Anker Nebula X1 evaluate: a terrific dwelling theater that goes anyplace

I seldom sleep in the identical place for greater than a few weeks at a time, so I’m a giant fan of transportable all-in-one projectors. They’re small and arrange rapidly, making them ultimate for vanlife, gaming events, outside film nights, or a night in on the sofa — however they often sacrifice high quality for comfort. Anker’s new Nebula X1 projector guarantees to provide an extremely shiny and color-accurate 4K picture with glorious sound whereas remaining transportable and quiet.

Usually, if portability is on the prime of your want checklist, then sound and movie high quality will endure. Prioritize a cinematic expertise and also you’re an costly, hulking, noisy machine that requires everlasting placement inside a house theater. Over a month of testing throughout infinite firmware updates and quite a lot of viewing circumstances, the Nebula X1 did an excellent job of hanging the suitable stability with only a few tradeoffs, delivering on Anker’s promise.

However with a worth beginning at $2,999, or $3,998 for a equipment that features the extremely advisable satellite tv for pc audio system, it’s not precisely low-cost. And at near 25 kilos (11.3kg) for your entire bundle — the Nebula X1 is extra luggable than transportable.

The Nebula X1 is a 3500 ANSI lumen triple-laser 4K projector with built-in four-speaker sound system. It runs Google TV so that you get built-in Chromecast, Google Assistant, and an official Netflix app (not like many all-in-one projectors) that streams media over Wi-Fi 6. It features a pair of USB and HDMI 2.1 ports (one supporting eARC) to connect your favourite sport console or media drive. A satisfying, recessed deal with pops up with a push to make the 13.7 pound (6.2kg) projection unit transportable.

There’s an extended checklist of options that make the X1 distinctive for a conveyable projector:

Observe: I did my finest with the images, however they’ll solely approximate the brightness, colour, and distinction seen with the bare eye.

I’ll simply say it: the X1’s picture high quality is unmatched for a go-anywhere all-in-one projector. Its 3500 ANSI lumen output is healthier than many dwelling theater projectors, permitting it to provide a vivid picture throughout a variety of difficult environments with no obvious optical distortion. It appeared nice at default settings when examined in quite a lot of lighting conditions on painted partitions, a conventional white-matte pulldown display, a grey Ambient Mild Rejection (ALR) display, and a small folding Ikea tabletop.

The X1 will try to dynamically stability the colours and distinction on no matter floor it detects. Principally it really works, however colours, particularly reds, are typically over-saturated out of the field, making Gwyneth Paltrow’s face overly ruddy, particularly on my ALR display. Anker gives loads of handbook overrides to dial within the actual picture you favor with just some minutes of labor.

The X1’s lumen rely made informal viewings attainable in areas flooded with ambient mild. At occasions, I discovered the picture to be too shiny, particularly when all that mild was centered right into a 32-inch diagonal on a shiny Ikea panel from simply 5 toes (about 1.5 meters) away. Thankfully, you possibly can manually scale back the ability and iris settings to dim the picture. That class-leading brightness makes the X1’s HDR10 and Dolby Imaginative and prescient assist extra than simply checkmarks on a gross sales sheet — colour is generally correct with loads of distinction, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a DLP projector, so don’t anticipate true blacks. The X1’s lumen rely must also do a good job with 3D for those who personal DLP 3D glasses (I didn’t check this).

Importantly for a conveyable, the Nebula X1 options all the automated placement options you’d anticipate. These embrace computerized focus, keystone correction, and impediment avoidance, in addition to computerized colour adaptation to optimize the picture based mostly on the colour of the paint or materials used on the projection floor. These might be triggered manually from the machine, Nebula app, or distant management, or set to have interaction at startup and when the projector is moved.

Autofocus labored 100 precent of the time, whereas the automated placement options labored effectively when there was a transparent border. I needed to manually appropriate the perimeters most of the time when projected onto a clean white wall.

Startup is comparatively quick. You’ll be able to start navigating Google TV in about 45 seconds from a chilly boot, or just some seconds if resuming from standby.

There’s additionally an “Excessive” sport mode that disables digital keystone correction and movement smoothing to dedicate all that background processing to quicker response occasions. For informal sport play, the very slight lag is one thing you rapidly get used to. The bundled mics, I can verify, are enjoyable for karaoke nights.

Sound is the killer characteristic of the Nebula X1. Even with out the satellites, the sound is evident and immersive and simply fills a room. Connecting the elective battery-powered satellite tv for pc audio system over a direct, low-latency 5.8GHz Wi-Fi connection to the primary unit takes issues to a different stage.

The satellites hyperlink mechanically at startup and remodel the X1’s 4 inner audio system right into a makeshift subwoofer, whereas the three audio system in every satellite tv for pc take over accountability for middle, prime, and facet channels. The ensuing soundscape is broad and spectacular and lots loud sufficient for a gaggle to take pleasure in outdoor — as long as you may have accommodating neighbors. There’s additionally a “Bluetooth Speaker Mode” that turns off the projection lamp to play music with loads of bass when full, wealthy, heat audio is all of the leisure required. I used this characteristic a number of hours a day which helps to maximise worth for cash.

With the audio turned down the projector is basically silent due to its liquid cooling. The fan kicked in on an particularly scorching day of testing, however I might barely hear it (measuring simply 26dB from a distance of 1 meter) over the common din of a lounge or waves crashing past.

As anticipated, the X1 didn’t ship on the promise of 4.2.1 encompass sound. I struggled to listen to any simulated channel separation from overhead or behind. Anker lists some strict placement requirements that I couldn’t meet precisely in testing — you may need higher luck. These satellites additionally dropped connection sometimes requiring handbook intervention that typically resulted in an audible pop. It’s just a little annoying, and has improved with every firmware replace.

I noticed 19 hours of battery life from these satellites (the projector does not have a battery) in my testing. That included two hours of movie watched outdoor at a loud 50 p.c quantity, and the remainder spent vibing to music at a relaxed 20 to 30 p.c. These IP54-rated satellite tv for pc audio system even survived a small rain bathe once I forgot them outdoors as soon as.

General, I don’t have any actual complaints. Generally the automated picture placement options can miss the mark, however I discover them way more helpful than annoying. Generally the satellite tv for pc audio system don’t pair correctly, however that may be rapidly fastened with an influence toggle. The Google UI verges on sluggish at occasions, nevertheless it’s quicker than every other transportable implementation I’ve tried. And I’ve seen far too many firmware updates, however issues preserve enhancing.

Anker’s Nebula X1 has left me totally impressed. It produces extremely immersive sound for its measurement, alongside a shiny, vivid picture corresponding to dwelling theater projectors costing nearer to $5,000. The Nebula X1 with the satellite tv for pc speaker bundle is pricey at $3,998, however anybody who finds themselves in want of a projector that may rapidly approximate a house theater expertise anyplace they go will get their cash’s value.

Pictures by Thomas Ricker / The Verge