Review: Canvas HiFi 65″

The Canvas HiFi 65” is a fascinating product that challenges the way we think about hi-fi and home theater. Is it a soundbar, a speaker or a piece of furniture? The answer is that it is all of these things at once. With its elegant design and – hopefully – great sound, Canvas is aimed at discerning hi-fi enthusiasts who want a seamless integration of sound and image in their living room.

Elegant design meets advanced technology

The Canvas HiFi 65” makes an instant impression with its exquisite, minimalist exterior. The 144.5 cm wide front grill, which in my case is in elegant walnut wood and adds about 30 percent to the price, fits a 65” TV perfectly and gives the impression that the speaker and TV are designed as one unit. The magnetic front cover is easily interchangeable and there are 13 different finish options in all sizes from 55“ up to 75”.

Behind the sleek facade lies advanced technology. Two 6.5” woofers work together with two tweeters and two oval passive speakers to deliver a wide frequency range with plenty of energy. The cabinet is solidly built in MDF with Canvas’ proprietary “BridgeBrace” technology, which is a structural bracing system that minimizes vibrations and provides the best possible acoustic conditions.

The setup

Assembling the Canvas speaker is not particularly difficult, but I did encounter a few challenges. Some of the screws were a bit hard in the thread and required a good amount of muscle power to be screwed in properly. There were also different lengths of the different screws, which was not sufficiently described in the installation instructions. However, Canvas has addressed this issue and in recent deliveries, the range of screws has been simplified with the same lengths everywhere. This should make the assembly process easier and more intuitive.

Designed to fit all TVs according to different VESA standards, the universal stand has a variety of screws and fasteners to deal with. This is probably unavoidable when creating a flexible system, but keep your wits about you and follow the installation instructions and you’ll be fine.

When installing a Philips 65” OLED TV, we encountered an unexpected challenge. The TV has a protruding edge at the bottom of the back that makes the bottom brackets on the stand too short to hook onto the bottom “pegs” on the back of the TV. Canvas now solves this problem by including a “first aid kit” with extra spacers for these particular TV models. These can be used to extend the brackets further away from the back of the TV.

The stand can be adjusted in depth to make the TV completely flush with the speaker panel. For those who wish, it’s also possible to wall mount the speaker and TV bracket. This may require a little more tinkering, but there are instructions for that too.

Ease of use and connectivity

The Canvas HiFi 65” has the connectivity you’d expect from an active speaker or soundbar, including the HDMI eARC port for easy connection to your TV and high sound quality. Speaking of wireless, Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast (Chromecast) and Bluetooth are supported, so you don’t have to turn on your TV to play music.

The included app is primarily used for setup and sound image selection, including room correction. In everyday use, the device is easily controlled via the TV’s remote control thanks to HDMI eARC.

Room correction

Room correction deserves a section of its own. iPhone users have it easy, just open the app and press “start”, then move around the room using your phone as a microphone. If you have an Android phone, you can either borrow an iPhone for the task or buy the Zen Wireless Microphone for €130 and do the setup with it.

According to the instructions in the app, you should move around as much of the room as possible. However, in my experience, it’s better to concentrate on where you’re sitting when listening. With too much data, the room correction can remove too many frequencies that it perceives as problems, making the sound “colder” and more anemic. At least that’s my opinion on the matter.

In any case, after a round of measurements, it’s clear that the speaker effectively cleans up the lower midrange and bass, giving a clearer and more balanced sound without sounding artificial or processed.

Impressive stereo sound

When all is said and done, it’s almost enough to bring a little tear to the corner of your eye. It’s so beautiful! Any ordinary TV suddenly looks like a piece of high-end furniture!

But it’s when the music starts playing that the Canvas HiFi 65” really shows what it’s capable of. Even before the room correction is done, everything sounds rich and big. Dialogue in particular seems much bigger and more dynamic than on any other TV I’ve heard. It’s more resolved and more “hi-fi” than from a regular soundbar, whether it’s Sonos, Samsung or Sony. Everything is in place here.

After the room correction, the stereo image increases in width and the sound gets more airiness. The speaker masterfully separates between instruments and vocals in music, and dialog in movies and TV shows is clear as day. Even the smallest nuances come through.

The bass sounds really good for a relatively compact speaker. The two 6.5” woofers and passive radiators work well together to provide rich and controlled bass. It is claimed to extend down to 30 Hz. If you look in the app, it decreases from 100 Hz, but it could also be that the microphone in the iPhone doesn’t respond much further down. In any case, I experience the bass as deeper than 100 Hz, and the deep drone bass on Limit to Your Love by Limit to Your Love by James Blake comes out well. Admittedly, the speaker can make a few noises when you play this track too loud because the bass is really deep..

Powerful amplifier

The built-in Class D amplifier with 4 x 250 watts RMS provides excellent control and dynamics. The Canvas HiFi 65” plays effortlessly until the drivers can’t stretch any further and the clarity of the soundstage is maintained whether you play loud or soft. Particularly impressive is the low volume performance, where many competitors lose character and detail. That doesn’t happen with Canvas.

BACCH 3D technology expands the soundstage

Canvas HiFi 65” sounds both wide and almost three-dimensional in stereo. Both in movies and music. But it has a trick in the form of BACCH 3D technology. Activate it in the app and the speaker’s digital brain works its magic with the phase response to create an even wider and more immersive soundstage. It’s not a huge difference and the amount of 3D effect varies between different music and movie releases. To get a good perceived effect, check out this Tidal-playliste compiled by Canvas.

I’m captivated by Bob Dylan using his storytelling skills in the song Man in the Long Black Coat. What sounds like crickets in the grass, but which I assume comes from a guitar at the beginning of the song, surrounds me, while the two steel guitars on either side have so much depth and air that it’s easy to get carried away.

What impresses me the most, however, is that the sound structure doesn’t change with the 3D sound effect. Tonally, it sounds equally good with and without it, which is nothing short of an achievement.

The effect is especially impressive with movie sound, where the BACCH 3D technology helps create a convincing surround effect without the need for separate rear speakers. While it’s obviously no match for a dedicated surround system, it’s in the class of a good soundbar. It just sounds much better.

Limitations

Despite its many qualities, the Canvas HiFi 65” has some limitations. First of all, it lacks support for Dolby Atmos surround sound, in fact it only supports PCM stereo.

There is also no option to connect an external subwoofer, which could provide even more bass punch for those who want it. I would have liked to see a subwoofer output here.

On the other hand, the speaker can act as a dedicated high-end center channel in a surround system. It’s definitely worth exploring further, because I think it would be really cool! With a hefty price tag, of course.

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Conclusion

The Canvas HiFi 65” is a truly impressive product that delivers high sound quality in a stylish and functional package. It’s perfect for those who want powerful hi-fi quality in their TV room without having to fill it with large speakers.

The price puts the speaker well up in the high-end soundbar segment, and more if you want a wooden front panel. But the quality, functionality and ease of use more than justify the investment for the discerning audio enthusiast. Compared to competitors like the Bang & Olufsen Beosound Theatre, which costs four times as much with a motorized base, the Canvas HiFi 65” is a much better buy.

The Canvas HiFi 65” replaces both your hi-fi system and your soundbar. In addition to the 65“, it’s available in all sizes from 55” upwards for roughly the same price. It may not be for everyone, but for those who appreciate uncompromising sound and design and have the budget for it, this is an unbeatable product.