BlueAnt XT120 – a soundbar with some thump (AV review)

The BlueAnt XT120 is a 2.1 all-in-one soundbar with a built-in sub-woofer that adds mid-bass to any TV. Frankly, at $279, it’s a no-brainer to improve TV sound.

CyberShack is impressed with the Aussie company for a few reasons. First, the BlueAnt sound signature is neutral (flat/good), meaning that its pre-sets work fairly well. Second, its pricing is competitive; third, it is an Aussie company that deserves support.

Before the review, we strongly suggest you read How to buy a soundbar that meets your needs? (guide) because unless you need Dolby Atmos, plenty of decent lower-cost soundbars (like this) will make a world of difference to your TV viewing.

Then if you want to know more about whether you can use Dolby Atmos, read Five tips for better TV sound – Dolby Atmos for beginners (guide) to understand that the minimum for effective Dolby Atmos is 5.1.2 – or Left/Centre/Right front-firing + Left/Right side-firing surround (5), Left/Right front up-firing (2) and a sub-woofer (1).

Australian Review: BlueAnt XT120 2.1 soundbar

Website	Product Page and Manual
Price	$279
Warranty	1-year ACL
From	BlueAnt online
Country of Origin	China
Company	BlueAnt is 100% Australian, Est 2004 in Melbourne, by passionate music lovers; it designs a range of musically accurate speakers, soundbars, headphones/buds, and microphones.
More	CyberShack Soundbar news and reviews

We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

First Impression – Black, simple, standard fare – Pass

Having reviewed dozens of soundbars, you get to know the design and manufacturing differences. This is a garden variety metal grill and plastic chassis design where Sonos, Bose, LG and more are far more upmarket in materials and design. But that is absolutely fine as it is pretty good for the price.

It is an average length – 950 x 76 x 106 mm x 2.5kg – and should fit below most TVs. It also has wall-mount brackets.

It has 2 x 30W woofers (handle 200Hz-20kHz), 1 x 60W sub-woofer (40-1000Hz) for a total of 120W.

Ports – Pass

• HDMI ARC/CEC (version not disclosed by likely 1.4 or 2.0, which is heaps for PCM and Dolby Digital)
• Optical In
• 3.5mm AUX-in
• USB-A 2.0 socket for MP3 music playback max 32GB
• Coaxial socket
• Bluetooth In

These are all you need, and Optical will work on older TVs.

Setup – Plug and Go – Pass+

There is no App (good), so connect to the TV via HDMI, Coax or Optical (you could use BT as well).

Most modern TVs will detect an eARC/ARC device, but you may have to enable that and CEC in the TV settings and switch from the TV speaker to an external speaker.

Remote control – Lots of buttons – Pass+

There is no App nor Wi-Fi, so it is not voice assistant capable. It is a standard, stand-alone soundbar, and the remote must do it all – and that is a good thing. BlueAnt has decided on dedicated buttons, which for many users is the best way (instead of multi-function buttons) – excellent.

Pre-sets – Pass+

As it has a native neutral sound signature, the pre-sets can recess bass, mid and treble accordingly.

The best overall is Music that gives the most balanced sound. Voice backs off the harsher mid/upper treble for clear dialogue but lacks that sense of ‘air’ and direction. Sport is the worst, making it more of an analytical signature.

Sound support is PCM 2 to 7.1, and Dolby Digital Plus (not Atmos) to 7.1 downmixed to 2.0 speakers. It appears to treat Dolby Atmos content as Dolby Digital.

How does it sound? Pretty good, but we expect that from BlueAnt – Pass+

It reaches 85dB with slight harshness (30 on the volume scale). The sound stage when playing PCM 2.0 stereo appears to come from the TV (good), but our test unit is the 75” LG QNED91, and it was not quite wide enough – this is more for a 50-55” TV.

It has the typical BlueAnt sound signature – neutral with enough mid-bass starting at 50Hz and flat to 6kHz before a slight dip to avoid harshness and then flat to 20Hz.

Let’s be clear about bass – there are three types:

Deep-bass 20-50Hz	You most often feel it more in your body than you hear in your ears – that room-shaking rumble. A very good sub-woofer handles this.
Mid-bass 50-100Hz	The most critical bass where you get all the musically important bass. An average sub-woofer usually handles this.
Upper-bass 100-200Hz	Most small sound devices, like portable Bluetooth speakers and earphones, start here but lack the ‘oomph’ that mid-bass adds.

Mid-bass kicks in at about 50Hz and steadily builds to about 150Hz (high-bass), so you get better bass for music and movies, but it is nowhere near the standard that you need for immersive room-shaking bass.

Don’t get me wrong – I really appreciate that extra mid-bass in a $279 all-in-one soundbar as long as you don’t confuse it with what you can get with a soundbar and a separate sub-woofer.

The sound stage is a little wider than the soundbar, and voices appear to come from the screen. When tested with Dolby Atmos content, there is no sound stage or height increase.

Power use – Pass+

Maximum power consumption is 30W, but it is usually around 10-15W. Sleep mode is .5W. All negligible.

CyberShack’s view – BlueAnt XT120 – a soundbar with some thump, is good value for what it is

It is a relatively low-cost way to fix crappy TGV sound. That it has some mid-bass is a bonus. More importantly, it has pre-sets that work and give you a choice.

Rating Explanation – BlueAnt XT120

• Features: 80 and it is all you expect from a basic all-in-one soundbar
• Value: 80, and there are plenty of 2.1 soundbars with separate sub-woofers like the LG SN4, 2.1, 300W.
• Performance: 85 – it is loud, has a nice BlueAnt neutral sound signature, and adds so much more over TV speakers
• Ease of Use: 90 – plug and play
• Design – 75 – basic black