Verdict

If you’re able to get past the design and are in the market for a soundbar to wall - mount or sit beneath your wall - climb TV , the Majority Snowdon is a convincing upgrade on a TV ’s build - in sound organization at a budget price .

Pros

Cons

Key Features

Introduction

Soundbars of today sport spate of fancy tech , but when we get a probability , we like to have a listen to more affordable effort .

So , maltreat up the Majority Audio Snowdon II , a soundbar from the Cambridge - based company that ’s a meretricious , less spectacular offer than its Dolby AtmosSierra Plusmodel .

Some are more than happy to go down for a childlike bar that ameliorate the speech sound of their television . Just how well does the Snowdon II reach that end ? Here ’s my finding of fact .

Design

The Majority Snowdon II , much like the mountain in Wales it shares a name with , is a tall unit . At 8.3 atomic number 96 high it ’s too big to sit in front of the majority ( ahem ) of TV , obstruct the TV ’s IR receiver .

If you ’re looking to pair it with a monitor with a telescopic stand it ’ll be o.k. , but a clew to the Snowdon ’s intentions are the rampart - climb brackets attached to its rear – and that most all the promotional icon on the Majority website show the soundbar sittingbelowa wall - go up telly .

The aesthetics are fair retrograde , including the curving front panel , see - through grille , white-haired / black finish , and buttons on the side . In any case , it matters less how it looks and more about how it sounds .

Around the back are RCA and optical digital stimulus , with a line - in positioned on the Snowdon ’s side . The Majority only send with a RCA and subsidiary cable , have in mind you ’ll need to make certain you have an optic cable’s length at handwriting to link up to a TV .

The video display ( or rather LED sparkle ) is in the top right - bridge player nook and change color depending on the input chosen ( blue for Bluetooth , icteric for optical ) . That ’s almost all it can do with no means to even approximate how loud the Snowdon goes , which feels like an oversight .

The remote control is modest , lightheaded , and well - built , featuring all the button needed . oddly , turn the soundbar off can lead to the TCL Roku it was plug into to turn off as well , which you might think is handy until you wrick the boob tube on first and then grow it off again after powering up the soundbar .

Features

There ’s no reference of Dolby or DTS audio ; the briefest glimpse into any audio support is the reference of switching the audio ( in your TV ’s stage setting ) to PCM .

remark include ( at least consort to the manual ) , RCA , subsidiary , Bluetooth , USB , and ARC , though the last two are n’t supported , which means there ’s an computer error in the manual of arms . There ’s no cite of the Bluetooth spec either .

Buttons on the remote control mostly have a bun in the oven over to the bar , settle on the proper - hand side along with the auxiliary input signal , bulk , author switching , Bluetooth coupling and powerfulness clit . The distant feature EQ customization of bass and treble , though this comes with a caution that EQ is disabled for Dialog and Movie style .

With Music and Flat presets , EQ is enabled , and music can be adjusted from 0dB to 8dB and Flat from -8dB to 8dB. Flat is also the button to press to readjust all EQ adjustment .

Sound Quality

sleazy can be shorthand for nasty where audio is concerned , but the Majority Snowdon II avoids that pitfall . There are strength and weaknesses , but in terms of improving a flatscreen TV ’s sound it ’s a acceptable profits for the Snowdon II .

It ’s a 2.1 system with an integrated subwoofer that acquire a consistently absolved , and at sentence punchy , speech . Do n’t take punchy to think the subwoofer strike the profundity of blue frequencies , as it lacks outright free weight . When more extension is called for , the Snowdon find itself on hollow ground .

When Wanda and Professor X launching into a psychical conflict in Marvel ’s Dr Strange sequel there is a riffle of bass to be heard , but with more examination soundtrack – Blade Runner 2049 for instance – there ’s distortion call down in the possibility credits .

When asked to go late the Majority becomes distinctly uncomfortable with the film ’s propensity for bath - clump bass . There ’s a incurvature and buzz aspect to its carrying into action that ’s evident when K drives over a desolate Los Angeles landscape . gratefully , the Snowdon wo n’t have to deal with films as dynamic as 2049 too often .

With 120W of power at its garbage disposal the Majority ready a seemly fist of the fight scene in 2049 , though the rough-and-tumble between Sapper Morton and K does n’t deliver the wallop and painful thuds as the similarly priced Groov - e 160 soundbar does .

Dialogue is relayed distinctly in Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , though Cumberbatch ’s ‘ distinctive ’ New York tones register a little too bassy and hard . Streaming television receiver series Industry on iPlayer and its evident there ’s a firmness to the Snowdon ’s vocal manner of speaking . watch out Normal People , there ’s a small distortion with some vocalisation but not to the extent it distracts .

exchange to the Dialog preset minimises Movie Mode ’s bassy register , though the Movie preset is ironically clear and more innate in its deliverance . Dialogue is also place well on the 55 - inch covert the bar is partner with , with three-fold clean-living and relatively sharply regurgitate to be discrete from the rest of the frequency range .

There is the preparation to adjust the audio with the Flat EQ , but there ’s a trade - off in the Movie preset sound grownup compared to Flat sounding neutral and cleaner . My orientation was to stick with the warmth and scale of Movie .

There are decent dynamic shifts to the more repugnance - tinge scenes and Danny Elfman ’s score to cater some impact in Dr Strange 2 , and the Majority Snowdon II can make a ruckus like it does in the conniption where foreign , America Chavez and Christine are being chased by Wanda in the sewers ; or the action scenes in Tenet as gunfire burst forth with mountain of punch , and there ’s musical scale and loudness given to scenes such as when a 747 plane crashes into a building .

stream audio over a Bluetooth connexion is undecomposed than expected . clearness is expert , avoid the confusion often associated with a Bluetooth connection . Audio span the width of the bar , present flock of space for vocals while balance across the frequency range is decent , though bass can sound badly - defined when coping with a track such as Nelly Furtado ’s Maneater .

Bass can be adjusted , but it does n’t have much of an effect in either direction . I also noticed the angle of the speakers helped displace audio towards spike height , lift the audio from the bar better than the Groov - e 160 soundbar could accomplish .

When it come to gambling , a sport ofGran Turismo 7on thePS5doesn’t sound as sharp at high volume as the Groov - e. The Majority Snowden II is the more composed of the two , which makes for a more detailed , less din speech sound than the Groov - e. If you need an affordable bar for some gambling , it ’s a strong option .

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Should you buy it?

The design of the Snowdon lends itself better to being rampart - mounted or sitting beneath a wall - get on TV . That , and it ’s a solid upgrade over a TV ’s own auditory sensation system .

The built - in subwoofer is decent enough , but its lack of depth and extension with down frequencies is noticeable . If you ’re after more cinematic clout , it ’s worth think a bar / wireless sub combo .

Final Thoughts

The Majority Snowdon II does n’t try anything fancy and in damage of improving a television receiver ’s audio on a budget it ’s a convincing rise .

While it save a punchy phone , if you ’re gestate plenty of basso from its integrated subwoofer then the Snowdon is limited . Its firm talks delivery does receive some hardness , but it does n’t overly upset the balance it ’s going for .

The aim is well suited to wall - mount , or at least sat beneath a projection screen with pile of clearance . The skip of a digital ocular cable is an odd one , but for those on a budget expect to upgrade their home movie theatre or desktop gaming setup , the Snowdon is a substantial budget buy .

Trusted Score

How we test

We essay every soundbar we review thoroughly over an extended period of time . We habituate industry standard tryout to equate features right . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , take money to review a product .

Find out more about how we test in ourethics policy .

FAQs

There ’s no HDMI support with the Snowdon II . Connecting to a boob tube relies on its optical outturn ( although a cable for that is not provided ) .

Full Specs

Sustainability

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