Sonodyne SAMA 7000 soundbar review: Brings the cinema to your home

Homegrown audio brand Sonodyne has launched a series of new audio devices. The SAMA 7000 soundbar, in particular, promises to bring you a cinema-like experience at home at Rs 74,999. But can it live up to this promise? India Today Tech reviews.

Sonodyne SAMA 7000 soundbar review - 8.5/10

Pros

• Wireless subwoofer
• Easy to setup
• Sleek design

Cons

• No app support
• No DTS:X

In Short

• Sleek black design pairs touch controls with a clear central display
• HDMI eARC supports multiple Dolby formats alongside Bluetooth, AUX and optical
• Wireless 10-inch subwoofer connects automatically and delivers powerful room-shaking bass

Sonodyne is a name that may ring a bell or not depending on whom you ask. For many musicians and audiophiles, Sonodyne is a force to be reckoned with. Founded in the 1970 in Calcutta – now Kolkata – the company is known for making some of the finest professional audio devices – with all the design as well as R&D happening domestically. Today, Sonodyne says, it supplies audio equipment to cinemas, retail spaces, musicians, and even luxury home setups. Now, the company wants to bring the same experience to your living room with the Sonodyne SAMA 7000 soundbar.

The SAMA 7000 falls in the middle of Sonodyne’s new soundbar lineup, priced at Rs 74,999. The company says that the SAMA 7000 was not designed overnight. Taking from its experience in high-end audio, Sonodyne had been planning to enter this space since before the pandemic. And now, India Today Tech got to spend some time with the soundbar as it goes on sale. Here are our thoughts.

Design and setup

The Sonodyne SAMA 7000 is a premium device and it looks like it. The soundbar comes with a wireless subwoofer, but more on that in a while. The SAMA 7000 comes with a slim design in a sleek black finish that reassures you that you have bought a device that means business.

There is Sonodyne branding on the top left with a Dolby Atmos logo on the other side – with touch controls placed at the centre. Coming to the centre of the SAMA 7000, you get a screen that informs you about the various audio modes or the volume of the device. The ports are tucked neatly at the back.

The 10-inch subwoofer follows the same blueprint, with a glossy circular outline breaking from the otherwise matte-finish. You get a prominent Sonodyne logo below it.

In terms of dimensions, the soundbar measures 66 x 1100 x 130 mm, while the subwoofer measures 400 x 200 x 454 mm. The net weight of the setup is 18kg.

The Sonodyne 7000 looks minimalistic and sleek, ensuring that you can place it in your living room, and it will blend in just right. The setup process is also quite simple. You can connect it via Bluetooth or AUX or Optical. But what you really would want to use is its HDMI eARC port as this supports various Dolby formats including Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby True HD. The subwoofer connects to the setup automatically once you have the soundbar connected to your TV.

Once the system is connected, you use the remote that you get in the box to make any tweaks. There is no app. Sonodyne told us that they wanted to really focus on the audio experience instead of bringing extra features that may not really add any value. The remote and the screen that displays the various settings are enough though. You can switch between the different modes and see everything clearly when needed.

One thing you will notice when you turn the Sonodyne SAMA 7000 on is a sitar montage played by renowned Indian musician Niladri Kumar. The company says the montage – played when you connect and disconnect the device – was suggested by Kumar himself, who has apparently been using Sonodyne products for years.

Audio experience

The Sonodyne SAMA 7000 is a 5.1.2 channel system. The “5” here means that you get separate ear channels including centre, left and right, along with two surround channels. While the “1” refers to the dedicated subwoofer unit. The “2” signifies upward-firing drivers that bounce sound off your ceiling to create overhead effects. All of this combined gives you a complete Dolby Atmos system.

But how does it really perform? I had the SAMA 7000 for a few days. During this time I spent a ton of time watching movies and shows. The experience, frankly, is deeply immersive. While watching Interstellar for instance, you feel like you are right inside the Endurance as it enters the wormhole. The rumble, the swings, all of it feels almost surreal.

This is where the various sound modes come in. The movie mode was my favourite. It manages to maintain audio clarity but also gives a boost to the bass to immerse you into the setting. During the shooting scene in No Time To Die, you can feel the gunshots happening behind you and the windscreen shattering into pieces, like you were really there. On top of that, the subwoofer’s deep bass makes you truly shake-up your room with those vibrations you’d normally expect from a cinema.

And there is more to the story. You also get Voice and Music modes. Voice mode in particular focuses deeply on dialogues while reducing other sounds and music – it works well for podcasts, but it may feel a bit too aggressive in some cases. The Music mode feels like a nice blend of bass, mids, and treble. The vocals don’t get overshadowed by the bass, and there is ample clarity. Though you can manually tweak the bass and treble with the remote too.

Should you buy it?

At Rs 74,999, the Sonodyne SAMA 7000 is a premium device and it feels like one. You find yourself truly inside any scene or setting when you are watching any movie, and this experience may justify this price tag for many. The wireless subwoofer does wonders to lift the overall experience too. The entire package does make you pause and appreciate the craftsmanship that went behind the system. In a sense, the SAMA 7000 is a testament that a homegrown brand like Sonodyne has been developing audio devices on par with some global names for decades now.

App support is a curious omission in this day and age but it is not a dealbreaker. Overall, however, the Sonodyne SAMA 7000 lives up to its promises. It brings the cinema inside your home – be it the clarity of dialogues, the deep bursts of explosions or the sound of shattering glass – and it feels deeply immersive while doing so.

- Ends