A monster hybrid soundbar and home cinema speaker package
Soundbar system| £3200 approx| whf.cm/Nakamichi_soundbar
Once the moniker of a legendary 1980s cassette deck and record player, a ’90s CD player and a 2010s Bluetooth speaker, the Nakamichi Dragon has been reinvented as a Dolby Atmos soundbar package.
Until recently, Nakamichi sold this soundbar system only in the US, but has now struck a deal to ship to the UK. The package costs $3900 (£3200), but that price jumps up with tax and shipping. To get it to the UK it will cost you £4200 ($5300). Spending a grand to get a soundbar delivered may be a tough pill to swallow.
The total weight of the system is a staggering 64kg. The main soundbar unit is absolutely huge and weighs the best part of 15kg. We struggle to imagine it paired with any smaller TV, and you’re going to need a hefty support for it.
The surround speakers, at 27 x 23 x 21cm (hwd) and 4kg each, dwarf the petite surrounds seen in most conventional speaker packages. They feature two drivers pointing in different directions, meaning they serve as wide and surround-back speakers, and can be placed in different locations accordingly. There is also an upward-firing driver which can be rotated to five pre-set positions to angle the overhead sound towards your position.
There are not one but two subwoofers, (a further 16kg per unit), with a sizeable port on the front of each, and a power switch and pairing button on the rear.
Nakamichi is positioning this as offering the convenience of a soundbar with the power, features and sound quality of a full AVR and speaker package, and so it has loaded the Dragon with an absolute onslaught of features.
There’s no microphone-assisted calibration system, so we have to measure the speaker distances to the walls and listening position manually. While that in itself isn’t an issue (in fact, it is likely to be a more accurate measure) we find it to be a strange omission – a large majority of the soundbars and AV amplifiers we test include this feature. The lack of any microphone also means that the Dragon doesn’t feature support for voice assistants.
Wired connectivity is stellar, with HDMI eARC, optical and a 3.5mm jack, three full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets that support 4K up to 120Hz, or 8K up to 60Hz, as well as VRR and ALLM. It also supports HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision HDR through those HDMI passthrough ports.
Wireless connectivity is much less impressive. There is no internet connectivity, so no
