preface

Before this evaluation, we first popularized multi-channel surround sound. In fact, multi-channel was adopted in the cinema system in the 1950s. In the era of DVD, the concept of home cinema was gradually introduced and popularized. Dolby and dts both adopted the 5.1 channel standard, and the channel information generally used optical fiber output, rac output, and coaxial output; Up to now, Blu ray sub era audio tracks use 7.1 channel information, which needs to be transmitted through HDMI. Although the next generation 7.1 channel information has more information and better sound quality, it is not fully popular, so 5.1 channel is the most cost-effective cinema configuration.

Let's talk about the theater system of PC system. Although personal computers have developed so far, Htpc claims to be the most versatile theater decoding and playing terminal. However, because personal computers have not played a role in the development of home theaters, there is no theater system tailored for personal computers. In the 5.1 era, professional sound cards need to be installed on computers to output 5.1 to power amplifiers through rac interfaces or optical fibers, The next generation can decode the audio track by outputting the hdmi source code of the independent video card to the power amplifier. In addition, the size of the PC display is small and the viewing distance is close, so there are almost no cinema systems specially developed for the PC system.
Today, there is such a product. When 5.1 was not eliminated and 7.1 was not popularized, it launched such a theater system for personal computers, which is called G-ONE.

parameter

Unpacking

The inner and outer boxes of G-ONE are made of corrugated paper to resist the impact and extrusion during logistics transportation.

The foam box is inside the carton, and the whole package can be described as three layers of protection, which is very rigorous. It is worth mentioning that the foam box uses nylon braided tape as a handle to facilitate the withdrawal of the foam box.

Open the foam box to see the front left, center and front right units.

Open the second layer to see the subwoofer, rear ring and other components.

        Family photo: front three units+wire control, front three unit tripod, rear surround, rear surround shelf, rear surround logo knob, subwoofer, power adapter, power cable, USB data transmission cable, large and small head fiber cable, manual+drive disk.

Hardware

The first three units are combined with the aluminum alloy tripod. The data line and the wire control are led out through the round mouth on one side of the tripod. The left and right units can be adjusted 90 degrees as required. The whole material involves aluminum alloy, plastic, transparent acrylic, full of texture and sense of technology.

The fixed arm of the unit adopts a telescopic structure, which can support a 28 inch display at most. However, the separation of the first three units helps to surround the sound effect, so it is recommended to open it to the maximum size.

         The first three units are equipped with wire control and pin interfaces, and the wire control has its own mic to pick up sound.

       The design of rear surround is one of the highlights of G-ONE cinema system. Through wireless transmission mode+seat back fixation, you can get a free surround experience.

       The way of rear surround and shelf fixation is also very design oriented. The two components are combined through a chrome plated LOGO knob, which is firm and full of design.

The subwoofer not only plays the role of bass output in this system, but also functions as a power amplifier. It processes the input and output of the whole system. Optical fiber interface, usb interface, pin interface of the first three units and power interface are respectively distributed on the back.

As a cinema system tailored for personal computers, G-ONE supports optical fiber input. One end is a normal optical fiber interface, and the other end is suitable for the 3.5 audio optical fiber interface on high-end laptops.

For ordinary computers, G-ONE provides USB connection, uses an external sound card to decode, and outputs 5.1 channel information to each unit.

The power line adopts double socket. In fact, for audio equipment, it is recommended to use three socket. The ground wire can effectively avoid the current bottom noise of audio equipment.

The power adapter adopts 100-240v wide voltage input, which is applicable to voltage standards around the world. The input is 12V 5A. It is worth mentioning that the power interface is dual output, which can simultaneously power/charge the audio system and the rear ring.

experience

The rear surround is fixed on the back of the chair by plastic fixing clips and elastic straps. The fixing components do not affect the sitting feeling of the chair. Press the button on the lower side of the surround, the blue power light will light up, and the surround will enter into the working state.

Position the first three units and the subwoofer. For the first three units, it is recommended to maximize the length of the left and right units, and set the center to the lowest gear. This setting mode can increase the surrounding feeling of the left and right sound effects, while making the movie dialogue sound from the screen as far as possible.

Connect the cable at the same time. It should be noted that optical fiber and USB cannot work at the same time, so choose the appropriate input mode as required.

Similarly, when the cable is connected to the PC, my macbook pro has 3.5 optical fiber output, but it seems that it cannot work properly under the Windows system due to a drive problem, so it needs to be connected to the USB. It should be noted that the 3.5 optical fiber is invalid to plug into the ordinary aux3.5 interface.

Long press the remote control to light up the working status light. The optical fiber mode does not need to install a driver. If there is no optical fiber output, the USB connection is used, and the driver of the corresponding operating system needs to be installed. Because G-ONE only has Dolby decoding, it needs to cooperate with the settings of the playback software to decode the film source that cannot be decoded through the software and output it to G-ONE in PCM.

Sound effects

Why is it called sound effect rather than sound quality? Here again, AV system is different from HIFI system, and the requirements for units are completely different in two directions, The HIFI system requires sweet high pitch, accurate middle pitch and stable low pitch, usually 2.0 or 2.1. The quality of the unit is relatively high. For the HIFI system, the center is responsible for playing dialogue. Generally, 70% of the sound channel information of a movie is played in the center. The left front and right front are responsible for background music, surround information, and the rear surround is only responsible for surround information, The unit quality requirement of AV system is far lower than that of HIFI system. What is required is the consistency of voice color, the sense of surrounding and the positioning of each channel. Therefore, the two systems are difficult to be compatible. Unless the cost is several times higher, they cannot reach the acme of their respective fields.
         Because I have been playing with the cinema system for 6 or 7 years, and the trial systems are all hundreds of thousands, and the requirements for equipment quality are far higher than that of ordinary users, it is difficult to make an objective evaluation of the entry products from the perspective of ordinary users. However, since it is a trial activity, it is still necessary to make a valuable exposition of the products as far as possible. In addition, the use environment has a great impact on the effect of the cinema system, My use environment is a loft with an area of about 25 square meters, which is relatively spacious, but it is not conducive to the exertion of G-ONE. Therefore, the following auditory perception assessment is only responsible for my environment.

Avatar is a science fiction film launched by Cameron in 2009. In fact, Cameron's film is not particularly outstanding in terms of plot, but his shooting method will lead to a revolution in film technology every time. In the past six years, Avatar's 3D effect has not been surpassed by any film, Although the Blu ray version of this audition uses the dts hd ma 7.1 channel track, its rich channel information is the best choice for the sound field positioning test.
From the beginning of the dialogue of the whole movie, we can feel that the unit performance of G-ONE is more straightforward. The full frequency unit lacks a sense of heaviness in the performance of the voice. The sound effect of the whole system is very well surrounded. The first three surround transitions are very obvious. The rear ring has a slight background noise because of the wireless transmission, which is slightly obvious in the pure dialogue segment, But most of the time, it does not affect the viewing. Although the bass part of the whole system has not yet felt a sense of presence due to size and environment reasons, it is enough to let users have a sense of substitution.

         Although G-ONE is not good at music playing in theory, users can't stop listening to songs. Occasionally, role playing is unavoidable. The reason why G-ONE chose these songs is that the newly evaluated percussion smart headset uses these songs, so let's take them directly.
         Since it is not a professional HIFI device, I will not comment on each one. To sum up, because ordinary music is 2.0 channel information, other units do not work except the front left and right units when playing music. The whole tone is the same as the above comment, straightforward, clear, rich and undistorted information, but it is like a glass of boiled water, If users like the voice style of the iPod, it is easy to accept the performance of this voice color. If users like to add MSG voice color, they need to set it slightly in the eq on the software side. However, as a surround system, it is recommended that users use dts music, or concert, opera video resources, and make full use of surround positioning and bass units, To experience surround and surround sound effects.
         As for the game, I'm not good at it, so I don't want to do more tests. Please refer to the test description of Avatar.

summary

The design of G-ONE can be said to be impeccable in the existing products, and the sound effect can also meet the listening needs of ordinary users. The price is not high, and it can be said that the cost performance ratio is very high. However, the cinema is a system that strives for perfection in details and pursues an endless pursuit. Here, I put forward some suggestions for G-ONE, which can also be regarded as a prospect for the next generation of products.

      1) 5.1 The positioning requirement of surround is that the distance between each channel and the auditory position is the same, which can also be understood as that the volume of each channel heard by the auditory position is the same, so it is recommended that G-ONE can personalize the volume level of each channel to meet the positioning requirements of 5.1 in various environments as far as possible.
2) The detection key is added to send channel information from each channel with one key. Its function is to detect whether the hardware is faulty, and to measure the sound pressure of the auditory position and fine tune the volume of each channel.
3) Increase dts decoding, reduce the complexity of software settings, and increase the compatibility of other hardware.
4) The rear loop power supply adopts magnetic suction type, which can be charged while watching, and will not be damaged by external force.
5) Wired mode is added in the back loop to avoid unit bottom noise caused by wireless transmission principle.

      6) Generally speaking, users in front of the computer usually have two seating modes. According to the seating mode, the mode of playing games is to meet the positioning requirements of 5.1. However, in the viewing mode, the rear ring is too close to the listening position of the human ear. Therefore, it is recommended that G-ONE have two eq modes to match the two seating modes.

       7) In addition, the positioning mode of front left, center and front right will reduce the surrounding feeling of the sound effect, so it is recommended to add adjustment functions to the front left and front right to increase the surrounding feeling.