Xgimi Horizon S Max Review: The Brightest 4K Projector You’ll Ever Need?

Before diving into the full review, let’s take a quick look at what’s included in the box. The Xgimi Horizon S Max comes neatly packaged with everything you need to get started. Here’s what you’ll find inside:

• Xgimi Horizon S Max Projector
• Power Brick with Detachable Cable
• Remote Control
• Two AAA batteries
• Quick Start Guide

The Horizon S Max stands out for its refined design and robust build quality, seamlessly blending aesthetics with functionality. The overall structure is thoughtfully engineered to fit effortlessly into a variety of environments, from living rooms to dedicated home theaters.

The Horizon S Max features a sturdy, high-grade plastic body with a leather-like texture and a unique beige tone, offering a sophisticated and modern look. Weighing 4.81 kg, it feels well-built with no weak points or creaks. Its rounded edges and curved corners add a softer, more approachable aesthetic, blending elegance and practicality.

The front of the projector is covered by a fabric grille, housing the Harman Kardon speakers. This fabric not only enhances the projector’s appearance but also serves to protect the speakers from dust and accidental bumps. Behind the fabric, a motorized sliding panel automatically opens to reveal the lens when the projector powers on. The panel operates smoothly, but the lack of a manual override could be concerning if the mechanism ever jams.

The projector also comes with a built-in gimbal stand. This stand eliminates the need for additional mounting brackets or external stands, simplifying setup. It offers a 135° vertical tilt and 360° horizontal rotation, enabling users to adjust the projector to almost any angle.

It can be projected on a wall, screen, or ceiling, the adjustment mechanism feels solid and provides enough resistance to hold the projector steady once positioned. The stand’s base incorporates a turntable mechanism, enabling smooth and precise rotation, which is particularly useful for fine-tuning image alignment.

The Horizon S Max features a minimalist port layout on the back, with just one HDMI (eARC) port, two USB-A ports, and a power input. This clean design facilitates cable management but also reveals a key limitation: the lack of multiple HDMI ports.

The lens system of the Horizon S Max is recessed slightly into the body, providing protection against accidental scratches. The motorized sliding cover not only shields the lens when the projector is off but also adds a layer of sophistication to the design. The sliding motion is smooth and quiet, though the absence of a manual control option could be problematic if the motor fails.

The projector features sensors such as the CMOS and 3D ToF module, which power the ISA 5.0 system to enable automatic keystone correction, autofocus, and obstacle avoidance. These sensors are discreetly positioned on the front left side and are revealed when the sliding cover opens.

The Horizon S Max also features effective cooling with ventilation grilles at the back and bottom, ensuring efficient airflow. The cooling fan operates quietly, with its noise masked by the built-in speakers.

The power brick is large and heavy, similar in size to those found with gaming laptops. While this design shifts some of the weight away from the projector, it demands thoughtful placement. It is best positioned behind furniture or mounted near the projector if installed on the ceiling. The cables connecting the projector to the power brick and other devices are long enough to offer flexibility.

The projector comes bundled with a remote featuring a stylish black and silver dual-tone design. The build quality of the remote is solid, and the buttons provide excellent tactile feedback.

Let’s talk about the top features of this projector. The Horizon S Max features Dual Light 2.0 technology, combining laser and LED light sources to deliver 3100 ISO lumens of brightness. This allows it to produce vibrant visuals even in well-lit environments, making it ideal for daytime viewing, gaming, and presentations. It also features enhanced color accuracy and contrast, ensuring a rich and immersive experience for movies and detailed content.

It comes with IMAX Enhanced and Dolby Vision certifications, enabling users to enjoy a cinematic experience at home. The IMAX mode expands the aspect ratio to 1.9:1, making it perfect for blockbuster movies, while Dolby Vision enhances brightness and color for stunning HDR content. These features make it a versatile option for high-quality streaming or physical media playback.

The projector is equipped with Intelligent Screen Adaption (ISA) 5.0, which includes auto keystone correction, autofocus, and intelligent obstacle avoidance. These features ensure quick and hassle-free setup by automatically adjusting the image to fit screens or walls. It also equips a wall color adaptation feature that adjusts the projected image’s color balance to match non-white walls, making it suitable for spaces without dedicated projection screens.

It sports 21:9 ultra-wide aspect ratio support, providing an expansive field of view for widescreen movies and gaming. Additionally, it comes with Harman Kardon dual 12W speakers that deliver rich audio supported by Dolby Audio and DTS-HD.

Software-wise the projector features Android TV 11, providing access to thousands of apps through the Google Play Store. This makes it suitable for streaming, casual gaming, and productivity tasks. It also comes with Google Assistant integration, enabling hands-free control for searching content, managing apps, and adjusting settings via voice commands.

The Horizon S Max features a 1000000:1 dynamic contrast ratio as well, ensuring vivid highlights and deep blacks, ideal for movies, presentations, and gaming. It also comes with low blue light certification, reducing eye strain for extended use during long movie marathons or gaming sessions. Additionally, it equips dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.1 for stable streaming and seamless pairing with external devices like speakers or controllers.

Setting up the projector is straightforward, thanks to the built-in stand and advanced ISA features. The projector automatically adjusts focus and keystone upon powering on. However, enabling all ISA features like obstacle avoidance and screen alignment, requires navigating the settings menu, as they aren’t active by default.

The flexible stand simplifies placement, accommodating various viewing angles. During my tests, I placed the projector on a table and projected it onto a wall with yellow paint. The wall color adaptation worked reasonably well, although sometimes required manual fine-tuning.

The projector boots into Android TV 11 quickly, and the initial setup process is typical of any Android TV device, involving Wi-Fi configuration and Google account login. Unfortunately, it lacks the support of Netflix, which means you’ll need an external device or workaround for streaming.

I don’t understand why Xgimi chose Android TV, especially when their latest portable projectors already feature Google TV. Having Google TV would have provided a much better experience. Most people prefer watching Netflix, and since a majority of users likely have a subscription, its absence is highly frustrating.

The projector offers impressive performance in both image and sound quality, making it an excellent choice for home entertainment enthusiasts. It boasts 3100 ISO lumens of brightness, ensuring crisp and vibrant visuals even in well-lit environments.

In a completely dark room, I find the 5-6 brightness level settings ideal, as the projector is incredibly bright. However, in larger rooms, the extra brightness can be a significant advantage.

The projector supports 4K resolution, delivering sharp and detailed visuals, particularly at the center of the screen, with minimal color distortion toward the edges. It features a 10-level brightness control, with an additional “10+” setting for maximum brightness. It also includes a contrast enhancement option, which improves the depth of dark scenes and the vibrancy of brighter ones when activated.

Another standout feature is its wall color adaptation, which adjusts the image based on the color of the wall. While this feature works well, the results can vary depending on the wall color, occasionally resulting in cooler or warmer tones. In such cases, manual adjustments may be necessary to achieve optimal image quality.

As mentioned earlier, the projector features Dual Light 2.0 technology, which combines laser and LED light sources for enhanced performance. It also boasts 110% BT.2020 color gamut coverage and a ΔE<1 color accuracy, delivering exceptional visual fidelity. I tested it with various content, including movies, videos, and casual gaming, and the color accuracy truly stands out. Additionally, the projector supports a 21:9 ultra-wide screen mode, making it perfect for enjoying widescreen movies, though its utility is limited by the availability of content supporting this aspect ratio.

The sound performance from the built-in Harman Kardon dual 12W speakers is outstanding, providing clear audio for small to medium-sized rooms. However, in larger spaces, it may lack the depth and power.

And of course, you can pair it with any external audio device to enhance sound performance. However, the lack of an optical audio port limits compatibility with older sound systems. Bluetooth and the HDMI eARC port are the main options for connecting external audio, though Bluetooth may introduce a slight audio lag.

The S Max delivers commendable performance with only a few minor drawbacks to consider. As previously mentioned, the S Max delivers outstanding imaging performance, handling up to 4K HDR content with sharp details, vibrant colors, and deep contrasts. It provides a TV-like experience, particularly excelling with animated movies and HDR content, offering rich colors and crisp visuals.

The projector features MEMC (Motion Estimation, Motion Compensation) technology, which smooths out fast-moving scenes, making it ideal for sports, action movies, or gaming. However, MEMC introduces the “soap opera effect,” which may not appeal to users who prefer a more natural cinematic look. Fortunately, this can be disabled in settings or adjusted depending on user preferences.

The keystone correction, autofocus, and obstacle avoidance functions work seamlessly, ensuring quick and accurate image alignment. These features make setup and repositioning incredibly convenient, as the projector adjusts itself to fit the screen or wall perfectly. For users who prefer more control, all these settings can also be manually fine-tuned, allowing for customized adjustments based on specific requirements.

Gaming performance on the S Max is impressive for casual gamers. It features a Game Mode with two options: low-latency and ultra-low latency. The ultra-low latency mode reduces input lag to less than 20ms, providing a responsive experience for most games. However, enabling ultra-low latency disables features like keystone correction, requiring accurate manual placement of the projector for optimal performance.

Heat management is another area where the S Max performs well. During extended viewing sessions, the projector remains cool, with the fan operating quietly in the background. The efficient thermal design ensures that performance is consistent, even during marathon movie nights or gaming sessions.

The software experience is powered by Android TV 11, which provides access to a wide range of apps via the Google Play Store. While it generally functions well, the limited 2GB RAM can sometimes cause lag when navigating menus or switching between apps. This lag becomes noticeable when using resource-intensive apps or after prolonged usage, which detracts slightly from the otherwise smooth experience.

On the brighter side, the included remote works flawlessly, offering precise and responsive control without any connection issues. However, the lack of backlit buttons makes it less convenient to use in dark environments, a missed opportunity for such a premium device.

The S Max’s port selection feels limited for its price range, with only one HDMI (eARC) port and two USB-A ports, which may require users with multiple devices to rely on an external HDMI switch. The lack of an optical audio output and Ethernet port further restricts connectivity, making it less suitable for advanced home theater setups. Xgimi should prioritize expanding port options in future updates, as functionality and versatility outweigh the benefits of a minimal design, especially at this price point.

The Xgimi Horizon S Max is exceptional when it comes to image quality, brightness, and sound. If these features are your priority, then you can definitely go for it without hesitation. The built-in stand and ISA features make setup incredibly easy, adding to the overall convenience. However, it does lack Netflix support, which is a notable drawback. While you can work around this by using external devices, it’s a glaring omission for such a premium model. So, if you’re a heavy Netflix user, this projector may not be the right fit for you.

But for those who prioritize top-tier image quality and sound, the Horizon S Max is a solid choice. I would say “its strengths outweigh its shortcomings, making it a worthwhile investment.”

The Xgimi Horizon S Max is priced at $1,899, positioning it firmly in the premium projector segment. It became available for purchase through major retailers like Amazon and Xgimi’s official website.

This Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Xgimi is offering exclusive deals on the Horizon S Max, featuring valuable bundles such as a $79.99 TV Stick 4K and a $159 flexible stand. The sale will run from November 21 to December 2, offering great savings.

We also recently reviewed Xgimi’s portable projector, the MoGo 3 Pro, which features Google TV and Netflix support. You can read the full review here.