What is the Sky Soundbox?
Television sets are getting thinner and thinner. That’s generally a good thing, as trying to wall mount a CRT set would at best look very silly, and at worst end in a concussion. On the flip side though, the sound quality tends to be patchy – especially the bass. Soundbars solve this problem: dedicated boxes which sit underneath the TV and provide you with more punchy audio.
The Sky Soundbox is a soundbar, but it promises to be a very good one indeed. Made by high-end French audiophiles Devialet, the Soundbox is a 4kg all-in-one soundbar. It comes with six 3in woofers and three 2in full range drivers in a 120-degree setup to give you a nice wide soundscape in a 15in long frame.
It has HDMI in and out, a port for an optical cable and it works with Dolby Digital+. It has a clever dynamic volume management technology on board to manage the levels, as well as some handy specific modes for different situations. Dialogue mode, for example, bumps up the speech on programmes, while night mode pushes the bass down to ensure your neighbours don’t start protesting your presence in the neighbourhood.
Do I need Sky for the Soundbox?
Technically, you don’t even need a TV – you can connect it to your phone via Bluetooth for Spotify streaming if that’s your bag, but you’d be missing out on its main functions.
But no, you can buy the soundbar if you don’t subscribe to Sky, and use it with Virgin Media, Freeview, Netflix or whatever – you’ll just pay quite a bit more for the privilege.
Sky Soundbox: Price
How much more exactly? Well, to non-subscribers, the Sky Soundbox costs £799, making it pretty expensive for a soundbar, even if it’s a very good one indeed. But if you are a Sky TV subscriber, the prices tumble.
If you have a Sky TV subscription, the price drops to £299, which is very tempting, assuming the device lives up to its promise. If you have a Sky Q Multiscreen account, the discount gets even bigger: £249 – a 69% saving on the RRP. And yes, you can get the discount if you take out a new account too – though that’s limited to the Sky Q Multiscreen deal.
Sky Soundbox: Release date
Sky hasn’t announced a release date for the Soundbox, currently listing it for an unspecified date in autumn, so it shouldn’t be too long before we know. You can pre-register for the Sky Soundbox through the Sky website to get updates straight from the horse’s mouth.
Images: Sky and Devialet
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