Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2.4 Channel Dolby Atmos/DTS:X Soundbar with Dual 10" Subwoofers (Wireless), 4 Rear Surround Effects Speakers, eARC and SSE Max Technology (Flagship)

I'll start by saying that I upgraded from the Nakamichi elite 7.2 system with two surround speakers and two 8" subs (older model from 3-4 years ago), to the Ultra 9.2.4 (newest model just behind the dragon) and I'm comparing the two, and wow.... What a difference. This is long, but if you are trying to decide if spending the extra cash is worth it, I hope this helps.Bass - the bass is felt vs being heard. The Ultra has very deep bass that shakes the room, just like your favorite theater experience. The elite with the dual 8" subs were great, but the balance of sound vs bass coming out of them was just slightly off. I didnt feel this way until I heard the 10" subs and then I really noticed. You would hear what sounded like muffled voices trying to come through the speakers from the elite. I'm a big bass lover when I watch movies. If you like that rattle your windows, feel it in your toes kind of rumble, go with the Ultra. Great power without the voice distortion.Clarity- the highs are so much better with the Ultra. My dad who is hard of hearing commented on the clarity the first time he heard the system. He could actually hear it all, even with the system being turned down a bit. I really had to crank up the elite to get the clarity. That could be due to the 8" subs always drowning the highs out slightly with too much sound coming through them instead of rumbling low bass. It was a catch 22, I wanted to feel the bass, but by turning it up it would drown out a bit of the highs. It just wasn't as balanced. I think I was looking for too much bass out of the elite. That's on me. The elite is more than enough for 90% of home viewers.Surround- this system makes movies so much fun. It's truly a theater experience. I can't tell you how many times someone has looked over their shoulder looking for the noice they just heard. It takes scary movies to the next level. If you are a gamer, you can tell what direction something is coming from and respond as needed. Behind you, next to you, in front of you... Very emersive. Yes there are wires, so there's limitations on how you set it all up depending on your room.Connectivity- this was the game changer. The elite had issues with the Bluetooth from the sound bar to the subs, which means connectivity issues from the sub to the rear speakers. Most of the time it was a non issue. Other times it was maddening and because it was unpredictable, you just never knew what to expect. It is what drove me to the Ultra to be honest. That crackle of the rear speakers and distortion of bad as it would momentarily disconnect drove me insane and nothing seemed to fix it. Though I never changed the frequency that my router ran on (Nakamichi recommended) and to be honest, I shouldn't have to. When my family replaced their cell phone's and we were working on transferring data and updating to current software, the elite was rendered almost useless during that time. We also often had to keep the cellphones in the other room to limit any potential Wi-Fi disruption. Crackle, crackle, crackle, went the rear speakers and talk about a very distracting thing to be happening during your favorite F-18 dog fight scene in Top Gun Maverick. The Ultra has had zero issues with connectivity regardless of the phone or router placement. Huge win for Nakamichi. I'm sure the newest elite models have corrected this issue, mine was older.Elite will give you the small town theater experience. Great value, big sound, solid bass, but it takes more adjusting settings to get the most out of it.Ultra will give you more of the iMax experience. Big sound, ease of use with sound settings, and you will feel like you are in the storm vs watching the storm through a window.

So this is my first review of any product ever. Let me start by saying that if you are hesitant to buy this system because maybe you have never heard of this brand, or because of the price let me stop you right there; it really is worth every penny spent on it. The system I got came fully updated with Atmos and DTS:X so no need to go through trying to download the update like I did, it is ready to go already. I initially tried the Samsung Q90R to try out atmos and was less than impressed, and it was really glitchy. So after hours of research, (I never buy anything on a whim), I decided that because I am in an apartment I would try this rather than go full surround sound. This thing had a lot of positive reviews and I can confirm that they are justified. I will address the 2 main negative reviews and get those out of the way. The first one is that it came in not working. Mine came in working fine, the only glitch it had that was that my ATT modem was too close to one of the subs interfering with the signals, I simply put it on top of the sub and that fixed it right away and I have not had a single issue since. To be honest its not just Nakamichi, but every electronic product you can think of has some systems that come defective, no matter if its samsung, apple, or lg. it happens, so get over it, send it back and get a new one. The second criticism I read was that the bass was inadequate for this system and to that I call BS. Im not sure if some people have to give criticism in their reviews but the bass is overwhelming if nothing else.Now to the positive. Bass, "OMG" that's the only way to describe it. For an apartment its way too much, but there are so many adjustments and you can make to the bass and treble that can balance it out. But to say the bass isn't that great like some reviews say is just silly. Its almost like some people need something to complain about to make it sound like a "critical review," but pay no attention to those reviews, the bass is spectacular. Setup takes about an hour or so, but once its set up control is easy. I have an Apple TV 4k, PS4 Pro, and Sony X700 bluray player attached to it, and I have the sound bar plugged in using eArc to an LG Nano9 65 inch TV. I have 2 satellite speakers up by the TV and 2 near my couch which adds great surround sound effect. So far on apple tv i have watch John Wick, Interstellar (that scene with the ocean world is really intense), and Batman Begins. John Wick is done in Dolby Atmos, which sounds amazing and I have been hearing sounds I have never heard in surround sound. But even Interstellar and Batman Begins being in Dolby 5.1 sound great. The sound bar has amazing clarity, especially if your willing to take the time to adjust it to settings you will like. I listen to apple music a lot, heavy bass for hip hop, then take down to more of a clarity setting for 80s rock and it handles both really well. When I watch scrubs (my favorite show), it offers a ton clarity as well.In my personal opinion there is only two drawback and one is minor, the other is a good problem to have. The first is the satellite speakers can be a little lite on sound, which is okay because you will still know they are there, especially in atmos movies, but that is just not enough to take a star away. The second is of course the bass, its not that it is bad, its too good for an apartment so I have yet to fully experiment with it which sucks. So if your gonna get it for an apartment like me that may be a little bit of a let down unless you don't care about your neighbors lol.Overall this is a great system, the best on the market for "sound bars" if you can call it that. To be honest its really more of a home theater in a box than anything else. It pairs so nicely with the Apple TV 4k which offer by far the largest streaming library of Dolby Atmos/Vision Movies. The only reason I get a 4K bluray player is that I ordered the 4K special edition marvel movies that all now have atmos (which comes in next week!). But honestly everything else can be watch on Apple TV, which if your like me and you love movies than the combination is of the Nakamichi 9.2.4 and the Apple TV 4k should set you up for years to come. Don't hesitate to get this system, its well worth it I promise.