It’s officially What Hi-Fi? Awards season, which means we have seen a huge variety of different products passing through our test rooms these past few months.
There has been a sea of TVs, speakers and headphones to get through; but one of the categories that has really taken us by surprise is the coffee table projector market. It has historically proven difficult to find a contender that produced a cinematic image while not costing the earth.
But this year has produced an impressive collection of worthwhile projectors in this category, including Epson’s EF-72. It promises to provide “a cost-effective, portable, high brightness and high image quality projection experience for the modern household.”
The RGB LED projector claims to offer up to 1000 lumens of brightness, and a screen size of 150 inches (measured diagonally). In terms of streaming, the EF-72 is powered by Google TV which includes access to most of the usual streaming suspects including Netflix, Disney Plus, Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.
It will set you back £1150 / $1000 (around AU$2845), placing it firmly in the premium coffee table projector category.
But what did I actually learn from my days of testing out this projector with my colleagues? I won't spoil the full review but I can say there’s certainly a lot to like about the EF-72. It is, though, far from perfect.
Without further ado, read on to find out what we liked about the Epson EF-72 as well as what we were not too keen on.
Like: warm, balanced picture performance
If you’re spending your hard-earned cash on a projector, you obviously want the picture performance to be worth your time. And the Epson EF-72 ticks a lot of boxes in this category.
After a bit of tinkering with the picture settings, we find the image looks detailed and cinematic.
While watching Dune: Part Two on 4K Blu-ray for example, we say in our review that “the projector does a good job of capturing the warmth of the scene while still keeping her skin tone natural right down to her subtle freckles.”
There’s plenty of warmth to the image, too. This becomes clear with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes as flaming torches held by the chimpanzees look vivid against the dark background, and the green leaves in the forest appear earthy and natural.
This all results in a pleasingly solid picture performance that is very easy to live with.
Dislike: rivals go darker and brighter
As we said, however, the Epson EF-72’s picture performance is far from perfect. We find that the projector is playing it safe when it comes to portraying both the deepest blacks and the brightest highlights, which results in an image that could be a little more exciting.
This becomes especially clear when we compare the picture quality with the EF-72’s main rival – the Hisense M2 Pro.
The Hisense projector (which comes in with a cheaper price tag of £1299 / $1299 / AU$2495) offers a more engaging overall image that manages to go both brighter and darker. When watching No Time To Die, as Bond walks across white rocks in the Italian countryside, for example, the Hisense provides more subtlety between the different shades.
That’s not to say that the Epson does not achieve a cinematic image, but rivals such as the M2 Pro do produce a more dynamic overall look.
Like: clear dialogue from built-in speakers
But what about its sound performance? The projector features just one in-built 10W speaker, which does manage to produce clear vocals for both movies and music.
When watching Dune: Part Two, as Timothee Chalamet’s Paul Atreides and Stilgar have a heart-to-heart in the desert, the projector makes their voices sound natural and tonally balanced, with a reasonable amount of bass to portray the emotion of the scene.
Many built-in projector speakers don't tend to produce a particularly crisp vocal performance, so it's good to see that the Epson model bucks this trend to some extent.
Epson says you can use the projector as a dedicated Bluetooth speaker, too, and the clear vocals continue when we test it with a variety of tunes.
Still, the EF-72 is not without its faults in this area…
Dislike: lacks dynamic range and immersive surround sound
Even though the Epson model manages to keep vocals clear, the single speaker does struggle to push the sound far out from the body of the projector which results in a localised audio performance.
That makes it sound quite detached from the action on-screen, and can detract from the excitement of the scene.
Another drawback of the Epson's sound system is its lack of dynamic range which also adds to its overall flat and uninteresting audio.
A classic bass stress tester we use in our test room is Chapter 2 of Bladerunner 2049, which reaches very low frequencies. While the Epson EF-72 does not distort here as many sound systems do, it’s quiet and just can't reach the bass levels required to deliver the scene’s tension.
It's not the worst sound we have heard in a coffee table projector, but it certainly doesn’t blow us away. That's why we strongly recommend pairing the Epson with a soundbar when watching TV or movies.
Like: sleek and premium-looking design
But let's end on a positive: the Epson EF-72's design has a luxurious and easy-to-use feel that adds to the premium experience.
The top of the projector has a pleasing overall tactility with a smooth wooden top that comes in an oak colour, and a fabric covering for the sides.
It's easy to take from room to room thanks to its compact and lightweight body, although it can't quite be considered a portable projector as there is no built-in battery.
On the base of the projector's body is an LED ambient light display. You can select a range of different ambient light modes that are ideal if you don’t want to sit in complete darkness while watching.
This is especially refreshing considering the majority of projectors tend to resemble a fairly uninteresting black or white box with not much character.
MORE:
Here's our full review of the Epson EF-72
And check out of our thoughts on the Hisense M2 Pro
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