Canton’s Classy, Compact Dolby Atmos Soundbar is Filmic Thriller

WITH ITS GLOSSY FINISH AND UPFIRING DRIVE UNITS, CANTON’S FLAGSHIP SOUNDBAR IS A RED CARPET STAR

There’s no shortage of slim line Dolby Atmos enabled soundbars, but models from the likes of Sony and Panasonic rely on DSP and virtualization to create an immersive soundstage.

The Canton Soundbar 10 is different. This is similarly accommodating, yet it manages to combine a forward facing stereo driver array with Dolby enabled upfirers. Canton describes it as a 2.1.2 solution. It seems you really can have your space and fill it.

The Soundbar 10 ships without a partnering subwoofer, although you can always add one later. Canton offers the wireless Sub 8 from its Smart speaker range as a suitable match. For this audition, we went without.

Feature-wise, the Soundbar 10 is well specified. Chromecast is built-in, along with Spotify Connect, and you can stream Tidal, Google Play Music, Deezer and TuneIn over Wi-Fi.

Dual band Wi-Fi is provided, so there’s the option of either 2.4GHz and a less congested 5GHz connection. Bluetooth 4.0 enables direct streaming from a smartphone.

Hi-Res Audio is also supported, up to 24-bit/96kHz over Wi-Fi and 24-bit/192kHz via HDMI.

If you want to integrate it into a whole home audio solution, there’s that option too.

When it comes to physical connectivity, the Soundbar 10 generously offers a quartet of HDMIs; all 4K and HDR compatible, with one ARC enabled. There’s also a pair of digital audio inputs, one optical and one coaxial, plus a stereo phono input and Ethernet for a wired network connection.

Looking every bit the close relation to the Soundbar 9, the10 stands just 7cm tall and has a depth of 10cm. At

99cm wide, it’s suitable for screens 50-inches upwards.

Build quality is unquestionably superb. It tips the scales at a reassuringly hefty 5.24kg and has a premium black gloss finish, with a heat-treated glass top and integrated metal grille up front. There’s a choice of finishes, black or silver. We auditioned the former.

The soundbar comes with a compact remote, but there are touch sensitive controls on the soundbar itself, if you want to get handy. Also up top, behind metal grilles, are the Dolby Atmos enabled drive units.

In total there are eight drivers on-board. Four 79mm bass drivers, which aim upwards, plus two front-facing 50mm midrange drivers, coupled with a pair of 19mm fabric-dome tweeters.

Two of the four on top convert to full-range units when Dolby Atmos playback is engaged. When

Atmos is detected, the soundbar automatically employs the upward-firing drivers to create a soundstage with height, width and depth.

The soundbar 10 is compatible with both Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD and core DTS 5.1 audio. However it doesn’t play DTS:X (Canton has suggested that this will be added with a firmware update at some point). Naturally it can also be used with regular stereo content.

Power output is quoted at 300 watts. Take this with a slight pinch of salt, but it does go reasonably loud.

It’s worth spending time with the set-up.There’s no microphone for auto calibration, instead you need to manually fine tune placement.

Navigating the various options is simplified via an onscreen display. The onscreen system isn’t anything fancy, just a simple text overlay.

Build quality is unquestionably superb. It tips the scales at a reassuringly hefty 5.24kg.

There are bass, midrange and treble controls available for adjustment. A trio of sound modes, allow for customisation. You can tweak lip sync, in 10 millisecond blocks; this could help with content coming over ARC is often slightly out of sync.

Delve into the setup menu and you can not only alter the level of the physical drivers, but also the virtual rear surround rights and lefts and the phantom centre. There’s adjustable distance and room height, as well as device height. A refreshing amount of precision from an all-in-one solution.

The good news is that this Canton gets movies right. It’s cinematic performance is excellent, with the soundstage demonstrating pronounced height and width. There’s no sense of rear surround, but then that’s typical for this form factor. What’s really impressive is the slightly ethereal height layer that the bar creates.

A run through of the usual Dolby demo test clips confirm the Soundbar 10’s ability to project audio as expected, but what they don’t immediately confirm is just how subtle and involving the Canton can be, even with well-worn classics.

The opening chase in Mad Max Fury Road is as traumatic and exciting as you might hope. The chorus of whispers that accompany Max Rockatansky’s opening monologue (“Here they come again. Worming their way into the black matter of my brain…”) float perfectly wide and high, anchored neither to the bar or the screen.

However there is a caveat. With nonAtmos material, the soundstage contracts, sometimes quite dramatically. While this Canton handles flatbed surround, it doesn’t apply any appreciable dimensionality.

We know that the DTS-HD MA mix on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Blu-ray) is a thrilling surround mix when played on a standalone home theatre system, but here it lacks the spatial definition brought by Dolby Atmos. The sound it makes is solid, but a little slabby.

This reflects its overall musicality too. While it sounds perfectly fine streaming music, it’s not really a substitute for a dedicated stereo system or a more musically adept soundbar.

However, film fans buying this for Bluray and Netflix streaming will be more than happy with its performance.

As you might expect from such a compact enclosure, there’s a limit to just how much genuine bass the box can produce. At around 50Hz, the Soundbar 10 can only manage a DSP honking noise, which could be misconstrued as a bass response. It only really injects bass energy at 100hz.

You’ll need to weigh up whether you value the Canton sans sub, which certainly doesn’t sound thin, or are prepared to sacrifice floor space to get the deeper benefits that an optional subwoofer would bring.

Verdict

With classy cosmetics and convincing Atmos theatrics, we rate Canton’s Soundbar 10 a very creditable soundbar proposition. It doesn’t rely on virtualization for its filmic thrills, preferring using effective up-firing drive units to provide immersion. If it does have a flaw, it’s that beyond Atmos it can sound at tad one dimensional. Still, if you want superior audio from streaming services and Blu-ray, it’s a brilliant buy.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Price: $1599

Specification

• Amplifier: 300W

• Soundbar drivers: 4 x 79mm aluminium bass drivers, 2 x 50mm midrange drivers, x 19mm tweeters

• Dimensions: 99 x 7 x 10cm (w/h/d)

• Weight: 5.24kg

Performance is excellent, with the soundstage demonstrating pronounced height and width.