Panasonic - Soundslayer 2.1 - Channel Gaming Soundbar with Subwoofer HDR 4K UHD supported - Black

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• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Nearly perfect gaming speaker

  • Tech Insider Network Member
  • Top 50 Contributor

  Panasonic has released a great new product for gamers that don't need a huge entertainment system for audio. The package comes with the Soundslayer speaker, AC power cord/block attachment, remote control, and instruction manual. Panasonic offers a 1-year limited warranty for the speaker. PROS: ----------- * Unlike smaller bluetooth/3.5mm portable audio devices, this one is wired via HDMI/fiber. Has a much better sound than using analog connections or bluetooth. * Perfect size for gamers that play in a confined area (ie. dorm room, bedroom) where loud and massive audio is not ideal. * Easy setup, plug-and-play design * Deep immersive gaming sounds when playing PS4/PS5. Most sounds you hear with headphones are still heard with this speaker. * The remote control offers multi-functions that are easy to use. Remote is light but solid. * Since this speaker has both HDMI and Digital (fiber) audio, you can technically have 2 different wired sources connect in addition to wireless bluetooth. * I did not experience any kind of lag/delay in audio/video sync. * It has 4K passthrough with multiple audio formats that it can handle including Dolby Atmos and DTS-X. CONS: ----------- * The biggest con is that a digital display is not provided. This is a very simple addition that would have really put this speaker at the top of its game. Instead, you have to know the light sequences in order to know what happens. There isn't much for the lights to do, but a digital readout would still be way more convenient than lights flashing left/right, or a specific number of times. * Many gamers play 2 different platforms (PS5/Xbox/PC/PS4) or at least USE 2 of these. Since there is only 1 HDMI in/out, you may need to buy a separate HDMI switch if you want multiple inputs to the speaker. IE. My son in college uses this speaker for both his PC and PS5. We bought a separate HDMI switch to accommodate this setup. Having 1 more HDMI input would be good at this price point. You can see the small HDMI switch we use in one of my pictures (2 input, 1 output). OTHER OBSERVATIONS: ----------------------- * This speaker is clearly not for deep immersive MUSIC. It has bass, but only to a limited extent. It really is more for gaming/TV sounds rather than music. Even though it does have Bluetooth (BT), music would sound better on most other BT wireless speakers. Deep bass sounds sound more like a thud than a boom. But given the size of the bass driver, that should be expected. * If you lose your remote, you still have some functionality with the Power/Volume/Input buttons on the right side of the unit. Don't lose the remote or you'll lose a bit of functionality. * Keep in mind that when you plug in the speaker to another source that has its own volume controls, you'll want to set the volume to the source and the speaker itself in a way in which you can adjust the volume of the other so it's convenient for you. (ie. If you want to control the speaker via PC, turn up the speaker all the way and use the PC volume controls to raise volume up and down). * The power cord is proprietary with a power block in the middle (not USB-C). CONCLUSION: ===================== This gaming speaker is very simplistic in nature. It's not complicated. It's plug and play, has some good features including having quick bass control and surround 3D sound via the remote. It's perfect for college student (dorm room) or a gamer at home that may not want a ton of bass thumping the entire house. Clarity of voices is crystal clear, and sheer volume is plenty. This is a great substitution for not using headphones as the 3D sound is very good. The biggest flaw is the sequence of the lights and not having a digital display of some sort. You need the instructions to know what the lights are telling you which is a nuisance during initial setup. But once you know what the lights do, it's not too bad; however, IMO, it's enough to get a star knocked off the final rating. A good user interface is worth a lot.

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  Posted 4 years ago by BADog

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Great sound in a small package

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  The Soundslayer is a fairly compact soundbar that fits on your tabletop. I gave it a go initially with my Xbox Series X and I was able to passthrough 4K HDR content without any issues. Played some solo, online and streamed some video content, regardless what I threw at it I was pleased with the sound, plus the volume that this compact soundbar can push out. Having it in a TV setup, my one complaint would be changing the volume, you can see the lights flashing from left to right or right to left depending on if you are turning the volume up or down, but there isn't really anyway to tell what your current volume level is. The built in subwoofer works fairly well, which has four levels and you can tell where you are with the flashing lights. I will typically use the soundbar in Music, Cinema or Game depending on the content I am playing. I do like that Game does have 3 different settings, one for RPG, another for FPS and the last enhances voices. There is a sequence to the lights on front, that's explained in the manual, to let you know which setting you are currently in. There is also a Clear Dialog button. Didn't spend a lot of time in bluetooth, but it's nice to know you can easily pair your phone or other bluetooth devices to output audio. I pretty much only used this for music while working on my PC. This is a great soundbar if you are looking for great sound, but are limited on space. A LCD screen to show information would be great, just a mini one to display basic information such as volume level would be great. Also for the price it would be nice to see an optical audio cable or an HDMI included in the box to help get you setup quicker. I had to take a 18gbps cable from another room to get this up and running. Not deal breakers, just would be nice, wouldn't stop me from suggesting this sound system to anyone with limited space looking to get an enjoyable gaming experience!

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  Posted 4 years ago by ZBMILLER

• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Would love additional features

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  • My Best Buy Premier Silver Review
  • Top 100 Contributor

  We moved into our house nearly 10 years ago. Ever since then, I’ve found myself rearranging the furniture and electronics every couple of months. I finally got it into a layout that is both comforting and practical for my needs. One of the things that I really like about the room is that I have it divided up into sections. One section has a place for me to shoot photos, another has a place for me to work on my computer, and the third area is designated for gaming. I have an Xbox Series X that I typically use for my gaming activities. Right now, it’s just plugged into my TV, which has decent speakers, but I’ve been wanting something that offers a bit more power. The problem I have is that space is at a premium in my office so I didn’t want a full multi-speaker surround sound set-up. So, I turned to soundbars. Since one of the main reasons I want better sound is for gaming, I selected the Soundslayer since it’s specifically designed for that purpose. The first thing I noticed about the Soundslayer is its size. It is very compact - measuring only 17 inches long. One of the pictures I included shows the speaker sitting on top of an Xbox One X just to demonstrate the size difference. Since I was trying to take up as little space as possible, the smaller size of the speaker is a big plus for me. I do have to admit though, a speaker of this size starts to look puny next to a 65-inch television. I have my TV mounted to a wall in my office and I was hoping to be able to use a soundbar mount so that the speaker could live directly beneath the TV on a mount of its own. Unfortunately, the Soundslayer isn't compatible with wall mounting. The mount I had could hold it as a shelf, but since I didn’t have a good way to secure the speaker - due to the absence of mounting holes - I opted to just set the speaker on the TV stand. Because I try to keep that area as clutter-free as possible and this change-up caused me to router wires differently and rearrange the top of my TV stand to accommodate the speaker, I have to take points away for the design of this speaker and its lack of mounting options. To test the sound quality out, I plugged my Xbox into the soundbar using HDMI and played a few rounds of Red Dead Redemption 2. While I was playing, I would swap back and forth between the different sound modes. I started with GAME mode and was really blown away by the crisp sound quality I got from the soundbar. Since I’m used to simply using the TV's speakers, there were a lot of sounds that I could now hear because they were being enhanced by the soundbar’s features. It was very impressive. While I was still on GAME mode, I switched on the 3D surround sound effect. I didn’t exactly feel as though I was surrounded by sound, but I could tell that the 'effect' was present as it moved between the speakers in the soundbar. There was a discernible difference between GAME and STANDARD mode though. While the quality of the sound was still good, it just wasn’t as well-defined or as deep sounding as the GAME mode. STANDARD mode still beat out the TV speakers. CINEMA and MUSIC were very similar in my opinion. Since I was testing all of these out by playing a game, I know I might be missing some nuances that might be present when I watch a movie or listen to music. While the sound quality and build are nice, there are a few things I don't like. First, there aren't enough inputs for my use. In fact, there aren’t enough inputs for my fiancé’s use either - and she only has an Xbox and an Apple TV. There are one HDMI input and one HDMI output. So, aside from using the optical cable or the Bluetooth connection, you can only have one device running through the soundbar. Second, there are no cables other than the power cable included. There isn’t even an optical cable included and most soundbars I’ve seen have at least included that. Third, the display is non-existent. Panasonic has done a nice job providing notifications through a series of LEDs on the soundbar, which is nice because you know that the button you’ve pressed on the remote has been received by the soundbar. But, it would be great to be able to see a volume level or a reminder about which mode you are actually on. While most of these are minor annoyances, they did affect my user experience and so I wanted to note them here. This tiny soundbar does pack quite a punch in the sound department. It is easy to set-up and produces a high-quality sound. For its price, I would just like to see some sort of attention paid to the little details that would really make this a great speaker.

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  Posted 4 years ago by nickcal