Ideal for movies/web series, not for music- Technology News, DD Freedishnews

Ameya DalviNov 11, 2020 12:40:25 IST

Value: Rs 17,999

Score: 3.5/5

Not too way back, we reviewed Zebronics’ entry-level sound bar, the Zeb Jukebar 4000, and have been fairly happy with what it supplied at a really aggressive price ticket. Immediately, we carefully examine their flagship product that not solely flaunts a considerably increased 450W output, but additionally boasts of assist for Dolby Atmos within the sub-20K value bracket in India; one thing I don’t bear in mind seeing earlier than. Let’s see whether or not the Dolby Atmos branding is only a advertising gimmick or if the Zeb-Juke Bar 9700 Professional really delivers a theatre-like expertise at house.

Zebronics Juke Bar 9700 Professional Dolby Atmos Soundbar: Design and bundle (6/10)

The Juke Bar 9700 Professional doesn’t have a placing design, and feels a contact plasticy close to the perimeters and on the again. It has an oblong physique with a black/darkish gray metallic grille up entrance, and a few mild gray squares on the perimeters. The plastic again is susceptible to scratches. The Zebronics emblem is positioned on the left of the bar, whereas a definite Dolby Atmos emblem could be noticed on the proper. The development is rugged, and the soundbar is kind of heavy at near 4 KG; nearly as a lot because the subwoofer. The bar is 96 cm lengthy – in regards to the size of a 43-inch TV. You get a wired subwoofer with a 6.5-inch driver positioned on the appropriate facet.

The bundled cables are pretty lengthy, and you’ve got the choice of wall-mounting the soundbar with the bracket and fasteners offered within the bundle. Nonetheless, the ports could be arduous to entry as soon as it’s wall-mounted, as all of the enter ports are positioned behind the soundbar. There may be simply sufficient house to attach the cables, and you will want to attach them earlier than hanging the unit on the wall. The USB port can be positioned on the again, and plugging in a USB drive could be fairly a process. It’s possible you’ll want a USB extension cable to do this. Putting the USB port on the facet would have made higher design sense.

The facility button, quantity management keys and enter choice button are on the highest of the soundbar. There’s a small, white, 7-segment LED show on the entrance that shows the enter mode in addition to quantity/bass/treble degree, amongst different issues. It additionally informs you when the bar recognises a Dolby Atmos sign, as these letters scroll throughout the show. A wi-fi distant management can be bundled within the bundle, which is precisely just like the one you get on their entry-level mannequin.

Zebronics Juke Bar 9700 Professional Dolby Atmos Soundbar: Specs and Options (9/10)

There are many connectivity choices on this Dolby Atmos-certified soundbar, probably the most placing being three HDMI ports, one in all which helps ARC enter. As well as, you get Bluetooth 5.0, 3.5 mm Aux in, Optical in and USB. It has many of the bases coated on this division. The soundbar has a 4.1.2 setup, with two pairs of 5.71 cm front-facing drivers to deal with excessive and mid-range frequencies, and a pair of 5.08 cm upward-facing drivers that work as top channels. They’ll ship a mixed output of 300W RMS, whereas the subwoofer provides one other 150W RMS to the equation, taking the overall rated energy of the system to a whopping 450W RMS. The rated frequency response ranges between 45 Hz and 20 KHz.

The Juke Bar 9700 Professional is accompanied by a full-function wi-fi distant management that you simply get with most Zebronics soundbars. It has respectable construct high quality, with controls for quantity, bass, treble, equaliser presets (Music, Film, Information, 3D), enter choice and audio playback. There’s an influence and mute button too. I can’t consider something necessary that the corporate has missed out right here. Take excellent care of the distant, because the audio tuning features can’t be accessed with out it.

Zebronics Juke Bar 9700 Professional Dolby Atmos Soundbar: Efficiency (7/10)

I attempted a number of enter sources to check the soundbar, however you get the most effective out of this system solely by way of the HDMI enter, as a result of that’s the way you feed it a Dolby Atmos sign. I primarily used an Amazon Hearth TV Stick 4K to check this soundbar. You possibly can both plug the Hearth TV Stick into the TV and allow ‘Passthrough’ on HDMI ARC to let the soundbar course of the audio, or plug the stick into one of many HDMI ports on the bar, after which ship the video sign to the TV by way of ARC. I’d recommend the latter, particularly when enjoying content material from Prime Video, because the audio high quality is considerably higher.

There’s a catch although. The soundbar can not ship again Dolby Imaginative and prescient sign to the TV over HDMI; in all probability a licensing difficulty. All of the Dolby Imaginative and prescient content material on Netflix will play in HDR10 when the Hearth TV Stick is plugged into the bar. In such a situation, plug the stick again into the TV or use the Netflix app on the TV for higher outcomes. This can be a bit fiddly and technical, but it surely must be said, and I’ve tried to maintain it so simple as attainable.

Sadly, Dolby Atmos content material on OTT companies in India is sparse in the intervening time. Solely a few exhibits and a few films on Prime Video supply that audio commonplace, and I used all that was accessible to check the Atmos capabilities of the Juke Bar 9700 Professional. I’m completely happy to report that the soundbar handles Atmos very properly. The output is loud, clear and punchy more often than not. Although one can not anticipate the identical encompass sound impact as with bodily rear audio system, it supplies a extremely immersive expertise in a mid- to large-sized room. The positional audio is significantly better than common soundbars, and one can really feel the digital encompass impact with gunshots and explosions. The clap of thunder in one of many scenes from Carnival Row really shook the room at 50 % loudness, reminding me that the 450 Watts RMS output is not only a quantity.

Shifting on from Atmos to Dolby Digital Plus content material, although it doesn’t sound nearly as good as the previous, there isn’t an enormous drop in audio high quality both. The soundbar handles it properly and supplies an satisfying expertise. In each circumstances, the dialogues are clear and there’s ample thump within the low-end frequencies. That being stated, I’d have most well-liked tighter bass from the subwoofer. The boomy nature of the bass is clear in content material exterior of Atmos and Dolby Digital Plus. You possibly can throttle the bass and treble between -5 to five, however dropping the bass to minimal additionally doesn’t assist as a lot as I’d like. It impacts music playback the worst, and it’s removed from satisfying on this soundbar. However then, this soundbar is supposed for films and net collection, moderately than music.

Whereas there are different audio inputs accessible on this soundbar, I wouldn’t wish to waste your time speaking about them. The Aux enter works nice right here, however you received’t get a Dolby sign on that. This soundbar is supposed for use with HDMI ARC for optimum impact; it’s wasted in any other case. A phrase on Bluetooth connectivity: whereas the pairing was fast and the connection steady, there’s a noticeable delay between audio and video on this mode. Finest to limit it to enjoying music out of your telephone, at most. Additionally, the grasp quantity of this soundbar would not sync with the Bluetooth quantity of all supply units. It really works nice for some, however in different circumstances, you need to modify the supply quantity and that of the soundbar individually; not very environment friendly, that.

To sum up the efficiency, I can say that it is vitally good when enjoying Dolby Atmos or Dolby Digital Plus audio streams. Most different OTT content material with fairly good audio high quality can be satisfying on this soundbar, although with a bit extra bass than best. Music playback is finest averted right here, particularly bass-heavy tracks.

Zebronics Juke Bar 9700 Professional Dolby Atmos Soundbar:  Value and verdict

The Zebronics Juke Bar 9700 Professional Dolby Atmos soundbar is priced at Rs 17,999 with a one yr guarantee, and infrequently sells on Flipkart for a few thousand decrease. The worth could seem a tad excessive for a soundbar from a lesser-known model on this phase – as in comparison with the Sonys and JBLs of the world – however then, you don’t get a Dolby Atmos soundbar from these guys wherever near what the 9700 Professional sells for. This Zebronics soundbar presents a number of audio inputs, together with 3x HDMI ports, a strong 450W sound output and an immersive audio expertise when enjoying the proper of content material; one thing extraordinarily uncommon on this value bracket.

Having stated that, this isn’t a product for every body. Purchase this in case you are in search of Dolby Atmos audio output on a funds, and extra importantly, when you’ve got a supply system like a Hearth TV Stick 4K or a Blu-ray participant that’s Dolby Atmos-compliant to deliver the most effective out of this soundbar.