for one of the cheapest ways to enjoy television at a high standard, the OTONE SoundBase may be the product you're looking for. At just shy of £130, it's a steal.
Tagged in Gadgets Television