The Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2Ch is quite a unique soundbar system. It has a 9.2.4 speaker configuration with two wireless subwoofers and four dedicated surround rear speakers. It offers an immersive listening experience, especially with Atmos content. This soundbar can get very loud, although some compression artifacts can be heard in the bass range at max volume. Unfortunately, it has a dark sound profile with stereo content and sounds quite excited with surround content. On the upside, it has plenty of HDMI ports and can be used as a hub for your different devices and it has many different settings to help you make it sound the way you prefer.
Decent for mixed usage. This soundbar has a warm sound profile with overemphasized bass and lacks a bit of detail, which isn't ideal for most music genres and dialogue. However, when watching Atmos content, like movies, it offers an immersive listening thanks to its unique 9.2.4 speaker setup.
Decent for dialogue. This soundbar setup has a warm sound profile, which might not be ideal for dialogue but on the upside, it has a dialogue enhancement feature and a night mode. This makes voices clearer and easier to understand, even at a lower volume.
Just okay for music. The stereo frequency response of this soundbar is rather warm, which might not be ideal for every music genre. It has overemphasized bass which is great for bass-heavy music, and it can get quite loud, although some compression is audible at max volume.
Decent for movies. This soundbar has a rather warm sound profile, but supports Atmos content for a more immersive and exciting experience. It has a unique configuration with four rear speakers, resulting in an excellent surround experience. There's also a ton of features to customize your sound to your liking.
The Shockwafe Ultra 9.2Ch is the highest-end soundbar from Nakamichi. This model is unique thanks to its dual sub setup with four surround speakers. It provides a more realistic listening experience than the Shockwafe Elite 7.2, which only has two surround speakers. The Shockwafe Ultra 9.2 doesn't have similar competing setups due to the unique configuration, but it's often compared to a full Bose Soundbar 700 setup, a full Sonos Beam setup, or even the Samsung HW-Q90R.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2 bar is pretty large, which means you probably won't be able to fit it between the legs of a TV stand. Also, its body is quite high, meaning it might cover the bottom part of your TV, especially if it sits flush to the table.
The satellite speakers aren't too big when compared to other models, but consider the fact that you have four of them to place around. Also, you can interchange the height and width data depending on whether you position them sideways or standing up.
The Nakamichi Schockwafe Ultra 9.2's build quality is great. It's quite similar to the Samsung HW-Q90R, as there's a solid metal grille covering the bar's front and side speakers. The subwoofers are also made out of wood and the speakers are hidden on their underside, which is less prone to damage like some subs that have a side fabric panel covering the speaker. Even the satellites are well-built and feel high-end.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe 9.2's stereo frequency response is just okay. Its low-frequency extension is quite higher than some other soundbars, which is disappointing. On the upside, the bass seems evened out throughout the room thanks to the two subs. It also lacks a bit of detail in the treble, resulting in a darker sound profile with stereo content.
Note: The Nakamichi speakers were tested with the Hybrid Elevation 1 configuration . All stereo/center channel content was tested without any effects enabled or levels adjusted.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe 9.2's stereo soundstage is good. Just like the Samsung HW-Q90R, it's about the size of the bar, but sounds very focused. Objects in the soundstage seem to be coming from an accurate pinpoint location rather than a general area, which is great.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe 9.2's stereo dynamics performance is good. It's one of the loudest soundbars we've tested so far, but unfortunately, there's some noticeable distortion at max volume, especially in the bass range. However, there shouldn't be any issues at a normal listening volume.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2's THD performance is good. At a normal listening volume, the audio reproduction is clean and pure. The THD does get a bit elevated at max volume, which might make frequencies a bit harsh and impure, but most people won't notice it with daily content.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2.4's center channel is great. Thanks to its speaker configuration, this soundbar has a dedicated center channel, which results in a clearer and more accurate dialogue reproduction.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2's surrounds performance is excellent. Thanks to its 9.2.4 setup configuration, you have dedicated surround speakers, which provide very accurate localization of objects in the soundstage around you. However, the sound profile of these speakers is quite excited, with more bass and treble, which can be entertaining for movies, but not everyone will prefer this.
Note: To be able to play surround and Atmos content, we needed to use Dolby Surround On, with no DSP mode, and set the Spatial Surround Elevation setting to level 3. This was the only way to get all four speakers to work properly. All surround content was tested in Native mode.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2's Atmos performance is decent. Its quite immersive when watching movies, although since the up-firing speakers are on the bar and rear speakers, it won't be as focused as down-firing speakers with a dedicated home theater setup. The sound profile is also quite excited, with overemphasized bass and treble.
Note: To be able to play surround and Atmos content, we needed to use Dolby Surround On, with no DSP mode, and set the Spatial Surround Elevation setting to level 3. This was the only way to get all four speakers to work properly.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2's sound enhancement features are decent. It has a 'Room' button that changes the sound depending on your room size, which isn't quite like a room correction as there's no microphone being used to analyze your room. The 'Bass' button on the remote controls the sub volume rather than the amount of bass being produced by the whole setup. This soundbar system offers a lot of sound customization options and special features to help you make it sound the way you prefer.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2 has plenty of physical inputs. It has three HDMI In ports, making it easier for you to use your soundbar as a hub for all your devices. You can also plug in an AUX cord, which is great at parties where people want to play their music without going through the Bluetooth pairing process.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2 supports Dolby Digital Plus, which serves as a carrier for Dolby Atmos, on top of supporting the more common Dolby Digital and DTS. If you have DD+ content, the bar will be able to decode it and deliver a more immersive listening experience via the ARC port. Unfortunately, it doesn't support eARC.
This soundbar has outstanding support via the HDMI In ports. You can easily get surround or object-based sound formats to play, which results in an immersive and great experience when watching content on Blu-rays, streaming platforms, or even when gaming.
Like most soundbars, the Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2 supports Dolby Digital and DTS over optical, which can usually be found on Blu-ray discs and streaming platforms like Netflix
Unfortunately, this premium setup only supports wireless playback via Bluetooth, which some may find disappointing. It doesn't support Wi-Fi playback, unlike some similar high-end models like the Samsung HW-Q90R.
When connecting your devices to the soundbar, the Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2 has no issues passing through the highest quality signals. It also supports 4:4:4, meaning that when using your PC, the text will be clear and easy to read on a TV.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2 is a very unique soundbar that has two dedicated subwoofers and four rear speakers, which is quite uncommon. However, it doesn't necessarily result in better overall performance, as it has a disappointing stereo frequency response. On the upside, it offers an immersive listening experience with surround and Atmos content. See our recommendations for the best soundbars and the best Dolby Atmos soundbars. If you don't need such a high-end setup, check out the best budget soundbars.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2Ch and the Bose Soundbar 700 are often compared. However, since we only tested the Bose with the bar alone, results between a 9.2.4 setup and a 3.0 soundbar aren't very comparable. On the other hand, with stereo content, the Bose does much better and has a wider soundstage due to the side-firing speakers. The Nakamichi can get louder and thanks to the additional speakers it has, it offers an amazing surround experience.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2Ch is a better soundbar for movies than the full Sonos Arc with Sub + One SL Speakers setup. The Nakamichi features four rear and surround speakers for a more immersive experience and you can position them differently based on your preference. It also has two subwoofers for a more uniform bass reproduction throughout the room. On the other hand, the Sonos full setup requires a bit less room and still delivers a great overall performance.
The Samsung HW-Q90R is a better soundbar system than the Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2Ch. Although the Nakamichi has more speakers, its sound profile isn't as neutral as the Samsung's. The performance at max volume of the Samsung is also better. On the other hand, the Nakamichi shines when it comes to surround performance thanks to the four dedicated rear speakers.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2Ch and the Samsung HW-Q950T are two differently set up soundbars. The Nakamichi is a 9.2.4 setup that comes with two subwoofers and two satellites. It has a more premium build quality, and it has a better surround and height performance. It also has three Full HDMI In ports as well as an AUX port, and a USB slot. In contrast, the Samsung is a 9.1.4 setup that has a more neutral sound profile and a graphic EQ. It can get a little bit louder than the Nakamichi with slightly fewer compression artifacts, and it has full audio format support via its ARC port.
The Vizio SB36512-F6 is a better soundbar system than the Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2Ch for most people, especially for the price. It has great overall performance, with a very good, neutral sound profile. On the other hand, its surround sound listening experience isn't as immersive as the Nakamichi soundbar with its four dedicated surround speakers.
The Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2Ch is a better setup than the Sonos Beam soundbar by itself. Since we only tested the Beam with the bar alone, it's a bit hard to compare a 9.2 system with a 3.0 system. Nevertheless, the Nakamichi gets louder with stereo content, although its soundstage isn't as wide as the Beam's. The Sonos soundbar also features a real room correction feature that uses a microphone to make adjustments to the audio reproduction.
Retailers' prices | Amazon.com | BestBuy.com | B&H |
---|---|---|---|
Shockwafe Ultra 9.2Ch |
SEE PRICE
|
SEE PRICE
|
Unavailable
|