honorable mentions
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Photograph: Parker Hall
There are so many great soundbars out there, and we don’t have space to feature them all. Here are some others you may want to consider.
Marshall Heston 120 for $1,300:Marshall’s first soundbar surprised me in many ways. Its design is as luxurious as anything available on the market, with stylish gold control knobs and vinyl straps that epitomize the Marshall amplifier aesthetic. Its sound is well balanced and detailed, and it offers interesting features like Dolby Atmos music support. It’s an impressive package, but a curious lack of dynamic punch in key action sequences and effects keeps me from placing it at the top of our list. It feels like Marshall is blocking something with digital compression, preventing the bar from fully moving the room. It’s still an impressive system, but at $1,300, that’s a tough ask.
Yamaha TrueX Surround 90A for $3,500: After a year-long hiatus from the premium market, Yamaha is back with the flagship True X Surround 90A, a $3,500 Dolby Atmos soundbar system. It includes a wireless subwoofer and two completely wireless, portable surround speakers that work as stand-alone Bluetooth speakers, which is a great party trick. As you can guess from the price, it delivers exceptional, detailed sound with superb surround channel clarity. It is also the first soundbar with Auro-3D processing. However, the setup is complicated, it lacks enough HDMI ports and room correction, and its center-channel dialogue clarity is disappointing out of the box. While its impressive accuracy will thrill some, these omissions make it hard for us to recommend it over flagship models from Samsung and others.
Samsung HW-Q990F for $1,700: Samsung’s latest version of its spectacular, 11.1.4-channel Dolby Atmos hulk, the Q990F offers minor upgrades over previous models, including a new cube of subwoofer for slightly cleaner, more musical bass. That and HDMI 2.1 support for connecting game consoles directly is the only real reason to upgrade, meaning we’ll keep the equally great Q990C (at about half the price) until the price comes down.
LG S95AR for $1,200-$1,700: LG’s latest 9.1.5-channel system offers minor upgrades over its predecessor, the ST95R, leaving few reasons to upgrade at full price. It remains one of the top performers in its class, offering impressive clarity, sharp and fluid immersion, and quick setup and controls with LG’s ever-improved ThinQ app. That’s a solid value compared to competing multi-piece Dolby Atmos systems at full price, and it’ll become more attractive as the price drops.
Sony Bravia Theater 9 for $1,200-$1,500: The follow-up to Sony’s powerful HT-A7000 flagship soundbar has backfired in some major ways. It has fewer inputs (no analog anymore), a more mundane cloth-wrapped design and minimal sound settings. The Theater 9’s slim frame equates to a less meaty and immersive soundstage, but it’s still a Sony flagship soundbar, which means superb musicality, superb detail, and advanced spatial imaging for 3D audio. Premium features like an HDMI 2.1 input for connecting modern game consoles and advanced integration with new Sony TVs sweeten the deal, but at $1,400 (sometimes $1,500 in a post-tariff world) it’s an expensive proposition.
Sonos Beam Gen 2 for $500: Sonos’ fat little middle child is still one of the most expressive and feature-packed options in its class, offering great musicality and impressive Dolby Atmos virtualization, as well as all the networking options for which Sonos is prized. It’s a bit expensive at this point in its lifespan, but if you can find it on sale, it’s worth considering, especially now that Sonos has resolved its earlier app issues.
Vizio 2.1 Soundbar (SV210M) for $170: Vizio’s shapely little combo brings attractive value, including solid sound quality and some cinematic punch from the teeniest subwoofer you’ve ever seen. There’s no optical input or remote included, but the Vizio app makes adjusting settings or swapping over Bluetooth simple enough. The main drawback is that dialogue is sometimes (but not always) lost, reducing the main charm of a cheap soundbar. That said, the good musical chops and features like DTS Virtual
Samsung HW-Q800C at $600-700: If Samsung’s HW-Q990 everything bar is too rich for your blood, the two-piece HW-Q800C might be a good compromise. This bar offers the same sound signature and many of the same features as Samsung’s flagship bar, packaged in a smaller bar-and-subwoofer combo for a notable discount – especially since it’s almost always on sale now.
Sennheiser Ambio Mini for $600-$800: This pint-sized luxury bar is great for those who have money to spend in small spaces. Sennheiser’s built-in Ambio virtualization technology throws sound around you brilliantly for great TV shows and movies, and offers advanced features like support for Google Assistant and Alexa.
Polk React for $134: If you want to eventually get surround sound but don’t have the cash right now, this soundbar works. The Alexa-enabled soundbar is fine on its own, with surround speakers and a subwoofer from Polk available if you want to upgrade.
How to connect your soundbar
We’ve included a list of available connectivity options next to each soundbar in our list. Most soundbars will connect to your TV via optical or HDMI cables, although optical inputs are starting to go away for newer models, even including expensive flagship options. In most cases, HMDI is the better connection anyway.
If both your TV and soundbar have an HDMI ARC/eARC port (the cable port looks like regular HDMI, but it’s labeled ARC or eARC), connect it that way. This will allow you to use the volume buttons on your TV remote to control the volume of the soundbar. Also, make sure CEC is enabled. Use the optical cable only if HDMI is not available, as HDMI is also required for Dolby Atmos and other 3D audio formats.
Finally, check your TV audio menu to make sure your TV’s internal speakers are turned off (so you don’t get any weird audio stuttering) and find the best spot to place your speakers and sub.
We’ve yet to test a new TV that doesn’t sound better with an audio accessory. This is mostly due to the way televisions are designed. Great-sounding speakers are heavy, and as TVs have become thinner with shrinking bezels and sleeker designs, manufacturers have had a harder time building good speakers into them.
You can spend at least $100 to $150 on a new soundbar, and it’s essential to getting the most out of your TV experience. Our list of the top soundbars we’ve tested includes both soundbars sold on their own and models that come with subwoofers and surround speakers at a variety of price points.
Are soundbars as good as speakers?
Go to any A/V or home theater subreddit or forum and you’ll see a horde of people claiming that even the idea of matching a soundbar to a pair of speakers is heresy. As far as we’re concerned, the truth is that it all depends on your personal wants and needs.
If you’re looking for the most musical bang for your buck, especially when it comes to hi-res audio and vinyl record collections, a great pair of bookshelf speakers may be the best value option for you. Even if you’re not keen on shopping for an amp and running speaker wires, our best bookshelf speakers guide offers plenty of powered/active pairs that include all the inputs and amplification built-in, just like a soundbar system for audiophiles.
However, this may not be the best option for everyone. If you want something cheap and simple to enhance your TV sound, or conversely, a convenient way to explore exciting audio formats like surround sound and Dolby Atmos, a soundbar may be the right choice. Soundbars are affordable and hassle-free solutions, many of which offer sound and features that may match your needs better than a pair of speakers or a traditional home theater setup. We don’t take sides here, we just love good sound and great features. For many people, a soundbar is the best way to get there.
This is a question only you can answer, but there are a few points to consider before making the call, starting with where you live. If you live in a small apartment or a multiplex, a subwoofer may not be the best choice due to both its size and the possibility of causing noise complaints. Large modern soundbars have become increasingly good at reproducing solid bass from a bar, often using multiple speakers in concert to bring more punch to the low frequencies without too much boom and bombast.
If you’re less concerned about proximity and looking for more cinematic punch, you should highly consider a soundbar with a subwoofer. The physics can only be stretched so far, and no multi-speaker system we’ve heard can match the power and capability of a dedicated large driver and acoustic cabinet. Even many affordable soundbar models include a subwoofer. If you want full-throttle sound, we suggest considering using a subwoofer or at least a bar that allows you to add one later.
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