German audio manufacturer Canton has announced the Smart Soundbar 9, which comes with built-in Chromecast and multi-room compatibility.
Canton has built some great soundbars and soundbases, like the DM100 and DM55, and now it’s back with a new effort – the Smart Soundbar 9.
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Inside the soundbar are four bass drivers and two midrange drivers with 50mm aluminium cones, plus two 19mm fabric-dome tweeters. The bass drivers are further supported by two passive drivers to help deliver more depth and punch. It’s all contained within a sleek, premium looking body (89 x 7 x 10 cm, HWD) and is best-suited to TVs 40-inches and bigger. If you fancy wall-mounting, the soundbar supports that, too.
Wireless connectivity is available in spades. Chromecast is built-in, so users can ‘cast’ audio from other devices on the network. You can also cast audio from music streaming apps, including Spotify, Tidal, Google Play Music, Deezer and TuneIn, and there’s native support for Spotify Connect if you want to stream directly from that service, too.
If you have other Canton Smart products, the Smart Soundbar 9 can be added to create a wireless multi-channel home cinema set-up, or you can go fully multi-room and have audio played around the house with compatible Canton products. 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless connections are supported, as is aptX Bluetooth.
Despite the onus on wireless, physical connections haven’t been shunned. Around the rear are four HDMI ports − three inputs and one output − with the output functioning as a HDMI ARC connection. All HDMI connections support HDCP 2.2 and other connections include optical, coaxial, stereo RCA and a dedicated subwoofer out.
Dolby Digital and DTS Digital surround sound tracks can be decoded, as can Hi-res audio tracks up to 24-bit 24-bit/96kHz.
Related: What is Hi-res Audio?
Other features include an IR-learning sensor, so the soundbar can be used with another remote, automatic on/off switching in line with the TV, EQ adjustments to bass, midrange and treble and lipsync technology that synchronises speech with what’s happening on screen.
The Smart Soundbar 9 goes on sale in late July 2019 in black or silver finishes for an RRP of £699.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.