The best Dolby Atmos soundbars are designed to deliver the immersive sound experience of a movie theater at home. All the models tested here have powerful Class D amplifiers, HDMI ports, and are compatible with the latest 3D sound formats to deliver high-quality immersive audio to match the 4K images (or higher) on screen.
Before you buy though, you will need to consider your room size and seating position. Choose one that's right for your screen size — you don't want it fouling the bottom of the picture or the remote control sensor — and has sufficient power to project sound in different directions around the room. Some — like the Samsung HW-Q990B soundbar that ranks the best 5.1 package — come with extra speakers for dedicated surround channels as well as a wireless subwoofer for high-octane bass. But most are standalone soundbars that make an ideal starting point to a Dolby Atmos home theater setup, but can be expanded with add-on surround speakers and/or a subwoofer at additional cost.
Our audio experts like to think of Dolby Atmos as 4K for your ears. Done properly it can take surround sound to the next level with even more immersive 3D audio via height channels that add another dimension. All these soundbars can be configured to your room and viewing position via easy setup modes to achieve an immersive movie theater experience.
We’ve reviewed the best Dolby Atmos soundbars in real-world domestic situations just as they would be used at home, and ranked each based on their sound performance with all kinds of movies and music, features, and value. To make sure you’re choosing the right soundbar for your TV, read on to find the perfect model for your room and pocket.
Sonos has made a statement with the Sonos Arc Ultra. It's got a massive 9.1.4 channels on board, making it excellent for surround sound content. Add in a pair of surround speakers and you've the best way to a slick Dolby Atmos setup.
If you want a true surround setup in one box without having to spend extra on a subwoofer and surrounds, the Samsung Q990B is just what you're looking for. It's Dolby Atmos punch is excellent as well.
Bowers & Wilkins soundbar looks the part with its standout design, but also packs in some excellent sound quality that is going to win the hearts of audiphiles everywere. It's Dolby Atmos performance is excellent as well.
The Devialet Dione is a very expensive but excellent soundbar. It sounds sublime and offers some of the best Dolby Atmos sound you can buy. Just be prepared to part with a lot of your cash.
Bose's Dolby Atmos-enabled soundbar is a very classy number, featuring a slick glass top to go with its solid sound quality. If you've got a Bose smart home audio system, this is the soundbar for you.
The Ambeo Soundbar Plus offers some excellent sound at its core, but it really excels in dialog. Voices are much easier to make out over loud soundtracks and other environmental sounds.
Best Dolby Atmos soundbar overall
When Sonos launched the Arc UItra, it had a tough job on its hands. The Arc was one of the most well regarded soundbars of all time, with top-notch Dolby Atmos, and smart home connectivity. The Arc Ultra swiftly dethroned the Arc, however, with even better surround performance, similar smart features, and some of the best sound quality for movies and TV that you can buy today.
The Dolby Atmos performance is better than just about any other single unit out there, with directional audio that works incredinly well. Bass response is solid without a sub, although some may want to add in the Sub 4 or Sub mini to really get the kind of low end hit that movies demand.
That's one of the biggest strengths of the bar; it's flexibility. A bar and sub combo are going to be more than enough for some people, while others might demand more. No worries — add in a couple of Era speakers for true surround duty, or even more for extra Atmos impact.
That does mean it can get pretty expensive, but the Dolby Atmos performance is well worth the outlay.
- Read the full Sonos Arc Ultra review
Best Dolby Atmos soundbar package
The Samsung HW-Q990B is the equivalent of the old home theater in a box packages. Buy one and right out of the box you have yourself an 11.1.4 surround sound system that is powerful and sleek while still being easy to set up and install.
If you like your soundbars loud and don’t have neighbors to worry about, you’re going to love it. With a claimed 656W total power output, it’s hard not to be impressed by the output of this speaker. The Adaptive Sound uses built-in microphones to adjust the output to your surroundings, and can help boost the height speakers. In terms of clarity and depth of sound, there’s a lot to like here and delivers detailed audio and impressive Dolby Atmos sound. See where it ranks on our best soundbars page.
It’s not quite as feature-complete as we’d like at this price point, but if you’re looking for a strong soundbar that can rattle the windows, the Samsung HW-Q990B is worth auditioning in your home theater.
- Read our full Samsung HW-Q990B review
Best Dolby Atmos soundbar for audiophiles
The Panorama 3 is Bowers & Wilkins' most affordable soundbar to date. It's more costly than the Sonos Arc but if it’s sound quality you prize, then the Panorama 3 is worth every penny. The 3.1.2 speaker configuration integrates forward-firing left, right and center channels and for cinematic rumble and punch there a two built-in subwoofer drivers along with Dolby Atmos Elevation drive units.
Powered by a total of 400 watts of Class D amplification, means the Panorama 3 can deal with those big dynamic shifts so beloved of cinema the world over without breaking sweat and is expressive and articulate where music is concerned too. It's extremely well judged and coherent with all kinds of music and movie content, while Dolby Atmos content projects well beyond the confines of the speaker cabinet, and in all directions. There’s real width to the soundstage the Bowers & Wilkins establishes, and there’s a proper sensation of movement as effects pan from one side of the stage to the other as soundtracks are served up with plenty of confidence and no little style.
- Read our full Bowers & Wilkins Panorama 3 review
Best high-end Dolby Atmos soundbar
Never knowingly understated, Devialet's Dione soundbar manages to bring a little of the high-end company's customary design drama to the world of do-it-all, add-on TV speakers. In keeping with much of its luxury output, the Dione is properly expensive, strikingly stylish, and a full-on 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos affair, designed to deliver a surround-sound experience from a single unit.
Given a full-on, action-packed Dolby Atmos soundtrack to deal with, the Dione is a dynamic, expansive and quite nuanced listen. For a soundbar that goes without the low-frequency reinforcement of a partnering subwoofer, the straightforward amount of bass it’s able to produce really is quite remarkable. ‘Punch’ and ‘rumble’ are both available, and are of an order of magnitude that eludes all but the most accomplished of the Devialet’s rivals. Width and height soundstage elements are deeply effective, which all adds up to a must-hear soundbar if you happen to have deep pockets and are looking for one of the best-sounding and most elegant Dolby Atmos soundbar solutions on the market right now.
- Read our full Devialet Dione review
Best Dolby Atmos soundbar for Bose ecosystems
The Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar may look identical to the Smart Soundbar 900 (below), but it integrates a wealth of additional features aimed to boost the TV viewing experience though machine learning and artificial intelligence. It uses nine speakers to create the best sound experience possible for your TV room with proprietary TrueSpace technology to deliver 5.1.2 audio channels with Dolby Atmos spatial audio content. Additionally, Bose's AI Dialogue Mode technology automatically adjust tonal balance to boost voice clarity without impacting on the immersive sound effect.
As a TV speaker to improve on a screen's built-in speakers, the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar is a good option in a compact form with plenty of attractive features. It's one of the easiest soundbars I've encountered to install and set up thanks to the remarkably solid Bose Music app, and the room calibration mode is surprisingly effective. The sound is warm and expansive for the most part, but bass levels can struggle when action move demands get too high. Its multiroom capabilities are a plus if you already own other Bose products, and help make the Ultra Soundbar a solid pick for fans of its ecosystem.
- Read the full Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar review
Best Dolby Atmos soundbar with clear dialog
The Ambeo Soundbar Plus has a significantly smaller footprint than Sennheiser's Ambeo Max, and is more akin to the size of the Sonos Arc (see above). Despite its more diminutive size, it claims 400W power output to 7.1.4 channels — to you and I that's seven active full range speaker channels, plus one sub bass, and four up-firing height channels.
Like its 'Max' brother, the Soundbar Plus uses Ambeo virtualization tech to deliver Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Sony 360 Reality Audio soundtracks, as well as up-mixing stereo TV and music content. It's not quite the same as having dedicated surround speaker behind you, but can be more effective when it comes to delivering an immersive viewing experience.
During my testing, I found the Sennheiser's Ambeo Plus gave a big boost to TV sound with an immersive performance that delivers a big room-filling sound to match today's vibrant TV images. For the best bass performance with high-octane movies, though, you'll want to add the matching Ambeo sub. Sonically, it's a worthy addition, and you can even add multiple subs into your setup, but, of course, it's an extra outlay that pushes the already high price for a single soundbar even higher.
- Read our full Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus review
How to choose
4 things to consider when choosing the best Dolby Atmos soundbar
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As with selecting any soundbar, it is important to consider a number of factors when deciding which particular model is right for you.
1. Get the right size: Size will likely be prohibitive for many customers — you obviously need a soundbar that will fit neatly with your TV in terms of screen size and available space, and that looks right as the centerpiece of your home theater setup. Some of the best Dolby Atmos soundbars in this guide are particularly wide (the Sony measures around 51-inches), which is how they manage to achieve such an immersive soundstage that appears extend far beyond the width of your TV screen.
It is also important to consider in the size of the room you're dealing with, and the distance viewers would typically be sitting from the TV. If you have a large space, it's probably best to target soundbars that come with or where you can add a subwoofer — we think you'll appreciate the extra bass this will bring.
2. Connectivity: This is crucial too, both in terms of wired and wireless access. You're going to want HDMI with eARC/ARC to set up your soundbar with a single physical cable, and your going to want to make sure the latest wireless connectivity is available with Wi-Fi, Apple AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth support.
3. Content: For Dolby Atmos features, you're going to want to consider how you access this kind of content — support for the audio format is growing but it's not available everywhere yet. You may need to subscribe to a particular plan to get access to Dolby Atmos content, so check what your particular plan offers.
4. Price: A Dolby Atmos soundbar generally costs a bit more, but prices are getting more competitive, and in many cases could even form the basis of a much more ambitious surround sound setup, incorporating dedicated wireless surround speakers and a wired or wireless subwoofer, for example.
How we test the best Dolby Atmos soundbars
As more and more soundbars come with support for the Dolby Atmos format, the big difference between Atmos and traditional surround sound soundbars is that (with the right content), you'll hear sound move up and down and not just side-to-side. This brings an extra sense of cinematic realism to your viewing at home when, say, a car flies overhead in an action movie.
With multiple drivers covering a wide sound area in front of your screen, as well as side- and upward-firing speakers driven by sophisticated digital signal processing to bring an extra dimension to movie soundscapes, a Dolby Atmos soundbar makes an effective sound upgrade for most screen's built-in speakers.
When testing for inclusion in our best Dolby Atmos soundbars page, we play a range of media — including movies, music and games — in order to evaluate overall sound quality. We also test any companion software that may come with a soundbar, and factor in how easy it is to set up and use each device.
Once testing is completed, we rate the best soundbars based on our five-point system (1 = worst, 5 = best). Products that hit nearly every mark are awarded an Editor's Choice badge.
Contributions from: Simon Lucas, Michael Gowan, Nick Pino
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