I was setting up a little theater nook for someone as a bit of fun, and noticed two things:
1: The Playstation 4 is a piece of rancid dog-shit like any other Sony source unit. Damned thing won't even play a CD, which makes it entirely useless as a source unit. It's worthless. Period. The only reason to buy one is if you want to play one of their exclusive games. Beyond that, almost anything aside from whatever they stuffed in your television is a better option.
The part that ticks me off is that now I look like a jackass. I picked up the PS4 (not having any reason to believe any fool would ban compact discs on a source unit) because it's an interface most like this fellow's Apple products, and a general lackluster feature-set keeps confusing things out of the way. Obviously he assumed that I knew it played CDs. I didn't even think of it, because the machine is perfectly capable of it; and everything else does...
It also doesn't like a lot of things, and the audio/video options may as well have been ripped out of a fucking Dynex VCR.
2: Now. This is where shit got all Twilight Zone:
I also picked up a Bose Soundtouch 300, which is an expandable sound bar/small theater solution. I personally do not like Bose, but this is primarily because they still seem to think they know something about proper home theaters; and either they don't, or they don't care to apply that knowledge to their products.
There's a reason I went with Bose, though; and not just because he's an Apple "form over function" guy.
I found a cutaway diagram of the thing. It's a clever little bird, and they've dumped everything they learned over the years making wussy little speakers into it. I could go into why it performs the way it does, but anyone who will understand can just look the bugger up. It's all very, very old tech; but with good packaging and modern electronics.
I thought this would be a good option given the room. The floors are hardwood, the walls and ceiling are plaster, it's got a massive window, and there are unfortunate gaps in the walls leading to other rooms. It's small, but this room thinks it's big; and with those materials, it's an echo chamber. There's no sensible place to locate a viewing position. Nothing to be done, in the end.
Well, the Soundtouch 300 did just what I thought it might. It made up for the room. Not only that, but even without the sub music and movies were powerful; easily as powerful as a sub-standard home theater arrangement, and it plays flat as a board. This is the first time that company has shocked me in a good way.
This is also the only unit I've sampled that creates utterly convincing virtual surround. The stage must have been three feet behind the television. Very surprising, and just as illuminating as the first time I heard Q-Sound back in the day on a Sega CD.
They're essentially using flattened, multiple-driver horns backed by a folded transmission line ending in a tuned port; what they like to call "waveguide technology" . This time, though, it works. Using horns sorted the issues, and using multiple drivers... That's how they're getting sounds to seemingly come from precisely impossible locations.
To summarize:
A: Buy an Xbox One for your source unit (PS3 if you just hate Microsoft for some reason). Don't get a PS4.
B: If you want a sound bar, just go buy a Bose Soundtouch 300 and be done with it. You're not going to improve upon that full, precise performance without spending money that would buy you a receiver and five speakers; and at that point, why the hell are you buying a sound bar? $699 and you're done. You don't need the optional sub.
Never thought I'd go so far as to recommend a Bose product, but here I am doing just that. It's no home theater, but it's sure as hell close as you're going to get in that form factor without doubling or tripling the price, number of cables, and space requirements.
Cheers,
Kennith
1: The Playstation 4 is a piece of rancid dog-shit like any other Sony source unit. Damned thing won't even play a CD, which makes it entirely useless as a source unit. It's worthless. Period. The only reason to buy one is if you want to play one of their exclusive games. Beyond that, almost anything aside from whatever they stuffed in your television is a better option.
The part that ticks me off is that now I look like a jackass. I picked up the PS4 (not having any reason to believe any fool would ban compact discs on a source unit) because it's an interface most like this fellow's Apple products, and a general lackluster feature-set keeps confusing things out of the way. Obviously he assumed that I knew it played CDs. I didn't even think of it, because the machine is perfectly capable of it; and everything else does...
It also doesn't like a lot of things, and the audio/video options may as well have been ripped out of a fucking Dynex VCR.
2: Now. This is where shit got all Twilight Zone:
I also picked up a Bose Soundtouch 300, which is an expandable sound bar/small theater solution. I personally do not like Bose, but this is primarily because they still seem to think they know something about proper home theaters; and either they don't, or they don't care to apply that knowledge to their products.
There's a reason I went with Bose, though; and not just because he's an Apple "form over function" guy.
I found a cutaway diagram of the thing. It's a clever little bird, and they've dumped everything they learned over the years making wussy little speakers into it. I could go into why it performs the way it does, but anyone who will understand can just look the bugger up. It's all very, very old tech; but with good packaging and modern electronics.
I thought this would be a good option given the room. The floors are hardwood, the walls and ceiling are plaster, it's got a massive window, and there are unfortunate gaps in the walls leading to other rooms. It's small, but this room thinks it's big; and with those materials, it's an echo chamber. There's no sensible place to locate a viewing position. Nothing to be done, in the end.
Well, the Soundtouch 300 did just what I thought it might. It made up for the room. Not only that, but even without the sub music and movies were powerful; easily as powerful as a sub-standard home theater arrangement, and it plays flat as a board. This is the first time that company has shocked me in a good way.
This is also the only unit I've sampled that creates utterly convincing virtual surround. The stage must have been three feet behind the television. Very surprising, and just as illuminating as the first time I heard Q-Sound back in the day on a Sega CD.
They're essentially using flattened, multiple-driver horns backed by a folded transmission line ending in a tuned port; what they like to call "waveguide technology" . This time, though, it works. Using horns sorted the issues, and using multiple drivers... That's how they're getting sounds to seemingly come from precisely impossible locations.
To summarize:
A: Buy an Xbox One for your source unit (PS3 if you just hate Microsoft for some reason). Don't get a PS4.
B: If you want a sound bar, just go buy a Bose Soundtouch 300 and be done with it. You're not going to improve upon that full, precise performance without spending money that would buy you a receiver and five speakers; and at that point, why the hell are you buying a sound bar? $699 and you're done. You don't need the optional sub.
Never thought I'd go so far as to recommend a Bose product, but here I am doing just that. It's no home theater, but it's sure as hell close as you're going to get in that form factor without doubling or tripling the price, number of cables, and space requirements.
Cheers,
Kennith
