For living rooms, it used to be a big push for multi-speaker configurations with a big receiver. For some people, this is still the goal, especially for surround sound. But recently there has been a trend where people have been moving to soundbars. They take up a lot less space while still being an audio improvement over your TVs speakers and they better fit with today’s ultra-thin TVs. There are some downsides though and performance can be a little limited. Well, Sound Blaster came out with the Sound BlasterX Katana and they don’t even like to put it in the same category as a traditional sound bar. They call it an Under Monitor Audio System aka a UMAS. This is because beyond having speakers under your monitor it has a built-in 224 bit DAC, a Dolby Digital 5.1 Decoder, and 5 drivers all with their own amps. With my wife getting a new desk, we started to look at her options and the Katana from Sound Blaster looked to be a good fit to keep the desktop footprint low by using unused space under her monitors. So today I’m going to check the Katana’s out and see just how they perform.
Product Name: Sound BlasterX Katana
Review Sample Provided by: Creative Labs
Written by: Wes
Pictures by: Wes
Amazon Link: HERE
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Specifications |
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System Configuration |
2.1 system |
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Dimensions (H x W x D) |
Soundbar: 60.0 x 600.0 x 79.0 mm (2.4 x 23.6 x 3.1 inches), Subwoofer: 333 x 130 x 299 mm (5.1 x 11.8 x 13.1 inches) |
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Weight |
Soundbar: 1.5kg (3.3 lbs), Subwoofer: 4kg (8.8 lbs) |
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Bluetooth® Version |
Bluetooth 4.2 |
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Bluetooth Profile |
A2DP (Wireless Stereo Bluetooth) |
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Supported Codecs |
AAC, SBC |
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Connector Type |
Bluetooth, AUX-in, Optical-in, USB FlashDrive, USB Audio, Mic-in, Headset out |
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Color |
Black |
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Remote Control |
Infrared |
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System Requirements |
For Wireless Streaming: Compatible Bluetooth devices that support the Stereo Bluetooth Profile (A2DP) For Wireless Control: Compatible Bluetooth devices that support the Bluetooth Remote Control (AVRCP) For 7.1 Virtual Surround Audio Playback: Windows PC For Digital 5.1 Audio Playback: Optical-in For High-resolution 24-bit 96kHz Audio Playback: For PC via USB Connection For Playback via USB Flash Drive: Up to 128GB formatted in FAT16/32/exFAT. Common audio formats such as MP3, WMA, FLAC and WAV. (MP3 and WMA up to 320kbps and FLAC up to 1.3Mbps). For Sound Blaster Connect: For Windows® OS Intel Core™2 Duo processor 2.2 GHz, AMD Athlon 64x2 Dual Core or equivalent processor Microsoft® Windows 10, Microsoft Windows 8.1 32-bit or 64-bit 1GB RAM 600MB of free hard disk space Available USB 2.0 or 3.0 port Internet connection (optional) For Direct Connection to AUX-in Jack: Analog audio devices with a 3.5mm output |
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Package Contents |
1 x Sound BlasterX Katana Soundbar 1 x Sound BlasterX Katana Subwoofer 1 x Power Adapter 1 x USB Cable 1 x IR remote (battery included) 2 x Wall Mount Brackets Warranty & Technical Support leaflet Quick Start Guide Safety & Regulatory leaflet |
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Warranty |
1-year Limited Hardware Warranty |
