XGIMI AURA

The full cinema experience at home, without the hassle

- MARK KNAPP

No need for a bar; the AURA houses a premium four-speaker Hardon Kardon sound system.

Features 4K resolution, ultra-short throw, HDR 10, 2400 ANSI lumens, Harmon Kardon sound system, 3x HDMI 2.0, 3x USB 2.0, headphone, optical, LAN, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0

The AURA is a home theater in a box. It's an ultra-short throw laser projector, capable of outputting a picture up to 150 inches big, at just 17.3 inches from a wall, or with less room - a minimum 80-inch picture at just 4.3 inches away. There's 4K image resolution and a sound system built in, so you don't need to add a separate soundbar.

Out of the box, two things hit you: the AURA is rather large, but it also looks stylish in the way that a high-end audio amplifier might look. Despite its size, it still takes up far less space than a big-screen TV, whilst offering a much bigger picture. The remote control is identical to the plastic ones that come with its other projectors, with a more premium metal construction. The AURA has Google Android TV OS baked in, which works okay, though there's still no Netflix; we chose to hook up an Apple TV instead.

Setting up the projector is simple, with no complicated steps. You could easily replace your TV with it, and run it every day thanks to the laser light's 25,000-hour lifespan.

The AURA uses ultra-short throw DLP projection with a laser light source and 0.47inch DMD. It provides a max brightness of 2,400 ANSI Lumens and a 4K image. The projector may need keystone adjusting using its 8-point keystone correction - a tool that can help accommodate for curvature as well as off-angle projection. We also had to adjust the focus, which was easy enough to do.