Antec LifeStyle LS138 Sonata-UK

...£70 on.

Antec have clearly found their niche. They make a few things, but they make them very well indeed. PC cases and Power Supplies is pretty much all you'll find from them. And they tend towards the expensive end of the middle market. The Sonata midi-tower is one of the growing "lifestyle" cases from Antec, aimed at providing you with a sleek, stylish looking PC that fits all the bits you are likely to need without sounding ...
...gloss black as well. The Antec logo is stamped in the sides using holes to provide both branding and ventilation in one fell swoop - a nice touch but one that gathers dust on the inside of the case like you wouldn't believe.

The back is a standard layout, coming with a standard ATX motherboard faceplate that can be swapped out for any vendor-supplied plate. There are 7 expansion slots available and a bunch of back-plates provided for ... more

There have to be more exciting things in life to write about than a PC case. Reviews on cars, washing machines, camcorders - all of them are useful to the prospective purchaser and so it is ( I hope) with PC cases, although the audience is likely considerably smaller.

Consequently, I'll stick to a reasonably technical review, the aim being to provide you with a concise and informative view on a lump of metal that you could easily spend upwards of £70 on.

Antec have clearly found their niche. They make a few things, but they make them very well indeed. PC cases and Power Supplies is pretty much all you'll find from them. And they tend towards the expensive end of the middle market. The Sonata midi-tower is one of the growing "lifestyle" cases from Antec, aimed at providing you with a sleek, stylish looking PC that fits all the bits you are likely to need without sounding like a flymo in a wind-tunnel.

Antec obviously know that first impressions are important - the Sonata arrives in a "proper" cardboard box, you know - the sort with glossy pictures on the outside, all branded up and removing any uncertainty as to the contents. It's a well built box, too. Obviously they are keen to protect what's inside. This thought is reinforced when, after pulling the assorted lumps of polystyrene from the box you find the case itself wrapped in a soft, white cloth bag to protect it from any minor scratches. This protection is important though - far from being finished in a run-of-the-mill beige powdercoat, the Sonata is finished in a high-gloss "piano black" paint. A paint that looks like it won't stand up to much rough handling.

Externally it's a pleasing enough thing to behold, nothing radical you understand - understated is the key here. Everything is gloss black, even the lockable plastic door that covers the CD drive bays. The power and reset buttons live behind this door, which is a bit annoying particularly if you turn your PC on and off a lot (and even more so if you lose the key!). The front panel does have a cluster of conenctors, covered by a flip-up silver lid and flanked by clear crystal domes through which shine the obligatory blue LEDS. Connecions are provided for audio, USB and Firewire (assuming your motherboard supports all of the relevant header cables which are all Intel standard layout).

The side panels are, unsurprisingly, gloss black as well. The Antec logo is stamped in the sides using holes to provide both branding and ventilation in one fell swoop - a nice touch but one that gathers dust on the inside of the case like you wouldn't believe.

The back is a standard layout, coming with a standard ATX motherboard faceplate that can be swapped out for any vendor-supplied plate. There are 7 expansion slots available and a bunch of back-plates provided for further USB2.0 and Firewire ports On the back you also find the thumb-screws (no, not the mediaeval torture devices!) that you can take out to allow the removal of the side panels. Once the thumbscrews are out the case comes apart with amazing simplicity. The side panels have locking handles and pivot out from the front edge until the come away completely giving excellent access to the insides.

The inside of the case is remarkably well thought out. There's space for a full-sized ATX motehrboard and a bag of more than enough screws to fit your needs. Cooling is well catered for with a 120mm exhaust fan mounted to the back of the case with intriguing rubber grommets. These grommets stop the fan vibrating against the case and help keep the noise down. There's a mounting point for another 120mm fan at the front of the case, just behind the hard drives which acts as an intake, drawing cool air in over the hard drives, after first having passed through a washable air filter. While the second fan isn't supplied, the rubber grommets for mounting one are, so it's worth bearing your cooling requirements in mind when you buy it. That said, sticking a second fan in does increase the noise quite a bit, so balance it against your desire for peace & quiet.

Speaking of the hard drives, there are 2 externally available 3.25" bays, 3 external 5.25" bays (all behind the front door) and 4 internal 3.25" bays. I have to admit these internal 3.25" bays had me confused to begin with. Being sideways mounted, it is far easier to install and remove drives. The supplied mounting screws and rubber grommets help reduce noise here too, ensuring that the spinning disks don't cause unwanted vibrations in the chassis. And it's actually rather effective. Obviously it's not a true silent HD enclosure but it does make a big difference.

The supplied power supply is a good one - manufactured unsurprisingly by Antec, it's a quiet model with intelligent fan control that supports 450W of consumption, which should be comfortably moer power than you are likely to consume given the size of the case. It comes with regular peripheral power connectors as well as the newer SATA power connectors so all types of drives are catered for. In operation the PSU does get pretty hot though, to the point that it has been known for my machine to refuse a reboot if it's mistakenly shut down - at least until the PSU has cooled down a bit. I guess this is part of the price you pay for a quieter than average PSU.

All things considered, this has to be the best engineered PC case that I have ever had the joy to work with. Everything fits "just so", without unnecessary wiggling, tapping or any more violent forms of encouragement. There aren't any sharp edges either, so not too many sliced open hands while building this one. Supplied connectivity is good and the cooling is effective as well as being reasonably quiet. It also looks prettier than your average beige case. The gloss finish is a nice change and the overall styling is understated - with the exception of the lurid blue LEDs which are bright enough to light up my study at night (thank godness you can disconnect their power separately).

Being from the liefstyle range, one of the main selling points of the Sonata is it's volume (or lack of). It's certainly quieter than many a case I've owned before but it's not as close to silent as the literature would have you believe. Once you add the various other fans and whirring pieces found in a normal PC (CPU Fan, Graphics card fan, north-bridge fan, DVD-drives, PSU fans, Case fans) it is still audible, but not as obtrusive as others.

So would I recommend it? I almost certainly would - and, had Antec not decided to release an updated version (in the shape of the Sonata II) I would do so without hesitation. As it stands, if you are in the market for a new PC case and you want something that's well built, nicely laid out and that won't embarass you in looks or sound then the Sonata is a fine choice. It's more expensive than average but you get what you pay for.

As I suspected, the paint isn't particularly robuts, a near-miss with a screw-driver could easily cause disfigurement.

As a final note, I would suggest that if you're running very hot kit, overclocked or otherwise, then the noise of your PC is likely a secondary concern and there are probably better choices.  

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