Jemma
Member
$479 gets you a soundbar that sounds best when the film is not asking much of it, and that is a strange place for an Atmos bar to land.
The ecoustics review is positive on most counts: clear dialogue, very good music playback, and a cooler balance than the Sonos Beam Ultra without turning sharp. The catch is compression and limiting that bites during loud moments and busy overhead scenes. They used Mad Max: Fury Road and Our Planet, and report dynamics getting flattened and centre effects, dialogue included, getting boxed in. Bass falls away early in the mid-bass too, even with four passive radiators in a bar this size. It is 3.0.2 with 135 watts on tap, so I am not shocked it runs out of headroom. I am more surprised it happens this audibly.
What I do like is that WiiM did not dodge the question. Their reps told the reviewer they know about it and are working on it, and that it shows up most at high volume but also in scenes with heavy processing. That second part makes me think this is tuning and DSP rather than the drivers hitting a wall, which would be the fixable version of the problem. I would not bank on it though.
For mostly music, sitcoms and sport, I can see this being a great buy, particularly if you already run WiiM gear and could add the Sub Pro and Sound speakers later. No AirPlay or Apple Music is its own dealbreaker for some households. If you bought one for movie nights, would you hold on to it and wait for the firmware, or send it back?
The ecoustics review is positive on most counts: clear dialogue, very good music playback, and a cooler balance than the Sonos Beam Ultra without turning sharp. The catch is compression and limiting that bites during loud moments and busy overhead scenes. They used Mad Max: Fury Road and Our Planet, and report dynamics getting flattened and centre effects, dialogue included, getting boxed in. Bass falls away early in the mid-bass too, even with four passive radiators in a bar this size. It is 3.0.2 with 135 watts on tap, so I am not shocked it runs out of headroom. I am more surprised it happens this audibly.
What I do like is that WiiM did not dodge the question. Their reps told the reviewer they know about it and are working on it, and that it shows up most at high volume but also in scenes with heavy processing. That second part makes me think this is tuning and DSP rather than the drivers hitting a wall, which would be the fixable version of the problem. I would not bank on it though.
For mostly music, sitcoms and sport, I can see this being a great buy, particularly if you already run WiiM gear and could add the Sub Pro and Sound speakers later. No AirPlay or Apple Music is its own dealbreaker for some households. If you bought one for movie nights, would you hold on to it and wait for the firmware, or send it back?
