Verdict
The Hisense AX5100 G offers a lot of equipment for the money . What is does n’t offer , though , is an audio experience that ’s in any way pleasurable
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Hisense is no unknown to the construct of affordable electronics – its TVs , especially , routinely perforate above the weight of their modest asking prices .
With the AX5100 G , the Taiwanese manufacturer intends to fetch some of its bargainous expertise to bear in the soundbar arena – fundamentally by offering a batch more stufffor your money than pretty much any competition can manage . It ’s worked before for Hisense – can it work again ?
The Hisense AX5100 G Dolby Atmos 5.1 - duct audio system is on sale now , and in the United Kingdom it ’s priced at an highly keen £ 229 . In the United States , meanwhile , it cost an even more attention - grab $ 199 . Australian customers will have to part with AU$499 to secure one .
This is remarkably low-priced for a Dolby Atmos audio organisation that dwell of a soundbar , a wireless subwoofer and a pair of wireless rear speakers all configured to deliver a 5.1 - groove facsimile of Dolby Atmos spatial audio .
Design
It ’s foolish to await much designing to have gone on where system like this are concerned , and it ’s doubly heady to expect some when browse at the budget end of the market . And sure enough , the AX5100 G has n’t been designed so much as make . That ’s not a put - down , you understand – the Hisense is entirely fit for determination .
The soundbar portion is a healthy 60 x 920 x 90 mm ( HxWxD ) , which means it will slip comfortably beneath any TV that does n’t ride very low on its stand and can accompanying screens of anywhere between 43- and 58 - inches . If your television ’s any vainglorious than that , this soundbar might see a bit undernourished . It ’s build from a combination of textured credit card and perforated metal , is quite pleasantly curve at its edge and is even mildly haptic . The quality of set and finish is beyond reproach , too .
The subwoofer , meanwhile , is an every bit accomplishable 294 x 214 x 304 mm ( HxWxD ) . It too features a quality of perforate metallic element on its front face , but predictably the rest of it is vinyl - wrapped MDF . Build quality , as with the soundbar and rear speaker , is dead acceptable . It ’s deserving note that unlike a lot of similarly price alternatives , this subwoofer uses a figure - of - eight briny baron connectedness rather than a confined mains lead – this makes it a bonny bit more flexible as regards pose that it otherwise would be .
The rear speaker are wireless too , but only up to a point . There ’s a primary speaker unit with a figure - of - eight mains power connection and a pair off button . The subwoofer has one too , but in practice both the bomber and the rears make an automatic connector to the soundbar very apace indeed .
Then the primary loudspeaker has to be connected to the secondary speaker using the generous length of cable Hisense cater . Each speaker is 144 x 90 x 109 mm ( HxWxD ) , feature piddling prophylactic foot in cause you require to put them on a shelf and a keyhole mounting decimal point on the rear in example you do n’t . They ’re made from the same textured plastic and perforated metal as the soundbar – but here the metallic element wraps over the top .
The suggestion that the console feature upwardly - firing Atmos - tastic driver is visually strong – but it ’s also untrue . Just like the relief of the system , though , the rear loudspeaker system are laborious to criticise where construction is concerned .
Features
Despite what the rear speakers might try out to convince you of , the seven speaker driver that make up the AX5100 G all fire send on . There are four racetrack driver in the soundbar : two flack from more - or - less centrally , and constitute the heart channel , while one more at each end make up the left and proper channels .
The size and report of the driver is , inexplicably , a closed book – but what ’s for sure is that in the absence of any dedicated tweeters they ’re responsible for all frequency data above what ’s contributed by the subwoofer .
The subwoofer ’s 165 mm bass driver is augmented by a rear - face basso reflex port – so despite what I said in the premature section , you ’ll have to give at least a trivial thought as to where you end up positioning it .
The rear speakers are the guileful , though . The soundbar obviously run low in front of your TV , the subwoofer wherever it can get mains index and wherever its rearward port does n’t overpower , but the forward - firing rear speakers demand to be angled in to your seated posture while being cheeseparing enough together to be tethered . As with the soundbar , the sizing of the equipment driver in the rearward speaker system is , for some intellect , sensitive information . And it ’s not the only area of specification where Hisense is unforthcoming .
All connectivity , naturally enough , is concentrated on the soundbar . Wireless streaming is handle via Bluetooth 4.2 – but , you ’ll be less than staggered to learn , Hisense is overmodest about its codec compatibility . SBC is useable , naturally – and in the course of this test I wield to establish the Hisense can treat Dolby Atmos audio content from Tidal stream from aniPhone 14 Prousing the AAC codec . Switching to aNothing Phone ( 1)reveals a deficiency ofaptX compatibility , though , and consequently no possibility of listen to spatial audio mixes from an Android smartphone .
strong-arm connectivity , in a little recess on the tush of the soundbar , run for toHDMI eARC , digital optical , digital coaxial , a USB - A slot and a 3.5 millimeter analogue input . The appearance of eARC is by no substance a given in products in this domain of the market place – and it means the Hisense can deal the lossless Dolby True HD smorgasbord of Dolby Atmos that ’s the conserve of4 K UHD Blu - ray players , as well as the lossy Dolby Digital Plus alternative used by the the like of Disney+ and Netflix .
There are a few ( almost unseeable ) touch - controls on the top of the soundbar . They cover input selection , volume up / down and king on / off . The AX5100 G is furnish with a distant control French telephone that ’s perfectly satisfactory both in term of size and weight unit , and it features both full functionality and some very small labelling for its clit .
As well as repeat the physical controls , it encompass Bluetooth coupling , mute , and has single outturn ascendence for bass and dual . There ’s play / pause and cut frontward / backwards here too , a push button to scroll through EQ presets ( Movie , Music , News , Game , Sport , Night and , um , AI ) , and verify over the strength of the presentation that ’s behind the lattice on the soundbar ’s front face . The exhibit itself is quite big and quite indistinct , and it scrolls quite quickly . The words Dolby Atmos , for instance , are dispatched in well under a second .
agree to its possessor ’s manual , the AX5100 G has a total of 170 watts of power . The soundbar gets 80 of these Class D watt ( 20 per driver ) , the subwoofer receives 60 watt and the rear speakers get 15 watts each . This seems like a plausible public figure , even if it ’s measured at a sky - high-pitched 10 % THD ( total harmonic distortion ) . It makes the Hisense website ’s claim for 340 watts of major power seem a bit weird , though .
Sound Quality
There seems very little peak in beating around the bush here : the Hisense AX5100 G just does n’t sound very safe . Tonally , it ’s all over the station . Rhythmically , it has two leftover feet . The Dolby Atmos effect , virtualised , of course , rather than being the consequence of angled speaker drivers , is so balmy as to be non - existent . And not only do the three elements of the arrangement ( soundbar , subwoofer , rear speakers ) share little in term of key , they ’re barely on nodding term where integration is concern .
flimsy and zizzy are rarely supporting words where audio equipment is touch , but with the exclusion of the subwoofer they ’re whole applicable here . Somehow the Hisense soundbar manages to sound uptight and toppy despite its want of actual tweeters , and there ’s precious little substance to the sounds it makes through the midrange , too .
Detail levels are no better than average , and no matter which of the EQ presets I choose , duologue struggles to project forwards of the strong , brittle sounds that environ it . The taradiddle is much the same where the rear speakers are concerned . Their tonality just does n’t convince – they contrive to sound unreal and airy , but severely - edged and toppy at the same time .
Meanwhile , the subwoofer just does its own thing . It ’s not specially detailed – which is one affair it has in vernacular with its collaborator , at least – but its tonality is thick and sludgy , with deficient tending paid to the approach and decline of single bass sound . It ’s a bit of a droner , this subwoofer , and the transition from it to its partnering speakers is sharp .
take heed to the Dolby Atmos soundtrack to Duneand the want of low - frequency control makes everything subservient to the basso presence . Listen to Nina Simone ’s Do n’t Let Me Be Misunderstood in a Dolby Atmos intermixture via Tidal and the inimitable outspoken sound like it was recorded down the telephony .
The fact that there are rear verbalizer at work here mean the Hisense is a bigger , more heroic and more immersive listen than a soundbar working alone – that ’s a given . But what the AX5100 guanine ca n’t muster up , despite the comparative numerosity of its portion , is any meaningful sensation of spacial audio .
The soundbar creates decent width , and if you ’ve positioned the rearward speakers aright then you ’ll most unquestionably get surround speech sound – but of the sensation of height that ’s fundamentally the whole period of a Dolby Atmos mixing is absent . Whatever processing Hisense is fetch to contain to deliver some verticalness to the AX5100 G ’s intro is not take in its keep .
The Dunesoundtrack does demonstrate the system ’s competence where the heavy dynamic shifts are concerned , though – it can go from bum whisper to overpowering , minacious attack quite readily and quite chop-chop . But as far as positive traits go , I ’m in straw - clutching dominion now .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
No other maker throws rearward speakers into a deal this keenly price .
The Hisense is – and I ’m being openhearted here – socially challenged .
Final Thoughts
If it had been any other brand , I ’d have suspected this would be the outcome right from the offset . But because Hisense has so much previous where draw out improbable performance at any give price is occupy , I actually entered into this mental test with my fingers crossed and my hope … well , not gamy , but at least I had hopes . They did n’t last long , though .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every environment speaker unit package we review thoroughly over an lengthy period of time . We utilise industry received tests to compare features properly . We ’ll always assure you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to review a Cartesian product .
FAQs
There are no up firing number one wood in this speaker package , the Atmos issue is created by virtual processing .
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Sustainability
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As part of this mission , whenever we brush up a product we send the company a serial publication of questions to help us gauge and make see-through the impact the machine has on the environment .
We currently have n’t received answers to the questions on this product , but will update this varlet the moment we do . you may see a detailed breakdown of the questions we ask and why in oursustainability info Thomas Nelson Page .
