Achieving an authentic, cinema-like experience at home is a desire shared by many of us. Whether you have the space and budget for a dedicated movie screening room, or instead need to settle for one of the best TVs paired with one of the best soundbars in your living area, it’s always nice to be able to sit back, relax and experience excellent picture and sound quality from the comfort of your own home.
This feeling is front and center at TechRadar right now as it’s our Home Theater Week 2025. We’re publishing a series of features, reviews and other home theater-related topics, coinciding with the annual CEDIA Expo, which kicked off on Thursday, September 4.
The first article to go live was my Kaleidescape Strato E review. This deep-dive will let you in on my full thoughts about the high-end movie player (the quick of it is, it’s fantastic), but I wanted to highlight the exact moment I knew just how special a product the Strato E – and, by and large, the wider Kaleidescape product lineup – was. It has nothing to do with picture quality (although that’s mind-blowing), but it’s all about the sound.
A love of film
I’m very fortunate that my partner shares my love of cinema. If anything, he loves it more, and without hesitation he can rattle off actor after actor, the movies they’ve done and the awards they’ve won. He’s an encyclopedia. What he loves more than anything, however, is sound. As for me, with over 10 years experience writing about home entertainment and hi-fi products, I also appreciate how much sound can affect the movie-watching experience and, further, my own emotions.
When I took delivery of the Kaleidescape Strato E, the first film I purchased from the Movie Store was Gravity. Even though it was only available in HD quality (a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray was slated for May 2025 but has yet to come to fruition), it included a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. I was sold. Having watched the movie at the cinema when it was released in 2013, I’ve been waiting 12 years to see it again in comparable quality. With the Strato E at my disposal, that was now possible.
Despite being a movie that has little dialogue and, in comparison to many other releases, less sound overall, Gravity is a masterclass in object placement and a genuinely great advert for Dolby Atmos.
Had it have been released this year, I’m certain it would’ve made my colleague Matt Bolton’s list of the 10 Dolby Atmos movies to test your home theater system.
Space for sound
I had the player connected to a full Sonos home theater system – Arc Ultra, 2x Era 300s for surrounds and a Sub 3 – and from the moment the movie started, my partner and I were there in space with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. The two characters are first seen way off in the distance, but you can hear them talking, albeit quietly. Their voices were perfectly placed to the front right of my seating position. And, rather than coming through clearly as if they were right there next to us, the Atmos soundtrack superbly encapsulated the distance from the viewer.
As the two of them move closer and closer to the screen, the volume increases so naturally that you could easily forget you’re watching a movie rather than floating in space yourself.
A little further into the movie, the soundtrack gets more involved and pushes your system’s capabilities even further. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney’s characters get into a spot of trouble courtesy of debris from a cascade of satellite breakups, damaging their ship and sending them spinning out of control. Fragments are flying past and I could hear each piece swooping in from behind my seating position and out in front of me. Height channels are used effectively here, too, and it really does sound like you are enveloped in the same action as the two protagonists.
The music soundtrack is also full of dynamism here. It builds instantly and becomes so intense to really signify the danger the duo are in.
The movie is replete with excellent Atmos scenes from start to finish; the final one I’ll note is subtle but significant enough that it deserves a mention. When Ryan (Sandra Bullock) is left alone floating in space, scared and breathing heavily, the camera is positioned outside her spacesuit. It slowly pans inwards, ending up inside her helmet. When the camera moves inside, the soundtrack audibly changes as her breathing intensifies. It’s a subtle shift, but it really does show off what Dolby Atmos can do when it’s executed well, i.e. it really is as if the audience is sharing her experience.
Down to Earth
Now, I have to admit, I’ve yet to see the same movie on its regular Blu-ray release, which also includes a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, so I can’t vouch for any potential difference in quality. I would be confident in saying that, if you have a decent Atmos speaker system, you will unlock the full potential of this spatial audio gem.
Ideally, I’d recommend a soundbar or speaker system with dedicated rear speakers as you’ll get a much more authentic and effective enveloping effect. However, as you’ll see in our guide to the best Dolby Atmos soundbars, single-box solutions are constantly improving and are powerful enough to deliver height and scale.
Whatever solution you’re able to achieve in your home, make sure not to focus solely on image quality when creating a system. The soundtrack carries a movie far more in my opinion, especially one as good as Gravity’s.
