Roku, long known for their streaming devices, has decided to up the ante in the audio market by introducing the new Roku Smart Soundbar and Roku Wireless Subwoofer. The Smart Soundbar is said to produce excellent sound on its own, but the new Wireless Subwoofer should a punch of bass. Preorders are open now on Roku.com for October 2019 shipping.
Roku bills the Roku Smart Soundbar as producing exceptional sound for crisp dialogue and dynamic bass while also having the Roku streaming capabilities we’ve all grown to love built int0 the soundbar itself. The soundbar was meticulously designed to deliver room-filling sound while also having built-in streaming in gorgeous HD or 4K UHD and HDR. The Roku Smart Soundbar is powered by four 2.5″ full-range drivers across the 32.2″ wide speaker.
The Smart Soundbar also has automatic volume leveling built-in, which lets the remote stay where it’s at while providing uniform volume across various types of content, even shushing those annoying, loud commercials. Night Mode is a nice feature that reduces the volume during loud scenes but raises the volume for quieter scenes. Speech Clarity mode enhances the voice frequencies to ensure the dialogue comes through clear even during loud scenes with other action going on.
Additional features include Roku Connect, Dolby Audio, Bluetooth connectivity, HDMI ARC and Optical support, Roku Voice Remote, Google Assistant and Alexa device voice assistant compatibility, and more.
The Roku Smart Soundbar is compatible with the Roku Wireless Subwoofer. As the name suggests, this is a wireless subwoofer that connects to the Roku Smart Soundbar via Roku Connect. The Wireless Subwoofer will bring another level of bass to your entertainment, powered by a 10″ driver that puts out 250W at peak power. While not absolutely necessary for decent bass, since the Soundbar has dynamic bass already built-in, the Wireless Subwoofer adds that oomph you need for a cinematic audio experience.
Both the Roku Smart Soundbar and the Roku Wireless Subwoofer are available for pre-order at the Roku site for $179.99 each, a great value for the quality we’ve come to expect from Roku. Roku plans to ship the soundbar and wireless subwoofer in October, 2019. Stay tuned to Gear Diary for a review once Roku’s new audio products are available.