8/10
Open rating explainerInformationWIREDSuperb image that’s even decent with the curtains open. Immense 400-watt Dolby Atmos sound with convincing spatial effects. Google TV onboard. Automatic calibration makes setup simple. Karaoke!TIREDImpractically big. Hugely expensive compared to most other portable projectors.The once tiny portable projector market is expected to nearly double from $1.69 billion (2022) to $3.2 billion by 2030. It has rapidly moved from specialist AV equipment into mainstream home entertainment, with an explosion of portable, affordable and, crucially, foolproof designs bringing the big screen to the masses.
Anker's Nebula line has fueled this growth, with a host of brilliantly compact, highly impressive projectors packed with the latest streaming tech you can take just about anywhere. They’re not the only ones, and WIRED has tested dozens of projectors over the past few years, watching as the screen brightness and resolution has improved to the point where some are good enough to compete with your TV.
And then there’s the Anker Nebula X1 Pro, sold under the brand name Soundcore. Weighing in at a hefty 72.3 pounds, it boasts a loud 400-watt Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 sound system for the latest spatial cinematic audio, and a triple-laser pixel-shifted 4K display (no more bulbs!) that boasts a bright 3,500 ANSI lumens.
It’s a preposterously powerful all-in-one projector that blurs the lines between serious home cinema and a bit of backyard streaming fun. It’s mad, impractical, and wildly expensive. It's absolutely brilliant.
Movie Theater in a Box
Photograph: Chris HaslamThe X1 Pro is a super-sized version of the excellent Nebula X1. It shares the same triple-laser DLP system, the same resolution, and same overall brightness rating. It supports Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG for high dynamic range content with modern colors. Reading these stats, I knew it would look good, be easy to install, and meet all my streaming needs. What I wasn’t prepared for was the impact the surround sound system would have.
When I tested the Nebula X1, Anker supplied me with a pair of $700 wireless stereo speakers that elevated the experience exponentially. These same speakers are now onboard the X1 Pro, and extend out on motorized arms at the touch of a button like little antennas.
At the back of the main body you’ll also find two pop-out multidirectional-firing wireless stereo speakers, that, when combined with the large subwoofer built into the chassis, completes a proper 400-watt Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 system. It's like something out of a sci-fi movie. Each speaker has sturdy little pop-out legs, and once positioned correctly they transformed my living room into a mini, but mighty multiplex.
Anker has dipped its toe here before, with last year’s $800 Nebula P1 Portable, the “world’s first projector with detachable speakers.” With just 650 ANSI lumens, it’s not bright enough, and visually incomparable to the X1 Pro (although at 5.2 pounds, it’s a whole lot more portable).
Audio transmission uses a proprietary 5.8-GHz wireless link instead of Bluetooth to minimize latency and compression, and each satellite runs a respectable eight hours on battery. Crucially, the speakers automatically calibrate using onboard microphones. Place them around a room and the projector maps the listening position and balances channels without me lifting a finger.
The X1 Pro runs a full Google TV platform with access to all the major services, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, YouTube, HBO Max, and Hulu, but if you want to connect an external source, there’s also HDMI, USB-C, and wireless casting.
As well as the four hidden surround sound speakers, the top of the unit lifts to reveal two wireless karaoke microphones and a full remote control. I’ve tested these mics before with the X1 and at least two people in my house were delighted to see them back.
Setup
Photograph: Chris HaslamThe X1 Pro is enormous, and despite having built-in wheels and a retractable luggage-style handle, it is an unwieldy lump of technology. Once manhandled into position, all the exertion feels worthwhile, because it is truly a futuristic dream to setup and use.
As with other Nebula projectors, the process is heavily automated. Focus, keystone correction (where it adjusts the shape of the screen to be perfectly rectangular), alignment, and obstacle avoidance run automatically, and a motorized optical system remembers placement between sessions. I did have to tweak the position of the screen on one occasion, but it’s a simple enough task, using the remote or the Nebula Connect app.
During three weeks of testing—encompassing two karaoke nights, multiple movie marathons, Winter Olympics screenings, and a full-on tween Galentine’s Day party—I tried the X1 Pro in a series of locations and screen sizes, from a modest 70 inches onto the fireplace to a whopping 100 inches onto a dedicated projector screen. Each time, the setup was friction-free, with only the niggling need for streaming platform downloads and passwords holding up our entertainment.
Sound and Color
Photograph: Chris Haslam3,500 ANSI lumens is seriously bright, and I could happily watch content with the blinds up. This makes a real difference when you're considering a projector against a large TV, and with the X1 and X1 Pro, Anker has pushed what’s possible with, ahem, “portable” projectors. There’s not much competition here, and the X1 Pro sits at the crossroads of serious AV installation and casual viewing. There are only a smattering of alternatives too, including the 4,000-lumen short-throw Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS800 and the intriguing 3,300-lumen JMGO N1S Ultimate.
Picture is still not as good as a great large television; blacks are solid though, give or take a little washing-out, motion is smooth, and the sharpness of the image and vibrancy of colors makes for a hugely enjoyable watch.
The best part of this whole system is simply how easy it is to use, relative to how good it looks and sounds. I've had my trousers flapped and chest thumped by some of the world’s most expensive home cinema systems at other people's places. But when it comes to my own home, recreating even a vague approximation of this has always been too much of a faff, or ended in disappointment. With the X1 Pro, I was able to be fully immersed in the onscreen action, with genuinely weighty bass rumbles, the seven horizontal and four overhead height channels making the most of spatial audio and Dolby Atmos.
The first-person perspective used in F1: The Movie, makes for thrilling home cinema, particularly up close on a 100-inch screen, enveloped with accurate, spatial audio. Sinners was also engaging, although I was impressed by the sound effects more than the soundtrack, with music a little too bass-heavy in places. It’s a very minor grumble, though, considering that most portable projectors lack bass.
Photograph: Chris HaslamIt’s all impressive, and because I can slot the speakers away again and wheel the X1 Pro off into a corner, surprisingly practical. With none of the technical know-how or installation costs, or interior-design disruption of a dedicated cinema room to factor in. A clever negotiator could argue this makes the X1 Pro great value, if you’re lucky enough to have the space to hide it and a screen when not needed.
Liquid Cooled
Despite the beer fridge dimensions, the Nebula X1 Pro is remarkably quiet. This is thanks to a liquid cooling system—first used on the X1—that replaces a traditional fan. It's brilliantly effective and means you don't have to pump up the volume to mask the machinery.
The brand claims it lowers noise to just 26 decibels—most portable projectors are rated 30 to 35 decibels—which isn't a huge difference, but trust me, the noise it does make isn't nearly as distracting as a fan. There’s a small whirr as the lens settles itself, but even at a moderate—not movie night—volume, it is barely audible.
Why Do I Want One?
Creating a serious home cinema usually means precise projector positioning, power cables, speaker wires, measuring seating distances, setting channel levels, correcting lip-sync delays, adjusting keystone and focus, and juggling multiple remotes and inputs. Portable projectors offer a watered-down version of this, just without the effort.
Thanks to its wireless satellite speakers and rumbling subwoofer, the Nebula X1 Pro gets you tantalizingly close to the complete home cinema package folks work very hard to achieve. In just a few minutes, and with no technical know-how, you can be enjoying high-class Dolby Atmos sound and 4K image quality, all served via the simplicity of Google TV and your favorite streaming platform.
And don’t forget the karaoke! Cinephiles might roll their eyes, but my rendition of Barry White’s “Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up” deserves the full subwoofer treatment.
Photograph: Chris HaslamStill, at $5,000, who’s the X1 Pro really for? It’s twice the price of the best OLED TVs, and you’ll still get change if you add in a flagship Dolby Atmos soundbar. I’m not sure it will turn the heads of those looking for a permanent home cinema solution, although it does replace multiple AV components and requires no technical knowledge or installation costs.
It’s also twice the price of its smaller sibling, the excellent Anker Nebula X1, which is currently being shipped with a free pair of $700 stereo speakers. For the size of my house, my paycheck, and my need for “true” surround sound, this is the realistic buy.
Yet there’s no getting way from the fact that the X1 Pro is the most impressive all-in-one home cinema system available right now. It stands head and shoulders above the competition, and delivers a proper cinematic experience at home.
If you’ve got the cash to splash, the space to store it, and muscles to move it, you won’t be disappointed by this thing. It's a real, actual theater in a box.
$4,999 at Amazon$4,999 at Anker
