Have you ever had trouble hearing the dialogue in movies and TV shows? Us too. However, the issue may be with someone other than your ears or the actors in the film. Your TV might be the only issue. You’ve probably noticed a noticeable difference between a new flat screen’s sparkling picture quality and its muffled sound performance as smart TVs get slimmer, sleeker, and brighter.
1. Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar
The top soundbar for people with large budgets. Sennheiser’s first consumer speaker, the Ambeo Soundbar, is quite the proposition – a premium soundbar crammed full of features such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support, as well as 4K HDR pass-through (all of which are useful if Netflix and Amazon are your primary movie and TV show sources).
2. Sony HT-A7000
Strong, muscular Dolby Atmos from a single TV soundbar that fills the entire room. The HT-A7000, winner of 2022 What Hi-Fi? The award for best soundbar for TV continues Sony’s stellar tradition of producing some of the best soundbars. This Dolby Atmos soundbar fits five front-facing drivers, two beam tweeters, two up-firing speakers, a built-in dual subwoofer, and two up-firing speakers into a single chassis, creating a 7.1.2 slab of sound.
3. Sonos Beam Gen 2
Without a single vertical speaker to be seen, Sonos Beam Gen 2 delivers a convincing, immersive performance. As an alternative, two of the soundbar’s five front-facing arrays are devoted to reproducing overhead and surround sounds when playing Atmos content.
4. Sonos Arc
One of the most affordable Dolby Atmos soundbars for TV that we’ve heard. Only Arc, a soundbar from the company, offers Dolby Atmos with vertical speakers. With optional wall mounting fixings available, it is more expensive than the Beam (Gen 2) and suitable for TVs more significant than 55 inches. Touch-sensitive play/pause and volume controls on the bar, as well as LEDs that show status and when the built-in Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa is active.
5. Sonos Ray
A powerful, punchy, and compact soundbar with sparkling vocal clarity. The Ray represents a change of direction for Sonos. You can use Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, and the Sonos S2 app to integrate it into a wireless multi-room system; however, users should be aware that there is no Bluetooth streaming built-in. Similarly, you can use it with other Sonos speakers to create a fully 5.1 surround system.
6. Sony HT-A5000
Can Sony compete with this budget Dolby Atmos soundbar? With a robust and wide soundstage, a solid low end, and excellent connectivity, the Sony HT-A5000 has a lot to offer. However, it falls short compared to the Sonos Arc, the best in its class, due to its slightly boxy voices and underwhelming height drivers.
7. JBL Bar 5.0 MultiBeam
The 5.0 MultiBeam is reasonably priced without feeling cheap, which is quite a feat. It’s small enough to fit under almost any TV while still feeling sturdy and well-made. And it packs a lot into its small size: five 48 x 80mm racetrack drivers, four 75mm passive radiators, and a grille that runs from ear to ear, with two more drivers on the hood to provide height effects.
8. LG S95QR
LG’s latest flagship soundbar provides full surround sound and many features. The main soundbar has ten drivers, with two 20mm silk dome tweeters and two 52 x 99mm woofers handling the left and proper channels. A pair of 50mm drivers on either end of the soundbar provides surround side effects, while two 63mm units on the top surface provide height effects for immersive sound formats.
9. Smart Soundbar 900 By Bose
With a wraparound metal grille and a polished, impact-resistant tempered glass top, the Smart Soundbar 900 has a more contemporary and elegant appearance than most of its rivals, thanks to Bose’s aesthetic sensibilities. In addition to the two height drivers, there is one center tweeter and four racetrack transducers on either side. The grille appears to wrap around completely, but there are no side-firing drivers.
10. Majority Of Sierra Plus Dolby Atmos Soundbar
Although it lacks wi-fi, this inexpensive bar has hard-wired HDMI ARC, optical, mini-jack, and USB inputs, as well as Bluetooth for music streaming. It conveniently provides users with two additional HDMI 4K HDR passthrough ports to directly connect external devices, such as a games console or Blu-ray player, cutting down on the number of cables you need to run to your TV.
