Antec Sonata Plus 550

A quiet and shiny case, just in case you should need one. And that's not punny.

Antec makes a vast range of cases, from little home entertainment units all the way up to gaming powerhouses with enough fans to fill an auditorium. But it’s not all about size and power – quiet operation is another computing exemplar, and the Sonata Plus 550 is a true champion of the cause.

Design-wise the case’s finish is akin to that found on shiny red tool boxes, but in black. The finish marks up very easily (pity our poor photographer –ed) but it also wipes pretty clean. The front fascia features a brushed aluminium finish which is set off by a painted copper highlight. Copper’s not the most inspiring colour at the best of times, and we do feel this cheapens the design a touch.

The internals, however, are top notch for a case this size – it’s a nice and roomy design for a case this small, and even though there’s not a lot of cross support, the solid metal construction makes for a very solid design. Rolled edges are prominent, and everything seems nice and accessible. The side panels use spring-mounted thumb screws of a comfy size, and swing easily away – this will be a good case for frequent upgraders.

The drive bay count is ample for all but the most storage-hungry of users. This is meant to be a superlatively quiet machine, and Antec’s added a feature that we find quite interesting – if you sacrifice a bay, you can suspend three drives in elasticised cloth bands. This way, the drives make no solid contact with the case frame, cutting down on vibration and noise. Of course, and Antec is quick to point this out, it’s not a great solution if you’re moving your PC around a lot, but for a relatively static set-up it’s a neat solution, and really helps the Sonata run quiet.

We’re very curious, however, to see how that material might stand up to prolonged use in the relatively warm and hopefully dry environment of a PC case.

It also comes with a 550watt Antec power supply, with a variable speed, quiet-running fan. Speaking of fans, there’s only one 120mm fan mounted in the case’s rear, though there are mounting points for two more behind the case’s front door. One or two more would be ideal, but the low count is in keeping with the quietly-quietly mission statement.