Panasonic TX-55DX600B – Sound Quality

Although its build quality isn’t the best, the TX-55DX600 is slightly chunkier than some of the more high-end TVs doing the rounds this year, and it’s presumably thanks to this that its speakers do a fairly decent job.

The set can go quite loud when required, and does a decent job – even at high volumes – of keeping voices clear and sounding like they’re coming from the correct place on the screen. In general, there’s quite a lot of detail in the mix too, and the mid-range is reasonably open by the standards of such an affordable TV; it does a solid job of hiding a fairly limited bass response.
 

The only significant issue was that during heavy-duty soundtrack moments, it is possible to sometimes hear some underlying crackling as the speakers essentially give up the ghost.

Other Things to Consider

Panasonic doesn’t provide a smart remote with the TX-55DX600, but the full-sized, heavily buttoned handset you get isn’t bad by the standards of traditional remote designs. The layout is reasonably intuitive, and the addition of a Netflix direct access button is welcome.

I guess it’s worth raising the question here of whether it’s really worth buying a 4K TV that doesn’t support HDR now that Netflix, Amazon and Ultra HD Blu-ray are starting to tie the two features together. In my opinion, it is.

TVs that actually do a good job with HDR are quite expensive right now, so for me the best course of action would be to opt for a non-HDR budget 4K TV rather than a budget HDR 4K TV – even if, ultimately, the TX-55DX600 may not be the non-HDR budget 4K TV you should be looking to buy.

One last thing to mention here is the TV’s input lag: the time the screen takes to render data received at its inputs. This is a big deal to serious gamers, and I’m pleased to say that a figure of 30ms is one of the lowest figures I’ve measured from an IPS TV, and should have minimal impact on your gaming performance.

Should I buy a Panasonic TX-55DX600B?

While I’m yet to see many relatively affordable 4K TVs this year, my feeling is that because of its use of an IPS panel, the TX-55DX600 will not be the best option out there.

Samsung’s non-HDR 4K options in particular may deliver a significantly better picture performance based on past experience. Or you could step up to Panasonic’s DX750 TVs, which, although far from perfect with HDR, are much better all-round TVs than the TX-55DX600 – and without a significant bump up in price. A review of the Panasonic 50DX750 can be found here.

Verdict

IPS panels make a return to Panasonic’s lineup of TVs, and on the evidence of the TX-55DX600B, it certainly isn’t a return I welcome.

Trusted Score