DALI Katch
Stand mount monitors
The Dali Katch is a piece of beauty. The reviewed Cloud Gray unit with its smoky pink-beige finish was an ultimate eye-catcher for any female visitors. VThe visual appeal of a luxury handbag easily overcomes any objections of your spouse if you decide to buy the Katch. Fortunately, this compact loudspeaker provides not only stunning looks but also stunning sound.
Function and form
With the Dali Katch it is like buying an iPad. It is a smart and first rate device in a smart and first rate packaging. The unit includes a power adapter with exchangeable plugs so you do not need to invest any extra money when travelling.
The Katch comes with only 4 control buttons: the powering ON/OFF button that also serves as LED indicator for volume and other functions, the volume up and down buttons, and a Bluetooth pairing button. The controls are very intuitive and they have a very solid metal feel.
On the side of the unit there is a USB connector (serves as a powerbank outlet) and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The leather strap on the side of the Dali Katch can be extended to act as a carry strap.
Bluetooth pairing is quick and easy (I used a Windows Phone, an Android Phone and a Bluetooth turntable without any pairing issues). NFC can also be used to initiate the Bluetooth pairing.
Bass management
The Katch was compared to other fine sounding Bluetooth speakers, Sony SRS-X77 that is in the same price category, Cambridge Audio Go Radio which is available at a half price, and Creative Muvo Mini which costs almost nothing. To make the story short, the Dali Katch was providing the best sound.
The bass is very thick for the Katch´s compact size 269mm x 128mm x 47mm, and 1kg. With Fever (Elvis Presley) the sound was both weighty and punchy, with nice voice palpability and saturation. When I turned the volume to max (which is pretty loud) and when I listened to hip hop tracks, like NAS (Illmatic), the passive woofers were slightly short of breath, yet the music did not become muffled or boomy like with many cheap subwoofered PC systems. The internal battery´s capabilities can be bridged by powering the Katch through the mains charger while playing loud or dynamic music.
Clarity & delicacy
The lightweight aluminum chassis has two opposite sides radiating plastic baffles with dual passive woofers, two 3.5” aluminium midrange drivers and 21mm soft dome tweeters, and it provides a lot from Dali´s house sound.
The cleanest and the most detailed sound I heard when the Katch was placed far from walls, on a coffee table for example. Considering that if you place the Dali close to the wall then one half of the drivers will fire into it it makes no sense to use it this way. It is a portable device and its sound was optimized for anywhere but a room´s corner.
Tonal accuracy
The Dali Katch has two sound modes, Clear and Warm. By the main button one can toggle between them. The preference for either of the modes is dictated by the Katch´s placement and by the source. The Clear mode sounds very balanced with a little subjective peak around 1-2kHz which makes vocals to stand out. The Warm mode gently rolls-off from mids to highs to reach the same reference volume like the Cler mode – thus the apparent volume does not change when toggling between modes but the listener will hear more bass (around 80Hz) and less presence and spark.
In the proximity of walls or with the Audio Technica turntable I always preferred the Clear mode. When the Katch was taken outside and fed with the mobile phone, the Warm mode provided better body.
Spatial resolution
There is no soundstage whatsoever, not even an illusion, from a single speaker. Thus the soundstage remains unranked.
However, it is possible to connect two Dali Katch speakers to form a stereo pair, playing left and right channels in a master/slave mode. This is a fantastic thing as the sound approximates real hi-fi speakers. Do not expect that the Dali will outperform stand-mount monitors in the same price range but – unlike standmounts – it provides portability and totally wireless connection. If you wish then you can hang two Dalis on the wall without necessity to wire anything. And, honestly speaking, the sound of the Katch outperforms many vintage monitors that I am used to hear in audiophile homes.
Summíing it up, the Dali Katch is, without doubt, one of the finest portable Bluetooth speakers available.
Recommended resellers
CZ: Horn Distribution, Praha, +420 272 656 485
Manufacturer's website: http://www.dali-speakers.com
Associated components
- Sources: Audio Technica AT-LP60BT, Windows Phone (Microsoft), Android Phone (Samsung)
- Speakers for comparison: Creative Muvo Mini, Cambridge Go Radio, Sony SRS-X77
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