by Few things are sweeter than opening a new TV. Mounted on the wall or balanced on a media unit, when the light comes on, and – after a short connection session to all your many streaming services – the images start playing.
It’s a shame, then, that the average TV – even a beautiful one – often can’t compete when it comes to sound. And if you bought one of the best 4K TVs over the holidays, you might want to complement your purchase with a sound bar.
Good sound is often an afterthought for TV brands, which mostly focus on picture processing and panel quality as key indicators of success. Cheap TVs can ship with 10W tinny stereo or awkwardly applied bass, meaning a dedicated audio solution can make a huge difference to the sound quality on offer.
Even high-end models like the LG C2 OLED, which excel in the picture department, can’t deliver the same experience with their speakers. The C Series OLED packs 40W of power, with 3.1.2-channel speakers, but that’s still a fraction of what’s possible with an extended audio setup.
Some TVs are better than others in this regard, of course. Samsung’s OTS (Object Tracking Sound) speaker arrays pack a lot of drivers into their high-end, Neo QLED models, offering a kind of built-in surround sound that matches the action on screen. And in general, the more impressive the TV you buy, the better the built-in sound.
However, most TV buyers will find that their sound is probably weak and that you don’t need to break the bank to fix it.
A world of sound
It’s hard to articulate how much of a difference good audio makes to a viewing experience. While it may not be as critical to the 10 o’clock news, a Netflix movie or nature documentary can be elevated to new heights by the sonic detail that a good soundbar can do: the creak of a floorboard, the the patter of raindrops on a leaf, the underlying hum of a distant explosion, or the crack in one’s voice while arguing with their lover.
All of these things can be missing from basic audio settings, depriving us of the intricate sound design and stirring music that the directors and composers intended for the content on your screen.
The added width and height of the multi-channel soundbars can also help locate the sound in its surroundings – one of Samsung’s early OTS demos showed a volley of arrows descending on a battlefield, with the air whipping around each projectile becoming more stable and closer to the viewer. every moment.
But you don’t have to be an expert audiophile to get this benefit. Plug-and-play soundbars are easy additions to a home theater setup, connecting via HDMI and giving soundtracks from movies, TV shows, documentaries and news some extra sonic punch.
Flexible connections
Standard stereo sound has essentially two channels – right and left. That’s nothing compared to the extensive driver arrays you can get in a soundbar, from smaller 3.1.2 channel setups to 7.1.2 surround sound that lets you hear all the highs, lows, and mids you possibly can. to extract from the film soundtracks.
What does 7.1.2 even mean, you ask? This first number ‘7’ is the number of main speakers involved, while the second number ‘1’ is the number of subwoofers and the last number ‘2’ is the number of speakers being powered up. In general, you want that first number as high as possible, but a quality speaker with fewer channels should be worth it – as long as it really improves the capabilities of your TV’s built-in display drivers.
A big advantage of a soundbar is that it’s not built directly into the TV – meaning you can move it between different screens, in different rooms or homes, while also having a piece of audio kit that can outlive a TV upgrade. Just because you’re swapping out an old LCD for a fancy new OLED doesn’t mean you have to start your audio setup all over again.
Your soundbar doesn’t have to be limited to just one device. Many models have dedicated subwoofers or the ability to connect a variety of other speakers in combination, allowing you to experiment with surround sound setups in the home theater space. They can also be used outside of watching TV, often with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connections to connect to your phone, to use as a party speaker or similar.
What you need in a sound bar
It is important to make sure that the soundbar works alongside the specifications of a TV. Having a brand new Dolby Atmos soundtrack is fine, until you realize that your TV doesn’t support Atmos pass-through – meaning the soundtrack of an Atmos-encoded movie won’t be picked up by your hardware.
Most soundbars will connect via HDMI – although you generally want the HDMI ARC (audio return channel) specification, which allows easy two-way communication between TV and soundbar. HDMI eARC (enhanced audio return channel) builds on this further with improved data transfer, allowing higher quality audio to be transmitted from one device to another.
Some models, such as the budget Sonos Ray, instead use an optical digital connection port – a widely used spec, but something you should make sure your TV has before buying independently. Optical connections can’t carry the same audio information load as HDMI ARC or eARC, and they don’t support immersive formats like Dolby Atmos. So if you plan to listen to Dolby Atmos or DTS:X soundtracks, you should choose one of the HDMI standards – specifically HDMI eARC to hear them in their best, uncompressed state.
What soundbar should I buy?
Your budget for a sound bar will come down to how important enhanced sound is to you, as the price for a sound bar can be as high or as low as almost any TV on the market today.
To help you choose, we’ve put together a mix of the best soundbars we’ve seen at every budget below.
