Jiří Filip In today's review, we will look at the TCL TS9030 RayDanz soundbar, which arrived in our office a few weeks ago and which I have been intensively testing since then to get the best possible picture of it. Is it worth getting a similar device for your home, or is it a nuisance that you should avoid when creating your multimedia home corner? I will try to answer exactly this question in the following lines. The TCL TS9030 RayDanz review is here.
Technical Specifications
Before we start testing the product in-depth, I will introduce you to its technical specifications. These are really impressive and I think you will be able to understand the lines about testing better thanks to them. The technical specifications themselves will reveal to you very decently what kind of monster (in a good sense of the word) we have the honor of. So let's get to it.
The TCL TS9030 RayDanz is a 3.1-channel soundbar complete with a wireless subwoofer that boasts a respectable 540W maximum sound output. It is probably clear to you by now that this is no gimmick, but a sound system that can shake the room more than solidly. To make the sound experience of the soundbar as best as possible, it does not lack Dolby Atmos support and even RayDanz acoustic reflector technology. The manufacturer describes this as a technology that uses precisely calibrated reflectors and transducers in angles instead of digital processing in order to offer the original undistorted sound and the most natural sound experience overall. Dolby Atmos probably doesn't make much sense to describe it - after all, everyone has probably encountered surround sound. If you are interested in the frequency of the soudbar, it is 150 to 20 Hz, the sensitivity is 000 dB/mW and the impedance is 100 Ohm.
As for cable connectivity, you can count on the soundbar with HDMI ports, 3,5mm jack, digital optical port and AUX. The wireless connection is then taken care of by Bluetooth version 5.0 and WiFi, thanks to which you can look forward to Chromecast and AirPlay. The icing on the cake is the USB-A socket, which allows you to play things from a flash drive via the soundbar.
Bluetooth is not only used for communication with the sound source, but also for communication with the subwoofer. It is completely wireless, which in my opinion is its huge asset. Thanks to this, you can plug it in practically anywhere in the room - you only need to have a socket with electricity available. However, the manufacturer recommends connecting the subwoofer at a distance of about three meters from the soundbar, which I followed. But more on that later.
If you decide to buy this set, expect that it will take up some space at home. After all, this is very likely to happen to you immediately after the courier brings you the box hiding the soundbar with subwoofer - it is certainly not small. As for the specific dimensions, the speaker measures 105 cm, is 5,8 cm high and 11 cm wide, the subwoofer measures 41 cm in height and 24 cm in width and depth.
Recommended retail price of TCL TS9030 RayDanz soundbar with subwoofer is 9990 CZK.
Processing and design
Since the TCL TS9030 RayDanz soundbar had its world premiere relatively recently, I had a pretty good idea of it even before it came to me for tests, mainly thanks to its design. For this, he received the prestigious iF Product Design Award 2020, which is awarded annually by the recognized organization iF International Forum Design. I was also very interested in the design of the soundbar, because it is very different from most other soundbars on the current market, and in a positive light. The TS9030 is by no means that boring oblong speaker that you put in front of the TV and tolerate it there for its nice sound. This soundbar, at least for me personally, is literally a feast for the eyes, which, despite the fact that I have been looking at it every day for the last month or so, I can't stop looking at it. Matt plastics contrast with shiny ones, the gridded side with the speaker vents seamlessly connects to the full front arch, and the white LED solution display is hidden under a dense gray mesh, which will give you the impression that it's not even there. For me personally, it's a really great piece that won't spoil the design of your living room. The only complaint I have is how much it attracts dust. Although I try to luxuriate in my apartment as often as possible and keep dust to a minimum, the matte dark side of the soundbar is literally a magnet for dust. So count on the fact that you will have fun wiping it down to the attic.
If I were to evaluate the design of the subwoofer, I have no complaints here either. In short, this is a minimalist-looking bass player that, despite its dimensions, thanks to its unobtrusive design (and clever placement in the apartment), you will hardly even notice it and will not visually disturb you in any way.
TCL deserves a lot of praise not only for its design. In my opinion, the processing of the product as such is at a really high level. Over the last few years, I have passed through countless speakers in both the lower and higher price categories, which is why I can say that in terms of processing, the TS9030 ranks among the best audio products I have ever seen, and I would definitely recommend it even a higher price. To me, everything about him has a well-thought-out and well-thought-out impression, and I would be hard-pressed to find anything that would annoy me in the slightest. The manufacturer even played with such a detail as the port equipment cover. You can get to it by opening the back cover, with the fact that after connecting the necessary cables, the cover can be easily returned to its place and the cables can only be pulled out through a tiny hole in it. Thanks to this, you do not have to be so that they stick out from one side, so to speak, from all sides.
Connection and initial setup
Connecting the entire set is a matter of a few seconds, because you only need to de facto unpack it and connect the cables to everything you want to play through it. However, I won't give you universal advice on how to do it in the following lines - it wouldn't make sense given that everyone has different preferences and different TV and console setups. However, I can recommend the use of HDMI-ARC, if your television offers it. If you decide to use it, the soundbar will be controllable via the TV remote, which is definitely nice. In all other cases, you will have to settle for a controller directly for the soundbar, which is not a bad thing, but controlling everything with one controller is of course more practical. My next piece of advice is to place or place the subwoofer (and ideally the soundbar) on some quality material - i.e. solid wood. The sound emitted when standing on it is of much higher quality than the sound when standing on chipboard or other lower quality materials. However, I believe that you have heard this lesson so many times that it is almost unnecessary to repeat it now.
I must admit that while I had no problem connecting the soundbar to the TV and console, i.e. the subwoofer to the soundbar, I struggled a bit with connecting the soundbar to WiFi and thus activating it in AirPlay. In order for everything to work as it should, it needed to be updated first, which of course I forgot and because of that I set up AirPlay a bit half-heartedly at first. Luckily, however, I caught up with everything by restoring the soundbar to factory settings and updating the firmware (I had to do this via a flash drive, but once the soundbar is connected to WiFi, according to the manufacturer, it should handle updates automatically via the Internet), after which AirPlay was set up as expected.
In addition, of course, the Soundbar was also included in the HomeKit application Domácnost, thanks to which you can play with it through various automations and the like. For me, as an apple user, this is in a way a dream come true and a product for which I could not possibly wish for better connectivity with the Apple ecosystem. On the other hand, it has to be said that the setup process itself could definitely have been friendlier. It is done entirely via the controller, which is already quite a headache in itself. In addition, it is not always possible to invoke the required actions that can be executed by various combinations and long or short button presses. For example, instead of turning it off completely (which disables AirPlay and therefore I recommend also resetting it to sleep, in which AirPlay is still available), I activated such a sleep mode for quite a few minutes before I succeeded. So, if TCL came up with an application for managing its soundbars in the future, I would definitely welcome it.
Testing
And what is the TCL 9030 RayDanz like in practice? In one word, phenomenal, without any exaggeration. To start with the sound, I honestly haven't heard anything better in a long time. Whether I was watching movies or series, listening to music or playing games on it, I was always literally and figuratively thrilled with it.
For movies and series, you will appreciate the excellent presentation of Dolby Atmos surround sound, which will draw you into the action in an unreal way. More than once, when watching the film in the evening, when everything was quiet in the city, I found myself turning to follow the sound on my sides, because I had a good feeling that it was coming from here. A hussar piece for a 3.1-channel soundbar, don't you think? It is also absolutely amazing to watch sports through it - especially hockey, football and sports in general that have enough active microphones near the field. I was lucky enough that the loudspeaker arrived for review during this year's hockey world championship, and thanks to it and especially thanks to the booming of the subwoofer, I could enjoy the impact of the puck on the goalpost, which you immediately perceive much more intensely thanks to it and have from the whole match about cognition more intense impression. The same applies to football, where every kick recorded by a noise microphone can be heard almost as if you were sitting in the first row of the stadium.
As a lover of playing on a game console, I thoroughly tested the soundbar in conjunction with the Xbox Series X, and that with a whole range of games. Whether we're talking about Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the new Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War or Modern Warfare, or even the NHL and FIFA series, thanks to the phenomenal sound output, we'll once again enjoy the experience you had when using the TV's internal speakers (which I used so far) just dream. Sure, here we can talk about whether it wouldn't be better to use large headphones for gaming and immerse yourself in the story even better thanks to them. But I've kind of grown out of playing with headphones, and that's why I'm glad that I can indulge in high-quality sound "at least" like this.
By far, I most often consumed music via the soundbar, which I played via AirPlay. Even the one from it sounds absolutely perfect (considering its price) and therefore I would put my hand in the fire for the fact that it will satisfy even the most demanding users. The soundbar is very confident in the lows and highs and manages them without any distortion, while the mids are, as expected, a complete raspberry. As such, the sound from it sounds very natural and alive. You don't have to worry about any metal distortion or "obscuring", as if everything is happening behind an impermeable curtain. I even liked the sound from the soundbar so much that I began to prefer it over the HomePod mini in stereo mode, which we used as the main audio toy in my household until now. And for diggers - yes, this setup was more than enough for me, I'm no audiophile.
If there is something great about the sound, apart from its quality, it is the wide possibilities of its modification. With a little exaggeration, the sound can be adjusted in a hundred ways through the controller. Whether you like more expressive bass or a more expressive singer's voice, there will be no problem with that - everything can be emphasized or, on the contrary, muted so that the sound performance suits you 100%. In addition, if you don't want to "scratch" with manual sound tuning, you can rely on one of the preset modes (specifically movie, music and game), which will adapt it to the given content as best as possible. These are the modes I honestly started using all the time after a few days of playing around with manual customization, because they are set up so well that it's simply useless to rely on your own feelings (well, at least if you don't have time to spare).
However, to not just praise, here are the things that annoyed me a little about the soundbar while using it, although they are not extreme. The first is its controllability via the controller. It doesn't always respond "on the first try", so you have to put up with the fact that some buttons will sometimes need to be pressed more times than you would expect. At first I thought the remote was behaving this way because of weak batteries, but when it continued to behave this way even after replacing them, I accepted that controlling it through it would still require a little patience at times. But it certainly cannot be said that every second press of the button would not be caught. Even the occasional omission is simply not pleasing.
The other thing I struggled with a bit while using the soundbar is its minimum volume. Personally, I really like it when I can play music from time to time almost inaudibly in the background of some activities, so that it does not disturb me at all, but only stimulates me subconsciously. With the TS9030, however, you need to take into account that even the lowest volume is still quite loud, and you may still perceive it more than you are comfortable with at the moment. On the other hand, I would easily reduce the maximum volume by a few decibels, because it is really brutal and I honestly don't think there is anyone living on the planet who regularly cranks the soundbar to maximum volume.
Summary
So how to evaluate the TCL TS9030 RayDanz soundbar in a few sentences? In my opinion, as an absolutely great piece for every living room, which is perfect not only for Apple fans, but in short for everyone who wants to enjoy movies, games or just sitting on the couch with music, high-quality sound without the need to install multi-channel audio systems around me. This 3.1 is simply worth it and if you are thinking about a similar solution, I think you have just found a favorite. Sure, its price is not the lowest, but you get a really great piece of electronics in every parameter you can think of.
What BT codecs can it handle?