DALI KUBIK ONE
BEST FOR UNDER £1000 £799 / stuff.tv/kubikone
It’s normally the TV that takes centre stage in any home cinema setup, but with one of these underneath, it might be tough to pick a winner. e Kubik One is probably the best-looking soundbar around, with an eye-catching red grille you can swap out for other-coloured alternatives whenever you fancy. Because a lime green or petrol blue soundbar goes with every room, right?
What’s the story?
It looks like a high-end lifestyle product, and to be fair, if you’re going to charge £800 for a soundbar, it had better look the part. There’s more to the Kubik One than a pretty exterior, though. The chassis is a single aluminium piece that staves off unwanted resonances. Oh, and it’ll play nicely with an optional wireless subwoofer if you fancy kicking things up a notch. Not that you really need to… Dali knows a thing or two about making great-looking, greatsounding loudspeakers, and that Danish heritage comes through in the Kubik One. It’s a riveting listen. The scale of sound is immense, effects pinging around with punch and precision. There’s ample low-end heft, and plenty of nuance and texture to every ounce of detail.
The sound is impressively clear and controlled amidst the bold dynamics, and we couldn’t tear ourselves away from listening to it. This is not the kind of discreet performance we expect from a soundbar – it’s wholly captivating. There’s no virtual surround sound either, just a beautifully direct stereo presentation.
Is it any good?
As long as you make sure your TV is tall enough not to get cut off by this soundbar’s tall form (the Dali stands 16cm high), it’s a dream to use. That’s partly down to the simple setup: you get two optical inputs and one analogue input, and that’s it. That means no HDMI, so more cables to add to your home cinema setup, but it also means no worries about 4K compatibility.
There’s no distracting LCD screen, and no great array of buttons, settings and dials to fiddle with – just a single blinking LED to let you know it’s picked up your remote control presses, and a few basic controls on the soundbar itself.
It’s delightfully simple, so if you’ve got the cash to splash, this is one talented system worth investing in.
Tech Total power output 100W HDMI No Bluetooth Yes Wireless subwoofer No Dimensions 160x980x100mm Weight 9.6kg