LG BB5530A soundbar review: slotted bar will give the content

This device is direct “descendant” of model LG BB5520A, released last year. The main difference is the acquired ability to convert video resolution to Ultra HD 2160p and convert 2D to 3D, – respectively, and the price is a couple of thousand higher. Not much difference “for the money”, but nice. Besides, the speakers, unlike BB5520A, are protected by a metal grid. Given that the unit is equipped with karaoke – the function is used more often on holidays with all the ensuing, such protection is not superfluous.

LG BB5530A Soundbar

Specifications

Design

: main unit + subwoofer

Number of channels

v: 4.1

Front speakers power RMS

: 70 x 2 watts

Power of rear speakers RMS

: 70 x 2 watts

Subwoofer power RMS

: 150W

Output resolution HD

: 1080p

Decoders

: LPCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, DTS-HD Master Audio

Supported formats

: M4V, 3GP, FLV, TS, MVC, FLAC, MKV, MPEG4, DivX, DivX HD, AAC, AVCHD, WMV, MPEG1, MPEG2, WMA, MP3, JPEG

Supported media

BD Blu-ray Disc , Blu-ray 3D, BD-R, BD-Re, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVD R, DVD RW

Extras

: Karaoke, video scaling to Ultra HD 2160p resolution, 2D to 3D video conversion, BD-Live support, DLNA support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM radio, child protection

Main unit dimensions WxHxD

: 950x135x74.1 mm

Subwoofer dimensions WxHxD

: 221×351.5×281 mm

Interface

Inputs

Audio mini-jack, fiber optic, HDMI x 2, LAN, USB Type A , 2 mic, FM antenna

Outputs

HDMI

This device is a direct descendant of LG BB5520A model released last year. The main difference is the acquired ability to transform the video resolution up to Ultra HD 2160p and convert 2D to 3D, – respectively, and the price is a couple of thousand higher. The money is not much of a difference, but it’s nice. Moreover, the speakers, unlike the BB5520A, are protected by a metallic mesh. Taking into consideration that the device is equipped with karaoke, – the function is used more often on holidays with all that it implies, such protection is not superfluous.

According to the date of issue, this device is the latest among the similar ones from our South Korean friends.

Design

The system is positioned as a soundbar with 4.1-channel sound, equipped with a BD-drive, USB player, Smart-TV and karaoke – a complete set of home entertainment center.

Naturally, the four channels are located in the main unit, whose dimensions remind the size of the air conditioner’s indoor unit, and the subwoofer is “tied” only to the power outlet, the connection is via Bluetooth.

I must say that this solution is not to everyone’s liking. The main “illnesses” of Bluetooth-connection, – is a slight delay of sound and sometimes muffling of Wi-Fi signal nearby.

To the credit of the developers nothing of the kind was found. There was no lag, and the level of Wi-Fi allowed us to test Smart-TV.

By the way, to be interesting, during the test the subwoofer was placed in the corridor, while the wall unit was in the living room – and out of direct sight, though not more than the recommended distance of 10 meters. No connection loss! True, when switching on – when the connection is established – the subwoofer “hesitated”, but the connection was established, – by the way, unlike the younger models of soundbars.

The USB-port is located on the side: if the soundbar is installed “right next to it”, this must be taken into account and a USB extension cable must be available. The same must be considered if you are going to sing “karaoke”, – microphone inputs are also located on the side, – on the other side.

HDMI 1 interface.4a has a reversible audio channel, which allows you to enjoy sound from the TV through the soundbar without additional cable.

The main unit can be placed both on the wall and on a shelf under the TV.

Media player

A 320GB hard drive with a tiered file system and lots of files was read by the unit almost instantly, – less than 2 seconds. This is a good indicator – on younger models the reading is many times slower.

The internal media player played all the offered files, even the ones that the external media player let us not point the finger at the company could not cope with. The 32 gb BD-rip was played without any lags or jerks, and when rewinding it we didn’t have any problems either, though with a slow rewind speed. If you increase the rewind speed when you click on “play” there is a jump to the next file – but “forewarned is forearmed”! No “ignoring effect” was observed when rewinding the “lighter” files. The device is also able to play 3D MKV, MVC and TS files.

BD drive

BD-drive “slot”. When you insert the disc, it grabs almost immediately – not reaching the middle. Loading doesn’t take long, a BD with 3D content will load in less than 8 seconds

Functionality

The device seems to be “stuffed” with everything possible that is relevant today for a home AV system, except there are no games.

Of course, there’s the mono-brand Simplink function, which allows you to control both the soundbar and LG TV with one remote when connected with an HDMI cable.

Games with your smartphone

The universal “smartphoneization” of the population is also not ignored.

By downloading and installing the appropriate software LG Remote app from the LG site or Google Play the smartphone becomes an advanced remote control by a “light hand movement” – allowing, among other things, to control the Internet functions.

You can also use Bluetooth to listen to music directly from your smartphone if you’re not using your home network-where all your content is usually stored.

Of course you can ask yourself, do you really need it?? But that is a topic for another conversation…

And the Miracast feature, which allows you to turn your display into a smartphone screen, is really nice. As the manufacturers say, – the feature allows you to play games and watch videos on the big screen. This, of course, is of little use to anyone – usually uploaded to a smartphone video with a small resolution, and smartphone for games..

But to watch the photos you’ve just taken on the big screen without waiting to be thrown onto a hard drive would be interesting.

Private Sound function allows you to make another transformation of your smartphone into a Wi-Fi adapter for headphones. t.e., If you want to listen to the sound through headphones, it’s enough to connect them to your smartphone. t.o. saves the budget, allowing you to dispense with the purchase of wireless headphones.

Networking capabilities

The LG BB5530A can be connected to the Internet with either a LAN connection or via Wi-Fi – an adapter is built in. Wireless connection is easy to set up, – similar to the standard laptop connection. All available networks are highlighted, if you choose a closed one, you enter the code, and off you go!

You can also connect to the local network via DLNA or wirelessly via Wi-Fi Direct. As you know, the access point in this case is not needed – the devices that support this function will exchange files with each other directly.

Smart TV

The standard Smart TV set from LG is practically the same in all LG-equipped devices with this function – online content, video on demand VOD , games and local services.

In addition to Smart TV there is a full-fledged browser. Of course, the regular remote control is not suitable for this purpose, but by connecting a USB keyboard is quite possible to browse the Web. True, the USB-port is the only one, so if the network is not configured, you have to pull out the “keyboard”, freeing up a USB slot for the hard drive.

Sound

To express your impression in two words – the sound is at the level of a competently composed audio system of the corresponding price range. It is clear that the overwhelming majority of budget soundbars are equipped with class D amplifier, it is difficult to achieve considerable power at compact dimensions by any other construction. Naturally, you can often hear the accompanying “ugly things” in the form of metallic noise and harsh tops. Here everything is correct – there is nothing of the kind.

The sound is bright, distinct, with a little bit of “middle”, as befits a movie system. By the way, during tests with musical fragments the system proved itself not bad either. True, I could hear some sibilance on the female vocals, but this can also be heard on much more expensive systems.

There are nine fixed sound settings and one custom setting, allowing you to adjust the sound to your liking.

An important part of a theater system is the ability to “build a scene”. For obvious reasons it is a difficult task for the soundbars, the effect can be achieved at the best by the reflection from the walls of the room. But a lot depends on the room itself, and such systems are expensive, too – the internal location of speakers demands almost jewelry accuracy.

Unfortunately, the budget segment cannot do that.

The BB5530A is no exception – you can’t get full “surround sound”, but the stereo effect is very good. Front and rear channels are in the same enclosure, with dedicated controls. Not to say that it somehow creates “volume”, it changes the number of playable audio tracks.

There are two surround sound settings for movies and music. At the same time, the stereo effect is really increasing. In the “movie” mode the speech is heard more distinctly – probably the appropriate frequency range rises.

There’s subwoofer volume control, – t.o. You can select the best value for the room, and therefore for the content.

Picture

Nothing to complain about. No significant artifacts detected, – brightness, clarity, color transitions are smooth, – everything is in place. When converting two-dimensional content in 3D, of course, the full “volume” is not obtained, – which is predictable.

The device can “overclock” the resolution of video content up to Ultra HD 2160p . Currently there are only a little more than half a dozen panels on the market with a resolution greater than 1920 x 1080p, incidentally, a quarter of them – LG. So the relevance of this feature is up to the consumer to decide.

However, there are also video projectors of the corresponding class, but their price is close to the price of a brand-new car with a horse on the hood.

Result

In terms of price the device is close to the “advanced BD-player with USB, karaoke and network functions” + “AV-receiver” + “speaker set” set, but it combines all that in one case not counting the subwoofer , but it is as functional as a home theater system. It can be easily recommended to those consumers who want to combine quality and compactness.

Joyfully

: Clear and powerful sound, good connection with a wireless subwoofer.

A shame

There is only one output HDMI .

Advice

: if somehow LG BB5530A came to you before the video panel, you can pick it up without paying attention to the presence of Smart and, of course, the media player, thereby saving money.

Price

: 22 500 Dollars.