Dolby Atmos woes, a turntable from a guitar powerhouse, KEF-tuned headphones and more

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

All the headlines this week may be focussed on Amazon’s Prime Day sales event, where our team are covering the top home cinema deals and hi-fi savings to be had in real time, but there’s been a sea of important news break over the past seven days.

Not only did the What Hi-Fi? team run a special Home Cinema Week, we also saw a number of big product announcements, including a new turntable from guitar amp heavyweight Orange and KEF-tuned wireless headphones from Nothing.

Here’s everything you need to know.

KEF and Nothing team up to make a Sony WH-1000XM6 rival

Nothing Headphone (1) in white — (Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Nothing may not be a big name in hi-fi, but it’s been gradually making in-roads, releasing a steady stream of headphones to partner with its transparent smartphones.

Last week it dialled up its conquest plans, unveiling its first over-ear wireless headphones. Why is that a big deal? Because as well as having a very eye-catching design, the new Headphone (1) have been tuned by KEF, a hi-fi heavyweight.

On top of that, while we weren’t totally sold on KEF’s last efforts, the three-star Mu7, our senior staff writer came away with a positive impression of the Nothing Headphone (1) after having an opening listen with them at their launch event.

Check out our full Nothing Headphone (1) preview

Move over Marshall, another guitar heavyweight wants a slice of the hi-fi pie

The O Turntable from Orange Amps, on a wooden cabinet between two pot plants. — (Image credit: Orange Amps)

Marshall may have launched a new speaker last week, but it was a piece of hi-fi from another guitar amp brand that particularly caught our eye. Specifically, the groovy looking new O Turntable from Orange.

The brand originally teased the turntable during Record Store Day but fully lifted the lid on it last week.

The turntable has a focus on ease of use, with its built-in moving magnet phono stage, pre-fitted moving magnet cartridge, pre-set bias and auto-bias tonearm, making it about as plug and play as a record player can get.

In-store now, we’re curious to see how it compares to its main rival, the five-star Rega Planar 1 Plus. Hopefully we’ll get one in for review soon.

Read the full story: Iconic British firm Orange Amps has launched its own record player

BenQ’s home cinema in a box impressed

The BenQ W2720i projector, pictured on a wooden table in a living room — (Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

The coffee table projector, or 'home cinema box' as it’s sometimes known, is a growing category. And we get why.

After all, having a single-box solution with a built-in sound system that provides a big screen movie watching experience with minimal set-up or cable management is, on paper, great.

But in the past we’ve struggled as many of the boxes come with key compromises in picture and sound quality, hence the sea of four star ratings we’ve recently awarded to such products.

Thankfully, after putting it through its paces, we found that, while its audio is still distinctly middling, the BenQ W2720i’s picture quality is excellent. So much so, that we gave it a five-star recommendation.

Read our full BenQ W2720i review

We pondered the future of soundbars

Sonos Playbar at an angle on shelf under TV — (Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

What Hi-Fi? is one of an elite group of publications old enough to remember covering the first-ever widely available soundbar, the original Yamaha YSP-1, which launched all the way back in 2005.

And there’s no denying the category has come a long way, with each generation improving audio quality, adding more advanced streaming smarts and extra features.

But are they holistically moving in the right direction? Last week our technical editor, Ketan Bharadia, took a look at how soundbars started out and where they’re going, in an attempt to answer that question.

Read the full story: Have soundbars forgotten their true purpose?

Our editor revealed his Dolby Atmos shame

KEF Muon speakers next to a projector screen — (Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Dolby Atmos done well is an incredible surround-sound technology that can crank the immersion level from 10 to a Spinal Tap 11. We know this as we’ve heard it done right.

But, the “done right” part is very important. Numerous products claiming to offer Atmos audio have fallen flat when we’ve put them through our comparative testing process.

Which is why our editor (me) was keen to do it properly when he started designing his home cinema set-up. Sadly, months on, he’s still trying and failing to do so…

Read the full story: After hours of measuring, I have come to the conclusion that full-fat Dolby Atmos doesn't work in normal homes

MORE:

These are the best soundbars we've tested

Our picks of the best wireless headphones

We rate the best record players money can buy

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Alastair is What Hi-Fi?’s editor in chief. He has well over a decade’s experience as a journalist working in both B2C and B2B press. During this time he’s covered everything from the launch of the first Amazon Echo to government cyber security policy. Prior to joining What Hi-Fi? he served as Trusted Reviews’ editor-in-chief. Outside of tech, he has a Masters from King’s College London in Ethics and the Philosophy of Religion, is an enthusiastic, but untalented, guitar player and runs a webcomic in his spare time.

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