CES 2011 Hand-on: Orbitsound T12

Over the past few years soundbars have become increasingly popular, as you may have noticed. As with any increasingly popular product, small companies are coming in with various ways to make them better, or at least different. Orbitsound is one of those companies.

The Orbitsound T12 is a soundbar with included iPod dock that also works with regular audio jacks or optical input. The idea behind the T12, and all of Orbitsound’s products is that they create a 3D spatial stereo sound. Basically that means that from the sound it can create what sounds like a stereo sound anywhere in the room. it can also produce a mono sound, but there really isn’t a point in that.

The stereo sound coming from the T12 is pretty good. It’s certainly a bit better than the speakers you’d find on your average TV. The stereo sound works actually a bit better than I expected it would. I was able to sense two points of origin of the sound coming from the soundbar. As advertised I wasn’t about to discern a specific “sweet spot” for the sound, but it did seem that the sound was always coming from the general direction of the T12. Overall, the sound was good, but might be a bit better in a more controlled environment, or at least one that isn’t a CES show floor.

The T12 will sell for $400 in the US, and will be available soon via a direct sale from Orbitsound. I was told they were talking to a few buyers at CES, so perhaps we can expect to see it at Best Buy sometime soon.