GoKawiilThe 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 Haslam
The 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.