Soundbar Reviews

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Even coverage from unusual drivers
Down-firing bass driver
Minus
No Dolby or DTS decoding
Limited EQ options

THE VERDICT
The Q Acoustics M2 soundbase is a well-built and well-voiced product whose cleverly constructed flat-diaphragm drivers provide wide dispersion and excellent overall sound.

I will never forget my first flat-panel TV. Its substantial metal chassis included large side-mounted speakers that sounded, by TV standards, pretty good. Sure, I used my surround system for movies, but it never would have occurred to me to use an external audio system just to watch the news. My next flat-panel TV was flatter, though not in any way that especially benefitted me, and its back-firing speakers were too awful to survive more than a single newscast. I hooked up a good pair of powered speakers and called it a day. Since then, TV enclosures have only gotten slimmer and flimsier. With rare exceptions, their speakers sound worse than ever. That’s an opportunity for companies like Q Acoustics, which offers two soundbars and the new M2 soundbase ($350), reviewed here.

“It looks like a car ran over it,” a visiting friend said. But I doubt Definitive Technology employed that technique in the creation of the Mythos XTR-SSA3 soundbar.

I've evaluated at least 57 soundbars. That experience has taught me there are two attributes a truly great soundbar should possess. First, it should sound good. Second, it should work like it's part of your TV-i.e., it should power up and shut down when your TV does, your TV's remote should control volume and mute on the soundbar, etc.

By this measure, there's never been a truly great soundbar.

Sonos-known for network-based audio devices such as the Play:3-has attempted to create a soundbar that would meet my definition of "truly great." How confident is Sonos that the new $699 Playbar will work perfectly in concert with your TV? Pretty confident: The Playbar doesn't come with a remote.

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Room-filling sound
Enhances dialogue
Built-in Roku streaming interface
Minus
None worth noting

THE VERDICT
The Roku Streambar Pro offers a considerable sound upgrade over a TV's internal speakers and comes with the company's comprehensive streaming platform built-in.

Soundbars are popular for a good reason. The speakers in a typical flat panel TVs sound puny compared with the visual sway of increasingly larger, higher-resolution displays. Also, since not every viewing room can accommodate the separate components of a home theater, a narrow-footprint soundbar solves the problem of raising the impact of the audio and it does so with one cable.

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Full surround, including Dolby Atmos, from just four boxes
Rich, punchy sound
Minus
Limited connectivity
Pricey for a soundbar

THE VERDICT
A soundbar with Dolby Atmos may seem like an oxymoron, but Samsung has done a masterful job of pulling it off. The HW-K950 delivers a hefty slice of the performance you can get from a carefully tuned component system, but without most of the complexity or a room full of speakers.

Sometimes it seems like the people who develop new surround formats are completely out of touch with what real consumers actually want in their homes. Over the years, we have seen a seemingly endless parade of multichannel surround formats, such as Dolby Digital Surround EX, Dolby Pro Logic IIz, DTS-HD Master Audio, Audyssey DSX, and now Dolby Atmos—all guaranteed to strain your domestically acceptable loudspeaker limit. It’s no wonder that so many folks have decided to just pull out of this arms race and go instead with a simple soundbar. The good news: It appears that someone at Samsung is paying attention. The company’s latest top-of-the-range soundbar-based system tries to let you have it all, combining the compactness and simplicity of a soundbar with the tangible spatial effects that only really happen when you have discrete rear speakers and the vertical expansiveness of Dolby Atmos.

Performance
Build Quality
Ergonomics
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Supports Dolby Atmos/DTS:X up to 11.1.4
Immersive surround sound
Impressive subwoofer performance
Lots of adjustment options
Minus
Limited front panel display
No on-screen display
No room correction/test tones
Adjustments with remote are cumbersome

THE VERDICT
The newest version of Samsung’s top-of-the-line Atmos soundbar maintains the exceptional sound quality, performance, and style of its predecessor. However, the new model comes with some added features, such as 4K/120 Hz HDMI support, making it an even more capable product. It’s an effortless recommendation for anyone seeking a high-performance soundbar solution.

Soundbars have advanced beyond their initial role of making TVs sound better. At the highest levels, the current generation of flagship soundbars includes virtually all the features of AVR-based multi-channel surround sound systems, often including higher channel counts, the ability to decode modern immersive audio systems, far easier installation and operation, and a lower cost.

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Convincing immersive sound
Powerful bass
Chromecast built-in for music streaming
Minus
Heavy and large
Expensive

THE VERDICT
Sennheiser's first foray into home theater was worth the wait. The Ambeo soundbar, with Ambeo 3D processing, is currently the best soundbar on the market.

The compactness and convenience that soundbars offer has always been appealing, but their actual sound has too often been a letdown. Many have failed to create an authentic sense of surround and most also require an external subwoofer to provide substantial bass. Sennheiser's new Ambeo soundbar looks to buck that trend by delivering an immersive 5.1.4 surround experience while confidently eschewing a separate subwoofer. On paper, it looks to be the first soundbar designed to truly replace a standard home-theater surround setup. But does it deliver the goods?