Recently I purchased a brand new TV well two to be exact one for the living room a QLED from Samsung and one for my bedroom an LG Nanocell. Both TVs are amazing when it comes to visuals, however, both TV’s suffer from the same fate, un-adequate sound due to the speakers built into the TV. So I needed a soundbar for both of them, When it comes to sound a lot of us want the best, for Dolby Atmos we tend to lean towards Samsung, Sony or LG, for everything else, well the door is wide open to many companies. So in steps Edifier, who currently have five soundbars on offers they consist of the following the CineSound B3 Soundbar, CineSound B7, S50DB, S70DB and the S90HD which is their top of the line entertainment soundbar with plenty of features, a huge subwoofer and rear speakers for total immersion.
I went for the S70DB, the little brother/sister to the S90HD, it came in a massive box and weighed an absolute tonne, the heavest soundbar I have ever owned. When I opened up the box and took out each part, I instantly found out that the majority of the weight comes from the HUGE Subwoofer, that’s not to say that the soundbar was light, it also weighed a decent amount.
Below is a list of the items that came with the S70DB;
- Sub Woofer
- Sound Bar
- Remove Control
- Optical Cable
- 3.5 to RCA
- 3.5 Audio Adapter
- Wall mount with screws and wallplugs
All of this costs £449.99. You might be thinking like I was, ‘damn that is a high price to pay, but compared to the S90HD which costs £749, it is £300 cheaper and is only missing the rear speakers and some technical features, which I did not require.
Now the soundbar esthetics might not be for everyone, it is not all black or metallic. It is actually built with MDF with a wood veneer as a finishing touch with black front grills on both the soundbar and subwoofer. Setting the soundbar up was super easy, I mounted the soundbar to the wall, connected the TV via Optical and then paired the wireless subwoofer. You can also connect the soundbar up through Bluetooth, however, you might get some voice sync delay, I was seeing this with SKY (Cable), but nothing else. Now there are plenty of connections already on the soundbar, which include; AUX, Coaxial, RCA, Bluetooth and Optical, however, I would have liked to have seen HDMI ARC as well, it is a missed opportunity.
The size of this soundbar is a beast 113cm Length x 11cm Height x 14cm Depth, its huge and should I say it ‘chunky’. After using the Samsung All in One Smart Soundbar HW-MS550, which is slighter deeper, not as high or as long I am getting rather acquainted with these bigger soundbars. The only major difference from the Samsung to this bar was the inclusion of a powerful base unit, which lets the bass into the place.
The subwoofer itself is rather minimal when it comes to features just a simple pair button, which you will need a needle to depress, power button and a bass adjustment dial. There is an 8″ sub inside which I can tell you now, pumps out so much bass you can feel it under your feet, even on the lowest setting. There is no way to truly turn off the sub without disconnecting it, but who cares, we get a soundbar with a subwoofer for the lower frequencies right, not to remove them.
The Soundbar like the subwoofer is minimal with an on-screen display, which will display connection type, volume level, and one of 3 pre-set EQ modes including movie, music, and news. When you are happy with the settings, and you have stopped fiddling, the onscreen display shows a rather delightful visual equalizer effect. The dial itself controls the volume, power on/off and input settings.
Both the Soundbar and the Subwoofer front grills can be removed so you can check out the speaker cones if that is your sort of thing, personally, for my taste I prefer the grills on, they look more aesthetically pleasing.
The system pushes out 158W of power, now this is not a huge amount when you consider the likes Samsungs All in One Soundbars (MS550, MS650, MS750) which push out around 350watts+. They also do not come with a powerful subwoofer and to get a subwoofer for one of those soundbars you are looking at around £400.00. So, in the end, you will be paying a lot more for an All in One Soundbar and sub compared to the Edifier S70DB. Then you have to consider would you need all that power, if you want to upset your neighbours sure go-ahead, otherwise, you will most likely be using around 25% – 40% as that is really loud in itself.
Keeping with the audio, this system pumps out some sweet sounds reaching up to 24Bit/192kHz which gives you the listener a wealthier sound and unadulterated characteristic sound quality. Having the addition of Bluetooth connectivity while using the S70DB as you primary goto streaming device for all your music, just adds to the value. I was able to run music from upstairs, which is around 11metres away with no loss of sound, going outside into my garden which is around 16metres away there was no chance that was going to work.
Moving away from audio, we have the remote control, taking on an unconventional design, circular. This controller really does stand out on a crowded desk, when most conventional controllers are rectangular. The controller controls everything from inputs, EQ Modes (Effects) Volume and media. The controller does not use AAA or AA batteries its uses one CR2025 battery, one of those flat round batteries we never seem to keep in the home.
The soundbar and subwoofer is a serious improvement over the lacklustre Samsung QLED speakers or any TV, to be honest, TV speakers are so small there is no way of giving you exceptional sound. When purchasing the TV from Currys the salesperson tried to sell me the Samsung Harman/Kardon HW-N950 Cinematic Wireless Smart Soundbar with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, which is near enough £1500, which saw me cough and splutter some filthy words and just looked at the guy stupid. I was already purchasing the SAMSUNG QE55Q67RATXXU 55 which was £1299 at the time of purchase, there was no way in hell I was spending near enough £3000 just to have mind-blowing sounds as well.
So I was happy when I got myself this, the sound is phenomenal, no it is not as powerful as you would expect it to be based on its size, but the sound output really makes up for it. The lows really shine through with bass pumping orgasmic pleasure, the mids hitting the middle ground and the highs hitting high. Voice clarity and overall sounds from TV, Movies to Music all shined through, it was and is a delight to listen to.
No distortion, and well balanced even at max volume.
The Three preset effects News, Music and Movie offer there own unique style of sound output, News helps with vocals, like News and Sports, Movies adds a lot more bass to the place, and makes the floor rumble under your feet, while Music is a mix of them both. I was gutted that there was no way to create your own profiles or have an equalizer so you can set up your own sound sphere.
Overall I really like the soundbar and sub, it offers a great soundscape and is not too loud to upset your neighbours, there is an upgraded version for £300 and offers rear speakers so you can experience surround sound if this is something you are interested in. There is no way to purchase the rear speaker separately, which is another missed opportunity for Edifier here, as I would have purchased them now I have spare change.
You can experience a form of surround sound if your TV or device supports it and the soundbar will emulate the experience rather well, but only left and right, as an example a car going from left to right, you can clearly hear it moving across the soundbar. There is no depth, height or rear surround Sound found on Atmos bars or bars with rear speakers. I hope to see Eidifer take a leap ASAP to Atmos and make an amazing looking Dolby Atmos Soundbar, Subwoofer and Rear Speakers with over 300watts of power to keep up with Samsung as I feel Edifier has what it takes to make a high-end good quilty product.
Final thoughts are simple, The Edifier S70DB SoundBar + Subwoofer is something I can not live without, it is at the heart of my Home and provides an amazing soundscape for Movies, TV and Music. It provides me with a soundscape my TV simply can not create, watching Marvel Movies is a joy to behold, and when the bass rumbles during those intense battle scenes, my heart flutters and a huge smile appears on my face, I am a happy listener.
Listening to the music I enjoy from Trance, Techno, Dance and even classic rock, I can sit there for hours, with my eyes closed enjoying the sweet envelopment of sound in front of me. The price may be a bit high for some people, yet, you do pay for what you get, and what you get here should be enough to entice you to make the purchase. The Design may be a put off for some users, as we are so used to plain black or metallic, but eclectic users might love the style and design.
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