Sky Soundbox review: A great upgrade for Sky customers, Really?

PROS
Smart, compact design; superb mid-range sound; EQ system works brilliantly to deliver tailored sound
CONS
360 degree speaker systems needs the right space to reflect sound off walls; dynamic volume system can create a flat sound; no Dolby Atmos support

Not content with dominating the premium pay TV market, Sky wants a slice of the wireless speaker business, too. It’s partnered with celebrated French audio outfit Devialet to develop the Soundbox, a Bluetooth speaker designed specifically to partner a Sky set-top box.

The form factor is unusual. The Soundbox is too compact to be a soundbase, like the Sonos PlayBase, and too dumpy to be a soundbar. But the unconventional design accommodates a formidable array of drivers, and there’s no subwoofer required.

The Soundbox employs six woofers behind a wraparound fabric grille, plus three full-range drivers - one forward facing and two at the back. The idea is that the Soundbox will use wall reflections to create a three-dimensional, omnidirectional soundstage.

One consequence of this circular array is that you can’t effectively pop the speaker into a telly cabinet, or obstruct its side and rear speakers with your graphic novel collection. But stick to the rules and you’ll end up with a surprisingly big sound.

Connections are recessed at the rear. Curiously, Sky has chosen not to implement an HDMI output with ARC (Audio Return Channel), which has become a mainstay on HDMI-enabled soundbars and soundbases. Instead, it has a straightforward HDMI loop-through. Your Sky box connects to the input, your TV is fed by the output. To play audio from other sources connected to the set, you’ll need to connect a digital optical audio cable. Bluetooth is available for direct mobile streaming. Pairing is straightforward. The speaker goes into "Discovery mode" shortly after the Bluetooth input has been selected.

The Soundbox also comes with a diddy remote (clearly styled after the Sky Touch), which has volume, mute and power buttons, plus an AV Sync (for lip sync adjustment) and source selection.

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SKY SOUNDBOX SPECS

INPUTS & SPEAKERS
One HDMI input, one optical input, Bluetooth 4.1, Dolby Digital+ support, six 3-inch woofers, three 2-inch full-range drivers in 120° configuration
DIMENSIONS & WEIGHT
37.5 cm x 21 cm x 9.5 cm; 4kg
CONNECTIVITY
Bluetooth: Yes, 4.1; Wi-Fi: No
FEATURES
Immersive sound processing, Dynamic Volume adjustment, Sky Q EQ tuning, Voice UI
INCLUDED IN BOX
HDMI cable; optical digital audio cable; remote control
Clever sound modes
Of course, there’s more to the Soundbox than an abundance of drivers and unspecified amplification. Cute user refinement and some ingenious technology elevate it above the hi-fi hoi polloi, when it’s partnered with a Sky Q box.

While there’s no on-box display, selecting the source inputs elicits a spoken confirmation (“HDMI”, “Bluetooth” etc), so you know where you are. Using the Sky Q Touch remote opens up an accessibility ribbon onscreen (part of the feature update that comes with v.5 Sky Q firmware). This allows you to set Q Sound and engage optional sound presets: Speech lifts dialogue; Late Night sheds lower frequencies, while Kids is a volume limiter, which means the box can’t go higher than 50 per cent.

The onscreen accessibility ribbon allows you to set Q Sound presets: Speech lifts dialogue; Late Night sheds lower frequencies, while Kids is a volume limiter

Q Sound is an advanced equalisation system which allows the Soundbox’s performance to be tuned to best match the type of content being played. Rival TV audio systems have similar presets, but these need to be set manually and are applied with a broad brush. Here, Sky has produced bespoke EQ data for a variety of sports and the box is optimised automatically. With Football, Q Sound EQ elevates the noise of the crowd; for F1, car engines get a boost in the mix. Similarly, Cricket sounds different from boxing. All this has been achieved by spectrum analysis of each event. It’s pretty darn clever.

Q Sound for movies is a broader "cinematic rendering" of dialogue and music; when used on Music it boosts bass.

Clear dialogue
As befits its posh hi-fi heritage, the Soundbox is a classy performer. The Huntsman: Winter’s War has a rich, melodious narration from Liam Neeson, which the Soundbox celebrates. The midrange is mellifluous.

The Soundbox uses intelligent immersive rendering soundware, which enables it to split any incoming signal into what is direct (usually dialogue) and what is background sound. This means that direct audio fires from the front, while ambience emanates from the rear. This filtering works well.

The newsroom of CatCo (Supergirl, Sky One) bustles with convincing chatter and background, but dialogue is locked central and remains crisp. The articulation of the box is consistently good. There’s no sibilance or brittle edge to vocals. The delivery is velvety smooth.

Even with complex mixes, the Soundbox can delineate. When Supergirl gets into a slobberknocker with a bad-tempered metahuman, the Soundbox perfectly tracks the action. If you’re used to nothing but TV speaker sound, this clarity will come as a revelation.

The Soundbox comes with a diddy remote that has been styled after the Sky Touch

But there are caveats. The Soundbox employs AVL (Automatic Volume Level), a proprietary dynamic volume control designed to combat the disparity between loud and quiet audio. Developed by Devialet, it analyses audio in real time and smoothes out the dynamic differences. It’s an automatic process, applied to all source inputs, and is non negotiable. And it has consequences.

When a wrecking ball takes out a police car (Supergirl, again), there’s no more slam or violence to the effect than general crowd noise or banter. I was left wondering where the dynamics had gone. Gunplay in Skyfall is polite rather than jarring.

If you’re constantly adjusting TV volume to compensate for quiet dialogue or loud music, you’ll appreciate its effectiveness. But if you yearn for heart-stopping movie sound, this compression will frustrate. While it works to a greater or lesser effect, as you turn the volume up or down, I never truly felt free of its influence.

Good for music
Despite the relatively small cabinet, the Soundbox can drop a hefty beat. Devialet suggests the box will go as low as 35Hz, which is immense. It’s undeniably musical, too. The folksy Americana of Don’t Drift Too Far by Elephant Revival, highlights the speaker’s lilting sophistication. Similarly, Blubell & Black Tie’s chamber pop rendition of Bjork's It’s so quiet has presence and precision.

But bass can sound overwrought. Rammstein’s Links 2 3 4 pushes the Soundbox into uncomfortable boomy territory.

Verdict
With the Soundbox, Sky has introduced a new level of sophistication to the TV audio market. The ability to tune content directly to a sound system with metadata is something we haven’t seen in TV audio before, and it’s ingenious. It’s also a reasonably good music speaker. But remember, you’ll need to give it the requisite amount of space to perform.

Although optimised for Sky Q, the Soundbox can be used with older Sky+ HD boxes. But they can’t take advantage of the Sky Q Sound modes.

Sky ostensibly lists the Soundbox at £799, which is a bit peaky. However given that it’s only really going to appeal to Sky customers, the real-world price drops to a far more attractive £299. And if you’re a Sky Q multiscreen subscriber, that’ll save you a further £50. At which point, the Soundbox becomes something of a steal.