DALI Katch One soundbar, Iron Black

Product Information

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Networking is via Wi-Fi or Ethernet, but there’s no HDMI here: the Ray relies on optical for talking to your telly. This is simple enough but can cause issues when trying to control the bar with your TV remote. Setup is through the Sonos app, which includes using your smartphone’s mic to automatically adjust acoustic output to suit your viewing room.

Television and Larger Speaker Deliveries

In most cases you will probably control the Dali KATCH one quite simply with the remote control of the TV, we have already mentioned this. However, the Dali KATCH one is also supplied with a remote control which can also be used to control the volume, but also allows you to select the input and call up the two sound presets. The four large passive drivers work in unison with the four active woofers to help deliver surprising bass performance for the perfect movie experience. With the power to deliver the audio pressure needed even in bigger living rooms. Should the room demand even more bass performance, a subwoofer can extend the deep bass even further. TV screens are getting thinner and thinner, and unfortunately that also counts for their sound performance. So adding an external soundbar is a common solution to improve the TV audio. However, finding a soundbar that offers superb sound as well as excellent design is not quite as common. It can also be hung from the wall using the couple of leather straps provided in the box, or stand on its own two real-wood feet (also provided). Because sometimes the Danes like to remind us all that they know exactly what they’re doing when it comes to design.

And if you want to place the Dali KATCH one directly on a lowboard or sideboard under the TV, you can of course do the same, and here too the Danes have come up with a special feature, namely discreet but extremely elegant wooden feet which are plugged in at the bottom. A rubberised underside ensures that the surface of the furniture is protected. In addition, this also ensures optimal decoupling. The really important thing…While genuine overhead sounds are perhaps a stretch too far for this petite performer, based on experience using it, its virtual delivery of the Atmos format outstrips any similarly priced soundbar and even a few that are more expensive. The Beam Gen 2 offers an enveloping, spatial soundscape with rich, detailed audio as well as tangible motion and depth. You’ll want to think about how you plan to use your soundbar and make sure the model you get has the connectivity options to support the devices you plan to use with it. For example, do you want to use HDMI or optical audio, and Bluetooth or Wi-Fi? If your TV has HDMI ARC or eARC, consider getting a soundbar that supports this feature, as it allows for better audio and control over a single HDMI cable. The Sony HT-A7000 is an outstanding, future-proofed, all-in-one performer with excellent integration if you have a newer Sony Bravia TV.

Fortunately, most soundbars have speech enhancement feature settings that will typically raise the volume of the centre channel and crispen up the EQ to help improve dialogue audibility. Not every brand implements this with sophistication, and sometimes these modes can sound thin and harsh, but once again, it's always worth experimenting to find what works for you and your space. How we test soundbars How we test soundbarsAs TVs get larger, the space for quality audio systems gets even smaller. With slim profiles in vogue, audio performance is the first to suffer. For viewers that demand their TV sound to be just as sharp as the picture, DALI has created the KATCH ONE. A stylish, complete one-stop soundbar that upgrades the whole TV experience by adding that missing audio excellence. For those who want compelling 3D sound without all the speakers, this is the best soundbar with a premium price tag that we've ever tested, which is why it retained its title once again at the 2023 What Hi-Fi? Awards. Instead, when watching Atmos content, two of the soundbar's five front-facing arrays are dedicated to reproducing overhead and surround sounds. With its hefty processing power, the Sonos Beam Gen 2 uses psychoacoustic HRTF (head-related transfer function) technology to give the impression of height without needing to get vertical. Four amps, two tweeters and two mid-woofers work together with a bass reflex system to fill most spaces with forward-firing sound. Quality is predictably superb, trumping some bigger bars and coping well with busy scenes. That said, there’s no Dolby Atmos, and you’ll want something beefier if your living room is larger than average.