I've received the Homatics Home Click smart wireless home theater surround sound system for review (the white version).
"Let's get something clear right away - you probably won't get a better sound system, with such features, at such an affordable price."
My review unit includes a wireless 70W* 6-inch/15cm subwoofer and a 4-meter Ambient LED Light strip - both are optional extras.
*The 70W power rating is my own estimate. Currently Homatics have product placements for a 100W sub and a 40W sub, and after checking their specs and dimensions - I realized that the sub I received is sized somewhere in between (24Dx23Wx38H cm). I'm waiting for a confirmation from Homatics on that.
This Home Click set is advertised as having some unique features, and everything is controlled by an Android TV box with Google TV OS 14 - The Homatics Box R 4K Plus.
The basic set includes 4x satellite speakers, 1x center speaker and 1x Android TV box. Each piece comes with its own power adapter. The satellites are powered via a USB Type-C port located at the bottom, and have a label so it's easy to know where to place each one. The speakers connect using a private 5.8GHz wireless protocol, which really does a good job as I couldn't detect any latency.
The subwoofer has a regular 2-pin power connector and an on/off switch, right next to the down-firing 6" woofer. I have made a short video to illustrate its usable frequency range.
The satellites are rather unique. They feature a down-firing 2.8" woofer, two side elements and an angled up-firing top element encased in a clear acrylic, specifically designed for Dolby Atmos. There's also a square LED light just under the top speaker, adding soft ambient lighting.
The center speaker is also quite special - The TV box sits neatly flush atop the center speaker and powers the center speaker via a USB Type-C port located at the bottom of the TV box. The center speaker also features a 4-character screen which is mostly used to indicate the listening mode.
The FFM switch under the buttons enables or disables the far-field microphones (much like Amazon Alexa). When FFM is on it allows the device to respond to voice commands even from a distance. When FFM is off it disables the far-field microphones for privacy or when you don't want the device to actively listen for voice commands. Could come in handy if you intend to use the Google Assistant a lot, and don't want to reach for the remote every time. However, I must note that this feature did not seem to work - setting FFM to ON and trying to speak directly to the center speaker did not pick up my voice. I'd suggest using the remote.
The (M)ode button displays the HummingEQ Pro menu, but you should really do that from the remote using the Mute button.
Note that both the satellites and the subwoofer have a pairing button at the bottom, but there's no need to use it, as they all paired up immediately upon powering-up all of them along with the TV box sitting inside the Center speaker. You can check if all devices are connected using the "Pairing" option in the HummingEQ Pro settings.
The basic Home Click set is advertised as a 5.4.4 channel setup since there is a dedicated down-firing woofer and a top-firing element in each satellite speaker unit, which complete the sound stage for a truly immersive Dolby Atmos experience.
I guess with the optional discrete subwoofer it can be referred to as a 5.5.4 setup.
Let's get something clear right away - you probably won't get a better sound system, with such features, at such an affordable price.
Initial setup is a breeze if you already have a Google account. Just use your Android phone to quickly log-in to your Google account, which of course will also log you into YouTube. Logging-in to Netflix can also be done using your phone if your account is already registered on it. Quick & easy - no need to manually type passwords at all.
You should probably enable Google Voice Assistant if you wish to use your voice to search and give commands instead of (or in addition to) letter-by-letter text input. The remote has a dedicated button for that.
If you need to use eARC, you can select it from the HummingEQ Pro settings.
Most of the popular streaming apps come pre-installed: YouTube, YouTube Music, Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, etc. Other popular apps like Kodi, Hulu, Spotify and Disney+ can be easily added via the Google Play Store.
Home Click brings the full 4K experience to DRM-protected steaming services as Widevine Security Level L1 is present. You can actually get the DRM info without using a 3rd party app: Settings > Device Preferences > Developer Options > System Info > DRM Info.
One of the first things you should do after the initial setup is to select your speaker configuration by long-pressing the Mute button on the remote and scroll down to Product combination. Select which speaker set you have connected - with the subwoofer or without. This will ensure the LFE channel (bass) is properly directed.
The 2nd thing you should do is open Settings and scroll-down to 'Set up remote buttons'. Make sure "Volume control" is set to Auto (CEC). This will ensure that the volume buttons on the Homatics remote will control the volume adjustment of Home Click instead of the TV's built-in speaker volume.
Home Click (or more precisely the Homatics Box R 4K Plus Android TV box) supports up to 4K-UHD 60fps, along with all modern HDR variants - HDR10, HDR10+, HLG & DolbyVision.
* For reference, my 75" Samsung Q80T TV supports up to UHD 120fps HEVC 10bit via its HDMI port 4, when Input Signal Plus is set to On. Also note that on this TV, HDR10+ is supported but the competing dynamic metadata HDR DolbyVision is not, due to Samsung's unwillingness to pay royalties to Dolby Labs. No worries - Home Click solves this "issue".
You can also enable a stats overlay, which will appear in the top-right corner of the screen: Settings > Device Preferences > Developer options > System info > Video info overlay.
As for audio - Home Click can handle surround sound standards such as DTS:X, DTS HD MA, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby Atmos.
The Google Cast feature works as expected. I was able to mirror my Samsung Galaxy mobile phone's screen to the Homatics Box R 4K Plus using this handy built-in feature. And yes, I know that I can also use Samsung's Smart View to mirror directly to the Samsung TV.
Another way to cast media to Home Click is DTS Play-Fi, the main purpose of which seems to be to wirelessly play audio from your mobile device to Home Click. You'll need to install the Play-Fi app on your mobile device in order to use it with Home Click.
One of the "special" features of Home Click is Sweet Spot Auto-Adjustment which uses mmWave Radar technology. Basically, it's supposed to detect where the listener is sitting and direct the sound towards the listener. I will admit that in practice, this feature is kind of gimmicky, as sometimes when someone passes in front of the TV, the sound seems to break. You can disable that from the HummingEQ Pro screen.
Do note that there are many parameters at play that affect your viewing and listening experience. Those include the TV/Monitor/projector you're using, the HDMI cable, the placement of the speakers and sub, the video player app, the Android settings for video & audio, special settings in the Developer Options. Add on top of that the HummingEQ Pro options, and manual EQ customization - basically there are endless variations.
Oh, and then there are a couple more audio settings to play around with:
One is located in Menu > Device Preferences > Display & Sound > Advanced Sound settings > Dolby DRC mode. DRC stands for Dynamic Range Compression, which you might want to enable if you feel that quiet sounds sound too quiet, and loud sounds sound too loud. So compression can help flatten the sound curve and bring it more to "the middle". This, however, will adversely affect the overall sound quality.
Another audio-related gem is hidden in Menu > Device Preferences > Developer Options > Dolby MAT output over HDMI. MAT stands for Metadata-enhanced Audio Transmission. I'm not entirely sure, but from what I've read about it, certain content devices and gaming consoles such as Xbox One X/S, PS5 and Apple TV 4K, come with Dolby Atmos MAT, which is designed to encode, decode and encapsulate Dolby Atmos metadata into lossless PCM audio, allowing listeners to experience Dolby Atmos even in PCM audio.
Another hidden audio menu is available if you have the larger premium remote (with the number keys). Long-pressing the Blue button will open another Audio menu with more Sound settings...
As already mentioned in my review of the Box R 4K Plus, there are more functions accessible from the remote:
- Long-press the Home button: Opens Apps drawer (same as clicking on the red "Apps" in the Main Menu).
- Double-press the Home button: Opens recent tasks to close/run/close all.
- Press the Profile button (left of the Google Voice button): When in main menu, it opens the "right-click" context menu of a shortcut/app.
There are some more settings hidden deep in the Developer options, such as a toggle for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro (if your monitor/TV supports it), Wake-on-LAN, PiP, and some other tid-bits.
Copying files and side-loading apps to Home Click is quite easy if you're using something like scrcpy from the convenience of your PC, making it a matter of a simple drag-n-drop.
I also found out that all the lights can be turned off from the right-most button (Ambient light switch) on the Center speaker. The LED light adjustments in the Android menu only work for the LED strip on the TV box itself. I'm assuming Homatics will fix that in a future update.
What about the overall audio & video experience?
Well, I tested a lot of demo DolbyVision and HDR10+ videos with various audio encodings, watched music videos and UHD-HDR clips on YouTube, binged on Netflix shows, and the usual daily local news - all while playing around with the seemingly endless options to adjust the sound to my liking.
I liked Theater mode the best, which had quite a presence in volume levels above 14. You might enjoy the thump of the bass, bullets whistling around you, helicopters flying above, and all that good stuff...but the wife might not. There was a lot of "Turn down the volume!!".
All in all, the audio experience is enjoyable but by no means perfect.
By the way, for the best HDR picture quality, I found out that you should go to Settings > Device Preferences > Display & Sound > HDR Settings > Preferred dynamic range, and select "Match content dynamic range". There's also a toggle by the same name - I'm not sure why.
I do have another 5.1 speaker set in my living room - 4x Morel SoundSpot SA-2 and a Jamo 8" sub, connected to an old Yamaha RX-V375 receiver. I found comparing Home Click with my existing set was rather interesting. Playing the exact same video clips, sometimes Home Click sounded better and had more presence, yet sometimes my existing set had a larger sound stage and I could feel the bass more. It's a real toss-up.
Gaming
I've downloaded some native Android games from the Google Play Store. I've also installed PPSSPP and played some emulated games. The visual experience varies between games, and also depends on the settings within PPSSPP. Some games do achieve 60fps, while others slow-down to around 20fps. YMMV, as they say. The audio experience, on the other hand, is great - Home Click envelopes you with game sounds, audio effects and voices. In some scenes, you'll be jumping off your seat.
And there's more
There are still some software bugs here and there, and I think Homatics should double the RAM in the TV box, and use a higher-performing 64bit arm64-v8a SoC instead of the 32bit Amlogic S905X4. This alone would make the experience a lot nicer.
The fact that the TV box plugs directly into the Center speaker using a
single USB Type-C port makes upgrading to a newer & better one very
simple indeed. In fact, I'm counting on it.
There's a lot to like for sure. The entire Home Click set doesn't take much space, and the speakers are quite aesthetic. Not having to run wires and drill holes in your walls is a big plus.
If you're looking to upgrade from the TV's built-in speakers, or from a simple soundbar, or even from an outdated surround sound speaker set - this could be the option to go for.
Pricing
Prices for Home Click and the subwoofer are yet to be released for the global market. However, Homatics EU have listed the basic Home Click set at €799.00 Euro, so I expect the cost with the subwoofer to be around $1200 USD globally. Homatics are planning to run a crowd-funding campaign so if you'd like to be one of the first customers to get this set at a discounted price, go right ahead and join the party.
2025-04-02 UPDATE: Here's a direct link to the Indiegogo campaign.