We’ve all been there, sitting at home watching the latest Hollywood has to offer, recoiling in shock at the volume of the more explosive moments but then needing to crane our heads forward to make out the faint dialogue. In my house, ‘can we put the subtitles on?’ is a regular request.
That's why I’m really taken by LG’s USC9S soundbar - it's a superb, future-proof listening hub.
With a whole host of smart sound calibration features, this 3.1.3 channel, 400W soundbar has been carefully designed to present the best possible aural response in your home cinema. The high fidelity soundbar is accompanied by a 220W subwoofer, which provides all the low-end throb you could possibly need.
While its RRP is typically £999.99, The good folks at Currys are offering £600 off a USC9S worth £999 when purchasing any LG TV
The 97.5cm USC9S notably brings a trio of up-firing channels - a world-first.
These three drivers provide a hyper-detailed Atmos/spatial audio response, well beyond what others in this price-point are capable of.
These three channels work to build what is - in essence - a fully three dimensional sound-dome, enveloping you and everyone in the room in an immersive, 360 degree sonic experience. This speaker has been especially calibrated with Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and IMAX Enhanced technology.
In terms of that often-misplaced ‘dialogue’ channel, that’s been specifically allocated to the central speaker. This means voices remain clear and intelligible regardless of the context of a busy or action-packed scene.
If you’ve already got an LG C series OLED TV, then you’ll be especially blown away by how tightly the USC9S integrates with your television.
With an LG TV in tandem, you’ll be able to harness the special WOW Orchestra feature. This dynamic allows viewers to bring the TV’s in-built speakers into the mix too, locking them in-sync for even greater detail and clarity across the frequency spectrum.
With every soundbar comes a custom mounting bracket which has been carefully designed to fit the 55”, 65” and 77” size televisions in LG’s OLED C series range. The end result of this combination is both aesthetically pleasing and sonically incredible.
Beyond physical integration, LG’s AI Sound Pro is constantly analysing the incoming signal, making smart audio decisions on the fly.
That ‘leaning in’ to hear dialogue that I mentioned at the start of this piece will become a thing of the past. AI Sound Pro will make sure that you hear the most important parts of any sound mix clearly and audibly at all times.
All of these features are easily set and controlled by the WOW interface, easily accessible directly from within any LG TV’s main menu, negating the need for a separate remote. That’s one less thing to lose down the side of the sofa!
Beyond serving as the impressive heart of your home cinema's audio, this soundbar is also a fantastic all-purpose music streaming station.
Supporting high-resolution audio playback (up to 24-bit/94kHz), the soundbar provides Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect functionality out of the box, and is fully supportive of Apple AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth 5.0.
So that’s film, television and music covered, but what about gaming? The USC9S is no slouch there either. It features VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode). These features bring a zero latency response and extraordinarily smooth gameplay at all times. Those features are also a massive boon to high-octane sport, where motion blur, pixellation and compression artifacts are a thing of the past.
With the Summer of Sport looming, that’s certainly something to bear in mind.
In short then, if you own an LG OLED C series TV then you really must get your hands on an USC9S - it’s been carefully designed with your television in mind. And, if you’re in the market for a new television, you can do far worse than an LG TV - a purchase of which will grant you 50% off the USC9S’s standalone price. A sweet deal.