Sony's neckband Dolby Atmos speaker sounds good, but I still don’t understand who it's for

As a dude approaching 40 there are many things I don’t understand. Happy hardcore music, most English people’s obsession with kicky ball and pretty much any of Gen Z’s slang.

It’s a long list, and one that this week had a new addition to it. Specifically, Sony’s Bravia Theatre U neckband speaker.

To catch you up, neckband speakers are a rare, but slowly growing category of home cinema and gaming focussed audio hardware with a fairly cool aim – to provide full-fat, personalised 360-degree audio.

The idea being that the speakers are worn around your neck and fire personalised audio tailored to your exact position, without the need for complex speaker arrangements or any form of cable management.

And yes, I get that it sounds cool – especially on a unit like the Bravia Theatre U which supports Dolby Atmos.

And yes, based on our testing, the Bravia Theatre U is by far the best sounding speaker we’ve tested in this category, easily beating the three-star Sony SRS-NS7 that came before it and Panasonic GN01, which I used at my old job before joining What Hi-Fi?.

That’s why we gave the Bravia Theatre U four stars and concluded:

“While more bass would be nice, the Theatre U is easily the best audio device we’ve ever hung around our necks.”

But, despite all my efforts, I still just don’t 'get' neckband speakers. To be clear, I'm not attacking Sony and this product specifically, I mean that I don’t get the appeal of neckband speakers as a category.

There are two key reasons for this. First, the fact they are for “personal use”. Because of their design they can only deliver on their "personalised" claim for one person at a time, but actually make noise that everyone can hear.

So if I use one to watch a movie in bed, my wife down the hall will still hear the sound. Equally, I couldn't use them to watch movies on a plane or train without severely annoying the people around me.

So for this specific use case, a headphone form factor makes more sense in my mind. Then I can enjoy the experience at a local level without bothering anyone else.

The Apple AirPods Max paired with an Apple TV 4K or modern iPad do a fine job showcasing how to do “home cinema” Spatial Audio with headphones.

Why make things needlessly more complicated with a new design and category of speakers no one has asked for? It feels like a simple case of 'if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it' to me.

Then there’s the actual form factor. Regular readers will know I accepted I am not cool a long time ago. I’m a proud prog fan who has a collection of Styx T-shirts and have zero regret admitting I regularly sing Meatloaf ballads in the shower.

This, plus Gen Zers’ reaction to my wardrobe and music choices at my local, means I have come to accept I’m not going to be The Fonz anytime soon.

But even I, in all my millennial awkwardness, draw the line at wearing something that looks like a techie toilet seat around my neck when watching movies. I have some pride remaining and I plan to hold on to it for as long as possible.

Which is why, no dig at Sony, Panasonic or anyone else interested in experimenting with the category, I don’t see the appeal of neckband home cinema speakers.

Each to their own though, I guess.

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