Jordan O'BrienHaving debuted at CES 2016, Philips is gearing up to release its Dolby Atmos soundbar – the Philips Fidelio B8.
Hitting stores in October, the Fidelio B8 uses a combination of Philips’ Ambisound technology and Dolby Atmos to deliver a 5.1.2 surround system from a single soundbar – with a subwoofer also offered.
There are a total of 18 speakers hidden away inside the speaker, which includes three tweeters, two upward firing drivers on each side, three mid-range drivers (one of which is dedicated to the centre channel) and a tweeter at either end.
Those speakers are all set to deliver a Dolby Atmos experience and has a total power output of around 400W. To connect audio sources users can use one of the two HDMI inputs, optical audio cable, the 3.5mm input or stream from their mobile devices using aptX Bluetooth. There’s also an HDMI output with ARC support and a coaxial input.
While Philips is not the first manufacturer to offer a Dolby Atmos soundbar, it significantly undercuts its competitors. Pricing is set to be £900 RRP, which is less than the RRPs of Yamaha’s YSP-5600, which costs £1,600, and the Samsung HW-K950, which costs £1,300.