The Inventive Stage 360 shares many traits with its cheaper sibling, the Inventive Stage V2, which sits proudly on each our greatest soundbar and finest funds soundbar roundups.
It’s a compact soundbar and subwoofer combo that’ll match well underneath or in entrance of any fairly sized TV and is an reasonably priced possibility for these looking for to enhance the standard of their tv or PC’s audio.
The Stage 360’s large draw is assist for the Dolby Atmos encompass sound customary and Inventive says it is a bar that delivers a 5.1.2 sonic expertise by way of a 2.1 channel speaker association. Whereas I wouldn’t go that far, it actually gives a extra immersive listening expertise than the V2, though it does additionally price twice as a lot.
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Inventive Stage 360 assessment: What do you get for the cash?
The Stage 360 will usually set you again £200 however was accessible for a promotional worth of £180 on the time of writing.
It is equipped with a 566 x 88 x 75mm (WDH) soundbar and a wired subwoofer measuring 115 x 250 x 422mm that is nearly similar to the one which comes with the V2. The soundbar is barely narrower, nevertheless, so takes up even much less house underneath your TV. There are a few different key bodily variations between the fashions, too.
Not like the V2, the 360’s entrance speaker grille extends throughout the highest of the soundbar to assist the dispersion of sound upwards within the absence of upward-firing drivers. Bodily controls are additionally current on the crest of the bar, which is a extra smart place to have them than on the aspect as they’re on the V2.
When it comes to connections, you’re getting an HDMI ARC port, two HDMI 2.0 inputs and an optical S/PDIF connector. The three.5mm jack and USB-C port current on the V2 have been dropped however you do get Bluetooth 5.0 for streaming audio wirelessly out of your cellphone, pill or laptop computer. On steadiness, regardless of the lack of a few ports, it’s a well-connected funds soundbar.
Complementing the bodily buttons on the highest of the bar is an infrared, battery-powered distant management however, sadly, the batteries aren’t supplied. The distant is neatly laid out, intuitive to make use of and lets you change between sources, change audio modes, alter quantity, enter Bluetooth pairing mode and extra.
When the Stage 360 is linked to your tv by way of the TV’s HDMI ARC port, you need to use your TV distant to manage quantity as an alternative however doing so means you miss out on the extra granular and worthwhile audio choices.
Talking of connecting to your TV, the Inventive Stage 360 comes with an optical cable and energy cable however no HDMI cable. For those who plan on connecting by way of HDMI and require a brand new cable, yow will discover our listing of the very best right here.
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Inventive Stage 360 assessment: How does it sound?
The Inventive Stage 360 soundbar homes a pair of custom-tuned racetrack (oval-shaped) drivers able to outputting 60W RMS. The accompanying subwoofer can be able to delivering 60W RMS, so that you’re taking a look at complete system energy of 120W RMS. That’s a good whack greater than the V2, which hits 80W RMS.
That distinction was noticeable after I pushed each bars to their limits however, more often than not, you’re unlikely to wish to go that loud, so the additional oomph isn’t actually needed. In case you are going large for film evening, nevertheless, you’ll be happy with the impression and quantity with which the Stage 360 can ship blockbuster motion sequences with out distortion.
Regardless of being a 2.1-channel system, the Stage 360 articulates Atmos soundtracks fairly convincingly. Audio cues are precisely positioned to the left and proper of the soundstage, which is lots wider than most £200 soundbars handle. Peak results aren’t fairly as efficient as a result of lack of upward-firing drivers however you do get a imprecise sense of sound coming from above you.
This mixture creates an immersive expertise superior to the V2 in Encompass mode, though it nonetheless falls a way in need of a real encompass sound speaker system. Finally, Dolby Atmos can solely accomplish that a lot to make up for the inherent limitations of a 2.1 soundbar and subwoofer setup.
When dealing with non-Atmos audio, the Inventive Stage 360 nonetheless sounds good, however its benefits over the V2 are much less noticeable. There’s loads of element within the higher registers and the discrete subwoofer packs sufficient energy to do bassy on-screen motion justice. Nonetheless, I did discover some dialogue laborious to make out at decrease volumes, one thing the Stage V2’s “Dialog” mode would have helped with. Sadly, that didn’t make it over to the 360; you solely have Film, Music, Evening and Broad modes to select from.
Broad broadens the soundstage and was my go-to for many content material. It’s not fairly as bombastic as Film mode however I favoured the extra width over the stronger low-end copy. Evening is designed for low-volume viewing in thoughts and helped clear up dialogue nevertheless it got here on the expense of diminished bass response. Music mode didn’t actually add all that a lot: I really loved streaming Spotify playlists extra when utilizing the Film and Broad modes.
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Must you want to customise the sound additional, you’ll be able to tweak bass and treble ranges independently by way of the distant management. That is all the time a welcome choice to have, particularly in the event you dwell on the primary flooring and don’t need the subwoofer annoying your neighbours.
The ultimate noteworthy sonic function is the inclusion of far- and near-field sound profiles that may be switched between utilizing particular buttons on the distant. These optimise audio based mostly on how far-off from the soundbar you might be: inside 1m you’ll wish to use “Close to”; additional away and “Far” shall be your setting of selection.
The impact is fairly delicate however achieves its desired goal. Whereas sitting 3m away from my TV, the near-field mode made audio sound extra distant and constricted compared to the far-field mode, making the latter the apparent selection.
Conversely, when utilizing the Stage 360 as a PC soundbar, the far-field mode’s soundstage felt moderately overwhelming. Switching to the near-field mode narrowed the soundstage and felt way more acceptable for close-proximity listening.
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Inventive Stage 360 assessment: What may very well be higher?
There’s little or no to dislike in regards to the Inventive Stage 360 at £200 however, regardless of the low worth, I’d nonetheless prefer to have seen batteries for the distant and an HDMI cable included. It’s additionally a disgrace the three.5mm enter and USB-C port have been misplaced.
My solely different gripe is a reasonably minor one however I received’t be alone find it irritating: the Inventive Stage 360 takes an age as well up from standby. I say an age, it’s really solely 15 seconds, however this seems like a very long time to attend between hitting the facility button and having the ability to execute controls.
I turned conscious about this as a result of a power-saving function that’s not referred to within the Stage 360’s fast begin information however is buried deep on the Inventive web site. By default, the soundbar will mechanically energy down after round ten minutes of inactivity. That is nice in case you have a behavior of by chance leaving issues on while you go to mattress however means comparatively quick breaks from watching one thing end in having to look at the phrases “Welcome” flash throughout the LED show for 15 seconds earlier than you get to listen to any sound.
Luckily, you’ll be able to flip this function off by holding down the supply button on the soundbar for eight seconds, that means you solely need to expertise the lengthy boot-up as soon as a night.
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Inventive Stage 360 assessment: Must you purchase it?
With an growing quantity of Dolby Atmos content material accessible throughout a variety of streaming platforms, demand for reasonably priced soundbars supporting the format is assured to extend.
As a 2.1 soundbar and subwoofer combo, the Inventive Stage 360 is rarely going to have the ability to ship Atmos content material as convincingly as a encompass sound setup however the Atmos impact continues to be spectacular and audio high quality whereas watching non-Atmos content material is nice for the cash, too.
A few small niggles and the existence of the even higher worth for cash V2 stop it from securing a Finest Purchase award however, make no mistake about it, the Inventive Stage 360 will take some beating within the funds Atmos soundbar stakes. If you would like reasonably priced Atmos, that is at the moment our prime decide.
