VERDICT
VERDICT
HOME CINEMA CHOICE SEPTEMBER 2019
WITH 32IN TVs still popular for gaming
and second room uses, it’s always a
good day when one as solid as the
Hisense H32A5800UK fi nds its way
on to my test bench.
This fi rst catches the eye with an
aggressive £200 price tag for an HD
Ready (1,366 x 768) TV that boasts
a strong set of smart features. These
include support for Netfl ix, Amazon
Prime Video, YouTube, Rakuten TV and
Freeview Play, and while the interface
for accessing all this is sluggish at times,
it's not intolerably so.
The edge-lit TV is attractive and well
built for its money, and off ers connections
including two HDMI inputs and a USB port
for photo, video and audio fi le playback.
The biggest attraction of the
H32A5800UK, though, is its picture quality.
Images are bright by 32in TV standards, and
colourful too. Bold saturations give movies
GAMING HEADSETS AREN’T
particularly interesting for fi lm
buff s. But what about one that
uses new technologies to
produce a realistic surround
speaker experience?
That's the promise of
Audeze's Mobius. At fi rst
glance these aim squarely
at console fans. Look a bit
closer though, and the
appeal widens.
For these over-ear
cans, Audeze leverages
Waves' NX technology
together with a head
related transfer function
(HRTF), which in
layman's terms means
built-in sensors measure
plenty of pop by SDR standards, yet this is
achieved while also maintaining natural skin
tones and lots of tonal subtlety.
Local contrast is good, although the
image does grey over a bit more than I’d like
during very dark scenes. You can typically
still spot baddies hiding in the shadows whenthe position of your head relative to
a point in space (e.g. the screen).
Furthermore, connect the
Mobius by USB to a PC, Mac
or Android device and they'll
function as a DAC able
to process surround
soundtracks from VLC
or the Netfl ix Windows
app. You can also use
Bluetooth, applying
processing to upmix
a stereo signal,
although these are
perhaps too large to
wear out and about.
All this allows
the headphones to
simulate how a setup
with discrete speakers
would sound. You’ll
notice what that meansAudeze Mobius
« £350 « http://www.audeze.comHisense H32A 5800 UK
« £200 « http://www.hisense.co.ukWWW.AUDEZE.COM/£350
The TV packs Freeview Play and VOD appsThe cans use 100mm planar drivers
It's not big and it's not 4K (or even Full HD), but John Archer still values this value telly
Jamie Biesemans expands his private listening with these tech-tastic headphones
Hisense H32A5800UK
Audeze Mobius
gaming, however. And speaking of
gaming, the set suff ers with barely
20ms of input lag.
The generally strong pictures are
partnered with an enjoyable sound
system. Hisense deploys dbx-TV
‘soundbar’ technology to give a much
louder, more rounded, and bass-rich
performance than you'll experience
with most 32in models.
There are rivals at this size
that provide slightly more even
backlighting, more contrast and
sharper HD pictures, but you won’t fi nd them
costing as little as Hisense's 32-incher Qthe moment you watch a fi lm with a surround
mix and glance away from the screen. With a
traditional design the centre channel remains
fi xed between your ears; with the Mobius
the smirking chatter of the Man in Black in
The Dark Tower moves to the right ear when
you look to your left. It's unusual.
I was impressed by the performance
here while watching Ready Player One on
a Surface laptop. The frenzied action of
the racetrack challenge was conveyed in
a convincing manner, with explosions and
impacts cast around. The rear channels
tended not to be positioned very accurately,
but it's a satisfying experience above and
beyond regular headphones. Build quality
and comfort are good, too Q64 WWW.HISENSE.CO.UK/£20 0