The audiophile soundbar is a category that barely existed until Canvas HiFi decided to create it. The Canvas HiFi Canvas 65 is a premium TV audio system, priced at £2,899 / $4,999 / AU$5,999, designed to mount your television directly onto the unit rather than sit beneath it like a conventional bar. According to What Hi-Fi, it is being positioned as the world’s first audiophile soundbar — a bold claim that tells you exactly who this product is and isn’t for.
Key Takeaways
- The Canvas HiFi Canvas 65 is priced at £2,899 / $4,999 / AU$5,999, with larger TV variants costing up to £3,299.
- It is not a Dolby Atmos soundbar — Canvas HiFi is pitching hi-fi stereo quality over home cinema feature sets.
- The TV mounts directly onto the Canvas 65, making it fundamentally different in form from a traditional soundbar.
- What Hi-Fi describes it as closer to a set of stereo speakers than a conventional soundbar.
- The product is explicitly niche — aimed at audiophiles moving into home cinema, not mainstream buyers.
What exactly is the Canvas HiFi Canvas 65?
The Canvas 65 is not a soundbar in any traditional sense. Rather than placing a bar beneath your TV, the Canvas 65 acts as the physical mount for the television itself — the screen sits directly on top of the unit. That structural choice alone separates it from every Sonos, Samsung, or Bose bar on the market. What Hi-Fi notes that the experience feels closer to owning a pair of stereo speakers than operating a soundbar, though that comparison comes with the familiar downsides of amplifier-level pricing, trailing cables, and a setup process that demands patience.
Canvas HiFi is making a deliberate trade. You don’t get Dolby Atmos. You don’t get the feature-heavy home cinema toolkit that premium soundbars from established brands typically bundle in. What you get instead is a focus on hi-fi-level cinematic sound — stereo performance treated seriously, in a package that doubles as furniture. For a certain kind of buyer, that’s a compelling swap. For most people shopping for a soundbar, it will feel like paying more for less.
Is the Canvas 65 audiophile soundbar worth the price?
At $4,999, the Canvas 65 costs more than the televisions most people own. The pricing structure scales with TV size: the 55-inch version matches the Canvas 65 price, the 77-inch version rises to £2,999, and the 83-inch version reaches £3,299. That’s a significant outlay for a product that What Hi-Fi explicitly frames as niche — a luxury AV launch rather than a mass-market soundbar release.
The honest answer is that worth depends entirely on what you’re optimising for. If you want immersive surround sound, object-based audio, and broad streaming compatibility, this product isn’t designed for you. But if you’re an audiophile who has always found soundbars sonically compromised and wants a stylish, integrated solution that prioritises stereo quality above all else, the Canvas 65 makes a coherent argument for itself. What Hi-Fi describes it as having fewer gimmicks than many premium soundbars — and in a market drowning in features nobody uses, that restraint has real appeal.
How does the Canvas 65 compare to other premium soundbars?
The Canvas 65 audiophile soundbar is genuinely hard to compare directly to anything else in the category, a point What Hi-Fi makes explicitly. Conventional premium soundbars — even expensive ones — are built around home cinema features: Atmos height channels, room correction algorithms, multi-room audio, and app ecosystems. The Canvas 65 discards that entire playbook in favour of stereo-first sound quality and a physical design that integrates the TV into the unit itself.
The closest conceptual relatives are high-end stereo speakers paired with a TV, not other soundbars. That’s a meaningful distinction. Audiophiles who have resisted soundbars because they sound like compromised hi-fi will find the Canvas 65 speaks their language. Anyone who has been happy with a mid-range Atmos bar will find it an odd, expensive sidestep. The KEF XIO represents another premium, hi-fi-leaning approach to TV audio, but it operates in a different product category and isn’t a direct competitor to the Canvas 65’s TV-mounting concept.
Who should actually buy the Canvas HiFi Canvas 65?
Canvas HiFi has built something genuinely unusual here — a product that refuses to compete on the terms that define its market. No Atmos, no gimmicks, no sprawling feature list. Just a serious stereo upgrade for your television, wrapped in a design that makes the TV feel like part of the furniture. What Hi-Fi suggests it suits users who want a straightforward, effective stereo upgrade for their TV in a stylish package.
That’s a real audience. It’s just a small one. Audiophiles who already own quality separates and want their TV to match that standard, design-conscious buyers who want clean cable management and an integrated aesthetic, and home cinema sceptics who don’t want five speakers and a subwoofer — these are the people Canvas HiFi is building for. If you don’t see yourself in that list, the Canvas 65 will feel like an expensive answer to a question you weren’t asking.
Is the Canvas HiFi Canvas 65 a Dolby Atmos soundbar?
No. The Canvas 65 is explicitly not a Dolby Atmos soundbar. Canvas HiFi has prioritised hi-fi stereo quality over home cinema surround features. Buyers seeking object-based audio or height channel support should look elsewhere.
What sizes does the Canvas HiFi Canvas 65 come in?
The Canvas range supports 55-inch, 65-inch, 77-inch, and 83-inch televisions. The 55-inch and 65-inch versions share the same starting price of £2,899 / $4,999 / AU$5,999. The 77-inch version is priced at £2,999 and the 83-inch version at £3,299.
How is the Canvas 65 different from a regular soundbar?
The television mounts directly onto the Canvas 65 unit, rather than the bar sitting beneath the screen. This makes it structurally closer to a hi-fi speaker system than a conventional soundbar. The setup process is more involved than a typical plug-and-play soundbar installation.
The Canvas HiFi Canvas 65 is a rare product — one that knows exactly what it is and refuses to apologise for it. It’s expensive, niche, and deliberately limited in features. But for the audiophile who has always wanted their TV to sound like their hi-fi system, it’s the most coherent answer the market has produced. Everyone else should keep their money.
Edited by the All Things Geek team.
Source: What Hi-Fi?
