Hi. "So.." I'm considering one of these in the hope that it'll drop back down to £550-or-better come the day, and am looking here to sound-out a couple of concerns:
I'm currently using a 2013 Cambridge Audio Minx TV base thing which has been greatly enjoyed but does have limitations. It cost me £250, which is a long way from £550, let alone £700. I'm mindful of the law-of-deminishing-returns thing and am primarily wondering if this likely to prove an expensive disappointment in my case - ?
Also - is someone able to explain how this unit interacts with Spotify, please? Am I able to see and control Spotify through the TV with this (I don't know a thing about Chromecast)? If not, what benefit is Chromecast over a simple Bluetooth-phone connection?
hi. I can give my thoughts on some of this.
i don’t know your soundbase, but I was listening to a Cambridge audio soundbase at the weekend which someone I know bought earlier this year for a similar price to what you paid. I’ve also listened to one or 2 others at that price point, and imho my htb900 is a very significant step up.
my opinions....
for general dialogue, listening to the news etc. there’s little value in the upgrade.
For action films etc. the difference is very big. The sound is so much richer, wider, deeper Etc.
sky Q have recently started broadcasting atmos for some football games and with the 900 its incredibly immersive.
I use the bar with Spotify fairly often and again the sound is fantastic. I’ve only heard comparable quality on other similarly priced, or more expensive, devices.
i haven’t tried Spotify through the tv, as I find it very easy to use the bar directly from a tablet or phone, via Bluetooth or casting, from the Spotify app. I tend to cast as it’s so easy to do, and it’s so reliable and stable. I may be wrong but I also thought that by casting you get uncompressed audio, via your wifi, whereas via Bluetooth it is compressed.
if you have any other questions about this, let me know, but I would say that there would be a very big step up from your current device to this one.
id also say the 900 is certainly not the only bar to consider at the price point. I have a panny oled tv, and the 2 work superbly together.
good luck