Going wide and high

Hisense U5120G

soundbar + subwoofer

Of the two soundbars which came our way coincidentally simultaneously for review this issue, both from Chinese brands, the bar from Hisense is by far the larger. Stretching a wide 120cm and weighing a full 5kg, the U5120G reminds us greatly in its external attributes of the first Samsung soundbars from the company’s Californian audio lab: solid, purposeful, covered in a black metal grille, through which shines an easy-to-read LED alphanumeric display with large white letters.

But it differs radically from those early Samsung bars in both the channel count and the profusion of technology ‘ticks’ it brings to your table (or wall-mount, if you prefer). The input bay is extremely well-stocked, as is the bar with drivers — a grand total of 12 in all, comprising the 8-incher in the wireless subwoofer and 11 drivers in the bar itself, so that it is able to deliver 5.1.2 channels natively, including upfiring drivers to deliver height information — and with no shortage of additional processing available. There’s full and extensive support for both Dolby and DTS formats (at a time when other bars are starting to drop DTS); there’s even high-res audio support, with the bar specified, though without a stated envelope, up to 40kHz.

Another surprise is the price for such a solid and well-provisioned bar: just $799.

Inputs

That well-stocked input bay includes not only the now ubiquitous HDMI eARC socket to connect to your TV, thereby playing audio from that; there are also two HDMI inputs for sources. This will please those who want the best from Dolby Atmos (and DTS:X,