We’ve seen PC cases evolve rapidly over the last couple of years, from boring beige hunks of steel, to Aluminium wind tunnels, and now to tiny shoeboxes. Something we haven’t seen a lot of, which seem to be in high demand though, are cases that focus on reducing noise.
We’ve seen PC cases evolve rapidly over the last couple of years, from boring beige hunks of steel, to Aluminium wind tunnels, and now to tiny shoeboxes. Something we haven’t seen a lot of, which seem to be in high demand though, are cases that focus on reducing noise. The Sonata is the first case we’ve seen that pays special attention to getting rid of the annoying hums and whirrs we’ve all learnt to live with; well, that’s according to Antec.
Instead of mounting four or five high-speed blenders to get air flowing through the case, the Sonata only has two mounts for case fans. These are designed to hold 120mm fans, allowing for decent airflow at a much lower noise level. Unfortunately only one 120mm fan is included with the case.
The other feature that helps to reduce noise is the rubber grommets used for mounting hard drives. While these do help to reduce the vibrations passing from the hard drive to the case, they do nothing to cover up the internal noise of the hard drive’s platters spinning, which is the main cause of noise from today’s relatively high rpm drives. What the Sonata really needs is some kind of sound insulation material surrounding the disk bays. Oh well, maybe next time.
Other than these two features, the Sonata is a pretty stock-standard PC case. It has a nice shiny black paint job, a couple of USB 1.1, FireWire and sound ports on the front hidden by a little fold down door, and a total of nine drive bays. Strangely, the bays are all rotated 90 degrees to the left, so that your IDE cables are all easily accessible from the removable side of the case. However the right side of the case cannot be taken off and is a killer flaw, especially considering there is no removable motherboard tray.
The TruePower 380W PSU is welcome, as these power supplies are some of the most reliable available.
For a case that claims to reduce noise levels, the Sonata doesn’t come through with the goods. If Antec had included sound absorbent lining, which wouldn’t cost a great deal to implement, or some other form of sound reducing construction, we’re sure it could have delivered a great product. As it is, the Sonata is a very average case at an above average price.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012