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Libratone makes fashion speakers. Its signature design element is a colorful wool (or cashmere) cover around a unique chassis, which makes its speakers look striking. The Diva, the company’s second soundbar after the Lounge, continues the trend. It’s a large, one-piece sound system with both Bluetooth and AirPlay connectivity but a steep $899.99 price tag. It will certainly perk up any room, but at its heart it feels more like a simple wireless speaker than a home theater device. You can place it under your HDTV, but it lacks the large sound field to make it immersive for movies, television, and gaming. For high-end home theater power and performance, the Definitive Technology W Studio ( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) packs much more power and much larger sound into a blocky but attractive, subwoofer-equipped package. If you just want a big, stylish wireless speaker for music, the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air and Polk Audio Woodbourne while still not cheap, are more sensibly priced options.
Design
Libratone is very big on fuzziness—in its design. The Diva has a solid white plastic body with the front covered entirely by a soft wool cover. You can get the Diva with one of 11 covers, and you can purchase additional colors(Opens in a new window) for $79 to switch up the look. Only the circular control pad mars the wool cover on the front. It’s a large Power button with the Libratone logo on it, flanked by Volume Up and Down controls and an LED indicator light on the ring around it. The only other controls, a pair of buttons for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, sit on the top of the soundbar’s back, just past the cover.
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The Diva is rounded and pill-shaped, and can only stand upright thanks to a steel bar stand that fits into two holes on the back. The holes can also accommodate an included plate for wall mounting. The lower edge of the back panel holds the power connector, a USB port, and optical and 3.5mm audio inputs.
Connectivity and Control
You can connect to the Diva over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The soundbar supports Wi-Fi over both your home network with AirPlay support, and a direct one-to-one Wi-Fi connection. Setting it up in either mode was easy with the free Libratone app for iOS and Android. It immediately connected to my phone via Wi-Fi, and after that I had no problem directing it to use the Wi-Fi network in our test lab. If you have an Android device with NFC, you can also just tap to pair the speaker via Bluetooth.
If you want to control the Diva, you’ll need either your mobile device with the Libratone app installed, or be within arms’ reach of the soundbar to handle the controls. No remote is included, which limits its usefulness as a home theater soundbar. Fortunately, the app can control the soundbar’s volume while it’s using a wired audio connection, so you can turn your television volume up and down with a tap. The app also controls several other audio features, like equalizer presets, positioning adjustments if the Diva is mounted on or placed close to a wall, and a Quiet Mode that reduces sound that will go through walls.
Movie Performance
The Diva sounds a little underpowered because of its very strange volume curve. It gets loud enough for most rooms at maximum volume, but it’s practically as soft as a pair of headphones when the volume slider is below halfway. This is the opposite of most speakers’ volumes curves, which produce a very good, listenable sound early in the scale. Things are fine once you crank up the volume, but when you’re listening comfortably at near-maximum levels, there isn’t much further you can push it when you need to.
The Diva favors high-mids, but doesn’t skimp on bass considering its lack of a subwoofer. However, it lacks the big sound field that soundbars with simulated surround and 5.1-channel processing can produce. I watched Jurassic Park with the Diva, and the soundbar gave the rain hitting the jeep a solid punchiness, but felt entirely in front of me rather than all around the room. It wasn’t too crisp, but it sounded appropriately like water landing on metal in heavy drops. The stomps of the T. Rex boomed, but didn’t shake the walls, and its roar was clear and intimidating. It’s a detailed sound, though not quite as full as what a soundbar with a dedicated subwoofer and simulated surround can produce. It feels very much like a large wireless speaker rather than a replacement home theater sound system.
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Music Performance
For a one-piece soundbar, the Diva can put out some solid bass. The bass synth notes and kick drum hits in our bass test track, The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” made a table and nearby wall vibrate with each thump. The kick drum flirted with distortion at maximum volume, but the soundbar handled the low-end with aplomb considering its lack of a dedicated subwoofer.
The bass response and focus on high-mids really came through in Yes’ “Roundabout.” The opening acoustic guitar was crisp and detailed, and the texture of the strings was very much apparent. When the slappy electric synth bass kicked in, it packed a satisfying punch without overwhelming the mix. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “Red Right Hand” also sounded very good. The creepy, crunchy parts of the opening come through clearly, and the soundbar balanced Cave’s deep vocals with the ominous bassline, without compromising the edge of his voice.
The Libratone Diva is an attractive, expensive, solid-sounding speaker system. But without a remote and with a limited sound field, it doesn’t quite cut it as a home theater soundbar. If you want a good-looking speaker to show off in your home (and can afford the very steep $900 price tag), it will work. If you can spend more, the Definitive Technology W Studio offers excellent sound in a good-looking metal-and-cloth package. If you just want very good home theater performance in a one-piece sound system, the Zvox SoundBase 570 ( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) is a large-sounding slab that will simply disappear under your HDTV.
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Source link : https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/libratone-diva