With modern televisions that are ultra-flat and where there is little room for other components other than the screen, soundbars are now the only solution for a quality audio experience. And also for have the audio go in the direction of the viewer and hearerinstead of on the other side.
Among the novelties of the beginning of 2022, in a constantly growing sector, there is also the Xiaomi Soundbar 3.1which we had on trial for a couple of weeks and which intends to do just that: it improves sound localization, directionality and clarity.
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Xiaomi Soundbar 3.1, the technical characteristics
On sale from March 4th, the soundbar of the Chinese manufacturer costs 279 eurosis just under 90 centimeters long and is combined with a generously sized subwoofer (much larger than an Xbox X, as seen in the images) but not excessively heavy and is equipped with 3 full-range speakers and 3 tweetersfor a total power of 430 W.
The bar has a display Dot matrix Oled on the right side, some buttons at the top (power, volume adjustment and so on), encoding Dolby Audio e Dtsconnections Bluetooth and wifi, which is used for automatic pairing with the subwoofer, and also theNfcuseful for playing any audio coming from the smartphone.
On the back there are Usb, Hdmi, Coaxial and optics, which is what we used for connection to tv.
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How the test took place and how it went
The Soundbar 3.1 has 4 listening modes in addition to the standard one, which can be easily managed from the remote control (too bad you didn’t find the batteries in the package): Film, Game, Music and News. In addition, there is a Night Mode which should reduce the sound effects and focus on the voices of what you are watching (to see a late night movie, in fact) and an AI Mode which should automatically recognize the audio source and adapt the sound emission accordingly.
We used the device in a living room on a mezzanine of a dozen square meters, combined with a Sony 55 “TV, positioned about 3 meters from the viewing and listening point: the installation is really simple and in a few minutes we were ready to start our test. That really surprised us.
The sounds that come out of Xiaomi’s 3.1 Suondbar are full, intense and rich in detail; and the power is perceived all: we rarely had to raise the volume above the 7-8 level of the scale, more often stopping around 4-5. And we almost never set the subwoofer above 0-1: even so, the note scene of the attack on Malibu in the film Iron Man 3 (in its own way it has become a benchmark for audio / video testing of systems domestics) sounded decidedly engaging, so much so that we felt in the heart of the action. We and the neighbors too, probably.
The same goes for video games: in driving ones, like Forza Horizon 5we have caught many more nuances of sound both from the environment and from the timbre of the engines, with the differences between a Mercedes V8 and a Jaguar V12 now decidedly more marked; in all the others, gives Death’s Door ad Halo Infinite (here our review)to the old man The Long Darkwe enjoyed a wider range of sounds than we could grasp with the previous sound system.
The important thing is to manually choose the audio scene that best suits the situation, with Film and Game being the ones in which the most marked differences are felt. This because AI Mode seemed a bit hesitant to us and indeed it made us lose a few words in some dialogues in which we decided to try it, as if it were constantly working to understand what we were listening to and, if in doubt, it had stopped broadcasting the audio. Deactivating it, the problem disappears and does not reappear.
What we liked about the Xiaomi Soundbar 3.1
- Installation very simple and with few cables
- crystal clear audio, powerful and well distributed
- Nice design
What we didn’t like
- AI mode a little hesitant and not very usable
- At this price, the remote control batteries should be included