DALI Katch G2 Wireless Speaker Review
If you are familiar with audio equipment, you may be familiar with Dali, a Danish audio brand. In recent years, Dali has been actively researching and developing headphones and portable speakers in addition to their traditional high-end audio products.
The newly released DALI Katch G2 wireless speaker is already the second generation upgrade. The previous version had a very good reputation, and this generation has further improved in terms of battery life, Bluetooth coding, and more. It also has new color options and is more stylish, making it an overall improvement.
Design
The DALI Katch G2 is similar in appearance to the previous generation, with a flat, oval-shaped body. The main update is the color options, which include caramel white, steel black, and cool blue. The body also features a sliding belt design that can be extended to be carried by hand, making it more convenient to take to different places.
The body feels a bit heavier than expected when picked up, and the speaker has a very good feel to it thanks to the soft fiber dustproof mesh on both sides and composite material panels.
The DALI Katch G2 is equipped with three units on each side, including a 21mm lightweight semi-spherical soft dome tweeter driven by a powerful neodymium magnet on one side and a 3.5-inch aluminum woofer on the other.
There is also a square passive radiating unit in the center of both sides, measuring 73 x 52mm, which can provide a maximum sound pressure of 95 dB.
A total of six units are designed to be reversely positioned to effectively cancel the resonance of the body, which helps to reduce low-frequency coloration. The large-area tweeter diaphragm also covers the mid-range well and, when combined with the woofer, provides better mid-range output and a smoother transition between the three frequency bands.
The Dali Katch G2 features two 25W Class D amplifiers and a DSP processor. The battery capacity has been increased from the previous generation’s 2,600mAh to 3,300mAh. The previous generation’s 24-hour continuous playback time was already sufficient, but this generation has been further increased to 30 hours, making it even longer lasting.
It takes about 2 hours to fully charge the battery, and the battery is also designed to be replaceable, making it very flexible in use. It is unlikely that you will encounter a situation where the speaker runs out of power.
Connections
Another upgrade for the Dali Katch G2 in this generation is the inclusion of Bluetooth 5.0, which not only supports AAC and aptX but also adds aptX HD, a higher quality Bluetooth codec that can better showcase the advantages of the Katch G2’s units and Dali’s custom-designed, carefully calibrated DSP.
It also supports NFC pairing, making it easier to connect with a smartphone. The Dali Katch G2 also offers a TWS (True Wireless Stereo) mode, which pairs the two speakers as left and right channels to provide a stereo image, as well as better volume and bass performance.
The speaker itself is suitable for 360-degree listening and offers two EQ settings: Clear and Warm. The Clear setting is linear and high in resolution, making it suitable for placing close to a wall, while the Warm setting is warmer and has more bass output, providing better results in open spaces.
In addition to Bluetooth, the body also has a 3.5mm input and a 5V/1A USB output that can be used to charge a smartphone or turn the Katch G2 into a network streaming speaker with Chromecast Audio.
Sound Performance
The first thing that strikes you when the Dali Katch G2 starts playing is the impressively powerful volume. In a room that is approximately 100 feet in size, turning the volume up halfway is more than sufficient.
Playing some music with heavy rhythms, the sound is clean and has good punch, with impressive power, but at the same time maintains good analytical ability. The second impression is that the vocals are very three-dimensional and stand out, with excellent resolution, especially considering the size of the speaker.
The timbre is full and smooth, and there is even a slight feeling of listening to a high-end bookshelf speaker. Although it cannot fully provide a sense of spatial depth, the design of the left and right sides of the Dali Katch G2 bluetooth speaker can provide a natural and clear image of vocals and instruments.
One common problem with all-in-one Bluetooth speakers is resonance at high volume, but the Katch 2 handles this aspect exceptionally well, thanks to the inverted unit design.
Even when the volume is high and the units on both sides of the speaker body are vibrating intensely, the top of the speaker only has a slight vibration, which is very helpful in improving the analytical ability of the low frequency.
The timbre is warm and full of enthusiasm, and in addition to the large dynamics, the small dynamics are also very rich in detail. Listening to the small and large vocal transitions in Loren Allred’s “Never Enough” is very enjoyable.
The sense of energy in the low frequency is also sufficient, especially in the warm EQ setting, but it is also necessary to adjust to the space used. If the speaker is placed near a wall, there may be a slight excess of bass and a slightly muffled sound. In this case, it is suitable to switch back to Clear, which has a better sound resolution.
Conclusion
The Dali Katch G2 wireless speaker has similar features and performance to its predecessor, but with updated color options, a more polished design, a larger battery, and the addition of aptX HD encoding. One downside is that it has not yet switched to a USB-C charging port. However, its strong battery life makes this issue less significant.
The sound quality of the DALI Katch G2 has improved even further from the previous version, with a strong sense of energy, powerful dynamics, rich details, and excellent vocal and instrumental clarity. It is one of the best sounding portable Bluetooth speakers currently available.
