The Samsung QS09F is a beast of a soundbar. With a 7.1.2 channel configuration for under $999, this could be one of the best soundbars if you need something compact yet powerful. There’s a built-in subwoofer and two side-firing surrounds for truly wide sound and immersive Dolby Atmos.

As per Samsung’s naming conventions, the QS90H is a part of 2026’s new soundbar lineup. Last year’s models had an “F” suffix. Unsure why Samsung skipped “G”, but if you see a soundbar with an “H” in the name, it’s new in 2026 (and old thereafter).

So what separates the Samsung QS90H from the rest of the new lineup? The QS90H can do it all. It’s one soundbar with a four-woofer built-in sub, surrounds, and thirteen speakers in the soundbar itself. This is an incredible performance for a one-bar device. Want to find out more? Keep reading this Samsung QS90H review.

Samsung QS90H review: Specs

Samsung QS90H review: Price & availability

The Samsung QS90H is $999 from Best Buy and £899 from Amazon U.K. Although an objectively huge amount of money, you get a soundbar, a subwoofer, and surrounds for that $999 — and you don’t have to make extra space in your living room.

I’ve also tested the fantastic-value Samsung QS750F ($899) and the gorgeous mid-range Samsung Q600F ($599). I’d recommend the Q600F if you’re not concerned with Wi-Fi music playback and the QS750F if you want separate sub and rears. However, these are 2025’s models now. I would be more than happy to use a 2025 models — the sound is still industry-leading as I write this in 2026 — but it’s just something to note if you’re the kind of person who always wants the newest tech.

I’ve also reviewed the fantastic JBL Bar 1300XMK2. I would recommend this wholeheartedly if you want the best home cinema setup without needing to fork out on AVRs, floor standers, and the like.

Samsung QS90H review: Design

The QS90H looks like any other soundbar. It won’t win any design awards, but it won’t steer attention away from your TV, either. It’s a pretty long 49 inches, so anything smaller than a 55” TV will look strange. I tested with the LG G6 OLED 55” and I’d say even that looked a bit weird.

The only frustrating design aspect is the HDMI port. Both the power port and HDMI port are angled, so you need a side-oriented cable. Of course, the soundbar comes with an angled power cable and HDMI, but if you want an aftermarket HDMI, you’ll need to find one that fits under the soundbar.

Controls

There are a few controls on the soundbar itself: volume up/down and power. There’s the classic Samsung remote with all the usual controls: input, Bluetooth, volume, woofer volume, sound mode, channel volume, and settings. I honestly did most of the controlling via the SmartThings virtual remote on my phone.

Features

I’ll go into app features in more detail below, but you’ve got all the expected features: sound modes, a few AI features, EQ adjustment, channel level adjustment, night mode, virtual mode, bass enhancement, and dialogue enhancement.

Samsung QS90H review: App

SmartThings is by far my favorite smart home app. It just makes sense. It’s easy to navigate, straightforward for newcomers, and has zero connectivity hiccups.

As you can see, there’s a huge array of smart features: “SpaceFit Sound Pro”, “Active Voice Amplifier Pro”, “Sound Elevation”, and “Auto Volume”. Last year, “SpaceFit Sound Pro” only worked with an AI-powered Samsung TV, but I was able to turn it on with my LG G6 OLED. However, SpaceFit Sound Pro isn’t a traditional room calibration tool that sends out sound waves and analyzes them with built-in microphones, à la Klipsch or JBL. Honestly, I didn’t notice a huge difference between SpaceFit on and off, which is a shame.

You can also adjust each channel individually.

You can control the woofer volume, “side”, “center”, “wide”, and “front top”. I got the best sound with “side” and “wide” up to the max. I got a touch more height with “front top” set to max, but I still didn’t reach the huge highs I did with the JBL Bar 1300XMK2.

Finally, there’s wireless Dolby Atmos — but this is locked behind recent AI-enabled Samsung TVs. You can also sync up your Roon, Spotify, Tidal, and Alexa.

Samsung QS90HS review: Sound quality

I test every soundbar with “Top Gun: Maverick” on 4K Blu-Ray, TV streaming, and music on Qobuz via AirPlay.

Movies

I watched “Top Gun: Maverick”, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie”, and “Fight Club” on 4K Blu-ray.

The opening scene in “Top Gun: Maverick” is ideal for testing width, height, high-frequency sound, and bass simultaneously. I activated “Voice enhancement” and “Bass enhancement” in the SmartThings app, which brought all the high-frequency sounds to the center of the soundstage. Whooshing planes, whirring engines, flicking ropes, and tinkling metal diegetic sounds were focal and loud without pinching or overpowering the bass-heavy “Danger Zone”. I didn’t struggle to hear anything — this was a perfect performance.

Dialogue was clear, even in flight scenes with distortion from the radio. Engines were loud and clear, layered under the dialogue with zero overpowering. There was a touch of over-processing in some of Maverick’s radioed dialogue, but this was seriously negligible. It didn’t impact my viewing experience in the slightest.

There wasn’t as much height as I would like, which is a consistent issue with Samsung soundbars. The QS750F sounded expansive, but not massively high. If you want serious, room-filling height, you might want something like the JBL Bar 1300XMK2.

In the first dogfighting scene, the planes whooshed around the side of the soundscape, while the radioed dialogue and soundtrack were clear in the foreground. When the planes spiralled, I could feel it around me. However, I couldn’t hear the planes that were supposed ot be above me, which means the soundbar struggles with height. I think some more sophisticated room calibration might mitigate this in the future.

Next, I watched “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie”. The soundtrack in this movie was super expansive. Each violin motif sounded like it was coming from around me. The twinkling sound effects were particularly powerful.

It’s unlikely your kids would notice this, but the treble crackled when the spaceship took off in the opening scene. I didn’t notice any treble issues during the rest of the movie, though, or elsewhere in testing.

Lastly, I watched “Fight Club”. The sped-up sound effects squelched through the soundbar with fantastic width. Dialogue was clear and audible and the soundtrack sounded textured and controlled. Again — this was a perfect experience. No notes.

TV

To test TV performance, I watched “Heated Rivalry” on NOWTV, a British streaming service. I watched using “AI Adaptive Sound” in the SmartThings app, and upped the width and side channel volume to the max.

The soundbar heightened surround sound: in a locker room celebration scene, I could hear the spraying champagne and excited chatter in the background clearly, even over the exuberant soundtrack. There’s an aquarium scene later in the episode and the underwater-style diegetic sound effects married perfectly with the ethereal ambient OST.

Music

To test music playback, I listened to a number of songs on Qobuz. “Beatback” by Fcukers is an electronic track with a powerful bassline and groovy synth modulations in the verses and a breathy female vocal. The bass sounded particularly excellent, clear, rich, and propulsive, but the percussion sounded a touch underwater. Even so, the vocals were textured and sonorous.

Next, I played a psych-rock track, “Apocalypse Dreams” by Tame Impala. I switched off “Voice enhancement”, which massively improved the sound quality. It’s a shame there’s no dedicated music mode, but I recommend turning off both “Active Voice Amplifier Pro” and “Voice enhancement” to get the best from your music. The bass, again, was powerful and rich, but the treble was a touch pinchy.

Lastly, I played a guitar-led bluesy track: “Pigeon” by Faye Webster. This song has smooth guitars, nostalgic keys, and a soft female vocal. The vocals sounded particularly beautiful; super complex and warm. There’s some really nice stereo imaging after the first chorus that sounds immersive and all-consuming. The softer percussion didn’t pinch — the guitars were smooth throughout. This song sounded the best out of all the tracks I listened to, likely due to the sparser, warmer, smoother soundscape.

Samsung QS90H review: Verdict

The Samsung QS90H is the best all-in-one soundbar I’ve tested, and I’d go so far as to say it’s the best all-in-one on the market right now. I knocked off half a star for the sound height issues, but this isn’t to say the soundbar is lackluster, because that’s completely untrue. This is a powerful, controlled, and adept soundbar with a monumental soundstage.

If you want the “best” home cinema experience possible, you should probably look to spend a little more on something like the JBL Bar 1300XMK2 or the Samsung Q990H. However, if you’re short on space or don’t want to spend more than $1,000, then you will not be disappointed by the QS90H.

I loved testing the Samsung QS90H and would have zero reservations about buying this soundbar for myself. If you want a multi-channel experience without needing rears and a sub, there’s very little else I’d recommend.

I've tested $3,000 soundbars. I've tested $67 soundbars. And I've tested pretty much every level in between. At some point, the price-vs-performance ratio must plateau, right? Yes, kind of. Once you're looking at more than around $2,000, I'd forget a soundbar and get either floor-standers, built-ins, or buy each piece individually. You'd probably get a better overall sound.

But if you want an all-in-one, JBL's finally got the answer for you: the JBL Bar 1300XMK2. I tested the original last year and loved it, so I was incredibly relieved when the upgraded version blew me away, too.

The Bar 1300XMK2 has a ton of features that make it one of the best all-in-one soundbars, but the painless calibration, fantastic width and height, and ease of use make it unbeatable. Here's why the JBL Bar 1300X MK2 is now my favorite soundbar for a true movie theater experience.

Home movie theater in 3, 2, 1...

The JBL Bar 1300XMK2 has 23 drivers. Yep. 23 drivers. There are 19 drivers in the soundbar itself, one in each rear, and two 8-inch woofers in the sub. This is an incredible amount of speaker power. You're looking at an 11.1.4 channel configuration. In real terms, this means you've got upfiring sound, side-firing sound, and front-firing sound. And in real, real terms, this means you get truly immersive Dolby Atmos, powerful bass, and crystal-clear dialogue.

In my 4.5-star review, I wrote, "Every flying scene [in "Top Gun: Maverick"] was particularly outstanding." When Maverick flies in hypersonic, the bass "rumbled through the subwoofer with immense energy and depth." But it wasn't just the low-end: "Each siren blare and alarm was clear over the pounding bass. Equally, the Bar 1300XMK2 balanced high-frequency diegetic sounds like rustling papers and ticking clocks with similarly diegetic dialogue perfectly."

In short, this is a soundbar to end all soundbars. If I could take one soundbar home forever, it'd be the Bar 1300XMK2.

Power-per-penny math

Alright, let's do some soundbar math. Just a forewarning: this is just for fun. This is not supposed to be the pinnacle of what makes a good soundbar. Obviously, your personal experience and personal watching/listening style means more than power-per-price. My intention here is to shine a light on just how powerful the JBL is.

The JBL Bar 1300XMK2 has a max output of 1570 watts. If we take the MSRP of $1,699 and divide it by the 1570W power, this works out to $1.08 per watt.

Another of my favorites, the Samsung QS750F, costs $899 with 345W, which works out to $2.60 per watt.

One of the most high-end soundbars I've tested is the Yamaha True X Surround 90A, which will set you back $3,499 for 630W of power. This works out to $55.53 per watt.

In essence, the JBL Bar 1300XMK2 is a darn powerful soundbar, subwoofer, and rears combo. When I was testing the soundbar, the walls and floorboards were shaking. One of my colleagues came upstairs and asked me what I was doing!

Would you try the JBL Bar 1300XMK2, or would you rather something smaller (and cheaper)? If I had $1,200 to spend on a home theater setup, it would 100% be the 1300XMK2.

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The JBL Bar 1300XMK2 has a lot to live up to. Its predecessor completely blew me away with its movie-theater-accurate sound and unbeatable ease of use. So is the MK2 enough to be one of the best soundbars?

If you couldn’t tell from the 4.5-star rating, yes. Yes it is. This is the easiest (and, arguably, the most affordable) way to achieve cinematic Dolby Atmos at home. Dialogue is crystal-clear, even in bombastic action scenes, and high-frequency detail sounds aren’t swallowed by bass. The sound is just unbeatable at this price.

At $1,699, this isn’t a cheap product by any means. But if you know anything about home theater, you’ll know that this actually isn’t too expensive for an 11.1.4 channel configuration — with 25 individual drivers. Want to find out more? Keep reading this JBL Bar 1300XMK2 review.

JBL Bar 1300XMK2 review: Specs

JBL Bar 1300XMK2 review: Price & availability

The JBL Bar 13000XMK2 is $1,699 from Amazon U.S. In the U.K., you’re looking at an MSRP of £1,299, but it’s currently “Coming Soon” on JBL’s site. Strangely, though, you can grab it from Amazon U.K. for around £1,160.

Although this four-digit MSRP looks expensive, I promise you, it’s worth every penny and is actually cheaper than similarly spec’d soundbars. The power in this speaker is almost unparalleled. Of all the soundbars I’ve tested, only the $900 Samsung QS750F has a better performance-per-penny ratio.

I’ve also tested the KEF XIO and the Yamaha True X Surround 90A ($3,499), both incredible soundbars in their own right, but both will set you back considerably more than the JBL — without a sub and rears, too.

JBL Bar 1300XMK2 review: Design

In a word, the JBL Bar 1300XMK2 is powerful. This soundbar was rattling my floorboards, vibrating my skeleton, shaking my walls. With a whopping 2470W of power, this is a killer sound system. Thankfully, the soundbar also knows where to put that power.

There are a whopping 23 drivers in this 11.1.4 channel setup. The subwoofer itself has two 8-inch drivers, on top of the 19 drivers in the soundbar itself. In real terms, this means the 1300XMK2 is a behemoth, with sound worthy of a movie theater.

In terms of looks, the 1300XMK2 is your average soundbar. It’s not particularly gorgeous or particularly revolting. The bar itself is 40 inches long, so I’d recommend using it only if you have a 65” TV and up, otherwise it might look strange.

The subwoofer is huge and a frankly massive 26 pounds, so, again, only get this if you have space.

Controls

You can control the JBL Bar 1300XMK2 via either the remote or your phone. The remote is long and lightweight, with pleasantly tactile buttons. It’s much bigger than Bose’s soundbar remote, but feels more plasticky than Samsung’s.

Unlike the KEF XIO, you can control the soundbar settings while watching TV. You can adjust subwoofer volume and surround volume directly from your phone. I found this responded instantly with zero stuttering.

The on-bar buttons are minimal: just volume up and down. I don’t miss the buttons on the bar — I only really ever use my phone and remote anyway.

Features

I’ll discuss the app features in detail just below, but the Bar 1300XMK2 has a huge range of features. There’s automatic room calibration, broadcast mode, EQ adjustment, night mode, PureVoice mode, and smart mode.

One feature is missing, though: 4K / 120Hz pass-through for gaming. The Bar 1300XMK2's pass-through HDMI port is limited to 60Hz, so if you wanted to run your console through the soundbar (if you’re short on HDMI ports), unfortunately, you won’t be able to play at a 120fps frame rate in 4K. Not great news for FPS or other fast-paced games.

In fairness, this feature isn't ubiquitous with soundbars, and it'll only be an issue if you have no HDMI 2.1 port free on your TV. But this was a complaint we had about the previous model, so it's disappointing to see no improvement here on the new one.

JBL Bar 1300XMK2 review: App

I’ll go through all the main features one by one: room calibration is exactly as it sounds. The soundbar sends out sonic pulses to the rears, which helps position the sound waves for 360° audio. This was the first thing I did when I unboxed the soundbar and it made my movies sound super immersive.

As you can see, the JBL One app is well-designed and visually appealing, and I experienced no connectivity issues.

Next: broadcast mode. This enables you to keep the surround speakers connected to the soundbar even when you’re in different rooms. So, in theory, you could listen to a movie playing in the living room while you’re in the bathtub. Not sure why you’d want to, but you can.

You can also connect your phone to the surrounds and use them as individual speakers, and they have Auracast. In theory, you can link them up to JBL speakers like the Xtreme 5.

Of course, night mode and EQ adjustments are exactly what you might think — night mode reduces bass for fewer subwoofer-related sleep interruptions, and EQ allows you to completely customize the soundbar’s output.

Smart mode is interesting — it’s effectively a “standard” “Music” and “Movie” mode you can toggle to come on automatically or manually. Smart mode adjusts the sound mode based on the input. For example, if it detects a DVD player, it will activate movie mode, and if you play via a music streaming service, it will activate music.

JBL Bar 1300XMK2 review: Sound quality

I test every soundbar with “Top Gun: Maverick” on 4K Blu-Ray, TV shows on Netflix, and music on Qobuz via AirPlay.

Movies

As always, I watched “Top Gun: Maverick”. The opening scene was bassy and powerful; the male vocals in “Danger Zone” led the soundscape, with the delicate metallic clinking and whooshing ropes present in the high-end.

Every flying scene was particularly outstanding. The first scene, with Maverick flying in hypersonic, rumbled through the subwoofer with immense energy and depth. Each siren blare and alarm was clear over the pounding bass. Equally, the Bar 1300XMK2 balanced high-frequency diegetic sounds like rustling papers and ticking clocks with similarly-diegetic dialogue perfectly.

Dolby Atmos performance was also phenomenal. In the first dogfighting scene, the planes raced overhead as if I were truly outside. The soundtrack was bombastic without overpowering the screeching jet engine sounds, and the radio dialogue was surprisingly clear. I wanted a touch more width in the rears, even when I increased the surrounds’ volume to max — but this is me being pedantic. The overall performance was astounding.

Next, I watched “The Wild Robot”, which has exemplary Dolby Atmos performance. During the swimming scenes, I could hear the main character goose splashing in the water as if the water was all around me.

After, I watched “No Time To Die”. The opening scene with the wind whistling over the snowy lake was fantastic; the crunching snow underfoot was delicately balanced over the tense, string-heavy OST. The shattering lake sounded piercing and, of course, the famous car chase scene sounded powerful and dramatic. I actually physically jumped when the grenade exploded. The subwoofer was putting in overtime; every bullet, engine rev, and collision made the entire room shake.

TV

To test the JBL Bar 1300XMK2, I watched several TV shows on Netflix, NOWTV (a U.K. streaming platform), and Disney+. NOWTV has full Dolby Atmos, so really brought the best out of the Bar 1300XMK2.

When I watched “Heated Rivalry”, the skating sound effects were clear over the synth-heavy electronic soundtrack. Softer diegetic sounds like clothes ruffling and clinking of cutlery in restaurant scenes were audible and separated from dialogue and soundtrack. This is one of the best surround-sound soundbars I’ve ever tested. dialogue felt like it was coming from around me, and scene texture effects were balanced and natural. No notes — this was a perfect experience.

I also watched “Euphoria”. The dialogue, soundtrack, and bullet sound effects were all clear. I never needed to rewind for missed dialogue even in loud scenes, nightclub scenes, or action scenes.

Music

This is kind of cheating, because it’s the theme song of “No Time To Die” (one of the movies I used to test the 1300XMK2), but it sounded utterly marvelous through this soundbar. Billie Eilish’s voice was melodic, textured, and I could hear her every breath, every layer of her vocal cords. The bass and percussion in the second verse were balanced and emotive.

On Qobuz, I played “Hexagons” by Muse, a track built over arpeggiated guitar notes and rolling synths. The vocals were clear and emotive, just like the previous track, and the percussion was clear. The bass wasn’t as well-rounded as you’d expect from some of the best speakers, but, of course, this is a soundbar.

JBL Bar 1300XMK2 review: Verdict

Overall, I have nothing bad to say about the JBL Bar 1300XMK2. Sure, the 4K pass-through is limited to 60Hz, but if you’re not a gamer, this might not be an issue. For me, and most other movie lovers, you’ll be oh so pleased with the Bar 13000XMK2.

I loved the previous version, and one of its two flaws has been fixed: audio doesn’t stutter after long pauses. While the second “flaw”, its lack of 4K pass-through at 120Hz, remains, I’m not overly concerned with this for movie lovers. Gamers might need to check out something like the Samsung Q990H ($1,1997).

If you value movie-theater-accurate sound, a wide soundstage, immersive Dolby Atmos, and great smart features (AirPlay, calibration), then the JBL Bar 1300XMK2 is the one for you. This is one of the easiest ways to get a full home theater experience at home.

Owning one of the best soundbars is the best way to upgrade your home cinema with very little headache, and there's zero competition. Although serious hi-fi nerds poo-poo soundbars, some people don't have the time, space, or patience to deal with AVRs, floorstanders, wall-mounted speakers, and the like. Sometimes a soundbar is all you want.

And boy, have I got the soundbar for you: the KEF XIO. The XIO is KEF's first foray into the home theater market, and it's a bullseye. Almost everything about this soundbar is excellent: the sound is seriously cinematic, it has powerful bass, and ridiculous Dolby Atmos. The main downside is the app, but if you're not the kind of person who uses soundbar apps, this will be a non-issue.

Here's why I recommend the KEF XIO for everyone willing to invest in their home sound — and how you can save £200/20% right now.

Sound as immersive as a movie theater

The KEF XIO is one of the most impressive soundbars I've ever tested, sonically. It has enviable width and height and makes movies come alive. I tested the soundbar with 4K UHD Blu-rays and standard 5.1 content on streaming services, and everything sounded excellent.

In my 4-star review, I wrote, "Dolby Atmos performance is utterly fantastic, especially in "Top Gun: Maverick". Every single flying scene had unbeatable height and width, and the planes seemed to fly over my head. I was incredibly impressed with this."

Certain movies were just made to be used with soundbars like this, and "Top Gun: Maverick" is one of them. If you grab this soundbar, you will not be disappointed if you use it with the right media.

I added, "Flying scenes sounded outrageously good; the bass rumbled in my chest when the jets took off". I could feel the planes moving around the room, could feel the engines in my chest, could hear the radio dialogue coming from behind me. I was seriously, seriously impressed with this soundbar.

The KEF XIO has a 5.1.2 channel configuration, which means it has five front- and up-firing speakers, one built-in subwoofer, and two side-firing speakers (that act as surrounds). This configuration is what gives that genuine Dolby Atmos performance — you want at least 3.1.2.

Another reason why the XIO sounds so good is its built-in, automatic calibration. KEF uses Intelligent Placement Technology built into the XIO. The soundbar uses microphones to map out your room (imagine a robot vacuum mapping out its territory) and then optimizes its sound based on things like placement height, wall size, and ceiling height.

Automatic calibration is a must-have if you want to get the very best out of your soundbar: the JBL Bar 1300X is also capable of this, as is Klipsch's Flexus line.

Save £200 if you're in the U.K.

For my fellow Brits, you can save £200 on the KEF XIO right now. It's not a discount, per se; more of a long-term reward. If you purchase before July 2nd, you get £200 cashback.

If you're in the U.S., you can save when you buy the XIO with a subwoofer and receiver — so a $3,399 purchase becomes $2,679. This isn't as good a deal as the U.K.'s — what if you don't want the subwoofer and receiver? — but I'll be on the lookout for Amazon deals.

KEF is also offering this discount for the following: Kube 8 MIE, Kube 10 MIE, Kube 12 MIE, KC62, but I haven't used these subwoofers, so I can't vouch for them. I can, however, vouch for the XIO — it is one of the most immersive, room-filling soundbars I've ever had the pleasure of testing.

Every sound effect was crystal-clear, every line of dialogue was pronounced and audible. As I've discussed above, the Dolby Atmos performance was seriously impressive and made me feel like I was at the movies.

If you can afford it, you won't be disappointed by the KEF XIO. It officially stole my heart.

We're tracking all the best Prime Day soundbar deals

I've sifted through the dregs of Amazon so you don't have to — and I've found savings for five of my highest-rated soundbars. As one of Tom's Guide's resident soundbar reviewers, I've tested enough of these home cinema bad boys to know exactly which ones are worth your time (and money).

It's not even Prime Day yet, and Samsung, Sony, and Bose have all slashed prices on some of their best soundbars, including the super-budget Sony HT-S100F, Bose Smart Soundbar (usually $550!), and my personal favorite mid-range soundbar, Samsung Q600F. I genuinely didn't believe this price when I saw it — $371. For a — really good — soundbar and subwoofer? Its launch price was $599! Is this real life?

I wouldn't wait for Prime Day with deals like this, but if you want to stick around for the Tom's Guide Savings Squad to save the day, we've selected the best Prime Day deals on everything from TVs to headphones to coffee makers to smart watches.

Best early Prime Day soundbar deals: Quick links

• Sony HT-S100F: was $118 now $98 @ Amazon
• Klipsch Flexus Core 100: was $349 now $249 @ Amazon
• Sonos Beam Gen 2: was $499 now $369 @ Amazon
• Samsung Q600F: was $599 now $371 @ Amazon
• Bose Smart Soundbar: was $549 now $399 @ Amazon

Best early Prime Day soundbar deals

We're tracking all the best Prime Day soundbar deals

The KEF XIO is one of the best soundbars I’ve ever had the pleasure of using. Review over, that’s me done for the day. I jest, I jest — but seriously, if you want the best single-product home cinema experience possible, you’ll want to know about the KEF XIO.

At 23 pounds, almost 50 inches long, and 6.5 inches deep, this is a pretty hefty soundbar. You’ll ideally want at least a 55-inch TV (if not bigger) and a large entertainment unit or TV stand to house it. But if you’ve got those things, a 4K Blu-ray player to take full advantage of the immense sound, and $2,500? Then, yes, you will not be disappointed by the KEF XIO.

I knocked off a star for some app connectivity issues, which I’ll go into later on, but if you’re all about getting the best home sound without fiddling around with playback modes, you’ll want to find out more in this KEF XIO review.

KEF XIO review: Specs

KEF XIO review: Price & availability

The KEF XIO is a whopping $2,499 from Amazon U.S. and £1,999 from Richer Sounds and Sevenoaks in the U.K..

This is a premium soundbar with premium sound to match. If $2,499 is a little out of your price range but you still want a “best of the best” home cinema setup, I’d recommend checking out the JBL Bar 1300X ($1,799), or the Samsung QS750F ($899).

I’ve also tested the Yamaha True X Surround 90A ($3,499), which is the best Dolby Atmos soundbar I’ve ever reviewed. However, it’s an eye-watering $1,000 more expensive than the KEF XIO, so I’d recommend the XIO over the True X Surround 90A.

KEF XIO review: Design

The KEF XIO is a long, heavy soundbar. You’ll need a 55” TV at minimum, or else it'll look at little odd having such a huge soundbar underneath. I tested it with a 55” Amazon Ember QLED, and it was almost too small. I’d recommend a 60-incher and up.

As you might expect for $2,499, the KEF XIO is fantastically well-made, with a minimalistic yet modern appearance. There’s a nice mesh panel that diffuses sibilant treble and looks stylish, and a control panel on the top of the soundbar. It’s available in black or gray — as you can see from the images, I tested gray — and I have no reservations about recommending it based on looks alone.

The KEF XIO has a subwoofer out (alongside a built-in sub), which you can theoretically connect to any compatible subwoofer. KEF offers the KW2 wireless adaptor, which can wirelessly connect any KEF subwoofer to the XIO and the Connect app. You can also get the KEF KC92 ($2,499) which connects to KEF’s smart system without a separate adaptor.

Controls

The remote is much bigger than Samsung, Bose, and Sony’s soundbar remotes. It’s also much more premium-looking than Bose’s remote. It’s not quite as innovative as Samsung’s new solar-powered remotes, but it still looks and feels great.

You can also use the KEF Connect app as a mobile remote (for certain inputs), which I’ll discuss in detail in the ‘App’ section below.

Features

As soon as I set up the XIO with the KEF Connect app — which was seamless and stress-free, phew — the soundbar automatically calibrated itself for my space. If you have particularly discerning ears, I’d recommend getting a soundbar with this calibration software built-in, like the JBL Bar 1300X, the KEF XIO, or the Klipsch Flexus Core 300.

After inputting room size and soundbar height information into the app, the soundbar adjusted itself using built-in microphones and a gyroscope. This is an essential feature if you’re after “perfect” sound quality.

The XIO offers a range of sound-related features, too. Of course, you’ve got the standard EQs: ‘Dialogue’, ‘Night’, ‘Movie’, and ‘Direct’. I pretty much only listened using ‘Movie’, as dialogue was already clear enough. As you’ll find out soon, the KEF XIO’s sound is astronomically good. I have nothing bad to say about the sound.

KEF XIO review: App

The KEF XIO uses KEF Connect, the app also used for KEF speakers like the LSX II ($1,499). The app is easy enough to use, and connecting to the soundbar itself was instantaneous. Some apps are better than others, though, and I feel Samsung’s SmartThings app has more options and is easier to navigate.

Even so, there’s a ton of customization options in KEF Connect — as long as you’re listening in certain playback modes. Weirdly, customization is not available in TV mode, only Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

This is due to HDMI CEC incompatibility, but I connected the XIO to HDMI eARC in two different TVs and had the same issue. I adjusted both TV settings, reset both TV CEC settings, but still, I was unable to control the soundbar via my phone while watching TV.

This is a major issue for such a premium soundbar — and the main thing holding it back from being a 5-star product.

KEF XIO review: Sound quality

I test every soundbar with “Top Gun: Maverick” on 4K UHD Blu-Ray (and then two extras), TV shows on Netflix, and music on Qobuz via AirPlay.

Movies

The KEF XIO is one of the best soundbars I’ve ever used for movies. I have nothing bad to say about the sound quality here.

During "Top Gun: Maverick", I listened with ‘Movie’ and ‘Dialogue’ EQ, but quickly switched back to ‘Movie’. The soundscape was incredibly wide during the first scene; I could feel the planes flying across the room, I could hear the high-frequency diegetic sound effects like whipping ropes and clinking metals without straining. The groovy bass of ‘Danger Zone’ pounded through the soundbar but let the softer sound effects shine.

Dialogue was clear, even without ‘Dialogue’ mode, even during the radio scenes. Flying scenes sounded outrageously good; the bass rumbled in my chest when the jets took off.

Dolby Atmos performance is utterly fantastic, especially in "Top Gun: Maverick". Every single flying scene had unbeatable height and width, and the planes seemed to fly over my head. I was incredibly impressed with this. For $2,499, you’d hope so — but I’m pleased to report that the soundbar is worth it.

I also watched “How to Train Your Dragon (2025)” and “The Running Man (2025)”. During “How to Train Your Dragon”, the soft footsteps across the mossy ground were audible over the choral OST. In one scene, I could hear diegetic murmured chatter from behind me, while the central characters’ conversation was front and center on the mix. The flying scenes were particularly impressive, with the brass-led soundtrack booming through the soundbar without overpowering the on-screen sounds.

In “The Running Man”, I could hear the static hum of the retro TVs and on-screen lights. High-frequency diegetic sound effects like typing, opening doors, and pinging bullets carried across the soundstage well.

Although this movie didn’t have the opportunity for super impressive Dolby Atmos — unlike "Top Gun: Maverick" — I was still immersed in the sound.

TV

To test standard mix, non-Atmos-mixed sound, I watched TV on Netflix and ITVX (a U.K. TV channel like BBC).

I watched “Yellowjackets” on ITVX, a horror/thriller show. The soundtrack has an eerie, string-heavy, bass-heavy production, and I never struggled to hear dialogue over the OST. All the string instruments were clear, with audible vibration in the notes, and a controlled yet propulsive bass response.

Even in basic 2.0 configuration (ITVX’s output), the show sounded fantastic.

I also watched “Yellowjackets” on Paramount+ on 5.1, and the difference was astounding. On Paramount+, the dialogue was richer and warmer, and the high-frequency sound effects were clearer.

While the KEF XIO performs well even with 2.0 channel output, it really shines with 5.1 and above (obviously).

Music

I would best describe music performance as ‘okay’. No soundbar really excels with music — it’s not what they’re designed to do — but the KEF XIO isn’t particularly bad or good.

‘Genesis’ by Grimes had great treble performance; the synth notes tinkled around the room like a glitch-pop fairy powered by Ableton and hallucinogens. Although I longed for a bit more oomph in the bass, I would have no qualms about listening to music like this while cleaning or cooking.

After, I switched genre to rock and played ‘Unravelling’ by Muse. Again, I wanted a touch more bass, but the vocals and synth arpeggios sounded divine. You won’t be filling any floors with music like this, but, again — it’s a soundbar.

For blockbuster movies, and even standard-defintion TV shows, the KEF XIO is a sure-fire winner. It sounds sublime.

KEF XIO review: Verdict

If you’re willing to overlook potential app connectivity issues — I personally never lean towards downloading ‘smart’ apps, so this is a non-issue for me — then you won’t be disappointed with the KEF XIO. This is a mighty, mighty soundbar. It’d be a great centerpiece of your home cinema setup.

The soundbar has enviable width and height, with unbeatable dialogue clarity and powerful bass that doesn’t overpower subtle high-frequency sound effects. The XIO is everything I want in a soundbar, and I have zero reservations about recommend it.

If you can afford it, the XIO is a formidable sonic beast that will mark its territory fearlessly. Can you get similar enough performance for less? Sure. Will those alternatives make you go “Ooh, that sounds so good”? Probably not. It’s gotta be the KEF XIO.

The World Cup is the biggest worldwide sporting event of the year, and if you're a soccer fan, you're going to want to make sure you don't miss a thing. We've already got our favorite TV deals down pat, so let's turn our focus to the equally important soundbars.

If you want great sound quality for less, I've rounded up my favorite 5 cheap soundbars, including the $53 Majority Naga 60 and the top-tier $99 Sony HT-S100F. Although these soundbars don't have "premium" features like Dolby Atmos or AirPlay/Google Cast, they're a fantastic upgrade from tinny, thin TV speakers — and more than enough for the World Cup.

Because the World Cup is such a rare event, it's the perfect occasion to go all out. I remember the run-up to the 2010 World Cup like it was yesterday. Until the day before kick-off, we had a tiny, very '90s TV with four channels. Then my dad returned from Curry's (the U.K.'s Best Buy) with a lovely flatscreen and announced we would be watching the World Cup in style. Of course, England didn't win, but at least we saw the players' tears in HD.

Which soundbar is best for me?

If you're on a super low budget, I'd recommend the Majority Naga 60. I reviewed this unbelievably cheap soundbar last year and was genuinely blown away by the sound. Of course, it doesn't sound as rich or warm as, say, the Bose Smart Soundbar ($549) — but it's literally $500 cheaper.

For $50, it doesn't get much better than this.

If you've got a little more to spend, you should definitely look at the Sony HTS-100F. I love this fierce little soundbar. It's loud, with fantastic dialogue clarity, and would be my personal preference from this list.

Then, if you've got a little more moolah in your pocket, I'd suggest going for the JBL Bar 2.0. On sale, it's just $149, but it has an MSRP of $219. This soundbar has immersive, room-filling sound and Dolby Digital — kind of like "fake" Dolby Atmos.

At the higher end, the Samsung B650 also will not disappoint you. This $250 soundbar has surprisingly excellent surround sound with DTS:Virtual X and super-clear dialogue.

For those who really value a big brand, the Bose TV speaker is the best choice. This $289 soundbar combines classic Bose sound quality with an 100W speaker and a dedicated vocal enhancer — perfect for watching sports.

Which soundbar would you go for? Personally, I'd get the Sony HTS-100F — it's one of the best bang-for-buck soundbars on the market right now.

The world of soundbars has gotten a whole lot better over the past few years. The likes of the Sonos Beam Gen 2 have made it easier to get Dolby Atmos and a reasonably vibrant sound without having to spend thousands of dollars. Sony's take on this is the Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 6.

The Theatre Bar 6 is designed for those who want to cut out the fuss of improving their living room audio. Sure, it doesn't have fancy features like rear speakers, but it still comes with a wireless subwoofer for improved bass, and you can often find it for less than $600. That said, it's lacking some features that some of the best soundbars offer.

Is the Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 6 worth buying, or should you look elsewhere for Atmos? I tested the Bravia Theater 6 Bar to find out.

Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 6 review: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? A compact Dolby Atmos soundbar that comes with a wireless subwoofer
• Who is it for? Folks who want to cut out the fuss of improving their living room audio.
• What does it cost? $699 / £449
• What do we like? Its sleek design and inclusion of a wireless subwoofer
• What don’t we like? The Bar 6 leaves a lot to be desired in the low end and it’s missing wireless features like AirPlay 2.

Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 6 review: Price and availability

Sony offers the Bravia Theatre Bar 6 at $699 or £449, which puts it squarely in mid-range territory — comfortably above the budget options, but also far below the high-end alternatives, including some of the options in Sony's lineup.

Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 6 review: Design

As a mid-range soundbar, the Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 6 is pretty no-fuss in terms of design and setup. It’s a sleek black bar that measures 37.5 inches wide, 2.6 inches high, and 4.4 inches deep. That's bigger than some of the ultra-compact soundbar models out there, but also more compact than larger models like the Sonos Arc Ultra. It was able to fit between the legs of a 65-inch TV that I tested it with, but only just, and if your TV is smaller, or even if you have a model with narrower leg placement, you might need to move the soundbar in front of those legs instead of between them.

Sony actually includes a set of detachable feet that are designed to sit on the legs of some of its Bravia TVs, which is a nice touch for those in Sony's ecosystem.

On the top of the soundbar are small windows for the up-firing speakers, while the rest of the speakers' drivers fire out towards the front and sides. The front corners are rounded while the back corners are sharper, which is a nice design touch. On the back you'll find HDMI and optical ports, but that's it, apart from a power input. There’s only one HDMI port — so no HDMI passthrough.

The subwoofer offers a similar build quality and overall look to the soundbar, made from the same materials and in the same color. It is a little larger than the subwoofer that comes with some soundbars, but not overly so, measuring 8.31inches wide, 15.31 inches high, and 16.94 inches deep. You'll want to think about where you want to place it in your living room, though.

Last but not least is the remote, which is very simple. It's small and offers controls for power, input, volume, bass volume, night mode, and mute. If you connect your soundbar through HDMI eARC, you probably won't need to use the included remote all that much, as you'll be able to change volume using your TV's remote. But if you do prefer a separate remote for the soundbar, you'll get one, which is nice.

Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 6 review: Setup

Setting everything up is incredibly easy. All you do is plug the power in and connect the HDMI port to your TV's HDMI eARC port. If you're using a compatible Sony Bravia TV, it'll detect and connect to it right away, but even if not, when connected through HDMI eARC, your TV should know to output audio to the soundbar.

Setting up the subwoofer is very easy too. All you have to do is plug it in and the soundbar should automatically connect to it without you actually having to do anything.

Once you've connected the soundbar to your TV, you'll want to connect it to the app, and this is very easy as well. You don't even actually have to create an account if you don't want to, though doing so will give you additional controls and features. After you download the Sony Bravia Connect app, you'll be walked through connecting the soundbar to the app through Bluetooth, which took me under one minute, as the app can automatically detect the soundbar and initiate a connection.

Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 6 review: Connectivity and controls

One area where the Theatre Bar 6 doesn't quite match up to the competition is in connectivity. Of course, the main way to connect the soundbar is through HDMI eARC — which is how most soundbars connect to TVs these days.

Where it's lacking is in additional connectivity. There's no 3.5mm port for connecting something like a phone through a wired connection. Plus, if you want to connect your phone wirelessly, you're stuck with Bluetooth 5.3 and not a Wi-Fi-based standard like Apple's AirPlay 2 or Google Cast.

Wi-Fi-based connectivity is an area where budget soundbars often compromise, but there are plenty of options in this price range like the Sonos Beam Gen 2, which does have more advanced wireless connectivity for those who want to integrate their soundbar with a multi-room setup. In other words, if you're looking for a soundbar that will work with other speakers for whole-home audio, the Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 6 probably isn't the soundbar for you.

The app in general is pretty bare bones, and that means that you won't get a ton of customization options. You will get controls for things like standby modes and DSEE, but you won't get an EQ that you can use to more finely tune the audio. That's a little disappointing.

Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 6 review: Performance

The Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 6 offers a 3.1.2 channel configuration, which includes three front-firing drivers coupled with two up-firing drivers and a wireless subwoofer for the low end. Those up-firing drivers allow it to support Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, which isn't necessarily a given in this price range, but also not uncommon.

I found the overall audio response to be quite good. The drivers and their placement made for an immersive sound overall, including for both music and movies. The soundstage was decently wide when listening to music, and while you can certainly get more immersion from systems with rear speakers, I found the height effect on offer by the Theatre Bar 6 to be better than expected for a mid-range soundbar. It helped make the sound effects in Avengers: Endgame more immersive than they otherwise would be, especially when it came to some of the higher-frequency effects during the final fight scene.

Now, to be clear, the height effect that you'll get on the Theatre Bar 6 isn't perfect — and it's not necessarily ultra-convincing when it comes to hearing specific elements in the mix, but you do at least get some immersion from the soundbar when watching movies in Dolby Atmos. In other words, while it definitely adds a sense of height to the mix, it doesn’t quite separate out those elements in a way that might allow you to pinpoint exactly what you’re hearing in those height channels – especially in dense mixes, like the aforementioned final scene in Avengers: Endgame.

The subwoofer definitely helps allow the system to produce deep frequencies compared to systems that don't come with a subwoofer, but I wouldn't say it's the most powerful subwoofer out there, despite its somewhat large size. It can get reasonably loud, but its frequency range is a little limited, meaning that it can sound a little muddy and overly boosted in the low mids and upper bass rather than extending deep into the bass spectrum. That’s especially true in already bass-heavy tracks, like Kendrick Lamar’s Loyalty, in which the bass somewhat overpowered other elements in the track.

Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 6 review: Verdict

The Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 6 is a well-built, decently compact soundbar with a solid audio response overall. It offers good spatial audio for the price, and it's nice that it comes with a subwoofer at all, when plenty of others at this price point don't. That said, the subwoofer leaves a lot to be desired in the low end, and the high frequencies aren't as crisp as I would have liked. On top of that, the soundbar is missing wireless features like AirPlay 2, limiting how much it can integrate with the rest of your speaker ecosystem.

Those things don't mean it's not worth consideration — it just depends what your priorities are. If you want a no-fuss soundbar and don't care much about getting something with Wi-Fi connectivity that can support, then the Bravia Theatre Bar 6 is actually a pretty compelling option. But, if you want more in the way of features, and a slightly better-rounded audio response, then something like the Sonos Beam Gen 2 is worth going for instead — especially as it allows you to add a subwoofer down the line anyway.

LG Sound Suite — a new blend of LG audio hardware and Dolby FlexConnect software — blew me away at CES when I saw it in early January. The technology, though still in its infancy, is going to change the way we think about surround sound as it allows you to place speakers anywhere in your room and get calibrated spatial audio sound tuned to wherever you want to sit.

Part and parcel of the technology is the LG Sound Suite H7 Soundbar. Technically, it’s possible to run the Sound Suite software through an LG C5, G5 OLED or one of LG’s new 2026 TVs, but this soundbar enables any TV with an eARC port to partake in FlexConnect’s … well, flexibility.

As the brains behind the brawn of LG’s new platform, the H7 has a lot to offer. Unfortunately, this best soundbar competitor itself isn’t quite as versatile as the technology driving it. Here’s why.

LG Sound Suite H7 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A Dolby Atmos soundbar that can connect wirelessly to up to four FlexConnect speakers and a subwoofer
• Who is it for? Anyone looking for an alternative to Sonos or Samsung’s all-in-one audio boxes
• What does it cost? $999 / £899
• What do we like? The FlexConnect integration enables you to set up surround speakers anywhere in your room
• What don’t we like? The aforementioned surround speakers don’t come in the box and will set you back an additional $249 apiece

LG Sound Suite H7 review: Price and release date

The LG Sound Suite H7 is one of those rare products that gets announced at CES in early January and then becomes available to buy shortly after the show ends; it went on sale in mid-January 2026 at a launch price of $999 at Best Buy and Amazon.

Of course, if you only buy the soundbar, you’re not really getting Sound Suite’s full functionality — you’ll at least need a few of the Sound Suite M5 or M7 Speakers to go with it. Those will set you back an additional $249 or $399, respectively. Finally, if you want to add a subwoofer to the mix, you’re looking at an additional $599 for the Sound Suite W7 sub.

If you went all-in on a full Sound Suite system, you’re looking at around $3,200 — much more than it would cost for a comparable Dolby Atmos system if you build it piecemeal.

This is similar, in some ways, to how a Sonos system works. You’d start by buying the Sonos Arc Ultra for close to $1,000, then you’d tack on a Sonos Sub Mini ($399), a pair of Sonos Era 300 ($379 apiece) or both. You’ll get a more robust sound that way, but you can see where LG got its Sound Suite pricing model from.

Your other option for a similar setup would be the Samsung HW-Q990F, an 11.1.4 system-in-a-box that includes a subwoofer and two satellite speakers for $1,800. This is the cheaper option, but will offer less flexibility in speaker placement than LG’s new Sound Suite system.

LG Sound Suite H7 review: Design and controls

LG designed the Sound Suite H7 as a 9.1.6-channel soundbar; it’s impressive that LG managed to cram 12 speakers and eight passive radiators into the soundbar’s 47.2 x 2.5 x 5.6 inch chassis. There’s not enough room between those speakers to truly feel like distinct channels — an issue I’ll cover more when we talk about its performance — but it certainly packs a punch.

Spin it around to the backside and you’ll see the port…er, ports, technically because there are two of them. Only two of them. There’s the HDMI-In port that you’ll connect via a cable to the TV and a USB 3.0 port that can be used to host local media.

There are no other ports here. No optical audio (likely omitted because Dolby Atmos requires an eARC connection) or HDMI passthrough ports. The latter is unfortunate, as it means you’re going to lose a port on your TV without any form of recompense and it’s something we see often on rival soundbars.

For better and worse, every connection besides the TV is wireless. The satellite speakers and subwoofer connect cable-free, and music playback comes courtesy of AirPlay 2 and Google Chromecast. There's even Bluetooth for more old-school wireless connections. Unfortunately, wireless connectivity on board the H7 isn't always the most stable, which creates issues.

LG Sound Suite H7 review: Features

The reason you’d buy an LG Sound Suite speaker instead of, say, something from Sonos or Samsung, is for its Dolby FlexConnect features. The ability to place speakers anywhere in the room and have them play perfectly attuned spatial audio never fails to impress me.

Of course, even better than simply having a room that’s set up for spatial audio is having a central “sweet spot” where you get the best sound possible. LG has enabled this through a technology it’s calling Sound Follow, and it’s like having a calibrator on-call 24/7. Sitting in the sweet spot had audible advantages to sitting on the periphery of the system, and became a spot everyone in the house would race towards when we sat down to watch a movie.

When it comes to wireless playback, the H7 supports Bluetooth connectivity alongside Apple AirPlay2 and Google Cast. If you want to get really fancy, there’s also Tidal Connect and Spotify Connect supported right out of the box as well.

Of course, LG’s ThinQ app is the bridge between you and the soundbar. This is the place you’ll go to get the speakers connected to your Wi-Fi network and, eventually, paired together. There’s not a lot of functionality in the app, but it’s here you’ll find the all-important Sound Follow feature. If you ever need to change the Wi-Fi settings, you’ll come back to the app to do that, but otherwise I didn’t find myself using it all that often.

LG Sound Suite H7 review: Sound quality

As a standalone soundbar, I wasn’t wildly impressed with the H7 — it’s loud but not well-rounded. But pairing it up with the M7 speakers was a totally different experience.

My biggest issue with multi-channel performance — and this applied whether I was watching a movie or listening to music — is that the speakers would sometimes drop the connection. Each speaker requires its own internet connection, and that can lead to just one of them dropping out. They’d usually re-connect within a few seconds, but it wasn’t the best user experience.

Movies

To see how it fared with movies, I loaded up the Dolby Atmos-enabled “Inside Out 2” on Disney Plus. This film is not only a visual treat — and absolutely heartwarming — but it’s got a great audio track that’s perfect for speaker testing.

I noticed right away that, on its own, the H7 couldn’t convey convincing Dolby Atmos. That’s not uncommon on unibody soundbars, but it was slightly more painful given the price. Dialogue was mixed, with some scenes having extremely easy to hear conversations, while other scenes required me to turn up the volume to hear what was being said.

Without a subwoofer, I didn’t get a lot of low-end extension, but again, this isn’t uncommon for a unibody soundbar. Still, musical swells in the movie’s main theme and certain action sequences (pretty much anytime there was hockey involved) all sounded great.

Music

As with movie soundtracks, bass frequencies can get lost while listening to standard two-channel albums — but thankfully, the soundstage is fairly wide thanks to those 12 speakers and eight passive radiators. Placing instruments in their exact locations was a struggle, but live albums like David Gilmour’s “Live at Pompeii” felt truly immersive. This is the first time I’ve heard a live album on a soundbar system and walked away impressed.

Studio albums like The Format’s new “Boycott Heaven” also leaned into the soundbar’s strengths — Nate Ruess’ impressive vocal range sounded excellent across the board.

Overall, the H7’s performance is a lot like Ruess’ former band — exciting and dynamic, but just missing that special something that we’ve seen in the Sonos Arc Ultra.

LG Sound Suite H7 review: Verdict

The LG Sound Suite H7 is the start of something big. I’m still genuinely amazed by Dolby Atmos FlexConnect and LG’s implementation of the technology, despite the connectivity issues I faced. This is the first time I’ve ever wanted to use a soundbar for a live album instead of my stereo speakers. That’s a massive achievement.

Problematically, however, the soundbar is a bit rich. At a lower price or in a total package that includes all the speakers and a subwoofer for under $1,800, the H7 and its Sound Suite stablemates would be an easier recommendation. But the fact that you can get a whole surround system in the form of the Samsung HW-Q990F for a fraction of the cost makes it a lukewarm deal in a hotbed of competition.

Once it drops down in price, I’ll be more forgiving of its shortcomings and I’m very much looking forward to seeing FlexConnect blossom in the next few years.

Bose has shown us time and time again that it can build some truly great soundbars — both the Bose Smart and Bose Smart Ultra soundbars being good examples. But in 2026, the brand wants to take things to another level with the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar.

Although I’ve only had a few days with it, the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar feels like it’s a true Sonos Arc Ultra competitor. It sounds great both with and without the additional Lifestyle Ultra Subwoofer, and I was hard-pressed to hear anything wrong with it.

Is it time for the Arc Ultra to finally give up its crown as the best soundbar?

TL;DR

• What is it? A new Spatial Audio soundbar from Bose
• How much will it cost? $1,099 for the black or white model
• What does it work with? Any streaming service that supports Google Cast, Apple AirPlay, Spotify Connect, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth

Price and availability

The Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar was announced on May 5 2026, and became available to pre-order at Bose.com shortly afterwards.

At $1,099, it’s the most expensive soundbar in Bose’s range, but it’s similar in specs and power to the $999 Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar and is exactly the same price as its closest competitor, the Sonos Arc Ultra.

If you want something a bit more manageable in price, the 3.0-channel Bose TV Soundbar starts at $279, while the 5.0-channel Bose Smart Soundbar can be had for $549.

Design

Bose being Bose, the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar only comes in two color options: black and white… Excuse me, Arctic White.

The top of the soundbar is divided into two layers. There’s a fabric layer that wraps all the way around the front and sides of the soundbar and a glossy section that sits on top and acts almost as a mirror to the TV.

Spin it around to the back and you'll see a strange array of ports. You've got the essential HDMI-in port that you'll want to connect to the eARC HDMI port on your TV, but also connections for Ethernet, Bass and Data, as well as a USB-C port for service.

I'm not sure I totally understand why some of these ports are here and I would trade any one of the aforementioned extras for an HDMI passthrough that could link up to a Blu-ray player or game console.

On the top right of the soundbar are the touch-sensitive controls laid out in a large circular indentation. You'll mostly use your phone to control playback, but these are handy to use in a pinch.

Audio

According to Bose, the speaker features six full-range drivers (two up-firing and four front-facing) alongside an additional center tweeter and two proprietary Bose PhaseGuide drivers inside the main bar. On the back are two QuietPort acoustic openings that enable what Bose calls "CleanBass" technology.

The specs are all very impressive on paper. But how does the speaker actually sound? I haven’t put the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar through my entire testing regimen yet, but I’m fairly pleased with what I’ve heard from it so far.

To kick things off, I started with songs from Qobuz, my streaming service of choice. First up: “The Mountain” by Gorillaz. Its blend of sitars and flutes fluttered wonderfully out of the soundbar, never too shrill for my ears and perfectly balanced. The soundstage wasn’t the largest, especially if I toggled off the subwoofer, but the clarity was great.

To test the bass response, I threw on “Barbra Streisand” by Duck Sauce. If you need an impromptu dance party in your living room, I highly recommend giving this a listen. The bass response wasn’t the greatest with just the soundbar, but there was enough oomph there to get me bobbing along with the beat.

Testing some classical music, “Star Wars: A New Hope Main Title” was up next — and I knew this one was going to be difficult for the soundbar.

Unfortunately, to make classical music to sound like you’re listening to it at the philharmonic, you need a wide soundstage. It’s here the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar fell a little flat. There was nothing wrong with the sound profile itself, mind you, it just felt cramped. Admittedly, this is an issue with nearly all soundbars, but I was hoping Bose’s CustomTune technology would widen things a bit.

Last but not least was “INDUSTRY BABY” by Lil Nas X, a perennial banger that should have the windows and walls shaking with its deep sub-bass. Without the subwoofer enabled, the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar got pretty darn low, but it wasn’t until I flipped back on the subwoofer that I really got the walls to shake.

To see how dialogue sounded, I threw on a Premiere League game. With the SpeechClarity setting at Medium, the announcers were crystal clear and the cheers of the audience were audible, but not overwhelming. This is an area that I'll really dive into with more movies and shows when I write the final review early next week.

Setup and smart features

Setup for the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar is done via the Bose app. The whole process can be done in just a few minutes and requires little technical knowledge to pull off. It also worked the first time, which is something I can’t say about every soundbar I’ve tested recently (cough, LG Sound Suite H7, cough).

Inside the app are a number of very simple tuning options. There’s a three-band EQ (treble, mids, bass) and adjustments for height and surround. You’ll want to adjust the height of the sound to match the distance to your TV. If the soundbar sits five feet below the TV, crank this setting up to +5. Need the sound lower? Go in the other direction to -5.

If you pick up the subwoofer to go with it, you’ll be able to toggle it on and off via the app as well as increase its output if you feel the bass is a little lacking. I had mine set to a +2 for the majority of my hands-on time, but I occasionally cranked it up higher to see if I could rattle windows. (I was able to and my wife was none-too-pleased about it.)

You’ll also come into the app to re-configure your setup if you shell out for a pair of Bose Lifestyle Ultra speakers or need to change the source of your playback from HDMI to Bluetooth or AirPlay.

Outlook

I'll need to spend some more time with it before I can say definitively whether this overtakes the Sonos Arc Ultra, but I think it's going to be exceptionally close.

Features like Bose's custom tuning and SpeechClarity are genuinely helpful, and I think music sounds fantastic for a soundbar. There are some minor issues like the small soundstage and lack of an HDMI passthrough port that are troubling, however.

Although it's a bit pricey, the Lifestyle Ultra is a darn good entry in Bose's storied soundbar lineup, and it's one I'm excited to fully test over the next week or two.

Muffled TV dialogue is so last year. In 2026, we're not going to resort to using subtitles or accepting that we can barely hear our TV shows and movies. And how are we going to do that? By getting one of the best soundbars, of course.

Soundbars are essential for home theater setups, even if all you watch is Netflix and YouTube. TV speakers are seriously so tinny and flat and make everything sound squashed. This isn't really fixable — the speakers trapped inside flatscreen TVs (99% of all modern TVs, your QLEDs, your OLEDs, your mini LEDs) are tiny because they have to be.

But there's a fix! You can upgrade your home theater sound with a soundbar. You don't even have to spend a ton of money — one of my go-to recommendations is the $99 Sony HT-S100F. If you've got money to spend, though, I've also got the multi-channel Samsung QS750F on this list.

My top soundbar recommendations

How do I choose the best soundbar for me?

Right, so the most important thing you need to consider is budget. How much money are you willing to spend on your soundbar? Around $100 will get you a decent 2-channel configuration like the Sony HT-S100F. I've not tested any Amazon-brand cheap soundbars so I can't vouch for them personally — but the Sony HT-S100F is fantastic for the price, with clear, audible dialogue and surprising height. You won't get floor-shaking bass, of course, but for $100, it's a great option.

If you've got money to spend, I'd recommend getting the Samsung QS750F. This 5.1.2 soundbar's subwoofer and rears make it one of the best-value soundbars on the market. Although it's $899 at full price (discounted to $799 right now), I've tested $600 that are just that — a soundbar. No sub, no rears. The QS750F is basically a cheat code to movie theater sound for less.

Next, you want to look at space. How big is your TV? How big is your TV stand?

If you have a 43-inch TV, you don't want a large soundbar like the Polk Audio Signa S4 ($449, 41 inches long). But if you have a 65-inch TV, you do want a large soundbar like the Polk Audio Signa S4.

A small soundbar like the Bose Smart Soundbar ($549, 27 inches long) or the Samsung B650 ($397, 33 inches long) will look weird with a 75 incher, but it looks great with my 55-inch Panasonic MZ1500.

Lastly, you want to think about performance. Unfortunately, budget and space will mostly decide this for you. If you want a serious home theater setup with cinematic Dolby Atmos and room-configuration technology, well, you're not going to get that for under $800 — and that's cheap.

The most immersive soundbar system I've ever tested is the JBL Bar 1300X ($1,799), but it's just too expensive for most people.

For most people, I'd recommend the Samsung Q600F, a gorgeous midrange soundbar that combines crystal-clear dialogue, powerful bass, and immersion without breaking the bank (but you miss out on smart features like Wi-Fi playback).

Which soundbar tickles your fancy? Let me know in the comments!

More from Tom's Guide

• I got my first turntable six months ago — and I've never felt so connected to music (even if my bank account is crying)
• Best cheap noise-canceling headphones
• I've been collecting vinyl for over a decade — 12 products I think you should add to your cart this Record Store Day

Most TV setups aren't complete without one of the best soundbars. As someone who watches a lot of TV and plays video games on it too, I'm well aware that a TV's built-in speakers can never sound as good as a dedicated soundbar. I don't know about you, but when I'm curled up on my couch, I want to feel like I'm at the movies instead — and the Marshall Heston 60 makes me feel just like that.

The Heston 60 is one of Marshall's two soundbars — the other being the Heston 120 — and it's a compact, mid-range option for those short on space.

As compact soundbars go, the Sonos Beam Gen 2 is the undisputed king, so why would you buy the Marshall? It looks good, sounds good, it's got Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support to boot. Here's why you're going to love it.

A sight for sore eyes

I've tested my fair share of audio gear — headphones, earbuds, speakers, soundbars, you name it. But I've never drooled over a brand's product as much as I have over Marshall's. The British manufacturer's design philosophy is one of sophistication and class, and the Heston 60 is no different.

Available in either black or cream with gold accents, the soundbar looks and feels premium — from its tactile buttons to the soft mesh grille covering.

As I mentioned earlier, the Heston 60 is ideal for small spaces as it measures 28.74 x 4.88 x 2.68 inches and weighs 6.08lbs. It's easy to move it around if needed, and it fits well with sub-55-inch TVs. It's wall-mountable and the Marshall logo is magnetic, so you can stick it wherever you like on the soundbar depending on your setup. I've never seen this feature on a soundbar before and now I wish all of them had it.

It should be noted that the Heston 60 isn't as petite as the Sonos Beam Gen 2, but by soundbar standards, it's still the ideal space-saving solution. The Heston 60, like the Beam Gen 2, is built extremely well too, and looks like it could stand the test of time. That's the least you'd expect from a soundbar that costs $699 / £499, of course.

10/10 performance across the board

It's not just a pretty face. The Marshall Heston 60, like many other Marshall products, sounds extremely good, and you shouldn't be fooled by its size. The Heston 60 is well-endowed, featuring two 25W and five 5W Class D amplifiers which help it produce a maximum power output of 56W.

Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support mean you're engulfed by immersive, spacious soundscapes where sounds are placed precisely above or around you. You feel like you're at the cinema, to be honest.

On paper, the Heston 60 sounds near-perfect, but is it any good in real world usage? Absolutely. 'Top Gun: Maverick' is the benchmark film for soundbar testing here at Tom's Guide, so that's the first movie I watched. The metal clinking of the fighter jets and the ropes whooshing as the planes took off in the opening sequence was loud and clear, and I could feel the bass response in my chest.

The balance between the various frequencies sounded sublime, and dialogue separation was excellent too, especially in 'F1: The Movie' where each commentator's, driver's and pitlane engineer's voice was discernible and clear.

There are four sound modes for users to enjoy, and though the bass is reduced in Voice mode, the low rumbling of the cars was enough to provide a good backbone to the film.

It's worth noting that I watched these two movies on 4K UHD Blu-Ray, but the Heston 60 performs formidably even in non-4K UHD movies and TV shows. Clear sibilance and plosives made it a treat to watch 'Agatha All Along,' and the Salem Seven's shrieks and bone-crunching noises worked harmoniously with the bass to deliver a spine-chilling soundscape. You can, of course, check out my in-depth sound analysis in my full Marshall Heston 60 review.

But is it worth the price?

The Sonos Beam Gen 2 retails for $499 / £449 but you can often find it down to $349 / £349 during sales events, like Black Friday. This isn't surprising, of course, given that the soundbar came out all the way back in 2021.

The Marshall Heston 60, in comparison, was released towards the tail-end of 2025, so it hasn't received any major discounts yet. You can grab it for $699 / £499.

I know that sounds like a lot of money, and it's $200 more than what the Beam Gen 2 costs. While you miss out on voice assistant support, you gain DTS:X support instead, which is arguably a better feature to have. Both soundbars are also compatible with their respective subwoofers — the Sub Gen 3 ($799) for the Sonos and the Heston Sub 200 ($599). This brings the price of each package to $1,298. If I had to choose one, it would have to be the Heston 60.

In my opinion, the Heston 60 delivers more consistent Dolby Atmos performance but the Beam Gen 2 boasts slightly improved dynamics. You don't get as many connectivity options on the Beam Gen 2 either — there's no 3.5mm aux in, USB-C or Bluetooth which you'll find on the Heston 60. You can stream music over Wi-Fi, yes, but I like the additional option of streaming over Bluetooth or using the USB-C and 3.5mm jack for wired playback.

It's pricy, but it's well worth it.

More from Tom's Guide

• Marshall’s compact soundbar isn’t just a pretty face — I tested it and it feels like a genuine threat to the Sonos ecosystem
• Sonos Beam Gen 2 review
• Best soundbars in 2026

Size isn’t everything, and one should never underestimate how powerful a compact soundbar can really be. Just look at the Marshall Heston 60. Marshall’s second-ever soundbar is a joy to not only look at, but to listen to as well. Featuring Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support, it creates spacious, immersive soundscapes. And even without the optional subwoofer, bass response is nothing short of outstanding.

With plenty of wired and wireless connectivity options available and a user-friendly companion app to boot, the Heston 60 is a masterclass in compact soundbars. It takes the fight to Sonos and Bose and emerges victorious. While there’s no physical remote included and it’s a little on the pricey side in the U.S., it’s worth the premium.

To find out if this is the best soundbar for you, read my full Marshall Heston 60 review.

Marshall Heston 60 review: Specs

Marshall Heston 60 review: Price & availability

The Marshall Heston 60 is one of the British brand’s two soundbars, and the little sibling of the Marshall Heston 120 ($999). It retails for $699 at Amazon U.S. / £499 at Argos U.K., meaning it’s a mid-range soundbar. It comes in either Black or Cream, and you also have the option to buy the optional Heston Sub 200 for $599 / £429 if you want more ground-shaking bass.

As a Dolby Atmos soundbar with DTS:X support, the Heston 60 finds itself competing with the likes of the Sony HT-S2000 ($499), but the Sony is nowhere near as compact. The Heston 60’s most notable opponents, then, are the Sonos Beam Gen 2 ($449) and the Bose Smart Soundbar ($499). All three are competent soundbars, but the Heston 60, in my opinion, offers more bang for your buck than the Bose, and is on-par with the Sonos. It’s a bit on the pricey side in the U.S. but if you want a classy compact soundbar, it’s worth the spend.

Marshall Heston 60 review: Design & features

• Wall-mountable and ideal for small and large TVs
• Plenty of connectivity options
• Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support for immersive sound

Marshall knows how to make a good-looking product. We’ve seen it with the Middleton II, the Monitor III, and the Bromley 750, and now with the Heston 60. It maintains a low-profile, classy design with gold accents and amp-like tactile controls. The Heston 60 measures 28.74 x 4.88 x 2.68 inches, so it’s great for small living spaces. It also weighs 6.08lbs so it’s light enough to move around as needed.

All the buttons are well-laid out and signposted, so you should have no issues getting to grips with them. They give tactile feedback when pressed. Alongside its good looks, the soundbar is built extremely well and feels premium.

My favorite design feature is the magnetic Marshall logo, which you can attach to any part of the soundbar, so you can optimize the look for wall-mounted use if you want.

Connectivity & setting up

There’s no dearth of connectivity options on the Heston 60. Around the back, you’ll find an HDMI eARC alongside 3.5mm aux in, RCA mono (sub out) and USB-C ports. Setting the soundbar up couldn’t be easier, as all you need to do is plug it into your TV and start watching your favorite movies and TV shows.

For wireless fans, you also get Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6, enabling you to play music over AirPlay, Google Cast, Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect. This gives the Heston 60 a leg-up over the Sony HT-S2000 which doesn’t support music streaming using Wi-Fi.

It’s important to note that, like the Sonos Beam Gen 2, the Heston 60 doesn’t come with a physical remote — both lose here to the HT-S2000. Instead, you download the Marshall app on your smartphone to customize and control the soundbar, just like you would via a remote.

The app is extremely user-friendly and sports a clean interface. Pairing it with the soundbar takes seconds, and once you’re set up, you can customize the equalizer, swap between sources, calibrate it according to the room it’s in, and more. If you already use Marshall gear, chances are you'll be using the app already. This'll doubtless be an issue for some, but ask yourself: do you really need another remote to lose in your couch’s crevices?

Features

The Heston 60 packs Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support, for immersive, spacious soundscapes. The latter places sounds precisely around or above you, making you feel like you’re at the movies. DTS:X compatibility is missing from the Sonos Beam Gen 2, which makes the Heston 60 a more attractive option for cinephiles.

The Heston 60 is well-endowed, too, as this 5.1 soundbar is powered by two 25W and five 5W Class D amplifiers which help it produce a maximum power output of 56W — 14W more than the bigger Sony HT-S2000. The soundbar covers a frequency response range of 45Hz to 20KHz but if you want some extension below the 45Hz mark, I’d recommend grabbing the aforementioned Heston Sub 200. But even without the sub, the Heston 60 boasts powerful bass response.

One thing missing from the Heston 60 is voice assistant support, which means you can’t just ask it to do something with your words alone. This is something that I haven’t seen on the Sony HT-S2000 either, but is present on the Bose Smart Soundbar and the Sonos Beam 2nd Gen. Not a dealbreaker for me, personally, but something to consider before you buy.

Marshall Heston 60 review: Performance

• Crisp and clear dialogues
• Consistent Dolby Atmos performance
• Powerful bass even without subwoofer

To test the Marshall Heston 60, I watched a variety of movies and TV shows, and listened to music. In all three areas, it performed formidably, exceeding my expectations of what a compact soundbar is capable of.

Movies

I kicked things off by watching ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ on 4K UHD Blu-Ray. In the opening scene, the bass sounded peerless through the Heston 60. For a compact soundbar, the bass felt room-filling. Kenny Loggins’ ‘Danger Zone,’ which soundtracks the opening scene of fighter jets taking off, sounded just as it would through a pair of high-end headphones, and it wasn’t too loud that it overwhelmed the bassiness of the metal clinking and ropes whooshing.

I then watched the final mission sequence and the Dolby Atmos performed beautifully here. The sound of missiles leaving the jets was highly detailed, and the human grunts through the pilot’s oxygen mask sounded just as clear — and I could feel the anxiety of the ground engineers. I felt like the jets were flying right overhead, which made for an immersive experience. The balance between high-frequency sounds and the low-end impact was thoroughly enjoyable. The bass felt expansive and bigger than you’d expect of a soundbar this size.

The Heston 60 features four different modes: Music, Movie, Night and Voice. The above testing was conducted with the Movie mode enabled, and I then swapped to Voice mode to see how well dialogues were enhanced in ‘F1: The Movie.’ I was genuinely impressed with the separation of voices, when the commentators were chatting with each other and drivers were communicating with engineers in the pit lane. Even though the bass was reduced in this mode, the low rumbling of the cars provided a good backbone. The sound of tires burning on the tarmac and raindrops falling on the track was also discernible.

It’s important to note that unlike the Sony HT-S2000 with its S-Force Pro Front Surround, the Heston 60 doesn’t create a virtual wraparound effect, so it doesn’t feel like sounds are bouncing off the walls. While it isn’t as immersive, it’s still excellent, and isn’t a dealbreaker, especially for a soundbar this dinky.

TV

Not everyone has access to Blu-rays, so it’s important to evaluate the Heston 60’s performance with non-4K UHD TV. I watched a few episodes of ‘Agatha All Along’ on Disney+ . Vocal clarity was exceptional through the soundbar, with clear sibilance and plosives, and even when there were multiple characters speaking at the same time, I could hear each voice clearly. Voices didn’t bleed into one another either.

I also found the balance between spoken dialogue and the backing soundtrack and ambient sounds to be outstanding. The bass engulfed the area around the TV and the couch I was sitting on, and gave the show a great backbone. Spine-chilling scenes, like when the Salem Seven are descending upon Agatha’s house in episode two, felt terrifying, as their shrieks worked harmoniously with the bass to deliver a horror-esque soundscape. I appreciated the fact that the high-pitched screams in the treble didn’t pierce either.

Music

I listened to music over Wi-Fi and on Qobuz, with the Heston 60 set to Music mode. ‘Echoes’ by Pink Floyd sounded probably the best it ever has to me. The build-up to the first verse, with the multiple instruments, sounded atmospheric with every guitar string pluck loud but not too loud that it sounded unpleasant. The layered vocals, again, shone through the Heston 60, and the low-mids felt thick and textured.

‘Drag Path’ by Twenty One Pilots sounded just as exquisite, with the eerie background sounds traveling from the left to the right and vice versa. The Heston 60 created a sort of dome that did justice to the song’s claustrophobic yet grand vibe. Percussion and hi-hats felt vibrant but not overzealous, similar to what the clean treble sounds like through the Marshall Monitor III over-ear headphones.

Marshall Heston 60 review: Verdict

The Marshall Heston 60 is a triumph. If you want a compact soundbar that doesn’t take up much space but produces loud and powerful sound, this is the one to get. With tactile controls and gold accents, it’s a sight for sore eyes. Looks aren’t everything, of course, and the Heston 60 boasts outstanding movie and TV show performance too.

Dolby Atmos performance is consistent across the board, making you feel like you’re at the cinema. Dialogues sound loud and clear while the treble and bass sound well-balanced. Although the Heston 60 doesn’t come with a physical remote, the user-friendly companion app lets you change its settings and functions straight from your phone — and if you own other recent Marshall gear, you'll be acquainted with this app already.

Is it worth dropping nearly $700 on the Heston 60 if you’re in the States? If it’s top-notch build and a stunning design you’re after, there’s no two ways about it: this is the soundbar for you.

If you plan on using your TV's built-in speakers to watch every game during March Madness, you better plan on missing out on some key game details.

Whether it's a hard-to-hear announcer, inaudible band noise or the barely there chants in the crowd, TV speakers simply struggle with the multitude of fine details found in every broadcast.

The good news is that even the best soundbars aren't hefty investments and some models can be found for well under $500. Here's our top draft picks. For more deals, check out our guide to the best March Madness TV sales.

Quick Links

• shop all soundbars at Amazon
• shop all soundbars at Best Buy
• Samsung Q600F: was $699 now $449 @ Best Buy
• Klipsch Flexus Core 200: was $549 now $499 @ Amazon
• Bose Smart Soundbar: was $899 now $729 @ Amazon
• LG S90TR: was $1,199 now $796 @ Amazon
• Samsung Q990F: was $1,697 now $1,597 @ Amazon

Best soundbar deals

The best soundbars are, at their core, a compromise. You want better sound than your TV speakers, but you don't want to take up the same space as traditional HiFi or home theater speakers.

Of course, the higher up the soundbar ladder you get, the closer you get to the sound quality that traditional home theater speakers provide. You'll never quite get there from a soundbar alone — I've haven't yet tested a soundbar that's entirely sonically flawless, thanks to how much manufacturers have to pack into relatively small boxes — but each year we're getting closer and closer.

Case in point — Samsung's Q990F. It's a big soundbar that sounds huge and offers a fairly hefty bang-to-buck ratio. Look a little closer, however, and the compromises start to show. It turns out, we're still not there yet.

Samsung Q990F: The Good

If you like movies, you're in for a treat. The Q990F, for most people, sounds massive. The subwoofer adds that helpful hit of low end for explosions and car chases, and movie soundtracks sound great.

The Dolby Atmos (and other spatial formats) are well judged, sending elements to pretty much where you want them — at least, as well as a bar relying on room acoustics can.

The physical surround speakers add that extra dimension (mostly), and make sure that movies feel immersive and involving. It's not quite up there with the likes of the Sonos Arc Ultra and the Sonos Era 300, but it's still decent.

"Star Wars Episode III's" opening scene was suitably monstrous, as the space battle raged around me. Movie sound-wise, we're pretty much there.

The smart features are genuinely useful as well: You can stream music to the soundbar using your music service of choice, and manipulate settings using the Samsung Smart Things app. Given how dreadful these things are usually are, it's nice that Samsung's Bar just kind of... works.

I won't get too into the weeds, but the Q990F is a good soundbar. But when the competition at this same price from Sonos and Sennheiser are excellent, good just doesn't quite cut it.

Samsung Q990F: The Bad

The main issue with the sound is the dialogue. Contrary to popular belief, the most important part of your movie sound is not the music or even the ability to shake a room with explosions. Those are literal set dressing. The meat and potatoes of most movie watching is speech. Spoken word dialogue. You know, so that you can hear what your characters are talking about.

The Q990F handles dialogue like an annoying extra. "Fine, you want to hear the story. Here are some words. Happy?" No, Q990F, I'm not happy. Because while everything going on around the dialogue sounds great, the speech sounds like it's coming out of something that costs a quarter of the price.

Characters come across as muffled for the most part, and sometimes completely inaudible. This could be fixed with a competent dialogue booster mode as you'd find in the Sonos Arc Ultra, but alas, no luck. The built-in sound modes just aren't good.

Samsung Q990F: The Ugly

I'm not expecting the satellites that come in the box with the Q990F to sound like the Sonos Era 300s I've got for rear sound with my Arc Ultra. That would be unfair. I would, however, like them to sound good — and, despite the packages relatively high asking price, they just don't.

For most surround sound, they're fine. They don't do very much. But when more work is asked of them, they just kind of falter and fall down. Intense action scenes make them sound cheap and cheerful, and god forbid you want to listen to any spatially mixed music.

It sounds awful. And soundbars usually don't sound great for music, but the Q990F sounds particularly bad. I searched everywhere for a setting that made music sound good, and I just couldn't find one. It wasn't there. Part of that is down to the closeness of the drivers in the bar, but the cheap-sounding surrounds certainly weren't helping the situation.

Should you buy one?

If you want everything all in one box, then the Q990F is a good option. The surround sound is mostly impressive, and most of your visitors aren't going to notice that the satellites are sub-par. If you've only listened to music on a cheap Bluetooth speaker and AirPods until now, then the music performance is going to be very impressive.

But if you expect something that feels like $1,700 worth of sound, then you'll want to look elsewhere. Spend the same on some stereo speakers and a decent amplifier, with space to upgrade with other speakers later if you've got the space. Or, buy the Arc Ultra and a Sub 4, and then buy a pair of Era 300s later.

Like I said. The Q990F is a good soundbar. But for $1,700, you want something excellent — and the Q990F is not that.

More from Tom's Guide

• I tested ANC on 3 flagship earbuds from Apple and Sony on my daily commute — and there's a clear winner
• Samsung Galaxy Unpacked February 2026: Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26 Ultra and everything else to expect
• I ditched ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude for NotebookLM — and didn't expect these results

The big game is just around the corner — a couple of days at the time of writing. If you're thinking of getting a new soundbar to put under the TV to make sure you're getting the best sound possible, you've almost run out of time.

Thankfully, you've only almost run out of time. Thanks to the wonders of next-day shipping, you can grab one of the best soundbars and have it at your door within a day. Perfect for making sure that your TV sounds the best it can to watch the biggest football game of the year.

There's a bar here for every budget, and some even come with special surround speakers for even larger sound. So let's get you sorted for Super Bowl 2026 with a brand new soundbar. Need a new TV as well? We've counted down the best Super Bowl TVs as well.

While many people will receive their soundbars the next day, some locations may offer a different delivery time. These delivery times are correct at the time of publishing, based on a New York address. Next-day delivery requires an Amazon Prime Account.

I love my OLED TV, but when it comes to audio — it leaves a lot to be desired. With the Super Bowl, Olympics, and World Cup around the corner, I've decided now is the time to invest in a proper soundbar.

Plus, now that early Presidents Day sales are live — I'm seeing a lot of soundbar deals on some of the best soundbars we've tested. For example, Best Buy has the Bose Smart Soundbar on sale for $399. In our review, we said it's compact without sacrificing quality. Meanwhile, the Sonos Arc Ultra is on sale for $899 at Amazon. It's pricey, but it's our top pick and it's just $20 shy of its all-time price low.

Below I've highlighted some of my favorite soundbar deals for every budget. For more savings, make sure to check out our roundup of the best Super Bowl TV deals.

Quick Links

• shop all soundbars from $49 @ Amazon
• shop all soundbars from $29 @ Best Buy
• Roku Streambar SE: was $99 now $79 @ Amazon
• Klipsch Flexus Core 100: was $349 now $279 @ Best Buy
• Polk Audio Signa S4: was $449 now $379 @ Amazon
• Bose Smart Soundbar: was $549 now $399 @ Best Buy
• Samsung Q600F: was $699 now $449 @ Best Buy
• Samsung QS750F: was $899 now $699 @ Best Buy
• Sonos Arc Ultra: was $1,099 now $899 @ Amazon

Best soundbar deals

Last year, I reviewed more soundbars than anyone else at Tom's Guide, which means I get to spend my afternoons watching Top Gun: Maverick, The Wild Robot, and The Batman, and calling it work. Yeah, I know. It's a hard life, eh?

Jokes aside, this means I know exactly which soundbars are worth your money, especially as we gear up for Super Bowl LX. I've reviewed the best soundbars that'll run you back $3k — and also super-affordable $99 models. My advice? If you've got $3k to spend on your home theater, don't bother with soundbars. I'd recommend getting floor-standing speakers and a proper hi-fi setup.

But, if you're short on space or, like most of us mere mortals, you don't have a fortune to spend, I've got you. I've reviewed affordable soundbars from Bose, Samsung, Sony, Klipsch, Yamaha, Polk Audio, Ultimea, Majority, and even more. Right now, some of my highest-rated soundbars from Bose, Samsung, Polk Audio, and Klipsch are randomly discounted right now, so there's never been a better time to buy. Also be sure to check out our roundup of the 25 best Super Bowl TV deals.

Quick Links

• Klipsch Flexus Core 100: was $349 now $279 @ Best Buy
• Polk Audio Signa S4: was $449 now $379 @ Amazon
• Bose Smart Soundbar: was $549 now $399 @ Best Buy
• Samsung Q600F: was $699 now $449 @ Best Buy
• Samsung QS750F: was $899 now $699 @ Best Buy

My favorite soundbar deals right now

Taking a trip to the back of your TV can be an unsettling experience. Amid the dust bunny burrows and crisscrossing cables, you might be startled by scads of seemingly important small print on the back of your TV’s panel, particularly around the ports.

As it turns out, this small print is important. In many cases, you may be plugging a soundbar, streaming stick or PS5 into a port that isn’t right for the job. Let’s take a few moments to talk about which HDMI input does what so you can start connecting consoles with confidence.

Types of HDMI

There are currently three types of HDMI ports you’re likely to encounter in the wild: HDMI 1.4, HDMI 2.0 and HDMI 2.1.

The vast majority of TVs offer four total ports, though some are limited to three. In many cases, a TV’s HDMI ports aren’t exclusive to one specific type.

What is HDMI 1.4?

Most people reading this don't have HDMI 1.4 inputs on their TV, as it's one of the oldest standards still in use. As you can imagine, HDMI 1.4 isn’t as robust as 2.0 or 2.1 when it comes to bandwidth and supported features, and the specification is usually found on ultra-affordable sets that are either limited in features, limited to a native resolution of 1080p, or both.

For what it’s worth, if your TV is equipped with HDMI 1.4 inputs, you really don’t need to worry about what cables to use, nor do you need to concern yourself with its supported features. Jump ahead to the soundbar section below.

What is HDMI 2.0?

Perhaps the most common HDMI input populating living rooms today, HDMI 2.0 supports a bunch of features that may be important to how you watch and use your TV. You’ll find HDMI 2.0 on entry-level TVs, mid-range models and some high-end TVs, too.

HDMI 2.0 packs enough bandwidth for your TV to support 4K content at 60Hz. This is relevant for certain 4K TV broadcasts and especially important for folks who want to play 4K console games at 60fps. HDMI 2.0 also allows for High Dynamic Range (HDR), an enhanced format designed to wring the best performance out of modern displays.

Given its widespread adoption, the HDMI 2.0 spec doesn’t cause much of a fuss. People who own TVs with HDMI 2.0 inputs are usually making the most of their devices with the proper cables already. When HDMI 2.1 is in the mix, things can get tricky.

What is HDMI 2.1?

Right now, the highest HDMI standard available to shoppers is HDMI 2.1, but it’s been around long enough that it’s not limited to high-end TVs — you’ll also find it on entry-level and mid-range models.

Without getting too far into the weeds, HDMI 2.1 boasts a bunch of benefits: 4K, HDR content at 120Hz (and sometimes higher), uncompressed 5.1 and 7.1 audio (up to 192kHz/24-bit) as well as uncompressed DTS:X and Dolby TrueHD audio.

Confusingly, most HDMI 2.1-supporting TVs are only equipped with one or two of these ports, while the rest of the inputs merely meet the 2.0 standard. Typically, only upper-mid-range and high-end TVs offer the 2.1 specification across all of the ports.

This means that if you own an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5 and you want to make the most of it — or if you own a soundbar with certain enhancements — you have to pay attention to which cables go where.

Which HDMI port should be used for a soundbar?

Whether you have four HDMI 2.0 inputs, four HDMI 2.1 inputs or some combination of both, one of these ports is the TV’s designated ARC/eARC port. We recently did a deep dive into the difference between ARC and eARC, but the basic gist is this: The ARC- or eARC-enabled HDMI input is the one you should plug your soundbar into.

Thankfully, this is the one port on your TV that’s guaranteed to be clearly labeled. Just look for the terms “ARC,” “eARC” or “ARC/eARC” around an HDMI port, jack in your soundbar and Bob’s your uncle.

If you’re juggling a console or two along with your soundbar, you’ll want to pay close attention to where your video game cables are going, too. This is especially critical for folks with HDMI 2.1-supporting TVs.

Which HDMI port should be used for a console?

If you take a peek at your TV’s HDMI inputs and you only see number designations and an ARC/eARC label, you’re likely looking at a suite of HDMI 2.0 inputs. In this case, pair the ARC input with your soundbar and use whichever remaining inputs for your gaming devices — they’re all the same. This is the same advice I’d give people whose HDMI inputs are all labeled “4K/60Hz,” as this indicates HDMI 2.0.

If you notice HDMI ports labeled “HDMI 2.1” or “4K/120Hz,” these should be your preferred ports for consoles, as they’re better equipped to take advantage of the latest hardware and features. You might also notice a video game controller symbol on these ports. In addition, they might read “4K/144Hz” or “4K/165Hz.”

Folks who own more than one console and a soundbar are more likely to understand the advantage of having a full suite of four high-bandwidth inputs. On TVs with just two HDMI 2.1 inputs, the ARC/eARC input overlapping with one of them can create a traffic jam where three devices need to split two high-bandwidth ports.

What about HDMI cables?

Some people throw a ton of money at fancy, high-priced HDMI cables, but this isn’t always necessary. Just ask yourself this: Does your TV support HDMI 2.1?

If so, be on the lookout for cables labeled “Ultra High-Speed.” More specifically, make sure you're buying HDMI cables with a bandwidth of 48Gbps. These cables will make possible all of the benefits I outlined above, and they’ll still work if you plug ‘em into HDMI 2.0 inputs, too.

On that note, if you own a TV that exclusively supports the HDMI 2.0 specification, you really don’t need to splash out on Ultra High-Speed cables. Look for those that are labeled “High-Speed” — the bandwidth will be 18Gbps.

If you own a TV with HDMI 1.4 inputs, you don’t need to worry about any of this. Your reliable ol’ TV is probably pretty old, small in size or both. In either case, just make sure you’re using the ARC port for any soundbar.

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The big game is nearly here, but there's still plenty of time to get a new soundbar for the Super Bowl. After all, if you can't hear everything going on on screen, what's the point?

Grab one of these excellent soundbar deals with up to $200 off for your Super Bowl party and get the best performance possible. While you're at it, check out the best Super Bowl TVs as well — why not upgrade your whole system?

Super Bowl soundbar deals

• Amazon Fire TV soundbar: was $119 now $99 @ Amazon
• Creative Stage Pro: was $169 now $149 @ Amazon
• Bose TV Speaker: was $279 now $199 @ Amazon
• Sony HT-2400: was $299 now $258 @ Amazon
• Klipsch Flexus CORE 100: was $349 now $279 @ Amazon
• Samsung Q600F: was $497 now $447 @ Amazon
• Sonos Beam (Gen 2): was $499 now $465 @ Amazon
• Klipsch Flexus 200: was $549 now $474 @ Amazon
• Sony Bravia Theater Bar 9: was $1499 now $1198 @ Amazon

The soundbar that lives in my living room, the Sonos Arc Ultra, is one of the best soundbars that you can buy today. The surround sound is amazing, the dialogue clear, and even the bassy rumble is impressive. But, as with even the best TV speakers, there's one clear issue.

What do you do when everyone else has gone to bed, and you want to watch a film? Or, what if you live in a Flat, and you don't want to disturb everyone who lives around you while you watch an action flick? There's a solution — although, unfortunately, it's only for some of us.

To find out how viable it is, I've left my soundbar turned off and used some popular headphones to watch my movies and TV. Here's how I did it, and how it's gone.

How I did it

First off, I should mention that there are some irritating restrictions to my experiment. The first is that you can only use certain headphones with your TV, and they have to be connected to a specific device.

For example, you can use the best AirPods to watch TV shows and Movies, but you need to connect them to an Apple TV 4K box for it to work. That means you can't use your AirPods to watch anything outside of the things you're streaming from the device. That's a shame — Apple 65-inch OLED TV when, please?

The other option is to use a pair of Sonos Ace and a compatible soundbar. This is a more flexible option, given that you can watch TV and Movies from anything plugged into your TV. There are still restrictions, however. It only works with the Sonos Ace headphones, and you need a soundbar that supports the tech.

I've tried both options. The Sonos Ace connect with my Sonos Arc Ultra, and my AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods Max connect to my Apple TV. I've used both for about a month now, doing all my personal TV watching to see whether they might replace my soundbar.

Spoiler: No. But I might start using them more than I have before.

Sound surprising

There were a couple of things that I was certain of going in. I knew that I would miss the bassy rumble of explosions and the incredible holographic surround of my Sonos Arc Ultra and surround satellite setup. I did, indeed, miss both of those things, but I still found plenty to like when using either for my TV watching — and something quite surprising.

All of the headphones and earbuds I used during my experiment already sound great, which does help. They all have class-leading, in some way, Dolby Atmos playback, so we're off to a good start.

That meant that watching movies was a great experience, whether through the Apple buds or my Sonos Ace. The latter are slightly better for the format, given that Sonos developed them especially for both music and movies, but I wasn't disappointed by either.

One of the most surprising things was how immersive everything felt. While the sound wasn't anywhere near as expansive or huge as my surround setup, the more restricted soundstage made me feel more integral to the movie's sound.

Everything was happening around me, and I felt slightly closer to the action. Rather than a better experience (or even a worse one), what I got was a different experience. One that seems to realise it's never going to compete with a full setup in dynamics, space, or even fidelity, and so focuses on the things it can be good at.

The dialogue was clear, and at times unnerving. I was watching a horror movie, and a scene where a horrifying creature talks behind you felt like it was whispering in my ear. Jarring, uncomfortable – and wonderful.

Not perfect

The restrictions are irritating. The fact that you have to own at least hundreds of dollars worth of equipment before you can even begin, be that an Apple TV and some AirPods or a pair of Sonos Ace and a Sonos soundbar, feels like you're being bled dry financially.

Both a fairly seamless to get working, thankfully, but I do wish that AirPods had a way of working without the need to watch everything through your Apple TV. You can use HomePods like this, so why can't my AirPods? That feels like a missed opportunity.

The lack of bassy rumble and other sound bits is also a trade off. If you've got the opportunity to use your full setup without waking anyone up or disturbing the neighbours, that's still going to be the way to go.

A worthy nighttime alternative

My experiment has been, in my eyes at least, successful. If you've got the tech to do it, and you want to watch movies and TV when other people are asleep, then it's a great alternative to your big, noisy soundbar. I even really enjoyed that there were other sonic reasons to enjoy my headphones rather than the soundbar, to the point I might switch over even when I don't need to.

It's also a great proof of concept. I'd like to see more headphone and TV manufacturers bring headphone Dolby Atmos connections to the table, so you don't have to rely on these expensive options. Still, that's one for the future. As it stands, these are great ways to keep the noise down while enjoying some cinema.

I'm off to go watch Gladiator, without keeping my family up. Adios!

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A Sonos soundbar, before you've even dipped into the many (many) settings available, is a fantastic addition to your TV stand. Handsome, performant — there's little more you could ask.

Only, you can ask for more. Open up the (now mostly fixed) Sonos app and you'll find pages upon pages of different settings to change so that you can get the most out of your soundbar. But which should you turn on, and why? These are all the settings you should change on your Sonos soundbar to get every last drop of performance.

1. Download the app

It might sound completely obvious, but you'll need to download the Sonos app if you really want to get the best out of your Sonos soundbar. Fear not, the many technical issues that Sonos has faced after the application relaunch are now mostly fixed, and its a must-install for all Sonos users.

It unlocks the full range of features on your soundbar, and there are versions available for both Android and iOS. You won't have any of the below settings and features without it, so you should get it sorted before moving on.

2. Tune the sound to your room

While your new Sonos soundbar is going to sound good out of the box, it's well worth spending some time tuning the bar so that it sounds good for your surroundings. After all, the core tuning is handled in a controlled test room. Which, I'm going to guess, is something your living room is not.

TruePlay plays a series of different sounds, and then uses your phone's microphone to judge the acoustics of the room. From there, it changes the sound to better match your needs.

Head into the app and find the soundbar settings. From there, select the TruePlay tuning section. The simple tuning means you can sit still, but its results won't be as transformative. Use the complex option if you want to eke all the performance out of your bar.

Follow the instructions, and you're done!

Note: this is only available on iOS devices at the moment, sadly. Sorry, Android users, you're out of luck!

3. Use dialogue enhancer

One of the biggest improvements a soundbar can bring is better speech for your movies and TV. Even then, there can be shows and other content that just have muffled dialogue straight out of the studio. Thankfully, some Sonos soundbars can improve this with very clever AI dialogue enhancement.

It picks out the voice line of a movie or TV show and then increases the volume. There are different strength options; the stronger the dialogue enhancement, the greater effect you'll see in the rest of the soundscape.

Note: Don't use it for listening to music. It sounds bad.

Head to the settings menu and find the speech enhancement menu. Select your desired level — mine is the middle — and get to watching your favorite Netflix documentaries with clearer speech. David Attenborough has never sounded so good.

4. Activate Dolby Atmos

This is only accessible for Sonos Arc and Sonos Beam Gen 2 users, but it's well worth activating. After all, if you want to use all those fancy upfiring drivers and get the best soundtracks and movie experience possible, you're only going to get it with Dolby Atmos turned on.

These are often turned on by default, but you'll still want to double-check just in case. Head to the soundbar settings in the Sonos app, and check the surround option. You'll also want to turn on the Spatial Music option.

Now, head to Netflix or Disney+ and find a movie or TV show with Dolby Atmos. Press play, and check the 'now playing' screen on the Sonos app. There should be a "Dolby Atmos" logo.

If there isn't, you should check the sound settings on your TV. Here, you'll either need to make sure that the sound options are set to Dolby Atmos or 'pass through.' Also, check the device you're using and the audio settings there.

Go back to your streaming service and try again — there's an annoying number of roadblocks, but it's well worth getting Dolby Atmos turned on properly.

5. Turn off the status light

Ok, so this one might sound really silly, but believe me, it's worth it. If you're anything like me (and it's very possible you are, given you've landed here), you like to watch movies in a dark room. That means that any lights, especially ones extremely close to the TV, are an eyesore. An irritating distraction.

Thankfully, you can turn the little light atop Sonos soundbars off in the settings menu. Find the Status light setting in the soundbar menu, and toggle that badboy to the "off" position.

Done! No more annoying little lights under the screen when you change the volume, or to let you know that the soundbar is turned on. It also works with any surround speakers you might have attached to the bar.

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Perhaps you've just got a new Samsung soundbar, or maybe you've been rocking one for a long time. I'll be willing to bet you haven't dipped into the settings menu yet to play with the different features built into your fancy speaker box.

Samsung makes some of the best soundbars around, and part of that is down to all those lovely options. So, to help you get the best out of your bar, I've come up with a list to guide you through the labyrinthine tunnels of settings.

1. Use the sound modes

No matter the soundbar you've got from Samsung, whether it supports the application or not, you've got built in sound modes. And, despite what you might think about them, they do make a big difference depending on the kind of content that you're consuming.

If you're watching a movie, for example, then you'll want the "cinema" mode. The "TV" mode is, as you might have guessed it, better for watching TV. While these bars are never perfect for music, the "music" mode still makes the bar work better for your tunes than without.

It's worth changing sound modes as you hop about different genres of content and finding which sounds better for you for each. After all, they're usually only a button press away.

2. Check your TV settings

If your soundbar is quite working right (or at all), it might not be the soundbar's fault. It might be that the TV you're using isn't sending the right audio to the soundbar. That means that everything gets confused, your soundbar has a moment, and you end up with weird or no sound.

Head into your TVs settings menu, and double check output settings. Make sure that its set to pass-through, so that the audio processing is done by the soundbar itself. This works well if you're not getting surround sound when you should.

For Samsung soundbars this also lets you initiate some other sound modes, which I'll get to in just a second. Either way, it's always the first place you should look for audio enhancements.

3. Download the app

It's possible that you didn't even know there there was an app for your Samsung soundbar. You might need to double check if your model is supported, but then you're away.

Once the Samsung Smart Things app is installed, you just add the bar, and then you can control a whole bunch of things.

You can control the volume with your phone, change some more involved settings, and even stream music to some models. It's a must download, and one that's very easily forgotten.

4. Turn on Q-Symphony

Ok, so first things first — this setting is only for Samsung TV owners. Even then, it needs to be compatible with the system. You need to double-check whether your TV supports Q-Symphony first, and then you can turn it on for an impressive increase in sound quality without dropping more cash.

What is it? It uses the speakers built into your TV to take some of the load off the soundbar. It works very well, and in some cases adds some extra dimension to surround mixes.

You'll find it in the settings menu of your Samsung TV. From there, you turn it on — and you're done. Nice and simple. There's no setup, either. It just kind of... works.

5. Turn on SpaceFit

Your room is likely different than the testing rooms at Samsung HQ (unless you live in Samsung HQ). Still, you're likely going to get a different sound profile than the Samsung engineers when you put the bar in your living room, given that there are pesky things like "furniture" and "curtains" to contend with.

That's where SpaceFit comes in. You'll find it in the Samsung app (although you do need a compatible Samsung TV as well), where you can turn it on. Unlike other options, it doesn't need to play a setup tone — it just listens to the sound in your room and adjusts accordingly.

It's more subtle than other systems, but well worth turning on to make sure your Samsung soundbar sounds as good as possible.

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The best soundbars are expensive. I’ve tested one that’ll set you back almost 4 grand, a couple that go for $2k, and many in the very bloated $600-$1,000 landscape.

The Samsung QS750F falls into that third category: Not-quite-movie-theater soundbars, but they give it a respectably good go. And what an impressive soundbar the QS750F truly is. For just $899/£699, you get a 46-inch, 5-speaker soundbar, a 160W subwoofer, and two semi-wireless rear speakers. For less than $1k!

At this price, you’d be hard-pressed to find something that performs better, and I’m not mad about it. Looking for room-filling Atmos audio but can’t afford Samsung’s flagship Q990F ($1,799)? You’ll want to read this comprehensive Samsung QS750F review.

Samsung QS750F review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A great-value soundbar, subwoofer, and surround sound system
• Who is it for? Got less than $1k but want the best sound you can get? If you answered “yes”, then you
• What does it cost? $899 / £699
• What do we like? The soundscape is wide, bassy, and clear
• What don’t we like? I wanted a little more Atmos

Samsung QS750F review: Specs

Samsung QS750F review: Price & availability

In the U.S, the Samsung QS750F is available exclusively at Best Buy. You’re looking at an MSRP of $899, but it’s often on sale for around $650-$700. If you can grab this soundbar at a discount, then that’s a major win.

In the U.K., you’re looking at £699 from Richer Sounds. You’ll be very happy with this soundbar at this price, I can assure you. The U.K. price pleases me very much.

As the QS750F has a 5-channel soundbar, a subwoofer, and two rear speakers, anything below $700/£700 is a fantastic deal. Similar options will run you back considerably more: the Klipsch setup is $349 just for the Flexus Core 100 soundbar, then the subwoofer and rears are $349 and $499, respectively.

In comparison, the no-sub-no-rears 3.0.2 Bose Smart Soundbar (2024) is $549, the sub-but-no-rears Polk Audio Signa S4 is $449, and the sub-but-no-rears Samsung Q600F is $699.

Samsung QS750F review: Design & controls

• Long and deep, but relatively short in height
• Two side-oriented woofers
• Surrounds aren’t wireless

If you’re familiar with Samsung AV gear, then I want you to close your eyes and visualize a Samsung soundbar in your mind’s eye. Got it? Now you know exactly what the QS750F looks like.

The QS750F is pretty much identical to the other Samsung soundbars I’ve tested — the only difference is that it has rectangular/flat sides rather than the Q990F and Q600F’s angled sides.

The rears are the same — in that they’re the SWA-9250S, so you can buy them independently of a soundbar — and look exactly how you’d expect Samsung surrounds to look. They are, however, not truly wireless. The rears are wireless when connecting to the soundbar itself, but they require a pretty unsightly and bulky wire to connect to each other.

Only the left rear has D/C connectivity, so you need the wire to power the right speaker. The Denon, JBL, and Yamaha rears are all true wireless (rechargeable) so I wanted that on the QS750F, too.

I tested the QS750F in a purpose-built soundproofed testing room, and I even had to get an extension cable to plug everything in. So just be aware: you’ll need hella outlets. I used: one for the TV, one for the Blu-ray player, one for the soundbar, one for the subwoofer, and one for the rears. Yes, five plugs for my TV/AV setup. It’s a lot.

Other than that one tiny issue, I love the design of the QS750F. The remote is just as weighty and well-made as you’d expect, and the soundbar itself is 46 inches of pure power.

Samsung QS750F review: Features

• Tons of features in SmartThings app
• AirPlay and Google Cast
• AudioSync settings

Most of the QS750F’s features are from the SmartThings app, so I’ll discuss them in full in the ‘App’ section below. As you might expect from an $899 soundbar, though, the QS750F has tons of advanced features.

You can activate ‘Voice enhancement’ mode, ‘Bass enhancement’, ‘Moderate bass’, which turns the subwoofer off, ‘Night mode’, which reduces bass completely, and you can adjust the volume of each individual channel speaker.

I had great fun figuring out which speaker was responsible for which frequencies, and which speakers provided much of the Dolby Atmos experience. Sure, you should probably use these features to, you know, actually improve your home theater rather than just nerding out, but the option’s there.

For example, I found increasing the volume of the rear channel softened the high-end, which was better for bombastic action scenes. This is a great feature if you want to get really nitty-gritty and meticulous with how your movies sound.

If you have an AI-powered Samsung TV, you get access to features like Space Fit Sound Pro (room calibration) and Q-Symphony (remastering content for surround sound), but as I tested on a lowly LG G5, I couldn’t make use of these.

Samsung QS750F review: App

• Samsung’s SmartThings app
• Sometimes have to manually select audio source after changing playback type
• Premium features like SpaceFit Sound Pro locked behind Samsung TVs

Can we just take a minute to appreciate Samsung’s SmartThings app, please? I’ve tested tons of soundbars now, every brand from Bose to Denon to Yamaha to Sony. Oftentimes, these soundbar samples have been tested by other journalists and haven’t been disconnected from those journalists’ accounts. I had a major headache trying to connect the Bose Smart Soundbar (2024) due to this issue, and Denon’s HEOS can be a bit of a nightmare (I’ve had to return a subwoofer due to connectivity issues).

SmartThings, though, just gets it. As soon as I set up the QS750F with my SmartThings app, the app prompted “This soundbar has been linked to another account. Would you like to forget this account and make a new connection?”

Yes! Yes, I do. Why can’t all soundbar apps do this? Instead of the endless loading time and the eventual “Connection failed” error message. If the soundbar knows it’s linked to someone else’s account, why can’t it just tell me?

Of course, this is a niche issue, but if you’re buying the soundbar second hand or you get a completely different phone (as in, swap from Android to iPhone or vice versa), then it might pose an issue. Anyway, praise be SmartThings. Bose/Denon, if you’re reading, please bring in a similar feature.

Speaking of features, let’s actually get into the reason you’re here: audio features. Oh, boy, does the QS750F have loads.

As I mentioned earlier, the SmartThings app is laden with audio features. You can adjust the volume of each individual speaker, you can turn off the subwoofer entirely, you can up the bass, you can activate ‘Voice enhancement’ mode, ‘Surround mode’, and ‘Virtual’ (which is like an upmixing setting that fakes 360° audio), you can adjust the EQ, you can select the sound source without needing to cycle through inputs via the remote.

Here are a few screenshots from SmartThings so you can see what I mean.

I love SmartThings. When I tested the Samsung Q600F, I was disappointed to find it had no Wi-Fi or app connectivity, because I genuinely love SmartThings. I famously hate “smart” tech that doesn’t need to be smart, but I’ll make an exception for SmartThings.

I’ll end on a bit of a weird one: there was a little confusion when switching between audio inputs. After I listened to music on Qobuz using AirPlay, I had to manually adjust the audio input to get sound from my TV again. This wasn’t majorly annoying, but it’s something to be aware of. If you’re wondering why your soundbar is suddenly silent, maybe check the audio source on the SmartThings app. It may not have updated itself back to HDMI eARC.

Samsung QS750F review: Sound quality

• Voice enhancement is excellent
• High-frequency sound effects are clear and immersive
• Room-filling bass

I test every soundbar with ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ on 4K UHD Blu-Ray, TV shows on Netflix, and music on Spotify and Qobuz.

Movies

First, I watched ‘Top Gun: Maverick’. In the opening scene, the bass was excellent, and shook the floor of my testing room. However, the midrange was a little tinny, but the loud bass made up for it. You might not even notice if you’re not looking out for it — but as a soundbar reviewer, it’s literally my job to notice any flaws, no matter how minor.

‘Adaptive’ sound mode made diegetic (in-scene) sound effects louder, so increased the presence of metal clinking and ropes whooshing. ‘Surround’ mode excelled at widening the soundscape, and balancing the bass-heavy soundtrack.

In the dogfighting scene, I was left longing for a little more. The soundstage was wide, with audible radioed dialogue over the OST. However, the soundbar didn’t quite reach the heights I would want.

During a flying scene, I was expecting to feel the wind whoosh through my hair or find myself looking up, searching for real jet planes. I did feel like the planes were coming from around me, but not above me.

As a result, I’m going to have to say that the Dolby Atmos performance is really good, but it’s not excellent. I recently tested the $3,500 Yamaha True X Surround 90A, and the Dolby Atmos on that behemoth is life-changingly good. Of course, a $900 soundbar can’t compete with a $3,500 soundbar, and the QS750F is definitely better than the Q600F, but I couldn’t help but want a little more.

Don’t get me wrong — for the $900 MSRP, the QS750F is excellent. It has clear, audible dialogue, a delicate balance between high-frequency sounds, and a rich, confident low-end. I caught myself forgetting I was supposed to be working and just enjoying the movie-theater sound. But if you’re after true 360° audio, you’re unfortunately going to have to spend more. That’s just the way it is.

After ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, I watched ‘How to Train Your Dragon (2025), and this sounded phenomenal in ‘Surround’ mode.

In the first flight scene, Toothless’ flapping wings sounded fantastic, with clear width to the effect. However, the Yamaha True Surround X90A sounded better overall — you’d expect that from a $3500 soundbar, though — but for $900, the QS750F performed admirably.

In some scenes, the dialogue was a little soft, so I activated ‘Voice enhancement’ mode, and this isolated the dialogue well. You can activate ‘Voice enhancement’ and ‘Surround’ simultaneously, which is great if you want the best of both worlds.

Last, I watched ‘Elio’. The bass response was excellent during the opening track, ‘Once In a Lifetime’. This was the best Dolby Atmos performance thus far. The music immersed me in the scene, and I felt like David Byrne was singing directly into my ear.

Of all the movies I watched, ‘Elio’ sounded the best through the QS750F. The movie was mind-bogglingly expansive, particularly in the space scenes. All the alien synth noises were unique and clear. Overall, the soundscape was a lush, lively, ever-changing symphony of sound.

TV

Although I watched 4K UHD Blu-rays to test the QS750F’s movie performance, it’s unrealistic to expect every user to only watch 4K movies. I watched basic-tier Netflix — so 1080p, 5.1 — to evaluate its TV performance, too. I watched ‘Bridgerton’ and ‘Stranger Things’.

‘Bridgerton’ was particularly impressive, with a delicate balance between the string-heavy soundtrack, dialogue, and diegetic sound effects. I particularly enjoyed the clarity of a creaking wardrobe and creaking bow and arrow, as these high-frequency effects weren’t overpowered by soundtrack or dialogue. This is the mark of a high-quality soundbar — one that can walk the tightrope of quiet, immersive effects and dramatic, consuming soundtracks.

‘Stranger Things’ has a busier soundscape, with action scenes and dialogue scenes layered on top of a synth-heavy OST. I found the balance of chipping birds, sizzling cigarette paper, TV dialogue, and a suspenseful, deep bass synth soundtrack delicate and confident. The growling demogorgon was clear, low, and didn’t overpower the dialogue.

As basic Netflix doesn’t have Dolby Atmos, the soundbar didn’t need to handle as many elements simultaneously. Despite the lack of Atmos, I was blown away by the sound quality, and found the QS750F able to balance everything the TV shows threw at it.

Music

I listened to music via AirPlay through Qobuz. ‘Songs of Praise’ by Shame is a guitar-led track with growling, husky vocals, which sounded fantastic through the soundbar. There was a little weirdness when the track quietened down towards the end, and some of the guitars sounded underwater. However, this issue wasn’t present in any other song.

Afterwards, I switched genres to electronic. ‘Guess’ by Charli xcx and Billie Eilish pumped through the speakers, with the house bass beat electrifying and ferocious. The bass and vocals weren’t as harmonious as you’d expect from a high-quality studio monitor or bookshelf speaker, but this is a soundbar, not a music-focused speaker, so what can you expect?

Last, I played something a little softer. ‘Bobbi’s Second World’ by The Orielles is a disco-psych track with warbled synths and gentle female vocals. Again, the bass response was the loudest part of the song, and I felt like the percussion was a little softened. I would like a bit more pizzazz from hi-hats and the vocals, but again, this is a soundbar, not a speaker, and soundbars are known for their mediocre music performance.

Overall, you’d be hard-pressed to find a soundbar that sounds as good as the QS750F for less. Although I wanted a little more height in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, every other movie and TV show I watched sounded fantastic. The QS750F balanced dialogue, diegetic sound effects, and soundtrack deftly. It sounds so good, I forgot I was supposed to be reviewing it.

Samsung QS750F review: Verdict

If you want Dolby Atmos performance that could go head-to-head with a movie theater, you need to spend more than $900. That’s just a fact of life. There’s a reason why movie tickets are expensive.

However, if you want to spend less than a grand, then the QS750F will not disappoint. At the heart of it, this is a soundbar that knows what it’s doing. The QS750F isn’t here to mess around. It’s here to shake your floorboards and rattle your windows. With the powerful 160W subwoofer, that’s exactly what it’s going to do.

If you’re a serious home theater aficionado, I have to recommend the fantastic JBL Bar 1300X, but it’s double the price of the QS750F. For a sub-$1,000 soundbar, subwoofer, and surround system, the QS750F will treat you right.

Fantastic Dolby Atmos is the pinnacle of a good soundbar. If you ask me, all of the best soundbars must have excellent surround sound to be considered great.

The Yamaha True X Surround 90A, then, fits that mold perfectly. This behemoth soundbar, subwoofer, and rear system will set you back a massive $3,500, but you’ll get Dolby Atmos worthy of a movie theater.

Even so, with an MSRP of $3,500, there’s very little room for error. Unfortunately, the True X Surround 90A’s dialogue performance doesn’t quite meet expectations. But is that a worthy sacrifice for truly the best Dolby Atmos I’ve ever experienced? For the full story, keep reading this Yamaha True X Surround 90A review.

Yamaha True X Surround 90A review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A premium soundbar with rears, a sub: 5.1.4 channels
• Who is it for? People with $$$ and a home theater
• What does it cost? $3,499 / £2,295
• What do we like? This is one of the best Dolby Atmos performances I’ve ever experienced
• What don’t we like? With an MSRP like this, there’s little room for error, and the dialogue performance isn’t good enough for $3,500

Yamaha True X Surround 90A review: Specs

Yamaha True X Surround 90A review: Price & availability

The Yamaha True X Surround 90A is an expensive soundbar. To date, this is the priciest soundbar I’ve ever reviewed. In the U.S., the True X Surround 90A will set you back a whopping $3,499 from B&H Photo Video. You can pre-order it from Crutchfield for the same price.

In the U.K., you’re looking at £2,295 from Yamaha direct. The 50A is available from premium retailers like Peter Tyson, Richer Sounds, and Sevenoaks, but this is not the same soundbar. I tested the 90A.

You can also buy the elements individually. The True X Surround 90A is the name of the entire sound system; if you want the soundbar and subwoofer alone, it’s called the True X Bar 90A and is $2,799 from Crutchfield. I would recommend getting this if you’re trying to save money, as I don’t think the surrounds are worth an extra $700.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it: $3,499 is ridiculously expensive. Not just for this soundbar, but for any soundbar. If you have nearly $4k to spend on a home cinema system, you should probably just invest in something like Dali’s multi-speaker setup.

The JBL Bar 1300X is the best soundbar system I’ve ever tested — it’s just $1,699, which is mighty cheap in comparison. Although the Yamaha has better Dolby Atmos, the JBL option is better at handling dialogue.

You might also want to check out Samsung’s Q990F, which, at $1,999, feels cheap in comparison.

Yamaha True X Surround 90A review: Design & controls

• LED screen
• Lovely remote
• Very long

As you might expect from a $3,499 soundbar, it’s massive. And heavy. Our review unit shipped to our testing lab on a pallet and had to be delivered by a semi-truck. It took two people to get this soundbar set up in our testing studio, and neither of those people were me. It was genuinely too heavy for me to pick up. So, if you consider yourself quite weak, you’ll need help getting this behemoth in action.

Another thing you might expect from a $3,499 soundbar is quality, and boy, that’s what you get with the True X Surround 90A. This soundbar is well-made, with high-quality mesh casing and a smooth, weighty subwoofer. On top of that, the remote is gorgeous, with tactile silicone buttons and a decent heft to it. All things you would want from something that costs triple my rent.

However, this high price means there’s very little room for error. If this is the most expensive soundbar I’ve ever tested, it should be the best soundbar I’ve ever tested. The rear speakers don’t look like they cost $350 each.

Let me explain. The True X Surround 90A is $3,499. Just the soundbar and subwoofer is $2,799. That’s a price difference of $700, meaning each rear is $350. These speakers are tiny — just 3.5 x 8.6 inches. They’re also quite lightweight, which makes them feel a little cheap. The Samsung Q990F rear speakers feel much weightier — and that soundbar is $1,500 cheaper.

Don’t get me wrong: the True X Surround 90A is beautifully well-made and high-quality. The LED screen is bright and helpful, as it tells you exactly which input and listening mode you’re using. This soundbar will look at home on any high-end TV/AV setup — emphasis on the phrase high-end.

Yamaha True X Surround 90A review: Features

• 4K passthrough
• Tons of playback modes, including ‘Surround:AI’ and ‘Clear Voice’
• Individual surround controls

I’m sensing a theme here, but as you might expect from a $3,500 soundbar, the True X Surround 90A has loads of features. I can’t fault any of these except ‘Clear Voice’ mode, as the dialogue performance wasn’t as adept as you might want.

Using either the MusicCast app or the remote, you can activate: ‘Clear Voice’, ‘Bass Extension’, ‘Surround:AI’, ‘3D Music’, ‘Straight’, ‘Stereo’ and individual surround controls. By far the best sound mode was ‘Surround:AI’, as this extended the height and width to mind-blowing highs.

One feature I missed was a room calibration tool. JBL, Samsung, Sonos and Klipsch soundbars all have a room calibration mode, either proprietary (JBL, Samsung, Sonos) or via a third-party (Klipsch, which uses Dirac). This sends sound waves between each element and advises you where to place each speaker for optimal performance.

As I test all soundbars in a purpose-built, soundproofed testing room, the soundbars have the ideal environment for excellence. However, if you have a house with particularly high ceilings or a weird layout (free-standing walls or a non-rectangular structure) you might need a room calibration tool.

Aside from the ‘Clear Voice’ mode, the other sound features are excellent. I’ve never experienced Dolby Atmos like this, and if you’re a surround-sound fiend, you’ll want to hear it.

Yamaha True X Surround 90A review: App

• MusicCast app
• Painless setup, a pleasant change from other brands
• Direct music streaming with Spotify, Qobuz, and more

After the headaches that are Denon’s HEOS and Sonos’ universally panned app, it was a pleasant surprise to download Yamaha’s MusicCast to find that it simply works. The app immediately recognized the soundbar, and that was that. Glorious.

You can adjust tons of stuff in the app: subwoofer volume, tone control, and activate any of the listening modes. You can do this via the remote, too, so downloading the app isn’t essential, but it’s a nice addition.

Here are a few screenshots from the app itself, so you can see what I mean.

Yes, you can also stream music directly from your phone to the soundbar itself. MusicCast links with Spotify, Qobuz, Tidal, Deezer, and Amazon Music. There was a touch of latency when playing music through the soundbar, but I found this didn’t negatively impact my overall experience.

Yamaha True X Surround 90A review: Sound quality

• Mind-blowing Dolby Atmos
• Expansive — width and height — sound
• Disappointing dialogue

I test every soundbar with ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ on 4K UHD Blu-Ray (and then two extras), TV shows on Netflix, and music on Qobuz.

Full disclaimer: I had major HDMI issues with the True X Surround 90A at first — in that there was no sound at all. This is likely due to my model being a pre-production version, but if you experience issues too, I fixed it by activating both HDMI Control (CEC) and pass-through mode. This is what worked for me on my LG G5.

Movies

To test movie performance, I started with ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ in ‘Surround:AI’ mode. The first thing I noticed was the bass. The diegetic (in-scene) sound effects of whirring jet engines rumbled through the subwoofer with immense power. Even so, this didn’t overpower the high-frequency diegetic sounds such as reversing trucks and whipping ropes.

The True X Surround 90A’s soundscape is almost incomprehensibly wide. I’ve never experienced an expansive sound like this before: I felt like I truly was in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, waiting my turn to fly my fighter jet.

In the opening scene, every component worked together. The jet engines didn’t overpower the softer metallic clinking sound effects; the bass-heavy synth track didn’t fight for dominance over the roaring planes; every sound up and down the frequency range earned its place.

However, the dialogue performance wasn’t as adept as one might hope. To check if it was merely a ‘Surround:AI’ issue, I switched to ‘Clear Voice’. This increased the volume of the upper mids, but the dialogue wasn’t overly clear.

Even so, the Dolby Atmos performance here was excellent, with Maverick’s radioed dialogue sounding like it came from directly behind me. When Maverick took off, the plane sounded as if it were genuinely flying over my head.

In dialogue-based, non-action scenes, I found the dialogue perfectly audible. However, in action scenes, the dialogue was often overpowered by diegetic sound effects or the soundtrack. This is unfortunate for a $3,500 soundbar, but if you care more about bombastic action and Dolby Atmos, you won’t be disappointed.

After ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, I watched Elio. As this is less of an all-guns-blazing action blockbuster and more of an uplifting family movie with fluorescent, gelatinous aliens in place of ferocious jet engines, I found the balance between action scenes and dialogue better. The alien sound effects were particularly good. I could almost feel the squelchy, wet sounds on my skin.

Finally, I watched ‘How to Train Your Dragon (2025)’. Again, the Dolby Atmos performance was excellent, particularly in the cove scene where Hiccup and Toothless befriend one another. I could feel Toothless’ purring as if he were in the room with me.

I also have to mention the flight scenes. As with ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, the sound was expansive, with width and height that other soundbars simply dream of. The moments where Toothless flapped his wings sounded so real that I felt I was caught in a breeze.

While the dialogue performance wasn’t as strong as I wanted, the True X Surround 90A is genuinely the best Dolby Atmos soundbar I’ve ever listened to. If you can overlook slightly quiet dialogue in exchange for truly cinematic sound, the True X Surround 90A might’ve been made for you.

TV

After watching UHD 4K Blu-rays, I watched ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Bridgerton’ on standard Netflix. As not everyone has tons of 4K Blu-rays, it’s only fair to test soundbars with basic 5.1, 1080p content, too.

In ‘Stranger Things’, the soundbar handled the combination of eerie synth soundtrack, diegetic sound effects like blaring phones and panicked footsteps, with the guttural inhuman growling of the demogorgons perfectly. I have nothing bad to say about this performance: the dialogue was clear and intelligible. The overall performance was perfect, much better balance across the frequency range than with 4K Blu-rays.

‘Bridgerton’ has less action, is dialogue-heavy, and has a string-based soundtrack. Again, no dialogue was muffled, and there was an equal balance of dialogue, diegetic sound, and non-diegetic sound (like OST). No element was fighting for dominance; everything settled in the soundscape perfectly. I was able to pick out soft high-frequency sounds like ruffling fabric and dainty footsteps even over the top of a loud OST.

Overall, the TV performance was much better than the movie performance. This is likely due to Netflix’s content using fewer ‘layers’ of sound (5.1 vs Dolby Atmos, for example), so less for the soundbar to juggle. Even so, you wouldn’t spend $3k on a soundbar to only watch 5.1 audio on ad-supported Netflix, though, would you? I wouldn’t.

Music

To test music playback, I streamed via AirPlay through Qobuz. I listened to ‘Billie Toppy’ by Men I Trust with the ‘3D Music’ setting enabled. Although I’m sure audiophiles wouldn’t appreciate the semi-fuzzy tone this inflicted, I really liked the immersive, warm sound effect that felt like the audio equivalent of a music embrace.

Afterwards, I listened to ‘Let It Happen’ by Tame Impala. The bass performance on this track was surprisingly excellent, with powerful, groovy bass that ran up and down the frequency range with gusto. I could hear the background vocals and flickering synths perfectly. I was genuinely really surprised by the sound quality here. Most soundbars are terrible for music, but not the True X Surround 90A.

Last, I switched genres to punk-tinged ‘Kick in the Teeth’ by Dream Wife. The rolling guitars and effusive female vocals worked in harmony together, and the guitar solo towards the end of the track was particularly effective.

Overall, the True X Surround 90A won’t disappoint if you’re after room-filling 360° audio. This is a high-quality, well-made piece of tech, with cinema-level surround sound. All I’m saying is that for $1,500 less, you could get Samsung’s best-ever soundbar (Q990F, 11.1.4 channel) or JBL’s best soundbar (Bar 1300X, 11.1.4 channel), neither of which struggle with dialogue clarity. So why wouldn’t you just do that?

Yamaha True X Surround 90A review: Verdict

I’m so torn. This review has been one of the hardest to write, because the Yamaha True X Surround 90A is a fantastic soundbar. I’ve never experienced Dolby Atmos like this. Very few soundbars can go head-to-head with a movie theater like this, but the True X Surround 90A is one of them.

However, for this room-filling, mind-bending Dolby Atmos, you’re sacrificing some dialogue clarity. Even with the ‘Clear Voice’ mode activated, I found dialogue tricky to pinpoint during action scenes in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’. Is that a fair trade, though? The only person who can answer that is you.

For those desiring the ultimate Dolby Atmos soundbar, you’d be mighty happy with the True X Surround 90A. It can truly bring your movies to life.

Getting one of the best soundbars is the easiest way to upgrade your home movie theater. There's no doubt about it. I was skeptical before I tried my first soundbar, but now I can't imagine my life without one.

I've tested sixteen soundbars this year, and to help you find one that suits your needs and budget, I've rounded up my top picks under $200, $500, and $700. The cheapest option is Sony's classic, the HT-S100F. Next is the $449 soundbar + subwoofer Polk Audio Signa S4. Finally, Samsung's cheapest premium "Q" series soundbar, the Q600F, which is the best mid-range bar I've ever tested.

Under $200: Sony HT-S100F

The Sony HT-S100F is widely regarded as the best cheap soundbar, and for good reason.

Most budget soundbars I've tested suffer from various connectivity, sound, and tinniness issues. Not the Sony HT-S100F.

With a surprisingly powerful built-in woofer (not subwoofer, though), the HT-S100F brought my test movies to life. In 'Top Gun: Maverick', ‘Danger Zone’ sounded great and didn’t overpower the sounds of the jets taking off.

Balancing OST, dialogue, and diegetic sound effects is tricky for cheap soundbars, but the HT-S100F isn't like the rest. I was majorly impressed by how deftly the HT-S100F handled a complex soundscape, especially in the dogfighting scenes. In my review, I wrote, "I could hear all the headset dialogue clearly. There was no muffled speech, and I wasn’t straining to hear even over the radio crackling sound effect."

If you want the best TV upgrade for less, it's got to be the Sony HT-S100F.

Under $500: Polk Audio Signa S4

The Polk Audio Signa S4 is criminally underrated. This Atmos-enabled soundbar and subwoofer combo is top-notch, especially for under $500.

There are cheaper soundbar and subwoofer combos out there, but the 3.1.2 channel configuration means your Dolby Atmos movies will sound truly immersive.

When I was testing the Signa S4, I watched 'The Wild Robot'. If you haven't seen this movie, there's a fantastic Atmos scene around halfway through. I really felt like I was in the water with the scene. When the gosling is encircled by goose bullies, the jibing dialogue sounded 360-degree and the splashing sound effects almost had me grabbing a towel.

Like any soundbar worth its salt, the Signa S4 also has a "Voice adjust" mode. Thankfully, "Voice adjust" doesn't negative impact the diegetic (in-scene) sounds. The ambient noises and sound effects still very audible but, as promised, the dialogue was clearer and more instantly intelligible.

Under $700: Samsung Q600F

If you can spend a little more — but a $1,700 full-room setup like the JBL Bar 1300X is a little out of your budget — then I'd recommend the Samsung Q600F. This is my favorite mid-range soundbar, with fiery bass and expansive sound.

When I was watching 'Top Gun: Maverick', ‘Let’s Dance’ by David Bowie sounded as if it was coming from beside the TV, rather than the TV itself. This was the first time I was genuinely impressed with the Q600F’s 360-degree audio performance. Even over the soundtrack, the hushed dialogue was clear and audible.

However, the Q600F really shone with 'The Batman'. The motorbike scene with 'Something in the Way' playing was a huge standout. The creepy voiceover by Pattinson; the harrowing acoustic guitar from Cobain; the diegetic news broadcast playing over it all. The soundbar did well with all these different elements, and left me wanting to rewind it just to experience it again.

I couldn't get enough of how incredible 'The Batman' sounded on the Q600F. If you know the movie well, there's a scene where Batman and Gordon enter an orphanage. The Dolby Atmos performance blew me away here. I could hear raindrops coming from all around me, and the metallic clinking of boots on staircases reverberated around my brain. This was one of the best surround performances of the entire movie.

Surprisingly, I was also impressed with the music playback — soundbars are famously poor for music listening — thanks to the punchy, room-filling bass.

For the price, you can't go wrong with the Q600F.

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Sonos' makes some of the best soundbars that you can buy. From the uber-costly but monstrously powerful Arc Ultra to the budget-friendly Ray, there's a Sonos soundbar for almost every budget.

But which soundbar is the best for you, beyond even price? You might not need something as impressive as the large Arc Ultra, even if you can afford it, and you might need something beefier for your larger room than the Ray. Let's break it down.

For a mid-sized room, you'll want...

The Sonos Beam Gen 2

You don't need something massive like the Arc Ultra, and you don't need to spend the extra money. Instead, you should grab the Sonos Beam Gen 2, the middle child of the Sonos range.

You'll still get Dolby Atmos, and you can add in extra surround speakers if you want a more impressive surround experience. The Beam Gen 2 sounds amazing as well, with plenty of bassy wallop for all your movies and TV.

If you want a little extra impact for explosions and other bassy happenings on screen, you might want to grab a subwoofer. I'd suggest the Sonos Sub mini for your bassy fix – it's plenty powerful enough for your mid-sized space.

Buy the setup:

• Sonos Beam Gen 2 $499 @ Amazon
• Sonos Sub Mini $499 @ Amazon

Bedroom movies do very well with a...

The Sonos Ray

A bedroom doesn't need enormous amounts of Dolby Atmos sound — you want something that sounds good without taking up loads of space. The Sonos Ray fits the bill perfectly.

It sounds great and gives you much more cinematic sound than the speakers built into your TV. You could go a little further with the Beam Gen 2 if your bedroom is slightly larger, but you don't need it for what is likely an occasional TV.

You can always attach a subwoofer if you want some extra bass.

Buy it

• Sonos Ray $219 @ Amazon

You have a large room to fill, so you'll need...

The Sonos Arc Ultra

The Arc Ultra is Sonos' most powerful soundbar, perfect for large spaces. There are 9.1.4 channels of Dolby Atmos goodness here along with some extremely powerful internal amplifiers that go loud enough to shake windows three streets down.

Cranking the volume for large spaces doesn't lead to any amount of sound thinning, giving you the best experience possible. If you want something even bassier and better for the low stuff, you should add a Sonos sub 4 for some truly epic sound.

Buy the setup:

• Sonos Arc Ultra $1,099 @ Amazon
• Sonos Sub 4 $899 @ Amazon

For beginner's Dolby Atmos, you should buy...

Sonos Beam Gen 2 and a pair of Era 100s

The Beam Gen 2 provides solid sound quality on its own, and even does a valiant job with surround sound. If you want even more channels without stretching the budget too much, however, there is a way – grab some Sonos Era 100s.

They act as physical surrounds, pumping sound all around you. It's a wonderful way of getting a bigger sound without taking up loads of space — although it does cost more in the long run.

Buy the setup:

• Sonos Beam Gen 2 $499 @ Amazon
• Sonos Era 100 (x2) $199 each @ Amazon

If you want the ultimate Dolby Atmos experience, you should buy...

Sonos Arc Ultra, a subwoofer and a pair of Era 300s

The Sonos Arc Ultra already pumps out some massive Dolby Atmos sound, but there's always a way to make it even better. Case in (very expensive) point — adding in a pair of Era 300s and a massive subwoofer.

The Era 300s are already good at Spatial Audio on their own, so add them to the soundbar and you've got the Dolby Atmos envy of all but the most invested home theater buffs. The subwoofer brings even more low-end punch for the movies experience of a life time. If you can stomach the cost, of course.

Buy the setup:

• Sonos Arc Ultra $1,099 @ Amazon
• Sonos Sub 4 $899 @ Amazon
• Sonos Era 300 (x2) $449 each @ Amazon

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What's more exciting than pulling a brand new Sonos soundbar from under the tree? Getting it plugged into the TV and watching your favorite movie, that's what. But hold! Don't get watching "Star Wars Episode III" just yet – there's some settings you'll want to change first.

Let me guide you through the process. Once you've got everything setup, there are some extra steps to make sure your soundbar is performing its best. Get your phone ready, and prepare to see what Sonos soundbars are really capable of doing.

1. Download the Sonos app

While the Sonos App has had its fair share of problems over the last few months (or just over a year — but who's counting?), it's still a useful way to control your Sonos soundbar.

Pop over to the app store, and find the "Sonos" app. From there you can connect your Soundbar. It also unlocks the smart features of the soundbar, so you can use the built-in voice control and stream music wirelessly over Wi-Fi.

And before anyone says "well that seems obvious," I know someone who went months without downloading the app for their soundbar. They had no idea you could stream music to it – or that they needed to activate the Dolby Atmos setting.

2. Tune with TruePlay

There are a great many things that can affect the sound of your soundbar, including room acoustics. Not that you really need to worry about all that, thanks to Sonos' built in tuning system called "TruePlay."

It listens to a series of sounds from your soundbar, and using the soundbar's mics and the mic in your phone, it builds a sonic picture of your room. From there it can create a profile that makes sure it sounds the best possible according to the unique sonic characteristics of your room.

It's easy to find. Go into the app, and find the settings of your sound bar. Find the TruePlay tuning option. There are two options here. A simple option where you don't have to move around, and a more complex one that sees you walk around the room waving your phone around.

Follow the instructions on screen, and wait for the loud laser noises to finish. Et voila! One tuned soundbar.

3. Activate Dolby Atmos

Generally, spatial audio and Dolby Atmos are turned on by default, but you'll want to check. That way you can be sure you're getting surround sound for your favorite movies, games and music.

Head into the settings menu of your soundbar, and head down to the "surround" options. From there, check that Surround is turned on and that you've got Spatial Music turned on.

To check that things work correctly, play a movie on Netflix or Disney+ that you know has Dolby Atmos. Go into the Sonos app while the movie is playing, and check that there's the 'Dolby Atmos' logo on the screen.

If you see "stereo PCM," then Dolby Atmos isn't activated. Go back to the settings screen and check all the settings from above to make sure you're getting the best sound possible.

4. Activate speech enhancement for better dialog

This is only going to work with the Sonos Arc Ultra, but it's well worth turning on, especially if you like to watch TV and movies with lots of spoken words. Using some very clever AI, the soundbar will highlight dialog to make it easier to understand with speech enhancement so that you never miss a word.

It's easy to turn on. Head to the settings menu in the Sonos app, and then find the Speech Enhancement menu. From there, you can select a level — the higher the level, the louder the dialog.

The highest levels to affect the sound of the movie or TV show, so I'd recommend you stick with the middle level. That will enhance the dialogue a good deal without affecting the sound of the rest of the movie.

You should also turn it off when you listen to music – it sounds bad.

5. Add some streaming services

You can actually stream music to your soundbar directly from the Sonos app — you just need to sign into your services. When you search in the app, it will search through any streaming services you've added, making the potential library even larger.

Just head to the first page of the Sonos app, and press the 'Add' button under 'your services.' Follow the on-screen instructions, and log in to Tidal, Apple Music, Spotify, and more.

You can also stream from Sonos radio, although you don't get to choose the tracks you're listening to there.

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The best soundbars are supposed to make your TV audio better, but when they stop working correctly, they become incredibly frustrating. One day everything sounds perfect, and the next you're dealing with no sound at all, dialogue that doesn't match the actors' lips, or Bluetooth that refuses to connect.

Before you start shopping for a replacement or calling customer support, most soundbar problems have simple fixes you can do yourself. Understanding how to troubleshoot the most common soundbar issues saves you time, money, and the hassle of dealing with returns or repairs.

Here are five ways to fix your soundbar when it's not working properly, covering everything from connection problems to audio quality issues.

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Whether you've treated yourself to a soundbar or Santa has brought you one, you're in for a great time. Soundbars are the easiest and cheapest way to bring the movie theater home. I've tested loads of the best soundbars, and every single one was a marked improvement over my TV speakers.

But soundbars can also be quite confusing. Although most are plug-and-play, they have tons of features and jargon-stuffed playback modes. Don't fret, though. I'm here to help.

As one of Tom's Guide's resident soundbar reviewers, these are the three features I always try first when testing soundbars. I always check out bass/cinema/movie mode, dialogue enhancer, and the wireless connectivity features for hands-free dance sessions.

Haven't got a soundbar yet? Here's my top recommendations

Bass boost

"Bass boost" is sometimes called "Movie" or "Cinema" mode. It doesn't matter which title your soundbar uses — they're basically the same thing.

"Bass" and "Movie" modes do what you think they do. They make bass go boom. This feature is fantastic for blockbuster movies, like "Top Gun: Maverick" and "How to Train Your Dragon (2025)."

I test every single soundbar with "Top Gun: Maverick" in bass/movie mode, and it's a fantastic way to get the most bang for your buck. Or, boom for your buck.

Even with super-cheap soundbars like the $150 Sony HT-S100F, activating the bass/move/cinema mode always takes the experience to the next level. In my review of the HT-S100F, I wrote, "Considering the HT-S100F has no subwoofer, I wasn’t expecting the bass to be great. However, the bass notes in ‘Danger Zone’ were groovy and didn’t overpower the sounds of the jets taking off."

So, if you're a movie aficionado, you definitely need to activate bass/movie/cinema mode next time you watch. You'll be impressed.

Dialogue enhancer

Most soundbars I test have some kind of dialogue enhancer. This basically does what it says on the tin — it makes speech clearer and more intelligible.

As with movie/bass/cinema mode, different models use different names. Some models use the title "Voice," "Dialogue," or "Speech." My personal soundbar, the Bose Smart Soundbar, calls this mode "AI dialogue enhancer."

The Bose Smart Soundbar is capable of using cinema/bass/movie mode simultaneously with "AI dialogue enhancer," but this isn't true of all soundbars. The Sony HT-S100F forces you to choose between "Cinema" and "Voice," which is a shame, but it is just $149, compared to the Bose's $449. However, the $349 Klipsch Flexus Core 100 allows you to use "Dialogue enhancement" and "Bass" simultaneously.

If you're struggling to hear dialogue in loud movies, then I'd recommend trying out the "Voice" mode on your soundbar. Some soundbars have weird ways to activate this — on Samsung soundbars, for example, you have to hold the settings button, and then up and down buttons — so check out your user manual for extra help.

AirPlay/Google Cast/Bluetooth

Not all soundbars have Wi-Fi streaming, but honestly? In 2025, most new soundbars do. Obviously, there are some exceptions, like the Samsung Q600F, but on the whole, if you're buying a premium soundbar in 2025, it's likely gonna have Wi-Fi.

Even if your soundbar doesn't have Wi-Fi playback (for AirPlay and Google Cast), I'm 99% sure it'll have Bluetooth. I've never tested a soundbar without Bluetooth.

But if you have AirPlay or Google Cast on your soundbar, you need to experience a soundbar living room dance party. Wave goodbye to fighting over the aux, connectivity headaches with wireless speakers, or a teeny-tiny portable speaker that can't go loud enough. AirPlay makes my life ten times better.

I'll admit, soundbars aren't the best for listening to music. But when I'm cooking, cleaning, or just want to listen to music lazily, I always gravitate towards my soundbar. (I know, I'm a terrible music lover.)

Although it can be quite frustrating to set up Wi-Fi on a soundbar, trust me, it's worth it. I have the Bose Smart Soundbar (2024) at home, and AirPlay is one of my most-used features. I can play music directly from my Spotify or Apple Music or Qobuz app, without needing to connect to the soundbar first. It's instant music playback.

And, if you've got it, room calibration

Now, this is kind of a secret fourth option, because not all soundbars have this feature. Only the uber premium models I've tested come with AI room calibration. If you've a 2021-2025 AI-powered Samsung TV (QLED Q70 and up) and a compatible soundbar (Q Series), then you can make use of SpaceFit Sound Pro.

This room calibration feature analyzes the layout of your space and alters sound waves accordingly. Basically, it's a lot of physics and engineering to ensure you get the best sound possible.

Non-Samsung soundbars have this, too. I tested the JBL Bar 1300X and was blown away by the in-app room calibration. This setup sends a pulsing sound through all elements of the soundbar and tells you to move certain pieces if needed.

However, this is a feature most commonly seen on very expensive setups — like, well over $1,000 expensive — which is why I didn't include it in my main three features. It's nice to have, but it's not essential. You can also just move your soundbar and play it by ear.

Which of these features have you tried? Which are you going to try first? Let me know in the comments!

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I test a lot of the best soundbars. I've reviewed everything from $1,700+ full-room setups to $67 teeny-weeny TV speakers. Some are mind-blowingly immersive and genuinely bring the movie theater home. Some are... less so.

Times are tough right now, and if you're anything like me, you'll probably want to spend as little money as possible without sacrificing sound quality. Enter the Sony HT-S100F.

This tiny, cheap soundbar is widely regarded as the best budget soundbar money can buy. It's also an Amazon bestseller, and for good reason.

Sony HT-S100F is a winner

Although I reviewed it at $99, the HT-S100F is $159 now. Even so, it's often discounted to its original MSRP, so you should be able to grab it at the lower price if you're patient.

At this price point, there's very little competition. I've tested a fair few cheap soundbars at this point: the $67 Majority Naga 60, the $99 Majority Elias, and the $169 Creative Stage Pro come to mind. These are all competitively priced models, and I'd recommend checking out the Naga 60 if you really can't spend over $100. If you're set on getting a subwoofer, the Stage Pro is a fair option, too.

However, the HT-S100F is miles apart from the rest of the budget crowd. Usually, there are some annoying trade-offs when it comes to cheap soundbars. The Naga 60 comes with frustrating connection foibles; the Elias's "Dolby Atmos" is practically nonexistent; and the Stage Pro has no eARC and muffled dialogue.

The Sony HT-S100F? No annoying habits. The most annoying thing is that the remote lacks a Bluetooth button, so you have to activate Bluetooth via the on-bar buttons. But hey, if you're looking to get your steps in, this isn't the worst thing in the world.

So although most cheap soundbars have one irritating habit, the HT-S100F seems immune to this curse. Praise be the soundbar gods.

Bass bass bass

Like pretty much every soundbar I've tested, the Sony HT-S100F has "Cinema" mode. This mode increases the volume of low-frequency sounds. Watching a movie with rumbling monster trucks? Explosions? Bass-heavy soundtracks? No problem!

In my review of the HT-S100F, I wrote, "In the opening scene of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, I was really impressed with the level of bass. Considering the HT-S100F has no subwoofer, I wasn’t expecting the bass to be great. However, the bass notes in ‘Danger Zone’ were groovy and didn’t overpower the sounds of the jets taking off."

Although you'd need a subwoofer to get really good bass, I was really impressed considering the HT-S100F's lower price tag. Unfortunately, the HT-S100F isn't compatible with an external subwoofer, so if you want to build your setup gradually, you'd probably need to get something with a higher initial cost. (Check out Klipsch's range. I recently tested the Klipsch Flexus Core 100 and was really impressed.)

Crystal-clear dialogue

Thanks to its "Voice" mode, the HT-S100F is ideal if you struggle to understand muffled or mumbled dialogue from your TV speakers. In addition to explosions and bass-heavy music, 'Top Gun: Maverick' has a lot of radioed dialogue that my TV speakers struggle to transmit. That just wasn't the case when I connected the HT-S100F.

In my review, I wrote, "I could hear all the headset dialogue clearly. There was no muffled speech, and I wasn’t straining to hear even over the radio crackling sound effect."

I also watched Netflix with 5.1 audio to test the HT-S100F: "As promised, [Voice] mode made dialogue clear without overpowering the sound effects and background music. I could still hear characters pouring cereal and drinking beer without drowning out dialogue."

Seeing as TV speakers struggle with separating diegetic sound effects at similar frequencies — female dialogue and high-frequency sound effects like clinking cutlery or quiet laughter — this performance was excellent for $159.

Powerful...but it won't blow the roof off your house

I'm going to be honest with you, though: if you want a true home theater setup, the HT-S100F won't be able to rival a surround system. Considering the $159 price tag, it's fair to say that the HT-S100F is intended to be used as a step up from TV speakers, but not necessarily a replacement for a full 5.1 system.

If you want a setup with surround sound and pumping bass, then you probably want to check out the Polk Audio Signa S4 ($449), which has a 3.1-channel setup (with a subwoofer).

There's a $300 price difference between those two options, however, and that's not an insignificant amount of money, especially in this economy.

If you want an audio upgrade without going all-in on a multi-channel surround system, you should definitely check out the Sony HT-S100F — it's widely regarded as the best budget soundbar for a reason.

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Dolby Atmos is great at delivering spatial audio sound, but getting it set up properly has always required a TV that supports the standard; a soundbar or AV receiver that can decode the signal; and, of course, an HDMI cable to pair the two together.

But those days will soon be behind us.

Announced ahead of CES 2026, LG Sound Suite is the first soundbar to support Dolby Atmos’ FlexConnect protocol, which allows you to connect up to four speakers, a soundbar and a subwoofer in a 13.1.7-channel configuration wirelessly to your TV.

Spatial audio speaker placement without the headache

If you’ve never done it, stringing together a surround sound system is both an artform and a practice in patience. Cutting speaker wire with just the right amount of slack only to realize that you need another six or seven inches is certainly something I don’t miss.

Dolby Atmos fixed this problem by only requiring a single HDMI cable to run from a soundbar to an HDMI eARC port on the back of the TV. Unfortunately, I’ve heard from some readers that even that can be tough with certain living room layouts.

FlexConnect will fix that problem — but comes with the caveat that both the TV and soundbar need to support the new standard. So far, the LG Sound Suite is the only soundbar that can receive a FlexConnect signal and LG’s upcoming 2026 TVs are the only ones that can send it. (Though LG says that some 2025 models will also be updated to support FlexConnect via a software update sometime in the future.)

Don’t have a perfectly level shelf to put those two rear-channel speakers on? No problem. FlexConnect and Sound Suite will even custom-tune the sound to fit the space.

A new reason to buy LG OLED TVs?

Keep in mind that although the LG Sound Suite is the first soundbar to support FlexConnect, it’s not the first piece of audio gear with that distinction — that honor belongs to the TCL Z100 wireless speaker, which my colleague Kate Kozuch tested earlier this year.

The biggest draw for the LG Sound Suite for me personally is its out-of-the-box integration with LG’s 2026 TVs. LG has yet to announce what’s included in the lineup outside of the brand’s first-ever Micro RGB TV, but it’s almost certain that we’ll see 2026 versions of the LG C5 OLED and LG G5 OLED, two of the best OLED TVs of 2025.

Am I salivating over the possibility of unboxing an LG C6 OLED and an accompanying Sound Suite system for immediate 13.1.7-channel spatial audio? Absolutely.

Unfortunately LG didn’t give us a firm date on either product, so for now I’ll just have to settle for seeing one (or both!) at CES 2026 in early January.

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If I had my way, my living room would have a full system of speakers and subwoofers connected to one of the best home theater receivers. Unfortunately, I, like many others, have "the council of people I live with" to get past before I can enjoy surround sound movies at their very best.

So I turned to the Sonos soundbar that lives on our TV stand. The Sonos Arc Ultra is one of the best soundbars, and it connects to other Sonos speakers for a true surround experience. Speakers I already own. So getting it past the council of elders was a whole lot easier than buying an amp, buckets of speakers, and wall mounting a whole new setup. My experience hasn't been smooth sailing — but it's definitely here to stay. Let me tell you why.

How does it work?

The Sonos Arc Ultra is already a very proficient surround sound device before you've connected all your extra speakers. There are 9.1.4 channels already built in for some impressive virtual Atmos surround, creating a fairly convincing Dolby Atmos bubble around you when you're watching movies and cinematic TV shows.

But it's not quite enough. See, you can link up other Sonos speakers for a "true surround" system (note: not a virtual one). In my case, that's a pair of Sonos Era 300 speakers and a Sonos Sub 4 to add some extra bass to the mix.

That actually places some of the sound behind you, as opposed to the soundbar bouncing the soundtrack off the walls and into your ears.

It all connects using Wi-Fi. The Sonos Arc Ultra makes its own mini-network within your home Wi-Fi, sending the audio signal through a high-quality, and most importantly, lag-free wireless connection to each speaker.

Sound complicated? Well, that's because it is complicated. And, as much as Sonos might tell you otherwise, it's also a massive pain to set up.

My surround setup nightmare

I'd hoped that my Sonos setup would be much easier than it proved to be. After all, previous devices have hooked up without complaint, despite the difficulties that the app has seen over the last, like, year.

Alas, it was not to be. Connecting everything was to be a Sisyphean task, with numerous unpluggings, disconnectings, and even uninstallations to get everything working.

It should be easy. Just a couple of taps in the Sonos app, and you're away. That's how I started. I put the speakers in their spots and pressed the "add as surrounds" button. A quick loading screen later, and I was off to the races — or so I thought.

The surround speakers didn't work. When I tried out some spatial music or watched a Dolby Atmos movie, there was no surround sound. My Era 300s were completely silent. The TruePlay tuning in the app stopped halfway, never to get to the surround speaker part.

I tried everything I could think of. I power cycled the Era 300s, the soundbar, and the sub. I tried uninstalling the application and then re-logging in again. I tried each device separately to make sure they were working. They were — so why on earth would they not connect together so that I can watch Star Wars: Episode III in glorious Dolby Atmos?

For a time, I gave up. The Era 300s sat in their surround spots, ready for me to make the effort to try again. And then — a revelation. Why not start afresh?

So I started fresh. I disconnected all the Sonos speakers from the power, and reset my internet router. I uninstalled the app and restarted my phone. I was ready to get it all started, from square one.

I reinstalled the Sonos app and signed in. "No Sonos network found" — just what I was hoping for. I started with the Arc Ultra. I factory reset the speaker by holding the Bluetooth button while I plugged it in, waiting for the orange light on the front to pulse green.

It appeared in the app like a brand new device, and I hooked it up. I did an initial TruePlay tuning, and everything seemed ok. Now for the Subwoofer. Hold down the pairing button, connect the power, and wait for the orange light to turn green. Connect it to the system in the app, and run TruePlay for the soundbar again.

So far, so good.

Now for the bit that gave me issues the first (few) times around. I moved onto the rear surrounds, starting with what would be the rear right. I held the Bluetooth button and connected the power to factory reset it. It appeared in the app, and I set it up like a normal speaker. A quick TruePlay tuning later, and it's working as a smart speaker.

But not like a surround. Not yet.

Things so far are looking good, but until Anakin is wheeling around my head in his Jedi Starfighter, we're not done. I applied the same process to the final speaker in the system — hold the Bluetooth button, and plug it in. Wait for that green light, and set up the speaker in the app.

I ran TruePlay on the second Era 300. I'm getting ever more nervous as I am excited. I've been at it for hours, days even, and I'm nearly there. It might work.

Now for the crucial part: adding the speakers as surrounds. There's a quick button in the app labelled "add Sonos Era 300 as surrounds." I tap it. I select the speaker making noise to tell the system which speaker is left and which is right. I've been here before, but things feel different now.

A drop of sweat drips from my brow as I watch the connection status bar reach completion. It could have been hours, days, weeks, or even years before that bar finalized. It felt like an eternity, watching it connect everything.

And then — success. "Surrounds connected," the app tells me. But it's the power on/confirmation/triumphant jingle that rings from every speaker in the room that says my gambit has paid off.

It works. One nerve wracking TruePlay setup later, and we're away. Was it one of the most painful setups I've ever dragged myself through? 100%. Was it worth the effort (and massive expense)? Absolutely.

Worth every drop of sweat (and dollar)

There's very little like a decent Dolby Atmos setup at home. And the full Sonos surround system is, indeed, a decent Dolby Atmos setup. It might not have the ceiling mounted speakers of something even more premium, but it's a great option if you've got a council of deciders to get through.

When tuned with TruePlay properly, the surround sound is epic. Noises that almost came from behind you and around you before now actually sound like they come from all around, immersing you in your favorite movies like little else.

Star Wars Episode III might not be my favorite Star Wars movie, but it's one of my favorite ways to listen to a surround sound setup. That opening scene as Anakin and Obi-Wan plummet through enormous capital ships — you almost have to duck your head as the hot-headed young Jedi almost buries his fighter in the back of your skull.

But it's not just surround sound that the setup helps. The speakers taking on some of the load means that there's less for the soundbar at the front to do, so it can focus on the stuff it's really good at. That means the dialogue is noticeably clearer, and movie soundtracks are more immersive.

Explosions feel far more impressive as the whole room is filled with the noise, and bits fly off behind you. Car chases are more immersive as vehicles pass by. It's remarkable just how much of a difference some surround speakers make to the experience.

Look, it's expensive and connecting it all was a massive pain — but the result is the perfect compromise between space used and Dolby Atmos experience. It's well worth it if you've got the dollar — and the time to reset everything in the house.

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The Klipsch Flexus Core 100 is one of the best soundbars below $400. With surprisingly powerful bass and seamless connectivity in the Klipsch Connect Plus app, this is the ideal soundbar for those with smaller TVs or living rooms. If you don’t have room for a subwoofer, the Flexus Core 100’s adept bass will be more than enough.

Although it lacks Wi-Fi connectivity — so you can’t stream via AirPlay, Google Cast, Spotify Connect or the like — I was easily able to set up wireless playback via Bluetooth. Even so, if you want a smart home sound system, this wouldn’t be the soundbar for you.

But perhaps the impressive bass and compatibility with Klipsch’s rears and subs make this the perfect soundbar for beginners? I’ll discuss everything in full in this Klipsch Flexus Core 100 review.

Klipsch Flexus Core 100 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? An entry-level Klipsch soundbar you can add a subwoofer and rears to
• Who is it for? If you want to invest in your home cinema setup brick by brick
• What does it cost? $349 / £299
• What do we like? Very affordable for the sound quality
• What don’t we like? There’s no Wi-Fi, so say goodbye to AirPlay, Spotify Connect, and more

Klipsch Flexus Core 100 review: Specs

Klipsch Flexus Core 100 review: Price & availability

The Klipsch Flexus Core 100 is $349 from Amazon U.S. and £299 from Richer Sounds in the U.K.. This is a pretty reasonable price for a soundbar of this caliber — I’ve also tested the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 ($699) and the Bose Smart Soundbar ($549), which perform similarly, but at much pricier MSRPs.

The Klipsch Flexus Core 100 is intended to be the first model you buy from Klipsch’s lineup, and it’s built to be a part of a whole Klipsch sound system. Klipsch offers a couple of other soundbars: the Flexus Core 200 ($549), and the Flexus Core 300 ($1,199).

All the soundbars are compatible with both the Sub 100 ($349) and Sub 200 ($599). You don’t have to purchase the subs simultaneously — you can just grab the soundbar now and add subs when you can.

Still with me? Good. You can also get Klipsch’s rears for “true” Dolby Atmos. These are $499 for the Surr 200, and, again, can be added onto the soundbar or soundbar + subwoofer at any time.

You can also get the Klipsch Flexus Core 200 soundbar with the Sub 100 for just $549, which I’d recommend getting if you want a more powerful home setup, but you don’t want to drop a grand on a soundbar.

In the grand scheme of soundbars, $349 for the Klipsch Flexus Core 100 is very reasonable. This would be a great option for those who want to upgrade from TV speakers for less, with the option of adding subs and rears in the future.

Klipsch Flexus Core 100 review: Design & controls

• Just 28 inches, suitable for smaller TVs
• Buttons on the top and weighty remote control
• Controls in the Klipsch Connect Plus app, too

The Flexus Core 100 is notably smaller than other soundbars I’ve tested. I’d recommend this for smaller homes or smaller TVs. I tested with a 65-inch LG, and the Flexus Core 100 looked out of place.

As with other Klipsch gear, the Flexus Core 100 has a retro-yet-modern appearance. There’s a Klipsch logo on the top right, which I think is a touch too big. This logo is much more prominent than Bose, Samsung, and Yamaha’s respective logos.

The Klipsch Flexus Core 100 does share similarities with these other soundbars, though. As with the Bose Smart Soundbar and the Samsung Q-Series soundbars, there are a number of touch buttons on the top of the bar itself. However, I always found myself gravitating towards using the remote or the app to control the soundbar. The controller is pleasantly weighty and has a much more luxurious feel than Bose’s flimsy remote.

Even though I’m not a fan of the large logo, I like pretty much everything else about the Flexus Core 100’s appearance. The fabric casing is well-made and functional, as it softens harsh treble during action scenes, giving the soundbar a warmer sound.

Klipsch Flexus Core 100 review: Features

• Playback modes ‘Music’ or ‘Movie’
• Dialogue enhancement mode
• Listening presets ‘Vocal’, ‘Bass’, ‘Treble’, ‘Rock’, and ‘Custom’

Although the Flexus Core 100 only has two playback modes — ‘Music’ or ‘Movie’ — I didn’t find myself longing for more modes. Usually, soundbars have a ‘Gaming’ mode, too. Even so, I found ‘Movie’ and ‘Music’ to be more than enough.

‘Music’ softened dialogue and increased bass, whereas ‘Movie’ heightened both dialogue and bass, giving a more U-shaped EQ. As you might expect, ‘Music’ sounded terrible for TV and movies, and ‘Movies’ sounded terrible when playing music.

Similarly, it was easy to enhance dialogue and playback by cycling through the listening presets until I found one I liked. For example, I watched ‘Stranger Things’ with the ‘bass’ preset and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ with the bass preset. With dialogue on ‘high’, this provided an immersive, floor-shaking, yet still intelligible soundstage.

However… and this is a big however. There’s no AirPlay, Google Cast, or Spotify Connect. Only the premium Flexus models — so the Core 300 — have Wi-Fi, and, therefore, Wi-Fi playback. This is a major con for those looking to integrate multi-room playback systems like Roon into their soundbar. Simply put, it can’t be done unless you get the $1,199 Flexus Core 300.

Klipsch Flexus Core 100 review: App

• Delightful to use
• No connectivity issues
• Can add subs and surrounds easily in the app

The Klipsch Flexus Core 100 uses the Klipsch Connect Plus app, instead of the confusing, similarly named Klipsch Connect.

As the Flexus Core 100 is intended to be the first investment in a series of home cinema products, the Connect Plus app offers a range of features like rears and subwoofer setup, channel configuration, and allows you to purchase add-ons in the app.

The app itself is easy to navigate and a pleasure to use, which is a welcome reprieve from the frustrating world of sound system apps. I struggled with Denon’s HEOS app due to finicky connectivity issues, and even Bose’s app proved frustrating at first.

The Klipsch Connect Plus practically set itself up — it recognized the Flexus Core 100 and added it to my smart system without any input from me. If you want a soundbar app that is actually a delight to use, then I’d recommend Klipsch products over Denon’s or Sonos’.

Klipsch Flexus Core 100 review: Sound quality

• Great bass despite lack of subwoofer
• Not as much clarity in high-frequency sound effects as I’d like
• Very clear dialogue

I test every soundbar with ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ on 4K UHD Blu-Ray, TV shows on Netflix, and music on Spotify and Qobuz.

Movies

Firstly, I watched ‘Top Gun: Maverick’. The opening scene has a fantastic audio mix, with high-frequency sound effects like whooping ropes and clinking metal, layered over a bass-heavy soundtrack and rumbling jet engines that challenge the low-end.

There was a surprising amount of width to the soundstage, especially when ‘Danger Zone’ started. I could almost pretend that the jet engines were flying around me, but, obviously, the Atmos performance isn’t as advanced as that of the Samsung Q600F ($699).

The soundbar struggled to balance dialogue and bass in the jet flying scenes, even with dialogue set to max. I could still understand most of what was said, but if you struggle with hearing, I don’t think it would be clear enough. The Bose Smart Soundbar has fantastic dialogue (with an AI dialogue enhancer), so I’d recommend that if you need something with extreme clarity.

Afterwards, I watched ‘The Mask’. The dialogue was fantastic, and I never struggled to understand any of the actors, even the soft-spoken characters. As this is a comedy movie, sans-jet-engines, sans-car-chases, and sans-overly dramatic soundtrack, there’s naturally less bass in the mix. As a result, the dialogue was brought to the forefront of the mix, which the Flexus Core 100 handled deftly.

Lastly, I watched ‘The Sound of Music’. I was really impressed by the clarity of dialogue in this movie. The contrast between the tranquil diegetic sounds — chirping birds and rippling grass — and the prominent dialogue made the movie a breeze to watch.

The bass is better than the Samsung B650, but only marginally. If you want to spend only around $400, but you want the best bass and clarity possible, I’d recommend the Polk Audio Signa S4. The S4 is the best all-rounder for earth-shattering bass and audible high-frequency sound effects.

TV

As I watched a range of hi-res 4K UHD Blu-rays, I wanted to test out the Flexus Core 100 with basic TV as well. Not everyone will be watching 4K UHD Blu-rays all the time, so it makes sense to give the soundbar a fair run with standard 5.1 TV, too.

I watched ‘Friends’ on Netflix using the ‘vocal’ preset. I also used dialogue enhancement mode to see how this affected the mix. Strangely, ‘vocal’ preset and ‘high’ dialogue enhancement made the laugh track sound like it was coming from underwater. However, the dialogue did sound great, so if you need to strengthen the dialogue performance and don’t mind a narrower mix, then this could be a worthy sacrifice.

After ‘Friends’, I switched it up with ‘Stranger Things’. As this is a more action-heavy, movie-like show than ‘Friends’, I adjusted the playback modes. I used ‘Movie’ mode with the ‘bass’ preset.

I wanted a little extra from the high-frequency diegetic sound effects, like footsteps on leaves and zippers. For such a compact soundbar, though, this is a big ask. I was really impressed by the clarity of the bass — the thunder sound effects rumbled through the floorboards, despite the lack of a subwoofer.

While the high-frequency sound effects were much clearer on the Denon Home Sound Bar 550, I’d recommend spending a bit extra for that premium soundbar if you want a more immersive, wider soundscape. I also recommend the Samsung Q600F or the Sonos Beam 2 if you want a better out-of-the-box performance.

Music

As the Klipsch Flexus Core 100 doesn’t have Wi-Fi, I had to test music playback with Bluetooth. I connected to my iPhone 16 Pro using the Klipsch Connect Plus app and then played music from Qobuz.

I listened to ‘Unravelling’ by Muse, which has a synth-heavy verse and heavy guitars in the chorus. The guitars sounded a little too close, and there wasn’t much width to the sound. However, the bass was powerful, and the vocals were melodic. Obviously, it doesn’t sound as good as a dedicated speaker, but the Flexus Core 100 would do in a pinch.

After, I listened to ‘Holiday’ by Confidence Man, which is a much sparser yet euphoric dance track. The vocal melodies were clear and effective. I could hear the high-frequency plane sound effects well. The ‘90s house bassline was groovy and loud, but, again a dedicated speaker would do the trick better.

Overall, the Flexus Core 100 is a fantastic TV speaker upgrade, and for just $349, you can’t go wrong. Obviously, there are better, more expensive options, but I wholeheartedly recommend the Flexus Core 100 if you’re on a budget and not fussy about Wi-Fi.

Klipsch Flexus Core 100 review: Verdict

The Klipsch Flexus Core 100 is a great option if you want to upgrade from your TV speakers for relatively little money. With powerful bass and a surprisingly wide soundscape (in some UHD Blu-rays), this compact soundbar is reliable and, most importantly, fun. And the best part? You can add pieces whenever you desire, which makes this a perfect option for those looking to create a serious home cinema experience eventually.

I found it easy to overlook the lack of Wi-Fi streaming with the easily accessible Bluetooth mode — and pleasing $349 price tag. With the Klipsch Connect Plus app, you don’t need the remote at all, and I didn’t experience a single connectivity issue. If you’ve used a lot of soundbars, you’ll know how impressive that is.

Although $100 more will get you the more advanced Polk Audio Signa S4, $349 is a fantastic deal for the Klipsch Flexus Core 100. If you’re looking for bass-heavy sound for the lowest price tag possible, I’m sure you’ll be happy with the Flexus Core 100.

Cyber Monday is officially here, and it's brought some awesome soundbar deals along with it. The best soundbars with Dolby Atmos are expensive, so it's even more important to grab them when they're discounted.

I've tested 15 soundbars this year, ranging from $1,700 JBL setups to $67 uber-budget TV speaker replacements, and I've rounded up the 11 best Cyber Monday soundbar deals for your viewing pleasure. All of these soundbars have Dolby Atmos (except one, which has fake-but-still-good DTS:VirtualX), so let me help you find the cheapest way to transform your living room into a movie theater.

My top recommendation is the Bose Smart Soundbar for just $399 at Amazon. This is my personal soundbar and a great option for the soundbar that can do it all — movies, TV, and music. Or, if you want to save as much as possible, I recommend the unbelievably good value Insignia 5.1.2 Soundbar — you get rear speakers, a subwoofer, and the soundbar itself for just $129 at Best Buy. If we were in a cartoon, my head would have exploded when I found that deal. A full surround system for $129 is incomprehensibly cheap.

But there are more soundbar deals where that came from. Read on to see my favorites.

Soundbar deals: Quick links

• Insignia 5.1.2 Soundbar: was $229 now $129 @ Best Buy
• Amazon Fire TV Soundbar: was $249 now $149 @ Amazon
• Samsung HW-B650: was $399 now $199 @ Best Buy
• Polk Audio Signa S4: was $449 now $359 @ Amazon
• JBL Bar 500: was $649 now $399 @ Best Buy
• Bose Smart Soundbar 2024: was $499 now $399 @ Amazon
• Samsung Q600F: was $699 now $499 @ Best Buy
• Bose Smart Soundbar Ultra: was $899 now $699 @ Amazon
• Sonos Arc Ultra: was $1,099 now $879 @ Best Buy
• Samsung Q990D: was $1,999 now $999 @ Best Buy
• JBL Bar 1300 MK2: was $1,699 now $1,99 @ Best Buy

Best Cyber Monday deals on Dolby Atmos soundbars

For more discounts, check out our Cyber Monday deals live blog.

Shop today's best Cyber Monday deals

• Amazon: 50% off Ring, Ninja, AirPods and more
• Walmart Plus: 50% off @ Walmart
• REI: half-off Arc'teryx, Patagonia, more
• Dell: monitors from $69, laptops from $299
• Nectar: 50% off mattresses + bundles
• Best Buy: laptops from $149
• Lenovo: doorbuster deals from $319
• Wayfair: up to 80% off home decor
• Lululemon: top picks from $9
• Newegg: Doorbuster deals from $6
• Walmart: holiday gifts from $15
• Birkenstock: deals from $20 @ Nordstrom
• Saatva: luxury mattresses from $1,099

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single TV in need of decent sound must be in want of one of the best soundbars. And, likely, you're here because you're sick of awful-sounding TV speakers — well, I've got the list for you. We've spent a lot of time testing the best soundbars to make sure you get the best bang for your buck.

The best is still the Sonos Arc Ultra. It's an absolute stunner of a soundbar, bringing great sound, lovely Dolby Atmos, and even slick styling so you won't mind it sitting under your TV. It does come with a big wallet-denting price, though — if you're looking to save some money, we'd go for the also excellent Sony HT-S100F.

But without further ado, these are the best soundbars you can buy in 2026.

Meet the testing team

The Tom's Guide testing team is an experienced bunch who love good sound. Here's why you can trust us to find the best soundbar for your needs:

How do we test the best soundbars?

Before we dive deep into the best soundbars, I just want to go through what we look for when we're testing them. We make sure to evaluate the soundbar in some key areas.

Setup: While it's something you're only going to do once, we want to make sure that it's as easy as possible to get working. Plug-and-play is the name of the game here, and if there are extra features we want to make sure that they're as easy as possible to use.

How big is it? Everyone's space is different. Maybe you've got a massive room with loads of stuff in it, or maybe your living room is more compact and minimal. You want a soundbar that's going to suit your space, and, more importantly, not going to take up too much of it. We check whether the soundbar fits under our 50-inch OLED Philips testing TV to make sure you're not going to have any size issues. Ultimately, it needs to fit on your TV stand.

Are there any extras? What's in the box, and are its contents any good? Some soundbars come with extras like surround speakers and subwoofers. I want to make sure that those extras are worth it, and that they're not just pictures to sell them at the store.

Sound: This is arguably the most important part of the soundbar, and there are a number of things we look out for here. How's the dialog? Is it clear, or muffled? What about the bass — are you going to have rumbling floors in your movies, or are there going to be problems with the low end? I love testing the sound portion because I get to watch movies instead of working; But it's still important when testing and working out whether a bar is for you.

The best soundbars available right now

Best soundbar overall

The Sonos Arc Ultra is more than just a soundbar. It's a fully fledged audio entertainment center that connects to your TV and just happens to be really good for movies and TV.

I particularly like how you can stream your music to it from any device — I frequently find myself spending a bunch of time listening to my favorite tunes from Qobuz and Tidal with it, thanks to its ease of use.

But it's really that epic movie experience you're looking for with something like the Sonos Arc Ultra, and you get it in spades. The Dolby Atmos with just the soundbar is unlike anything else around, and if you add in the optional surrounds, it's a game-changer.

I absolutely love watching just about anything with the Arc Ultra — although you will want to pick up a Sonos sub so that you can get the low-end grunt your movies deserve. It's not cheap — but it is so, so worth it.

Setup
Setting up your Arc Ultra is going to take a bit more effort than some of the other options on the list. I found it fairly easy though, given the excellent instructions. If all you want to do is use the soundbar, you just plug it into power, plug the HDMI port into the back of the soundbar and the HDMI ARC port of your TV, and it should work without problems at all. I did have to change the settings in my Samsung TV sound menu to make sure that the device was set as the primary sound output, but then it worked with no problem.

If you want to use the excellent Sonos room correction settings, smart features, or to connect other Sonos speakers as surrounds, things will get more complicated. You'll need to use the Sonos App for these — and while it's not difficult, it is extra work. The room correction options also need you to move around the room while waving your phone around, so if mobility is something you struggle with, you may want to look elsewhere.

Once set up, you won't have any issues, but it's worth bearing in mind that it takes more work to get it working. It's all absolutely worth your time though, with massive boosts to sound quality and useful features within the Sonos App.

How big is it
The Sonos Arc Ultra is a big soundbar. It's very long, measuring around four feet long. I found it perfectly suited for TVs larger than 55 inches, although if your TV is smaller, things might look out of place.

There's less of a problem with the height. It's only about 3 inches tall, so it'll fit under most TVs without a problem.

Are there any extras
You get the soundbar in box — there's no included subwoofer here. Not that you really need one, though, given that Sonos has managed to pack some incredible bassy hardware into its slim frame.

If you want to enhance your movie-watching experience, though, you can add in a Sonos sub and surrounds in the from of Era 100 or Era 300 speakers. It adds to the cost, but it gets very close to dedicated home cinema sound.

Sound
This is the best bit of the Arc Ultra. I love the way that soundbar sounds for movies and TV, with some incredible body to the sound. I found the dialogue clear while watching the news and other TV shows, and it was excellent when listening to Sir David Attenborough talk to me about dinosaurs in Prehistoric Planet.

For movies, as you might expect, the Arc Ultra dominates. I discovered that even without extra surrounds, the Dolby Atmos was amazing, putting me in the centre of a space battle in Star Wars Episode 3. The bass without a sub is surprisingly good as well, although if you really want to feel your movie,s you should buy the extra subwoofer.

It's pretty good for music as well, uncommon for a soundbar. There's plenty of space, thanks to the wider form factor, and the bar manages the low end of your tracks pretty well, too.

• Read the Sonos Arc Ultra review

Best soundbar under $100

When you don't want to spend loads of money on a soundbar, something like the Sony HT-S150 is just what the doctor ordered. It's a lovely, cheap soundbar that does everything you need it to — make your TV sound better than the built in audio.

It brings more clarity to dialogue, most importantly. Everything from your favorite movies all the way to news bulletins and everything in between become much easier to make out, perfect if you're struggling to hear what people are trying to say.

It's relatively compact as well, so you'll have no problems fitting it on your TV bench beneath most sizes of screen. Our tester found it super easy to use well, with very few (if any) connection issues that sometimes plague cheaper devices.

It's not going to be as impressive as some of the more expensive options on the list, but it more than makes up for it with excellent clarity for all your watching.

Setup
Getting the HT-S100F up and running is about as easy as they come. Just plug the power in, connect the HDMI port to the HDMI ARC on your TV, and it'll turn on automatically whenever you turn on your TV.

Erin did find that you might have to occasionally turn the bar on with the remote control, but it didn't happen enough to be a massive problem.

How big is it
The HT-S100F is designed for normal-sized televisions, and it's compact frame will fit on most TV stands. It measures 35 inches long, so you'll be fine for TVs from 32 inches to 48.

It might seem a little small for larger TVs, though, with the screen dwarfing the soundbar beneath. You'll also find some minor sound issues with larger sets, as the picture feels wider than the sound that's coming out.

Height-wise wise you'll be fine with a range of different TVs as well. The bar measures just 2.5 inches tall, so it won't cover the bottom of your screen. If it covers the IR receiver of your TV, there's an IR repeater built in so that your controller still works.

Erin found it fit well underneath our 50-inch testing TV, although if you've got a larger TV set, you might want something slightly larger in the long run.

Are there any extras?
In the box of the HT-S100F, you get the soundbar — and nothing else. You can't buy an extra subwoofer or surround either, leaving you with no upgrades for the future.

This makes it great for just a simple setup, and it keeps the cost down. There's a controller in the box as well, so you can connect Bluetooth devices and change sources without standing up.

Sound
The HT-100F isn't going to blow you away if you're a movie lover, but its solid, serviceable sound is a big step-up over your TV's built-in speakers. It makes dialog clearer, music sounds better, and sound effects are easier to hear.

For music, things wheren't quite so impressive, but if you've got no other ways to listen to music in the living room, it will more than suffice. If you're looking for a cheap way to get much better sound out of your TV watching, then this is the way to go.

• Read the Sony HT-S100F review

Best soundbar for movies

As the Q600F is the most affordable soundbar in Samsung’s premium ‘Q’ series, it has a lot to live up to. Thankfully, the Q600F lives up to that and more.

Even though it’s just a 3.1.2 channel setup, the soundbar + subwoofer is electric, with animated, crisp dialogue and floor-shaking bass thanks. The only real downside of the Q600F is the lack of height and immersion without the ‘Surround’ sound mode activated. However, the soundbar does an admirable job of faking 360°, despite its lack of rear speakers.

Although there are no smart home features, this is certainly a movie-focused soundbar rather than a ‘Hey Google, set me a timer for two minutes’ kind of home ecosystem. Blockbuster movies like ‘The Batman’ and ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ is where the Q600F really shone.

The Q600F was great for TV, too, even with non-Dolby-Atmos-encoded shows. Don’t forget about the music performance — while the instrument separation wasn’t great, the bass made up for it enough.

On the whole, the Q600F is one of the best ways to achieve room-filling audio for very little cost.

Setup
As the Q600F doesn’t have Wi-Fi or app-related features, setup is straightforward. The soundbar simply requires connection to the power outlet and a HDMI cable plugged into the TV, and the subwoofer connects wirelessly to the soundbar.

The soundbar comes with wall-mounting brackets, but it also fits onto a standard TV stand or entertainment unit.

How big is it
At a whopping 42.8 inches long, the Q600F isn’t the ideal soundbar for a small space. It looked congruous with the 55” testing TV, but a smaller TV might look unnatural or out-of-place next to the Q600F.

The subwoofer is 13 inches tall, and will need a space near to the soundbar for optimum performance.

Are there any extras
The Q600F is a soundbar with very few bells or whistles: it plugs in via HDMI or Optical, and has Bluetooth and USB connectivity for music playback. There are a few sound-related features, like ‘Surround’ mode and ‘Game’ mode.

But while the Q600F sounds great for movies, it won’t impress smart home lovers. There’s no smart home integration — Samsung’s Smart Things, AirPlay, and Chromecast included. So, users looking to integrate a soundbar into a smart home ecosystem would be better off elsewhere.

Sound
The Q600F, in short, sounds utterly magnificent. For a $600 soundbar, there’s loud, thumping bass that doesn’t sacrifice clarity for volume. Every blockbuster movie sounded great through the Q600F, including action scenes in ‘The Batman’, and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’.

Don’t think that a powerful low-end results in mediocre treble or unclear dialogue, though. Even Batman’s growled lines were clear and intelligible through the Q600F, despite a chaotic soundscape layered with soundtrack and diegetic effects. Quieter media didn’t disappoint, either, with the eerie murder-mystery of Netflix’s ‘Wednesday’ enlivened thanks to the Q600F’s ‘Surround’ audio mode.

Although the Q600F isn’t as immersive as other setups — it is just 3.1.2 channel, after all — for the price and the size, this is an enviable performance. The Q600F is compatible with Samsung rear speakers, too, so could be the first player in a larger home cinema game.

• Read the Samsung Q600F review

Best all-in-one soundbar

There’s not really such a thing as a “bargain” when it comes to home surround sound. Instead, there’s value — and the JBL bar 1300XMK2 brings the value unlike just about anything. Flexibility, a more affordable price than the key competition, and, of course, great sound.

The two ends of the soundbar can be disconnected and placed around the room, powered by their own internal batteries. If you don’t have the space for a traditional setup, this is a great way to enjoy immersive Dolby Atmos sound without a more permanent (and expensive) solution.

The soundbar itself is quite large, however. It’s very deep and rather long with its surrounds attached, so you’ll need a long TV stand and big TV to make sure it doesn’t look out of place. There’s a subwoofer in the box that you’ll need to find space for as well.

The sound is great. It’s immersive, directional, deep and clear. We loved it when watching a wide range of movies, from action to romance. There’s little this soundbar can’t do.

Setup
First off, hit the gym before you place this soundbar anywhere. This is a 26-pound behemoth, so you might even want two people to lift it into place on your TV stand. There are some extra setup quirks as well, but they’re easily mitigated thanks to the good instructions and user-friendly design.

Once you’ve plugged the soundbar and subwoofer into the wall, you’ll hook the soundbar into the eARC port of your TV. The soundbar and sub should find each other automatically, but if not use the connection button on the sub.

If you want to use the surrounds, pull them off the soundbar and place them around your room. Sound adjustment is done automatically. If you have any wireless connection issues, re-attach them to the soundbar to reset everything.

Streaming and WiFi are handled by JBL’s ONE app. It’s super easy; we had no problems at all getting everything connected and working.

How big is it
There’s no two ways around it — the 1300XMK2 is a very big soundbar. At 40 inches, the soundbar is wide, and that's without taking extra surrounds into account. It’s very deep too, so you’ll want to make sure that there’s enough space on your TV stand that way. If not, we’d recommend wall mounting the TV.

This is a bar suited to much larger TVs, 65-inch at a minimum. Otherwise you’ll risk the bar looking too big, and your TV small.

Thankfully, you won’t have to worry about how tall the bar is. It’s short enough that most TVs will amply clear the top, so you don’t have to worry about the soundbar blocking the view. Just bear in mind that you’ll also want space for the surround speakers behind your seating position — they’re not going to work if they’re in front of you.

Are there any extras
You get everything you need in the box. There’s the bar itself, along with the surround speakers. Unlike other models, from the likes of Sonos, this is a big bonus and means you don’t have to buy any further devices for some lovely Dolby Atmos sound.

There’s also a subwoofer in the box too, along with all the cables you’d ever need for just about any circumstance. There’s a controller in the box, although we found that the JBL ONE app was a perfectly serviceable way of controlling the sound — or your TV remote through the eARC port.

Sound
With 25 drivers powering 11.1.4 channels, you’d hope the 1300XMK2 sounded good. And, sure enough, the bar sounds excellent. Those extra surrounds make sure that the sound is immersive and massive, while the sub adds impressive depth and bass.

The planes flying in Top Gun: Maverick made the room shake, and the soundtrack was bombastic during testing. The whole movie placed our tester directly in the movie.

Object placement is good too, making sure that everything is kept in the right place.

The soundbar was pretty good for music too, making soundtracks sound great, although it struggled slightly more with stereo tracks — but its still better than most soundbars.

• Read the JBL Bar 1300XMK2 review

Best value soundbar

Soundbars are expensive — there’s no way around that. You want to achieve the best bang-for-buck sound, right? Enter the Samsung QS750F. For a relatively low MSRP of $899, the QS750F gives you a soundbar, two rears, and a subwoofer, which is considerably more generous than Sonos or JBL.

As a result, the QS750F blows the competition out of the park. For under $1k, you get cinematic sound, with enviable width and immense bass. The QS750F sounds so good that we forgot we were supposed to be reviewing it.

Although it’s just a 5.1.2 channel configuration — considerably fewer speakers than JBL’s monstrous 1300X, which boasts 11.1.2 channels and costs almost double — you probably wouldn’t be able to notice the difference.

Setup
As with every other soundbar, setup is tedious yet quick. Once the soundbar, subwoofer, and rears are unpackaged, simply connect everything to power and plug the soundbar into your TV using HDMI eARC.

Unlike JBL’s collection of premium soundbars, the QS750F’s rears aren’t truly “wireless” — sure, they connect to the soundbar wirelessly, but the left speaker must be connected to power. This is only an issue if you’re short on power outlets, extension cables, or if you want a particularly cable-free setup. Even so, you’re not going to get a better multi-speaker setup for less, so we think this is a worthy sacrifice.

The subwoofer is wireless, so don’t worry about needing to connect that to the soundbar with a wire. It’ll automatically connect.

How big is it
As you might expect, the QS750F is a large soundbar. This is true of pretty much every high-power soundbar — they’re designed to be able to fill large rooms with both size and physical presence.

The soundbar is 46 inches long and ten inches deep, so you’ll need to ensure it fits on your TV stand/wall mount and that your TV is big enough. I’d recommend anything from 55 inches up.

The subwoofer is effectively a 10 x 10 x 10-inch cube. We’d recommend positioning the subwoofer around 12 inches from the walls on all sides. You’ll need to play around with spacing to figure out the optimal position. Some setups come with configuration modes in the relevant app, but Samsung locks its proprietary Space Fit Pro behind post-2021 AI-powered Samsung TVs.

Are there any extras
The QS750F comes with everything you need for a Dolby Atmos all-in-one setup. You get the soundbar, subwoofer, and two rears.

You also get AirPlay, Google Cast, and smart home features in the Smart Things app, which we’d recommend downloading. You can easily adjust playback modes and listening styles — movie, music, gaming, voice enhancement — to find what pleases you.

Sound
Alright, now onto the most important part of any soundbar: its eponymous sound. Thankfully, you’ll be pleased to know that the QS750F sounds utterly fantastic.

As the QS750F is a large soundbar, it’s intended for use in a large room. The side-firing speakers inthe soundbar itself and the powerful subwoofer work together to create a wide soundscape worthy of a movie theater. Although there’s not as much height as width, the soundbar’s Dolby Atmos performance is still admirable.

The dialogue performance is a clear standout, though: I was never left wondering what was being said thanks to voice enhancement mode. This feature isolated dialogue well, and ensured even the moodiest and broodiest speech was crystal clear.

Most audiophiles will be the first to admit that soundbars aren’t ideal for playing music — me included — but the QS750F didn’t balk at the challenge. Although I’d much rather listen to music via my bookshelf speakers or headphones, the QS750F played every song with rich, pulsing bass, and would be good enough for a quick listening session or party.

• Read the Samsung QS750F review

Best compact soundbar

It’s not hard to find a compact soundbar — there are plenty of them out there. It is, however, difficult to find a good one in the sea of otherwise identical, fairly woeful options. Thankfully, our favorite sure likes to stand out from the crowd, with a lovely retro look and lashings of useful features. Oh, and it sounds good.

We love the way that the little soundbar sounds. There’s some great bass from the bar itself, although you can increase that by buying the Marshall wireless soundbar; although it is sold separately, irritatingly. It was great for movies, TV, and uncommonly solid for music. That’s rare for a soundbar of any price. Not too shabby, Marshall.

The smart WiFi settings and features built in rival Sonos’, with plenty of connections and streaming options. Its the physical connections that really take the cake though, with a wide range of different plugs on the back to make sure you can plug in anything from a record player to your dad's old Betamax player. Yes, really.

Marshall has taken on Sonos, and come out of the ensuing tussle on top — and that’s mean feat at all considering this is the brands second soundbar.

Setup

Initial setup is about as easy as it comes. Plug the soundbar into the wall, and then connect the Heston 60 to the HDMI eARC on the back of your TV. Turn everything on, and you’re well on your way to sonic bliss.

Open up Marshall’s app to finish setting everything up properly. Here, you can run the room sound settings and change the sound to your liking with a simple EQ. You can also connect the soundbar to the WiFi with a quick setup menu. It’s all very simple.

If you bought the separate subwoofer, you’ll have to use the connection button on the back. It works well, and we had no problems with connection during use.

How big is it

The Heston 60 is on the larger side of compact soundbars, measuring around 28 inches across. It’s not very deep, though, and neither is it particularly tall. I’d say the largest TV you’d want to pair the soundbar with is around 55”, although smaller TVs might work better.

If you’ve got a larger room, you might want to opt for the larger Heston 120.

Are there any extras

In the box, you get the soundbar — and that’s it. There are no extras that come with the soundbar, like a remote. You do get a power and HDMI cables, thankfully.

You can technically connect most subwoofers up to the soundbar thanks to the standard sub-out port on the back, but Marshall also offers a very good wireless sub that you can buy. This avoids cable clutter and adds to the sound.

The RCA connector on the back opens up a whole wide world of different connection options as well. You can connect a music streamer or a record player, for example.

Sound

Despite its diminutive size, the Heston 60 packs a sonic punch. There’s plenty of oomph to the bass, even before you add a sub, and the surround from the Dolby Atmos sounds excellent, no matter the movie we threw at it.

Music sounds great, especially when you take into consideration that it's coming from a soundbar — they don’t traditionally work great for tunes. Bear one thing in mind: larger rooms will necessitate the need for a subwoofer, as the bar, while powerful, lacks the punch for bigger spaces.

• Read the Marshall Heston 60 review

Also tested

I've seen loads of soundbars pass over Tom's Guide's testing table, and while there are some excellent options out there, not all of them can fit onto one list.

That doesn't mean they're bad, by any stretch of the imagination — and they might just be the best soundbar for you. Here are some of the soundbars that we liked testing:

How to choose the best soundbar for you

It's gotta be simple

One of the best bits of most modern soundbars is that they're all simple to use in some form or another — but if you want something that you just plug in and use, then you'll want to avoid any with smart features.

While those smart features can make them sound better, or work for different types of content, they add complexity. An app might make it possible to access room EQs and the like, it also makes it more complicated for the end user.

Avoid soundbars with Wi-Fi and apps if you just want something that plugs in and works. Thankfully, most soundbars now just need your TV controller to control the volume, thanks to HDMI eARC.

Are you watching movies, watching TV or listening to music?

First up, if your primary use case is music, go for a pair of speakers with an HDMI port like the Fluance Ri71 above. They sound much better than sound bars for music, bar none. You'll thank me later.

Now, for the other questions. TV users will want something that increases dialog clarity and makes it easier to hear what's going on in the news. You won't need a subwoofer or any kind of surround support. The Sony HT-S100F above is going to be perfect for you, given it's not too expensive and works great for TV.

Movie watchers should look out for subwoofers and surround speakers. You want more space for your Dolby Atmos mixes and the subwoofer will help with the low-end rumble you get with movies. The Sonos Arc Ultra and subwoofer is a good option for you, or the JBL Bar 1300X if you want something in one package.

Size matters

If you've a small room or a small TV, you don't want a massive soundbar; that much should be obvious. It wouldn't fit, for one, but it would also make your TV look much smaller. And who wants that.

However, you also don't want a soundbar that's too small for your TV. Otherwise, all of the sound will appear to come from the middle of the TV, rather than from it's sides like it should. You'll want to get a decently sized soundbar if you've got something between 50-75 inches big. Larger than that and you should probably consider either the biggest soundbar you can lay your hands on, or a proper stereo setup built around one of the best home cinema receivers.

Cyber Monday is here! That means some of the best soundbars I've reviewed this year are majorly discounted. There's never been a better time to upgrade your home theater.

This year's Cyber Monday sees awesome savings on the Bose Smart Soundbar (2024) for just $399 on Amazon right now — that's a massive $100 saving. Or, if you're looking for a serious cinema-quality setup, the JBL Bar 1300 MK2 is just $1,199 at Best Buy — that's a huge $500 saving on a soundbar that came out only a month ago.

If you're on a tight budget, I'd recommend the Amazon Fire TV Soundbar, just $149 right now. This soundbar has Dolby Atmos for just $149!

I've reviewed 15 soundbars this year from big names like Bose, Samsung and Sony, and also budget bars from lesser-known brands. To help you choose which soundbar to buy, I've rounded up the best discounts this Cyber Monday so far.

Soundbar deals: Quick links

• Amazon Fire TV Soundbar: was $249 now $149 @ Amazon
• Hisense AX3120Q: was $279 now $199 @ Best Buy
• Samsung HW-B650: was $399 now $199 @ Best Buy
• Polk Audio Signa S4: was $449 now $359 @ Amazon
• JBL Bar 500: was $649 now $379 @ Best Buy
• Bose Smart Soundbar 2024: was $499 now $399 @ Amazon
• Samsung Q600F: was $699 now $499 @ Best Buy
• Bose Smart Soundbar Ultra: was $899 now $699 @ Amazon
• Sonos Arc Ultra: was $1,099 now $879 @ Best Buy
• Samsung Q990D: was $1,999 now $999 @ Best Buy
• JBL Bar 1300 MK2: was $1,699 now $1,199 @ Best Buy

Best Cyber Monday soundbar deals

For more discounts, check out our Cyber Monday deals live blog.

Shop today's best Cyber Monday deals

• Amazon: 50% off Ring, Ninja, AirPods and more
• Walmart Plus: 50% off @ Walmart
• REI: half-off Arc'teryx, Patagonia, more
• Dell: monitors from $69, laptops from $299
• Nectar: 50% off mattresses + bundles
• Best Buy: laptops from $149
• Lenovo: doorbuster deals from $319
• Wayfair: up to 80% off home decor
• Lululemon: top picks from $9
• Newegg: Doorbuster deals from $6
• Walmart: holiday gifts from $15
• Birkenstock: deals from $20 @ Nordstrom
• Saatva: luxury mattresses from $1,099

I test a lot of the best soundbars, but only one holds the title of the best mid-range soundbar and subwoofer. That soundbar? The Samsung Q600F, which is just £299 at Currys right now.

Even at full price — £599 — this is a very affordable soundbar, all things considered. If you want Dolby Atmos, you're going to have to accept paying extra for the room-filling, expansive soundscape that comes with immersive audio. Quality speakers don't come cheap, and that's just a fact.

If you want to upgrade your home cinema setup for as little dosh as poss, then I wholeheartedly recommend the Samsung Q600F. It's the best mid-range soundbar I've ever tested, and right now it's priced like a budget one thanks to Black Friday. I'd run to Currys to snag this before the discount vanishes.

If you've got a Samsung TV, the perks don't end at room-filling sound. With some AI-enabled 2025 models, you get access to things like Q-Symphony, which is basically a fancy auto-space-calibration mode. I didn't use this with the Q600F, and I didn't miss anything, though. The soundbar still sounds like a cinema — literally.

The Q600F is the entry-level model in Samsung's premium Q range. This means it sounds awesome, but it doesn't have as many "features" as the pricier options. But honestly? You don't really need them.

The Q600F doesn't have any smart home features, but do you really use those anyway? So what if you can give your vacuum a silly name, or get a notification when your washing machine finishes? (Both features I have thanks to my AI-enabled Samsung washing machine and vacuum, yes... really...)

What the Q600F lacks in smart home "features", it makes up for in punchy sound. The sound on this soundbar is like nothing else. On top of crystal-clear dialogue and floorboard-shaking bass thanks to the standalone wireless subwoofer, the Q600F has vertical and horizontal expansive sound.

When I was testing this soundbar, I couldn't believe how affordable it was. It genuinely sounds like a £1,000 option. You can check out my full review of the Samsung Q600F for more details.

For more discounts, check out our Black Friday deals live blog.

Shop today's best Black Friday deals

• Amazon: 50% off Ring, Ninja, AirPods and more
• Walmart Plus: 50% off @ Walmart
• REI: half-off Arc'teryx, Patagonia, more
• Dell: monitors from $69, laptops from $299
• Nectar: 50% off mattresses + bundles
• Best Buy: laptops from $149
• Lenovo: doorbuster deals from $319
• Wayfair: up to 80% off home decor
• Lululemon: top picks from $9
• Newegg: Doorbuster deals from $6
• Walmart: holiday gifts from $15
• Birkenstock: deals from $20 @ Nordstrom
• Saatva: luxury mattresses from $1,099

Looking for a new soundbar so you can watch "Home Alone" for the 20th time? Well, you're in luck — as Black Friday rears its head for another year, there are some great deals to be found on soundbars, from the cheapest models to expensive surround setups.

Want something cheap? You can pick up the Roku Streambar SE for $78 at Amazon thanks to a decent discount. Want something a bit smarter? The Bose Smart Soundbar is now $399 at Amazon after a $100 discount. There are loads more besides — here are the best early Black Friday soundbar deals.

• Roku Streambar SE: was $99 now $78 @ Amazon
• Yamaha Audio SR-C20A: was $179 now $159 @ Amazon
• Sony HT-S400: was $299 now $229 @ Amazon
• Hisense AX3120Q: was $279 now $229 @ Amazon
• Sony HT-S2000: was $499 now $298 @ Amazon
• Bose Smart Soundbar: was $499 now $399 @ Amazon
• Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 6 3.1.2: was $699 now $498 @ Amazon
• Sony BRAVIA Theater System 6, 5.1: was $799 now $598 @ Amazon
• More Speaker deals: Walmart | Best Buy | Amazon | Dell

The best early Black Friday soundbar deals

When people ask me about the best Dolby Atmos soundbar, I have only one real answer. Go out and buy the Sonos Arc Ultra. It's a spectacular piece of under-TV hardware, powering a surround system out of one box. Now that's cool.

It's also quite expensive. Not everyone has a thousand dollars lying around to spend on a soundbar, or even the space for Sonos's TV stand dominating tube of sound. There's a wonderful alternative to the Sonos Arc Ultra that costs less than half the price.

Sono's mighty soundbar

Once you've dropped the $1,099 on the Sonos Arc Ultra, you'll be wondering what kind of experience you're in for. In a word, spectacular. In a few more words, it's a stunning movie experience that makes it feel like you're sitting in the theater.

The only thing you need for the full effect? Some expensive Coca-Cola and a massive bucket of popcorn. Although with the amount you'll have spent on this setup, you'll probably be stuck with a small bag of Hershey's Kisses and a tin of pop.

Spaceships flying overhead that feel like they've just scraped the top of your cranium, jungles that surround you with environmental sounds, rainstorms that make you feel like you're getting wet. Bassy explosions that shake the room. It's all incredibly immersive, and a whole lot better than the "all-in-one box" solutions that do fine for most people.

But then, we're not most people.

If you want to maximize your Sonos Arc Ultra experience, you can augment your surround sound with additional speakers and subwoofers. My Sonos Arc Ultra is paired with some Era 300 speakers and a Sonos sub 4.

The speakers sit around the back of the room for some physical rear surrounds, and the subwoofer provides some seriously impressive bassy kick. That makes an already expensive soundbar cost even more, so it's not for the faint of heart.

You can always grab a cheaper Sonos sub mini or some Era 100s for surrounds. That's flexibility, baby, something that most other soundbar packages lack. It all adds up to make the Dolby Atmos soundbar that I recommend to anyone who uses the words "I want the best Dolby Atmos possible."

The cheaper alternative

If the full Sonos Arc Ultra gives you the financial heebie-jeebies, there are options that won't break the bank. Are you going to forgo that monster audio performance? Absolutely, as you might expect. But you won't have to take out a mortgage for it either.

We adore the Polk Audio Signa S4 for a number of reasons. First, and perhaps most importantly, is the Dolby Atmos performance. For something that costs half as much as the incredibly impressive Sonos soundbar, the virtual surround that the Signa 4 kicks out is pretty good.

We loved how the characters moved about the room while watching "The Wild Robot," and the Jets flying overhead during "Top Gun: Maverick" placed us directly on the deck of a massive naval carrier.

It packs in more than just excellent Dolby Atmos performance, of course. It looks slick for a start, and comes with a subwoofer in the box for low-end performance. The bass is super solid to boot, making sure that you're firmly immersed in your movies and TV.

Another benefit of the soundbar, as with most, is increased clarity for dialogue. That's going to improve things when watching the news as well as movies and cinematic TV shows, so that you'll be able to hear more of what people on screen are saying. That's one of the biggest pros over your built-in TV speakers.

It lacks smart features like the Sonos Arc Ultra, but there's Bluetooth for wireless listening. The controller is comprehensive, setup simple — there's really very little more you could want from the Signa S4. Except, perhaps, a popcorn dispenser.

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• Amazon just dropped epic deals ahead of Black Friday — here's my 39 favorite finds starting at just $9

"Oh, Black Friday — that's the best time to find a deal" is something you'll hear often if you're looking to save some money on a new soundbar. Well, as always, Amazon has apparently sought to prove us all wrong with some great savings to be grabbed on soundbars — and Black Friday is still a few weeks out.

We've got savings on the likes of the JBL Bar 300, which is now just $299 at Amazon, thanks to a $100 saving. That's a great price for a Dolby Atmos sound bar. If you want something even cheaper, there's the Sony S100F, which is $119 at Amazon for a great soundbar deal.

There are more savings to be found as well — here are just a few of my favorite deals right now.

Quick list

• Razer Leviathan V2: was $99 now $69 @ Amazon
• Sony S100F: was $159 now $119 @ Amazon
• Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus: was $249 now $174 @ Amazon
• Denon DHT-C210: was $229 now $199 @ Amazon
• YAMAHA SR-B40A: was $299 now $259 @ Amazon
• JBL Bar 300: was $399 now $299 @ Amazon
• VIZIO 5.1.2 Elevate SE Soundbar: was $499 now $399 @ Amazon
• Sonos Beam Gen 2: was $499 now $464 @ Amazon
• Klipsch Flexus CORE 200: was $549 now $474 @ Amazon
• More Speaker deals: Walmart | Best Buy | Amazon | Dell

Great soundbar deals

I test a lot of soundbars, which means I know the best soundbars like the back of my hand. Is the Creative Stage Pro one of those best soundbars? Hm. I'm actually so conflicted.

On the one hand, it's a very, very cheap soundbar (and subwoofer), which is a breath of fresh air in the soundbar world. Most home cinema setups can cost you well over $1,000.

On the other hand, you'd have to put up with muffled dialogue in action scenes. Is that a price you're willing to pay? Only you can decide. I'm so conflicted with this one, and here's why.

Enough bass to stock a fishmonger

So the Creative Stage Pro does what few cheap soundbars can: rattle the floors. Thanks to the standalone (wired) subwoofer, this budget home cinema setup will have your downstairs neighbors banging on the door. When I was watching action-heavy movies like "Top Gun: Maverick," I was enthralled by how loud and present the jet engines sounded.

Truly, I didn't expect that level of bass from a $169 soundbar. I honestly don't expect much of $169 soundbars, period. So when the bass hit me like that, I was thrilled.

The Creative Stage Pro was surprisingly great with music, too. I played music from Qobuz, our best streaming service for audiophiles, and the soundbar handled it deftly. Obviously, it performed the best with bass-heavy electronic tracks like 'Flight FM' by Joy Orbison, but it surprised me by handling acoustic and indie well, too.

I know soundbars aren't usually great at playing music, so this was a major plus in my eyes. If you're having a party and don't have a wireless speaker, then you could easily use the Creative Sound Pro in a pinch. If you've got a music streaming app on your smart TV, you wouldn't even have to launch Bluetooth and play from your phone.

However, a prominent low-end means something else isn't as present... treble. And what integral part of movies (usually) falls on the higher end of the frequency range?

Dialogue.

And unfortunately... that's where the Creative Stage Pro stumbles. It's as heartbreaking as when the underdog falls at the last hurdle (or something less cliche).

Eh? What did you say?

Unfortunately, the loud (yet unbalanced) bass means there's one key issue with the Creative Stage Pro. It simply can't strike a balance between the low- and high-end.

That means dialogue suffers. When I was watching "Top Gun: Maverick," I really struggled to hear some scenes. Every time the pilots got into their planes, I was both frustrated and excited. Let me explain.

Excited because I knew the floors would start shaking as soon as the engines roared to life.

Frustrated because I literally couldn't hear anything. The bass overpowered most of the dialogue, and I found myself yearning for subtitles.

If you're the kind of person who puts subtitles on anyway (I know there are a lot of fellow Gen Z who can't watch TV without subs), then this wouldn't be an issue.

Also, when compared to the TV speakers, the Creative Sound Pro provides better sound. So if you want to upgrade from TV speakers, then yes, it's a no-brainer: you should probably get this soundbar. That doesn't mean it's perfect for everyone, though...

Super-budget doesn't always mean super-good-value, except...

When I compare the Creative Stage Pro to other cheap affordable soundbars I've tested, it is far superior. Case in point: the Ultimea Nova S50. This soundbar + subwoofer is around $130 on Amazon U.S., but it sounds pretty darn bad. I would get the Creative Stage Pro over the Ultimea Nova S50 any day.

That doesn't, however, mean that I'd jump at the chance to buy the Creative Stage Pro.

If you really, really need a soundbar now and you can't wait until Black Friday (when premium soundbars will go on sale — trust me), then yeah, the Creative Stage Pro will suffice.

Personally, though, I'd wait until Black Friday to secure the best bang-for-buck soundbar out there. I'd keep my eye out for a Samsung sale — usually its soundbars are discounted around 20% during Black Friday (going off previous years).

My favorite mid-range soundbar is the Samsung Q600F, which has an MSRP of $599. I'd estimate this soundbar would drop to around $480 during Black Friday, which is still a pretty premium price, but totally worth it if you're serious about cinematic sound.

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Sourcing one of the best soundbars can be tricky if you’re on a low budget. Many soundbars will run you back at least $500, and some can go for as much as $2k. So when I come across soundbars for less than $200, I really, really want them to be good.

However, that’s not always the case. The Creative Stage Pro is a tough one, because it’s better than most super-cheap soundbars I’ve tested. It’s certainly one of the best cheap soundbars out there. However, if you’re expecting cinema-quality sound, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.

The Stage Pro has a subwoofer and is remarkably adept at shaking the floors, but struggles with dialogue. It also looks cheap, and is prone to skipping half a second sometimes. But are all these issues par for the $169 course? Find out in this Creative Stage Pro review.

Creative Stage Pro review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A super-budget soundbar and subwoofer
• Who is it for? If you want to upgrade from TV speakers but you’re on a really tight budget
• What does it cost? $169 / £129
• What do we like? The price is great — and so is the bass
• What don’t we like? It looks cheap, and the dialogue is sometimes muffled

Creative Stage Pro review: Specs

Creative Stage Pro review: Price & availability

As I’ve already discussed, the Creative Stage Pro is so, so, so cheap. This is one of the most affordable soundbars I’ve ever laid eyes upon.

The Stage Pro is just $169 at Amazon U.S. and £129 at Amazon U.K.. Although the $169 MSRP makes the Stage Pro $10 pricier than my favorite budget soundbar, the Sony HT-S100F, the Sony doesn’t have a subwoofer.

The cheapest soundbar-and-subwoofer combo I’ve ever tested is the $130 Ultimea Nova S50, which suffered from tinniness and peaking during bass-heavy scenes. The Creative Stage Pro is better than the Ultimea model, so I’d recommend spending an extra $40 for the former.

Obviously, some corners will have been cut to keep the Stage Pro’s price down, so if you want a soundbar and subwoofer that can impress home cinema aficionados on a budget, I would recommend the $449 Polk Audio Signa S4 — which is obviously much more expensive. If you want a soundbar and subwoofer and you’re on an as-low-as-possible budget, the Creative Stage Pro would suit you better.

Creative Stage Pro review: Design & controls

• Cheap-looking design
• Easy to use soundbar despite cheap appearance
• Nice, user-friendly remote

If you couldn’t see the Creative Stage Pro, I’d probably be able to convince you that it retails for $300. Unfortunately, if you can see the Creative Stage Pro, you’ll immediately be able to guess how cheap it really is.

At just 21 inches long, this is a pretty compact soundbar. I tested it with a 55-inch Samsung TV, which looked quite silly. I’d recommend using this soundbar with a TV no bigger than about 43 inches.

The soundbar itself has a black grill casing, as opposed to the fabric mesh casing you’d find on a more premium soundbar like Polk Audio Signa S4 or the Denon Home 550 Sound Bar. The Creative Stage Pro looks more like a Majority Elias or Majority Naga 60, which I don’t think is a good thing.

If the soundbar was a touch longer and had a higher-quality plastic grill, it would immediately look much better, and you might be able to convince someone it cost you $300. As it currently looks, though, this is very obviously a cheap soundbar.

The issues don’t end with the soundbar, either. On top of being wired (with a cheap-looking cable), the subwoofer is also weirdly skinny: it’s just 4.5 inches wide, compared to its 16.5-inch height. I’m not going to lie, it does look, to quote the kids, “goofy”. I wish the subwoofer was a little shorter and wider, because it feels out of proportion, especially when considering the tiny size of the soundbar.

However, I love the Creative Stage Pro’s remote. It’s much weightier than you’d expect for a budget soundbar remote and has tactile buttons. There’s a range of controls on the remote: volume, Bluetooth, playback modes, bass and treble volume, mute, and more. As there’s no smart home control, don’t lose the remote!

I will mention that the Stage Pro doesn’t have an eARC input, so you won’t be able to control the TV with the soundbar remote — just the soundbar itself. This is a shame but you can’t expect the world from a $169 soundbar.

There are a few controls on the soundbar itself: on/off, input, wide mode, and volume, so if you lose the remote, it’s not the end of the world. It would be annoying though.

Creative Stage Pro review: Features

• Playback modes include movie and vocal
• Expansiveness adjustment for fake Atmos
• As many features as you’d expect for $169

As you might expect from a $169 soundbar, the Creative Stage Pro doesn’t actually have many features.

There are a few playback modes — ‘Movie’, ‘Music’, ‘Game’, and ‘Vocal’, but I genuinely didn’t hear a difference in any of these when I tested them. I just manually adjusted bass and treble based on what sounded the best at any given time.

There are also two expansiveness modes — the aptly named ‘Near’ and ‘Far’. ‘Far’ does a semi-decent job of “faking” Dolby Atmos, but obviously it’s nowhere near true Atmos. The soundbar achieves this by sending soundwaves up and out rather than in front.

‘Near’ is the opposite: it makes the sound feel as if it comes from closer to you, and would be better for TV. I only used ‘Far’ when watching movies as I found this gave the best overall performance.

As for other features, well, you’re out of luck. This is standard for soundbars at this price point, though, so I won’t hold it against the Creative Stage Pro. As far as performance-versus-price goes, the Creative Stage Pro is par for the course.

Creative Stage Pro review: Sound quality

• Strong bass
• Good fake Atmos
• Dialogue is quite poor

I test every soundbar with ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ on 4K UHD Blu-ray, TV shows on Netflix, and music on Qobuz.

Movies

To begin with, I watched ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ on 4K UHD Blu-ray. Even though I’ve discussed this already, I’ll start by managing your expectations. This is a $169/£129 soundbar. It has 2.1 channels. Most “good” soundbars start at a minimum of $400. Some will run you back upwards of $2k.

I do not expect a $169 soundbar to have Dolby Atmos (this doesn’t), or cinematic sound separation. Even so, the Creative Stage Pro genuinely impressed me during testing. The opening scene was surprisingly great, with luxurious, rich bass from the soundtrack. I upped the bass to +5, set the soundbar on ‘Movie’ mode, and leaned back and enjoyed the show.

True, the diegetic sound effects of metal clinking and ropes whooshing weren’t as clear as they were on the Bose Smart Soundbar 2024 ($549) or the Polk Audio Signa S4 ($449), but it sounded much, much better than Majority Elias ($99) and the Majority Naga 60, which is the cheapest soundbar I’ve ever tested.

There was a little muffling during the bar scene — ‘Get it On’ by T Rex was a touch fuzzy, and not in a cool-grunge kind of way — but I was still able to hear all the dialogue. However, I couldn’t hear all of the dialogue during the dogfighting scenes.

If you’ve never seen ‘Top Gun’, there’s a scene where Maverick dogfights with the other pilots. There’s a lot of radioed dialogue with shooting jet engines and a bassy soundtrack, so a ton going on in the scene. I struggled to hear the dialogue, and had to turn down the bass. This scene was a bit chaotic to watch.

Even so, in most scenes, I could hear most of the dialogue. The Stage Pro only struggled in scenes with both radioed speech and jet engines. There were also a few instances of the audio cutting out or skipping for half a second, but these were very minor. If you only want to spend $169 on a soundbar and subwoofer, I’m afraid these are imperfections you might have to learn to live with.

After ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, I watched ‘The Wild Robot’. This is an animated movie with great Dolby Atmos and a lot of water scenes that sound fantastic with premium soundbars. ‘The Wild Robot’ has everything from crabs squawking, robot whirring sounds, and nature sounds. It’s a veritable feast for audio nerds like you and me.

I watched this movie on ‘Movie’ mode and on the ‘Far’ immersion mode. Although obviously there was no true Dolby Atmos, the water scenes sounded surprisingly excellent. When the gosling character was swimming, I could almost feel the water droplets on my skin.

The scenes from inside Ros’s head were particular standouts, too: the robotic whirring of her systems laid over the nature soundscapes were impactful and effective.

It wasn’t all perfect, though. The soundtrack fell a little flat when compared to the immersive water-related scenes (swimming and rainstorms), so I upped the bass in the hope this would give the OST more oomph. This did just overpower some of the dialogue, which is a poor trade-off.

I also cycled through the playback modes, and honestly? They all sounded kind of the same. I would manually adjust bass and treble based on your tastes.

Although the soundtrack was a little flat, there was no tinniness whatsoever in this movie. I particularly liked how the possums sounded, and the Stage Pro did an admirable job of faking Dolby Atmos when one of the possum babies got eaten by a fox. And when the beaver (voiced by none other than Matt Berry) scolded Ros. And when the gosling was being bullied by other geese. ‘The Wild Robot’ is a great movie, I promise.

Last, I switched movie genre to ‘Nosferatu’. As I’d watched an action and an animated movie, I wanted to see how the soundbar would fare with a creepier soundscape. I watched this movie with the ‘Movie’ mode and ‘Far’ mode.

In the quieter scenes, the string-heavy soundtrack felt like visceral tendrils of unease creeping across my skin. However, there were a few instances where the audio skipped for half a second — I discussed this in the ‘Top Gun’ section above. I feel like this happened in more immersive, busy scenes, when the soundbar couldn’t keep up. There was one scene with rain, music, and dialogue wherein it skipped twice.

There was one scene that sounded particularly good: when Nicholas Hoult’s character is signing a paper, I could hear the Count’s voice as if it was trickling into my brain from behind me. This was majorly impressive for a 2.1 channel, $169 soundbar.

I think the Creative Stage Pro sounded best during Nosferatu. Whether that’s due to the more sparse soundscape or lack of jet engines, I’m not sure, but the fact of the matter is that Nosferatu had more intelligible dialogue, more affecting music, and closer, creepier sound effects. I’d recommend this soundbar for movies like Nosferatu rather than blockbuster action epics.

TV

To test the soundbar in a more low-stakes setting, I also watched non-4K UHD TV on Netflix. As most people don’t have a bunch of Blu-rays at their fingertips, it’s also fair to evaluate soundbars against standard 5.1 audio.

I watched ‘Wednesday’ and ‘Stranger Things’ on Netflix. ‘Wednesday’ was quite tricky to hear a lot of the dialogue. It felt like the dialogue had been pushed to the back of the sound profile, and the bass had been pulled to the front.

The music sounded great, but at the expense of dialogue intelligibility. Scenes with music were quite tricky to hear, but some quieter scenes were better than I expected. I wish the performance was more consistent, but this is a malady of most cheap soundbars I’ve tested.

‘Stranger Things’ suffered from the same issues, unfortunately. I found myself straining to hear dialogue in action-heavy scenes. However, in the “Eleven does mind-reading” scenes, I found the blank expanse of darkness really effective and immersive. The soundbar handled the absence-versus-presence of sound really well, and didn’t crackle at sudden high volumes.

Even so, the bass-heavy soundtrack was the standout of the show. More action-heavy dialogue-heavy scenes were tricky to understand, so if you struggle with dialogue as-is, I wouldn’t recommend this soundbar.

The skipping issue I mentioned while watching Blu-rays never happened during my Netflix testing, so I’d say this issue only occurs when watching hi-res formats. I presume the soundbar just can’t handle everything being thrown at it, but there’s less being thrown at it on basic Netflix.

Music

To test music performance, I listened to hi-res tracks in a variety of genres on Qobuz, our best streaming service for audiophiles.

I played ‘Dracula’ by Tame Impala, which has a deep synth bass and jazzy piano notes underneath layered vocals. This sounded pretty disappointing, with tinniness prevalent in the midrange. The vocals felt pushed back in the same way dialogue suffered during movies. However, the bass sounded great thanks to the subwoofer.

Next, I played a really bassy track: ‘flight fm’ by Joy Orbison. This sounded great. ‘Flight fm’ is almost 100% bass, so I knew I’d be impressed with it. Obviously there was still a touch of tinniness in the hi-hats and there was no instrument separation whatsoever, but no one serious about music listens on a soundbar anyway (except me when I’m cleaning, but don’t tell anyone).

Last, I played a more delicate track to really put the Creative Stage Pro through its paces. ‘Don’t Know How To Keep Loving You’ by Julia Jacklin has muted percussion and a close, immersive guitar section. You can literally feel the guitar strings vibrate. I think the absence of bass helped this track; the guitar felt closer than ever, and Jacklin’s marshmallowy voice was soft and sweet.

As far as music on a soundbar goes, the Creative Stage Pro wasn’t half bad. I’d always, always recommend getting one of the best speakers, though.

Overall, the Creative Stage Pro sounds like a $200 soundbar, and is a worthy upgrade from TV speakers. However, it obviously won’t perform like one of the best premium soundbars, because it’s simply impossible to get that kind of performance for this little money. The dialogue performance is poor at the expense of loud bass.

If you want a higher-quality soundbar, you’re simply going to have to spend more. I’d recommend the Polk Signa S4 or the Samsung Q600F, but these are much more expensive than the Creative Stage Pro. Also much better, though.

Creative Stage Pro review: Verdict

The Creative Stage Pro is a bit of a head scratcher. At just $169/£129, it’s one of the most affordable soundbar-and-subwoofer combos I’ve ever come across, let alone tested. It’s better than the $130 Ultimea Nova S50, which is great, and much better than the $99 Majority Elias.

However, I don’t think it’s $100 better than the Majority Naga 60 ($67). The Naga 60 has a subwoofer out, so if you come across a sub-$100 sub (say that 5 times fast), then the Majority setup could be a much better deal.

Personally, I think the Stage Pro is a great cheap soundbar and subwoofer option, but don’t think it’s going to provide a cinematic sound experience. It will not. You’d need the $400 Polk Audio Signa S4 or the $600 Samsung Q600F for that. But for $169? The Creative Stage Pro drives a hard bargain.

One of the best soundbars is often the center of a family home audio system. After all, you've already got it for watching TV, enjoying movies, and adding more fidelity to your favorite video games, so what's really the point of buying another set of speakers for listening to music?

Most soundbars will have either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth — or both — to make it easy to stream music from, say, Spotify or Tidal on your phone, no wires needed. But which should you use?

The first: Wi-Fi. Better quality and more flexible. For beginners, however, it can be initially more difficult to get a connection. The second: Bluetooth. You know it, you love it — it turns your soundbar into a de facto Bluetooth speaker. Lower quality, simpler setup. But which is better?

First, a note: Not all soundbars are created equal — some soundbars only have a Bluetooth connection. In this case, the decision has been made for you. To find out if your soundbar has a Wi-Fi connection, or whether it's just Bluetooth, make sure to check the instruction manual or look up the model number online. If you're still not sure, get in touch!

Bluetooth Pros and Cons

• Pros

1) Easy connection

Connecting to Bluetooth is generally much easier with your soundbar. There's likely to be a handy connection button on the top of your bar, and then you just need to find the soundbar in your phone's Bluetooth settings. Simple. No need for any app, just change the input to Bluetooth and play your tunes.

2) Plenty of compatibility

It's more than likely that every single music device you've got connects to Bluetooth — and that even includes some turntable models. There will be very few things you can't connect to your soundbar's Bluetooth connection.

3) Easy sharing

Got some friends round and they want to play some music? No problem — put the bar in pairing mode, and get your friend connected. From there they can play their music. Granted, it's not as simple as the Wi-Fi connection option (as we'll talk about very soon), but it's easy enough.

• Cons

1) Limited sound quality

Bluetooth simply isn't capable of streaming very high-quality audio. Add in that most soundbars don't support more impressive codecs, like LDAC and aptX (of any kind), and you've got a less pleasing audio experience than you can have with other wireless connectivity options.

2) Less range

Bluetooth doesn't go very far, and it can be completely defeated by thick walls. Walk out of your living room with your phone in your pocket, and your music could start to skip, pause and sound glitchy. And no one wants that.

3) Higher energy consumption

Bluetooth uses a lot of power from your source device. Your phone, tablet or even your laptop's battery will plummet while connected over Bluetooth, especially when you're listening to music. After all, the device is transmitting the track itself.

Wi-Fi streaming Pros and Cons

• Pros

1) Much better sound quality

Wi-Fi connections are more easily capable of transporting higher-quality tracks to your soundbar, so you'll get overall better sound quality. This is especially true if you're listening with one of the best music streaming services like Qobuz. This is also the only way you'll get spatial audio content to compatible soundbars — the format generally doesn't travel particularly well over Bluetooth.

2) A more stable connection

Because the music streaming is happening over the internet, there's no worry about range causing issues. If you leave the room with your phone, you're not going to suffer from any musical problems. You do want to make sure your internet connection is good, mind you — but that's a one-and-done issue. Even better, wire your soundbar in to your router for zero problems.

3) Even better sharing

Because the soundbar is attached to your internet router as opposed to your phone, sharing music over Wi-Fi is very easy. You can select the bar with most music streaming apps, and anyone else can take over when they want. It's great when you and your friends are on the same page musically — perhaps not when everyone wants to listen to different things.

• Cons

1) Trickier to set up

I hope you like apps, because if you want to connect your soundbar to Wi-Fi, you're almost certainly going to need to dip into the app. Once you're connected, it's very easy to play music, but getting it to that point can be extremely irritating — especially if it's a Sonos soundbar. The app is better now, but it's still not perfect.

2) Not everything will work with it

Bluetooth is widely compatible with a range of different devices, but there are fewer devices that support Wi-Fi connection. There are far fewer turntables that support Wi-Fi wireless connection, for example.

So which should you use?

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The Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is definitely one of the best soundbars I’ve tested, especially when you take into account that it’s just a 2.0 soundbar. This isn’t even a 3.0 — that means it only has as many channels as the super-basic $99 soundbars you might find on Amazon.

However, this performance doesn’t come cheap. For $699, the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is incredibly expensive for a 2.0 channel setup. When used with the rest of Denon’s Home series, the overall price goes up to almost $3k — and you only get 5.1 channels.

If you’ve got money to burn, then by all means, the Denon Home series won’t disappoint. However, alternative soundbars provide similar sound at much better prices. So is this the soundbar for you? Find out in this Denon Home Sound Bar 550 review.

Denon Home Sound Bar 550 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A 2.0 channel soundbar, can be used alone or in a wider setup
• Who is it for? If you want a great soundbar and have $$$ to spend
• What does it cost? Eek: $699 / £599
• What do we like? The sound is undeniably good
• What don’t we like? For a 2.0 channel soundbar, it’s beyond expensive

Denon Home Sound Bar 550 review: Specs

Denon Home Sound Bar 550 review: Price & availability

The Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is available for $699 from Amazon U.S., $699 from Denon U.S., $699 from Best Buy U.S. and $699 from Walmart U.S.. I would purchase from whichever outlet is offering a discount, so ensure you check which retailer has deals live.

In the U.K., you’re getting a much better deal. The Denon 550 is £599 from Amazon U.K., but often discounted to between £400-£300. I think this is a much more acceptable price.

Even so, this price is around par for the course for a soundbar of this caliber. The Bose Smart Soundbar is probably its closest competitor; you’ll find it for $549 on Amazon U.S. and £499 on Amazon U.K.. The Polk Audio Signa S4 is a soundbar + subwoofer priced at $449/£329, and is my go-to recommendation for home cinema newbies. The Signa S4 is a fantastic option if you want to save money but still have a great experience.

Based purely on value, I’d recommend the Samsung Q600F ($599) over the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 — unless you prioritize smart home and smartphone-forward devices. The Samsung Q600F doesn’t have any smart home features, such as AirPlay.

Denon Home Sound Bar 550 review: Design & controls

• Simple, straightforward design
• Just 26 inches long
• 4.7 inches deep

The Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is a compact soundbar. At just 26 inches long, this is an ideal soundbar for small homes and small TVs. I tested it with a 55-inch Samsung flagship model and it looked really strange. If you’ve got a larger TV, I’d instead recommend the Polk Signa S4, which is 41 inches long.

In terms of appearance, the Home Sound Bar 550 looks exactly how you’d expect. It has a gray mesh casing, touch controls on the top, and a silver Denon logo on the front. It’s surprisingly deep, at almost 5 inches thick, so be mindful of that if you’ve got a particularly narrow TV stand. I don’t think I’d recommend wall-mounting this soundbar due to the depth.

Inside the soundbar you’ll find two speakers, which makes the Home Sound Bar 550 a 2.0 channel soundbar. As I said earlier, this is quite a pricey soundbar for just two speakers.

However, the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is designed to be part of a Denon home sound system, not used alone. Denon makes a subwoofer and rear speakers to upgrade this soundbar to a 5.1 channel setup. If you have all the add-ons, your setup will look like this: Denon Home Sound Bar 550 ($699), Denon Home Subwoofer ($649), and the Denon 150, Denon 250, or Denon 350 speakers ($219, $499, $699 respectively).

So, if you got the whole setup with the best rear speakers, it’d set you back an eye-watering $2,746. That is really very expensive. Obviously the Home Sound bar 550 sounds fantastic, and I’ll discuss sound quality in full later. This makes the full setup around the same price as a Sonos setup, so it’s not out of this world. Good sound systems simply cost a lot of money.

Even so, I can’t review the soundbar’s performance in the “full” 5.1 setup, as that’s not the product I’m reviewing. I’m reviewing the Denon Home Sound Bar 550, not the Denon Home Surround System, which comprises numerous separate elements. So even though the soundbar is designed to be used with rear speakers and a subwoofer, my review does not cover the accessories.

Denon Home Sound Bar 550 review: Features

• Denon’s proprietary HEOS system
• Sound modes
• Dialogue enhancer is great

The Denon 550 has Denon’s proprietary HEOS system, which (kind of) acts like AirPlay or Google Cast. However, HEOS wirelessly syncs up Denon devices for multi-room, whole-house surround sound playback. Most of Denon’s range has HEOS now, so, for example, you’d be able to play music from the kitchen speaker, and sync up with the living room 550 soundbar.

You can also sync up your music streaming service and play directly from Spotify or Qobuz on the HEOS app. This is a really neat feature. I’ll discuss HEOS more in the ‘App’ section below.

Going back to soundbar features sans-HEOS, the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 has all the usual suspects you’d expect from a $699 soundbar. Bass and treble volume adjustment, dialogue enhancement, night mode, and sound mode.

I’ll discuss sound mode first. This is basically a listening/playback controller. You can choose from: Stereo, Dolby Audio - Surround, Dolby Audio - Movie Surround, DTS Virtual:X, and Pure.

These modes do what they say on the tin: pure and stereo are your basic listening profiles, then Dolby Audio and DTS Virtual:X are virtual surround sound playbacks. I mostly used Dolby Audio while testing as this resulted in the richest sound, even when I was watching on basic Netflix.

Even though it’s a 2.0 channel soundbar, using the Dolby Audio mode made me feel more immersed in what I was watching. It could just be placebo, but hey, if the placebo works, then the desired outcome has been achieved.

Last but also kind of least, night mode. Night mode is very simple: it just reduces bass so as not to awaken neighbors, roommates, or family members when watching at night. I wouldn’t recommend this for general use as it makes movies sound flat.

Denon Home Sound Bar 550 review: App

• Denon HEOS app for multi-room listening
• Connect additional speakers in the app
• Can link up music streaming services within the app

After downloading the HEOS app from the App Store, my phone instantly connected to the soundbar using AirPlay. I followed the instructions in the HEOS app and thought I was all set up and ready to go.

However, there were a few connectivity hiccups after the initial setup. The soundbar disconnected itself from my Wi-Fi and I had to reset it. I was able to get it set back up, but I’d be a little wary of connectivity hiccups, especially if you’re not particularly tech-savvy.

The HEOS app is very simple and easy to use, but, again, it’s designed to be used with a Denon home sound system, so it looks a little sparse with only one product. Here’s a screenshot from the app.

As you can see, the HEOS app is great for home hi-fi enthusiasts. You can add loads of streaming services like Qobuz, Spotify, Tidal, and Apple Music. Once I’d connected to Qobuz — which was instant and painless — I could play music directly from the HEOS app via Qobuz.

Denon Home Sound Bar 550 review: Sound quality

• Great bass, even with no subwoofer
• Clear dialogue
• Faithful, natural sound across a range of mediums

I test every soundbar with ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ on 4K UHD Blu-Ray, TV shows on Netflix, and music on Spotify and Qobuz.

Movies

I always test soundbars with ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ because the opening scene has it all: bass loud enough to shake floorboards, high-frequencies, layered diegetic sound effects, and expansive sound.

I watched ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ with “Dolby Atmos” enabled in the HEOS app. Obviously, though, a 2.0 channel soundbar is physically incapable of true Atmos, so I was skeptical of this.

I was actually really impressed with the soundbar’s performance, though. The jet engines were loud, but didn’t overpower the softer sounds of whooshing air or radio dialogue. The aforementioned high-frequency sound effects (ropes being untied, metal clinking) were audible over ‘Danger Zone’ and the jets taking off.

Although it wasn’t as immersive in terms of 360° audio as I would’ve liked, the overall sound was awesome for just two channels.

I was impressed with the bass performance during dogfighting scenes, even without a subwoofer. The bass was loud and rich, without overpowering dialogue. Even without ‘dialogue’ mode activated, I could hear every word spoken. While some male voices were a little too bassy (not something I’ve experienced on other soundbars), this didn’t negatively impact my experience.

After ‘Top Gun’, I watched ‘Thunderbolts’. The first thing I noticed was how good Florence Pugh’s voice sounded. The 550 handled her husky timbre well, and resulted in a really immersive voiceover at the beginning of the movie.

Even during action scenes, I could hear the string-heavy soundtrack over sound effects like smashing glass and visceral flesh stabbing. The diegetic and non-diegetic sound separation was excellent, but the 3D audio wasn’t as immersive as I wanted it to be. Obviously this is a physical limitation of a 2.0 channel soundbar.

After ‘Thunderbolts’, I watched ‘How To Train Your Dragon (2025)’. The original is my favorite movie of all time, so I took this test very seriously. I know exactly how it should sound, and the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 did a fantastic job. John Powell’s emotive soundtrack had great instrument separation, and the bass was surprisingly powerful.

During Hiccup and Toothless’s first flight, I could feel the wind whooshing past my ears. Although the scene wasn’t wholly immersive, for a 2.0 soundbar, the performance was admirable.

Again, all the dialogue sounded awesome. I never struggled to understand, even when lines were mumbled or shouted over loud noises.

Overall, the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is a really impressive soundbar. I have no problems recommending it wholeheartedly. The bass is remarkably rich and loud, despite the lack of soundbar. On top of that, all dialogue was clear and intelligible, even in cluttered, noisy scenes.

TV

As I watched 4K UHD Blu-rays to test movies, I needed to test the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 with lower-resolution content as well. It’s unrealistic that you’ll only use a soundbar to watch creme-de-la-creme movies, so I always test with basic Netflix and other streaming apps.

First, I watched ‘Celebrity Traitors’ on BBC iPlayer. I activated dialogue enhancement mode in the HEOS app as this is a reality show, so I needed to be able to hear every word spoken.

The dialogue enhancer worked wonderfully well. It increased the volume and clarity of treble, but didn’t minimize bass or overall immersion. Obviously watching reality TV isn’t particularly immersive in the first place, but the Home Sound Bar 550 made it feel like I was watching something a little more high-caliber.

After ‘Celebrity Traitors’, I watched ‘Wednesday’ on Netflix. Again, this is non-Dolby-Atmos basic Netflix. I used the ‘Dolby Atmos - Surround’ playback mode, and it was really impressive. Even with a 5.1 rather than Dolby Atmos codec on Netflix, the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 did a good job of tricking me into believing otherwise.

‘Wednesday’ has a scene with a huge fire, and I could feel the embers burning all around me. The soundbar provided a surprising amount of height and depth even with just two speakers. There was one moment where the volume suddenly increased, but I can’t be certain that this wasn’t an audio-mixing issue as opposed to a Denon issue.

Music

To test music performance, I listened to a variety of genres using Qobuz, our best music streaming service for audiophiles. As I mentioned in the ‘App’ section, I linked up Qobuz directly with my HEOS app so I could play straight from the soundbar’s app.

First, I listened to ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ by Jose James. This song was flabbergasting, in the best way possible. I couldn’t quite believe how rich and immersive the sound was: I could feel each guitar string reverberate, and the percussion had a great deal of height. This was really impressive, and maybe the best soundbar I’ve ever tested for music playback.

Afterwards, I switched genres to electronic and played ‘I Like It Like That’ by Fcukers. While the bass was a little disappointing, the overall soundscape was rich and immersive. In the bridge, there’s a moment where the synth whooshes as if plunging underwater. This specific section was a standout of the whole track, and ticked all the right boxes.

Lastly, I played something heavier. I settled on ‘Moaning Lisa Smile’ by Wolf Alice, which is a grungey alternative rock track. The vocals were incredibly powerful in the verses, but the heavy sections were a little disappointing. In some moments, they felt muffled or restricted.

Even so, the overall music performance was awesome for a soundbar — particularly the soul track I mentioned first. I would definitely recommend using this soundbar as a music speaker for soul and acoustic, but would be a little wary of heavier genres.

Denon Home Sound Bar 550 review: Verdict

The Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is a fantastic soundbar ideal for hi-fi newbies. If you want a soundbar you can add additional pieces to, or if you want a full home sound system from a premium audio brand, then this is the perfect first piece.

No, it’s not cheap, at $699, and yes, there are other options from Samsung (the Q600F) and Polk Audio (the Signa S4) that are much better value. However, the Samsung and Polk Audio options can’t be added to in the same way that Denon pieces can (unless, of course, you have a Samsung AI-enabled TV).

For serious hi-fi enthusiasts, you need to keep this soundbar on your radar. It’s got everything you’d want: rich bass, clear dialogue, and impressive immersion. It’ll just cost you. But I suppose, aren't the best things worth paying for?

Sonos makes some of the best soundbars we've tested. Rarely on sale, one of the company's soundbars is getting a generous discount right now.

For a limited time, you can get the Sonos Beam Gen 2 Bundle for $369 at Sonos. The bundle includes the Beam soundbar and the Sonos Beam wall mount.

The Beam Gen 2 sounds like a mini version of the pricier Sonos Arc Ultra, with some excellent spatial audio for small spaces and lovely, rich sound for your movies and TV. It leaves plenty of space to upgrade as well, should you decide you want a subwoofer in the future or even some extra surround speakers in the form of a pair of Era 100s.

It fits perfectly beneath your TV and it'll make watching movies even more engaging. In our Sonos Beam Gen 2 review, we said it's a great small form factor sound bar that sounds much larger than its size would suggest. We also like that it packs in some great smart features thanks to the Sonos app.

Amazon's October Prime Day sales event has offered up some huge Prime Day TV deals, but buying a new TV isn't the only way you can improve your home streaming set-up before the sales are over.

Alongside (or instead of!) breaking the bank on a new TV set, you could instead improve your sound systems, pick up a fresh streaming device, or if you're looking to save a few bucks, you could always try and lock in lower prices with streaming deals on some of the very best streaming services and live TV streaming services on the market.

Since the clock's ticking on Prime Day, I've pulled together some options across these categories that just might help you level up your home streaming set-up before Prime Day is over this evening.

Prime Day streaming deals: Quick Links

• Shop all Prime Day deals
• Roku Streaming Stick HD (2025): was $29 now $17
• Amazon Fire TV Soundbar: was $119 now $89
• Sonos Beam Gen 2: was $499 now $369
• Get Hulu + Live TV for $64.99/month for three months now

Prime Day soundbar deals

Aside from a new TV, the best way to improve the home viewing experience is definitely by adding a soundbar into the mix, to make your streaming set-up that little bit more cinematic or even make dialogue just that bit easier to listen to.

TG's Audio Editor Tammy Rogers already rounded up the best Prime Day soundbar deals earlier today, and I've highlighted a handful of those choices below.

Simply put, there are Prime Day soundbar discounts to suit all kinds of budgets and purposes, so you definitely don't need to drop a ton of cash to make your TV viewing that bit more immersive.

• Want more options? Check out our full round-up of the best Prime Day soundbar deals

Streaming device Prime Day deals

Streaming devices used to be all about turning earlier models into a "smart" TV, making it so you can access the full suite of streaming apps even on older hardware.

Nowadays, even the cheapest TV sets come with some sort of onboard software, but you may still find that adding an external streaming device into the mix will improve your viewing experience (here's why you should still buy a streaming device today, if you don't believe me). Luckily, Prime Day has deals on many of the best streaming devices. Here's a handful of the best ones I've seen.

• Shop more Prime Day streaming device deals

Streaming service Prime Day deals

Seeing as we're into the final hours of Prime Day, I'd fully understand if you've already done the bulk of your spending. In that case, why not try to save some money on those pesky streaming bills with some great streaming deals?

After all, regular price hikes mean the cost of streaming is only going up, so now's as good a time as any to take stock of what you're spending, what services you want or need, and whether you can save a few bucks on your selection. Here's a handful of streaming deals available during Prime Day:

For more great discounts, be sure to check out our Amazon Prime Day deals live blog right now.

There is little better than sitting back with a big bowl of microwave popcorn in front of an enormous screen while your favorite movie fills your living room with immersive sound. The rumbles of explosions, the emotion of an orchestral swell for a first kiss — all made better by a decent home theater system.

It's easy to think that making a spectacular home theater system is prohibitively expensive. But, if we shift our expectations to something more realistic (I'm going with $500), we can get something that gets as close as possible to the big screen experience without breaking the bank.

And, with the October Amazon Prime Day sales now on their last day, we're looking at the perfect opportunity to get stuff for a great price — so what are we going to buy? We need two things (you're going to have to bring your own chair); a screen, and something to make the sound. Let's get started!

The screen

We've got a couple of options here. If you want something super huge (and arguably more fun), you're going to want to pick up some kind of projector. That's going to come with some tradeoffs at this price. It's not going to be as bright as some of the more expensive options, so you'll need to have those lights low for the best experience.

It's also not going to be the highest resolution — most likely 1080p. That means your movies might not look quite as crisp. The positive? A much larger display. You know, the best bit of being at the movies? A vision-dominating screen that makes your TV look like a postage stamp.

The alternative and more useful (in that you can use it for everything else beyond watching movies) option is a large screen TV. With our lower budget, there are trade-offs here as well. The most obvious is going to be screen size — the biggest we can afford is going to be around 55-65.

We'll get a higher resolution than a similarly priced projector, however, and it's going to be easier to watch in brighter rooms. But does the theater leave the lights on when you go to watch a movie? No.

I've found two options — a TV and a projector — that you can buy in the Prime Day sales below.

The sound

I'd love to be able to tell you to go out and find one of the best home theater receivers, but that would end up costing hundreds and hundreds of dollars — and with our low budget, it simply isn't possible. Instead, we're going to go the way of the soundbar so that we can still get excellent sound without completely draining the budget.

We've got about $230-$250 left of our budget — which does make life slightly harder. Still, with a deft hand and some search parameters, I've been able to find suitable soundbars.

What was I looking for? Most important at this price is a subwoofer. That's going to bring the epic low-stuff that we really want, and make that couch wobble. Dolby Atmos is a nice-to-have, although we might have to trade it in at the altar of affordability if the bar is too expensive. So — here are a couple of soundbars that are going to bring the theater into your living room.

BONUS ROUND — what about the snacks?

OK so sound and vision is all sorted — but what's a night at the movies without some lovely, warm, freshly popped corn? A mouth-wateringly squeaky bag of the good stuff really puts the finishing touch to our budget home theater system — and it's not going to completely smash our $500 budget either. Well — we're $7 over. But who's counting?

This popcorn maker is going to be the perfect way to finish our budget system. Just put your kernals in the machine, press a button and POP POP POP, you've a lovely bowl of popcorn ready to go. This one makes 24 cups' worth of corn for you and your friends.

Well, my mouth is watering now.

For more great discounts, be sure to check out our Amazon Prime Day deals live blog right now.

Shop today's best Prime Day deals

• Shop all Amazon deals
• Amazon devices: from $17
• Skechers: apparel/sneakers from $27
• YETI sale: deals from $10
• TV sale: from $69
• Crocs: footwear from $20
• Roku: devices from $24/TVs from $139
• Adidas: deals from $9
• Lego sale: deals from $8
• Columbia: deals from $15
• Blink: deals from $19
• Sony headphones: from $9

As Amazon's October Prime Day enters its second day, we're seeing some great deals on everything — including soundbars. If you're looking for a cost-effective way to improve your TV sound for Netflix shows and movies, then now could be the time to pick something up.

We're tracking some great savings. For example, the Amazon Fire TV soundbar is just $89 at Amazon, thanks to a decent $30 discount. The Sonos Beam Gen 2 is down to $369 at Amazon after a $130 discount as well. There are great deals to be found on soundbars — here are 12 of the best.

Quick list

• Razer Leviathan V2: was $99 now $69 @ Amazon
• Sonos Arc Ultra: was $1,099 now $929 @ Amazon
• Amazon Fire TV Soundbar: was $119 now $89 @ Amazon
• Sony S100F: was $159 now $98 @ Amazon
• TCL S55H S: was $129 now $99 @ Amazon
• Yamaha Audio SR-C20A: was $179 now $159 @ Amazon
• Yamaha Audio SR-C30A: was $279 now $199 @ Amazon
• Bose TV Speaker: was $279 now $199 @ Amazon
• Sony HT-S400: was $299 now $228 @ Amazon
• Sonos Beam Gen 2: was $499 now $369 @ Amazon
• More Speaker deals: Walmart | Best Buy | Amazon | Dell

For more great discounts, be sure to check out our Amazon Prime Day deals live blog right now.

Shop today's best Prime Day deals

• Shop all Amazon deals
• Amazon devices: from $17
• Skechers: apparel/sneakers from $27
• YETI sale: deals from $10
• TV sale: from $69
• Crocs: footwear from $20
• Roku: devices from $24/TVs from $139
• Adidas: deals from $9
• Lego sale: deals from $8
• Columbia: deals from $15
• Blink: deals from $19
• Sony headphones: from $9

There's only one day left of the October Prime Day now, and that means you've not got long to grab this impressive soundbar deal. This might just be one of the best ways to get a new soundbar under your TV that we've seen for a while.

The Samsung Q600F soundbar is $477 at Amazon thanks to a $120 discount, bringing a soundbar+subwoofer combo to your TV stand for a whole lot less money. For buyers in the U.K., there's a £250 saving — you can buy the Samsung Q600F Is just £248 at Amazon. That's a mega discount on a great soundbar for both movies and TV.

If you're not familiar with Samsung's soundbar naming conventions, let me give you a quick run-down. The 'Q' in Q600F refers to the series name. A 'Q Series' Samsung soundbar is the best-of-the-best, top-of-the-range soundbar. The Q600F is the most affordable soundbar in Samsung's Q series, so this is the cheapest way to get theater-quality audio at home.

The Q600F is a 3.1.2 channel soundbar, which means it has three center channels, a subwoofer, and two surround/upfiring speakers. You might not expect immersive Dolby Atmos in just a 3.1.2 channel speaker, but I was really impressed by the Q600F's performance.

In my Samsung Q600F review, I wrote that "For a 3.1.2 channel soundbar, the performance was impressive. I couldn’t look away. I felt like a toddler watching Cocomelon."

Alas, the Q600F has no smart home integration. If you wanted to use AirPlay/Chromecast or the like, you'd need to spend a little extra on the Q800F or Q990F. I've not tested those models yet (they're on the way though!) so I can't attest to their value right now.

But if you're a movie aficionado, you're likely less interested in smart home features and more interested in audio performance. In that case, the Q600F is the cheapest way to get the cinema at home and one of the best soundbars period, and I say that with 100% confidence. I've tested tons of soundbars from brands like Bose, Polk Audio, Majority, Ultimea, and Denon, and I'm hand-on-heart certain that the Q600F is the best bang-for-buck mid-range soundbar out there.

While this deal could last for a while, I'd still waste no time and grab this soundbar for an instant movie night upgrade.