The hub handles all the IR, wi-fi, and Bluetooth commands for your entire system. The hub is the heart of the Sofabaton X1. I appreciate the simplicity of the design. The back has power/IR blaster inputs and a push-button to initiate the pairing of the remote. It has a small indicator LED on the front. The hub has a solid feel and build quality as well. Sofabaton covered the remote in a black matte finish that resisted marring and fingerprints. Honestly, the remote is as professional as any I’ve owned. I expected more gaps or imperfections in the finish for a first-gen remote. The remote feels solidly made, and the fit and finish are superb. The build quality of the Sofabaton X1 and hub is excellent. Non-tech people who have no experience with hub-based remotes will struggle. If you are one of those people, be prepared to do a lot of Internet searches for guides and walk-throughs. Without belaboring the point, you are on your own if you need help with anything aside from programming the hub. The FAQs do touch briefly on the use of the IR blasters, but I find it inadequate. I find this troublesome because it assumes that everyone will intuitively know where to put the hub to reach your IR devices or where to place blasters. However, the instructions do not speak to the proper placement of the hub for correct use or how to connect and place IR blasters. The instructions focus heavily on pairing the hub/remote and setting up the devices and activities. The instructions are the weakest piece here, and I am being generous. In the box were a well-packaged remote, the hub, a couple of IR blasters, two USB cables (one for charging the remote and one for the hub), a power brick, and instructions. So I will be honest, I was not expecting a lot from a Kickstarter, but I was pretty impressed with the exterior and interior packaging. Will it be the new “must-have” remote? Let’s discuss! What’s In The Box? So, a couple of clicks later, we both backed it and eagerly awaited delivery.Īfter what seemed like an eternity, I finally was able to get my hands on my new Sofabaton X1, set it up and give it a real test to see how it fared against my beloved Harmony Ultimate. It also had a handheld remote with an OLED screen, backlight, and an iOS and Android app. The Sofabaon X1 promised a hub-based remote that supported IR, wi-fi, and Bluetooth, all a must in today’s home theater. Luckily Rob H from the AV Rant Podcast and I were chatting on Twitter, and we had both heard about Sofabaton dropping a Kickstarter to fund a new hub-based remote. I refuse to feed scalpers anything, so I decided to start searching for a new solution just in case my beloved Harmony chose to kick the bucket or Harmony (doubtful) suddenly cut support for the database. Like me, you probably started to search for used Harmony remotes to stockpile but quickly found that prices skyrocketed. Anywho, so here we are, and Harmony is no more. Enter the Sofabaton X1, the only hub-based remote on the market that anyone is talking about. Although they had teased killing it for years prior, we Audio Enthusiasts never thought this day would happen. So I am not going to lie I was very disappointed when Logitech finally announced it was killing the Harmony line of remotes and hubs.
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