Orbitsound T9 Review

The Orbitsound T9 is what is now becoming commonly known as a “soundbar” or to give its official title “Spatial stereo miniature soundbar with dock”. This particular Soundbar also comes with its own subwoofer to give your music that added punch when required. Read on for the Average Joes Blog Orbitsound T9 Review.

Design

Coming in black or white the T9 has front and side speakers to move the sound around and give that surround feel. The bar itself is quite small compared to others on the market, but it does pack quite a punch when it needs to. The T9 front grill is removable, displaying the two front speakers if you wish. We prefer the grill on, but that’s just us. Giving its size, the T9 can easily sit on your shelf and hide away in it’s surroundings. What can’t be hidden very well is the additional subwoofer though, so careful planning is required. Though it’s by no means ugly and won’t look out of place in modern living rooms.

The T9 comes with a small, simple remote control, which will allow you to take control of volume, bass, treble and source.

Audio Quality

My listening mainly consisted of playback from my iPhone 4S using Apples iTunes Match service. All genres of music were handled well and with range, from film scores, acoustic, rock all the way up to the ‘latest banging tunes‘ within dance music.

We also tested a lot of radio from the iPhone 4S using the TuneIn Radio app – the main focus was on talk radio and the T9 delivered this very well with each person’s voice being projected clearly. Other internet radio stations provided good playback considering the bitrate of the audio was considerably lower that my iTunes collection.

When connected to my SKY STB, film dialogue came out clear and the bass packed a punch during action sequences. I did notice if a lot was going on in a scene, the T9 became somewhat muffled trying to keep up which was disappointing.

Inputs

As well as the dock connector, you also get an optical port – this will allow you to plug the Orbitsound T9 direct into your TV or set top box to give your favourite TV shows or films a lift from standard TV stereo speakers. You also get the standard composite inputs if you wish to choose and connect another piece of audio equipment. The T9 comes with an optical cable and composite cables in the box which is an added bonus, we were disappointed at the lack of HDMI port – something which no doubt will be delivered in future models.

The Dock

Let’s get this out of the way first – the T9 dock will allow you to dock your iPod/iPhone in its case (well the ones we tried!) – several accessories I’ve come across over the years require you to remove the bumper/case before it recognises the device. Using Apples standard Airplay feature, the T9 appears as “Dock Connector” as one of the options to output your music to, it really couldn’t be simpler. Of course, with the new iPhone 5 shipping imminently, you will need the adapter if you want to dock your new prized possession.

Orbitsound T9 Review Verdict

With the Orbitsound T9 coming in at £199 – it fits well in the market place, if slightly premium end. It coped with everything I threw at it, although we were a little disappointed with busy scenes within a selection of films. If you can home the subwoofer in a corner of your room out of the way then the Orbitsound T9 may well be the ideal addition to your living room.