Honorable Mentions
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
There are a lot of great soundbars, and we don’t have room to feature them all. Here are some others you might want to consider.
Sony Bravia Theater Quad for $2,398: Sony's Bravia Theater Quad isn't a soundbar so much as an incognito audio system for those who hate the fuss and form of traditional setups. The four wireless speakers (just add power outlets) blend in with your living room decor and include stand mounts for setup on consoles, tables, or walls. Sony's advanced processing lets you futz with placement options, combining digital virtualization with 16 individual drivers for the most immersive Dolby Atmos performance I've heard in an all-in-one solution.
Bluesound Pulse Cinema for $1,499: If you’re looking for a top-notch Dolby Atmos soundbar, it’s hard to beat the Sonos Arc Ultra. But Sonos is still recovering from its self-imposed 2024 software fiasco, and many of its once-loyal customers have sought refuge with the company’s competitors. Chief among these is Bluesound, a wireless, multiroom audio ecosystem from the Great White North. Like Sonos, Bluesound also does home theater audio, but in this department it has lagged, most notably in its discrete support for the height-channel sound effects that epitomize Dolby Atmos—until now. Bluesound’s Pulse Cinema is a pricey new chapter for the Canadian company: its first Dolby Atmos soundbar with dedicated up-firing drivers and a center channel.
Vizio SV120-D-0806 Standalone Soundbar for $128: A slick and simple option to significantly ramp up your TV audio, Vizio’s latest AIO (All-in-One) soundbar is your cheap copilot. The AIO offers solid detail and surprising dynamic punch, with more bass than you’d expect in a single bar, for a very agreeable price. It leaves out extras like Wi-Fi or even a physical remote, but HDMI eARC lets you control the basics with your TV remote. Vizio’s excellent app unlocks the rest, including all settings and Bluetooth streaming with a tap. I had to ride the volume a bit between some of the quiet and loud moments in testing, but otherwise, there’s little to complain about in this capable and affordable TV buddy.
Polk Audio Signa S4 for $379: Very few soundbars at this size pack the soundstage of this aging but still awesome Polk Signa S4 Dolby Atmos-enabled bar. It’s simple and easy to set up, with a basic, no-frills remote and HDMI eARC connection to plug into a modern TV. You can choose between Movie, Night, and Music modes, which serve their intended purposes well. Cinema mode works in a 3.1.2-channel Atmos configuration with dual upfiring drivers—it’s pretty room-filling! Music mode gives you a more normal stereo image. Night mode limits the subwoofer action so you don’t wake the neighbors. The reason this scores lower than other bars we've reviewed on this list? We prefer a backlit remote control, and we wish it had Wi-Fi.
LG S95TR for $897: LG's 9.1.5-channel S95TR soundbar doesn't perform as well as Samsung's flagship Q990 series, but it's still one of the best performers in its class, and could be a better choice for those with newer LG TVs like the G5. Pairing the two lets you connect wirelessly, use your TV's speakers in tandem with the bar for more immersion, and control certain soundbar settings from the TV menu. It offers more ways to stream than Samsung's model, and supports gaming features like 120-Hz pass-through, but only includes one spare input. We already liked this system at its launch price, but it's especially tempting now that it's often on sale for hundreds less.
ZVox Accuvoice for $210: If you or someone you love has a hard time hearing what the voices onscreen are saying, consider this awesome little soundbar from lesser-known (but long-standing) brand Zvox. The company has perfected what it calls “AccuVoice” technology, which uses digital signal processing to make voices sound clearer. It does this better than any soundbar I’ve tested with a similar feature.
JBL Bar 1300X for $1,150: This Dolby Atmos JBL bar has a pretty neat party trick: detachable wireless surround speakers. Want more immersion when you're watching a show or movie in your stylishly designed space? Just pop off the two speakers on the side of the main soundbar and place them behind you as wireless surround speakers. That makes them great for people short on power outlets or those who don't want to hide cable runs to the rear of the room. The Bar 1300X sounds excellent, with some of the best Dolby Atmos immersion I have heard from a soundbar at this price. I also like that calibration will tune the sound to your room. The downside of wireless surround speakers? They need to be charged between uses, though it's easy enough to move them back to the soundbar between viewing sessions if you want them juiced up and out of the way.
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