If you’ve invested in a large TV and its speakers and provide a different level of immersion than the pictures, the best soundbars are a must-have.
Some televisions may not require a soundbar. However, even the best TVs on the planet, especially inexpensive TVs, require an extra speaker for superior audio.
If you don’t have enough room for a home theater immersive sound system, a soundbar is a thin, low-profile bar equipped with speakers that provides another sound alternative. The greatest soundbars improve the clarity of language, the strength of music, and the excitement of movies.
With that said, keep scrolling to learn which soundbars are compatible with your smart home, affordable, and designed to improve your entertainment set-up.
Sonos Beam – Smart TV Soundbar
The smart, portable Sonos Beam will improve your entertainment experience. Oscar-winning sound engineers calibrated this soundbar to accentuate the tone of the human voice, providing rich and clear conversation for movie watching. Using built-in Amazon Alexa and Apple AirPlay 2, use voice control to play music, view movies, read the news, set alarms, and much more; undoubtedly, this soundbar makes your home an improved smart home.
The Sonos Beam has side-firing speakers that create a broad soundscape that will immerse you in audio. Even though the soundbar misses a subwoofer, you can boost its performance by purchasing a wireless subwoofer individually. You can expand on this system by attaching more speakers over Wi-Fi.
The Sonos Beam is super simple to set up – unbox, plug-in power, and link the system to your TV using the Sonos app. For TVs without an HDMI-ARC port, use the provided optical audio adaptor to connect the Sonos Beam to the TV’s optical port. The 25.6-inch system can sit on a TV stand or be wall-mounted.
Samsung HW-Q990B
The Samsung HW-Q990B maintains its history of providing its flagship soundbar with four physical boxes, but the total channel count stays at 16 this year. It doesn’t matter. The Q990B offers the most completely rounded and realistic surround listening quality you will ever hear from a Dolby Atmos soundbar by adding new control, balance, and accuracy to the huge power and channel ratios its predecessors have become known for.
The Q990B provides a full-fledged Dolby Atmos soundscape in your living room. Each of its 16 sound channels is meant to stand out, especially since the new auto-calibration technology performs the fantastic task of balancing the channels with no manual intervention.
The primary soundbar is thin enough to fit beneath most TVs without distorting the image, and the rears are small enough to fit on a standard bookshelf. The subwoofer is substantial. However, its new Acoustic Lens makes it appear at least a little hip, and its form makes it simpler to tuck away beneath a sofa or sideboard.
LG S95QR
The LG S95QR redefines the term “soundbar” by incorporating four distinct speaker units and giving a channel capacity that would shame most separate-based systems.
The unusual 9.1.5 channel arrangement of the S95QR indicates an innovation: an up-firing center speaker; this raises the same sound that comes from the forward-facing center speaker in an attempt to make dialogue appear to come from the screen. The S95QR also supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks and Dolby Vision HDR.
This soundbar is probably LG’s finest soundbar to date, blending incredible power with a massive dynamic range and an amazingly full soundstage that creates movie soundtracks surrounding you. There’s also a Music preset that uses Meridian filtering to transform stereo music into something that’s more multi-channel.
The S95QR’s soundbar is rather small for anything capable of producing so much volume. It should accommodate beneath most televisions, and while being long at 1.2m wide, it’s robust and evenly balanced. The rears are also impressively small for things capable of delivering three sound channels and have the same nice brushed finish. Their tilted fronts also give them more elegance than standard back speakers.
Polk Audio React
Polk Audio has earned a name for itself by producing high-quality audio gear at moderate rates, and the Polk React soundbar is another instance.
The Polk React, which costs $249, has amazing sonics that belies its low price. While there is no Dolby Atmos support, the Polk React makes the best of its four drivers, producing rich, supple sound and remarkable bass for an all-in-one soundbar. If you wish to improve the audio on the React, you may install Polk’s additional wireless subwoofer or surround speaker kit.
The Polk React is powered by a four-driver array that includes two 96 x 69-mm mid-range drivers and two 25mm tweeters, as well as a pair of 110 x 100-mm passive radiators for low-frequency effects.
The Polk React features a compact, low-profile design that should allow it to sit in front of most TVs without covering the bottom of the screen; even with a low-slung LG C9 OLED TV, the top of the 2.2-inch-tall React barely skimmed the bottom edge of the display.
Another alternative is to install the React beneath the TV, and the soundbar includes back mounting holes for this purpose. A mounting template and two spacers are also included, but you must provide your screws.
Although the Polk React misses features like AirPlay 2 and Chromecast, it does include built-in Alexa. At its most basic, Alexa on the Polk React lets you control the soundbar’s volume with voice commands, though clicking the volume buttons on the remote is arguably easier.
Furthermore, the Polk React is a Spotify Connect device, which implies you can use the Spotify app to pick the React as a playback device and create Spotify playlists on your phone.
Final Thoughts
Choosing home technology can be tough, especially when choosing the ideal soundbar for your home entertainment needs. There are plenty of the highest soundbars to choose from, and these are the recommendations based on various parameters.
Their experience in the sector has aided these companies in developing higher-performing items for their clients. If there is ever a problem with a product or service, established businesses like these can respond quickly to assist consumers in having the audio experience they want.