ULTIMEA 3.1.2ch Sound Bar with Subwoofer, Dolby Atmos, Surround Sound System for TV with 6.5 inch Subwoofer, Sound Bar for Smart TV, Soundbar for Home Theater, BT 5.4, HDMI eARC, Skywave F30 Boom

The ULTIMEA Skywave F30 Boom was better than I expected for a small package, more than impressed.
So I purchased the ULTIMEA Skywave F30 Boom. Here’s my review and I am going to start in a far different way than most people./////I am a audiophile and a movie junkie. I have a Harmon Kardon AVR1600 7.1 receiver and a speaker setup that when cranked you can’t talk over. Is this relevant, yes. So as many people experience built-in speakers on modern HDTV’s simply put suck. Their worst fault, no matter how much tweaking, voices can be muddy and over run by the other sounds in what you are watching and the second issue is that volume control does not allow anyone to set the volume at their “ideal” volume as volume control is indent volume. How I miss the days of infinite volume control, meaning a dial, to where you could find that sweet spot./////Now I have all of the adjustments I need with my Harmon Kardon setup but it would be nice to just “keep it simple” sometimes. Enter ULTIMEA./////I’ve never given sound bars much thought but as Black Friday was approaching I started reading up on the latest ones and came across quite a few independent articles and video reviews of ULTIMEA’s products. My take away was that for being what some would considered an “entry level” soundbar they were matching and blowing away many mid-range and higher tier soundbars. So I decided to take a chance given the added benefit of the great Black Friday prices. I purchased the ULTIMEA Skywave F30 Boom which was I great price./////Once I got it, hooking it up via HDMI eARC was very simple and with CEC enabled it turns on and off with my HDTV. The Bluetooth App lets me tweak everything on the fly but you can also do that with the remote control as well (I recommend using the App first and keep the remote as a backup./////So now the nuts and bolts. Is the ULTIMEA Skywave F30 Boom better than built-in speakers on a TV? Hands down yes. Does this beat my Harmon Kardon? No it does not and yes it does, all at the same time. First as to “does not”, comparing a 3.1.2 system to a 7.1 system is not a fair fight. However, as to the yes part, this is the first time I have used Dolby Atmos. I did not know what I was missing. Having sounds coming from overhead adds a whole different dimension to the listening experience. It is a more immersive audio experience. I had no clue what I had been missing./////One regret, which I couldn’t have predicted, now that I have experienced Dolby Atmos I wish I had gone top tier and gotten the ULTIMEA Skywave X70 7.1.4 instead. And cost wasn’t the issue in my initial choice because from my perspective I was just “dipping my foot in the pool” when I purchased the ULTIMEA Skywave F30 Boom. I am seriously contemplating exchanging my ULTIMEA Skywave F30 Boom for a ULTIMEA Skywave X70 7.1.4 (and paying the difference) then I can give a fair assessment between the ULTIMEA Skywave X70 7.1.4 and my existing Harmon Kardon system. I don’t think I will be disappointed./////Last note. My neighbor has a Bose Smart Soundbar with Bass Module 500 that supports Dolby Atmos and my current ULTIMEA Skywave F30 Boom blows it out of the water. That is his assessment and not mine but I do agree and it is 1/4 the price of the BOSE. Again my plan is to move to the ULTIMEA Skywave X70 7.1.4 most likely the next week or so./////The pictures are just my tentative setup. As you can tell I have lots of electronics compressed into that space.

Very good, not quite great.
After a few days with this, I can say that the information in all of the positive reviews is legit. Easy set up, great flexibility with the presets and EQ controls, MUCH better than the built in speakers on any flat screen TV. Instructions are pretty useless but it’s very intuitive to use, there’s plenty of info on line, and the app works great. My only con is the quality of the sound – while clear and customizable, I find that it lacks great depth and resonance. I’m comparing it to my former set up with an old TV which just died. That TV had a headphone jack, and I had a mid-range Logitech set of speakers with subwoofer plugged in. The sound was richer and deeper than this, especially for music and sports, where you could feel like being in the stadium. Unfortunately, very few new model TV’s come with headphone jacks now (I see some lower end ones still have them but you sacrifice picture quality and # of other inputs), so I had to look for a budget friendly sound bar to go with the new TV. Also, the bass, while strong, feels slightly disconnected from the rest of the sound, kind of strangely not integrated. There’s nothing wrong with this one at all, especially at the price (I got lucky and got it on a deal day), but I do miss the resonance and depth of my old set up, simple and uncomplicated as it was.

Overall very good quality for price, especially when on sale. Impressive bass.
Initial impressions of this sound bar were not stellar, but after spending some time using it, and especially considering the price I am very happy. I had issues getting HDMI CEC to work for use with controlling volume via my TV remote, but I suspect that may be my speicific model of TV. The Atmos upfiring speakers sound pretty good when actually watching supported content. Bass is very impressive, I do wish it was wireless but for the price I suppose I can’t complain.

Cheap but not bad for the price.
For the price it’s not bad. The sound is real bright and the bass isn’t that great. You get what you pay for. It replaced my 20 year old Vizio sound bar. If you want cheap and decent sound thia is perfect