Not everybody has the resources and money to have a full home theater set in the living room, but that doesn’t mean either you have to stick to the basic stereo speakers of your TV and lose a lot of the fun while watching movies. Sound bars are a great addition to the sound performance of contemporary television designs and while they offer less potency and quality definition than a home theater, they are still quite bold and rich in sound. Take a look on the list we did for you with some of the best sound bars in the market and all you need to know before you purchase your own.
Contents
Our Top 5 :
SONOS PLAYBAR TV Sound Bar
- The mountable soundbar for TV, movies, music, and more
- Enjoy crisp dialogue and impressive bass from wall to wall with Playbar. Control it with the Sonos app, your remote, and more
- Whether you mount it on the wall or place it below your TV on a stand or console, Playbar automatically tunes itself for the best possible sound
- Playbar was specially tuned by Oscar-winning sound engineers to emphasize the sound of the human voice so you can always follow the story
- Easily connect Sonos speakers in different rooms over WiFi to create a home sound system that brings every room and everyone together
SONOS sound bar is probably one of the best releases so far in the market these days as very few brands designed a sound bar as complete as this one. The brand offers a quite robust bar with 9 different channels, including mid ranges and tweeters, so you can quite detailed, rich sound, and that also includes some deep basses. This is the only sound bar of our list that doesn’t work wirelessly exclusively with Bluetooth. It does have a wifi connection port and, better than that, offer its own wifi network so you can connect your devices through a more secure and high band connection.
Features:
- Sound bar with nine amplified speakers (6 midrange and 3 tweeters)
- Compatible with 3.0 to 3.1 and 5.1 surround systems
- Compatible with WiFi network and includes the SonosNet, the brand’s own wifi network with a secure AES encrypted system.
- Simply best soundbar on market today.
Benefits:
- Sono’s own network is one of the great additions of this model since you don’t have to compromise your own wifi router to watch tv.
- It runs all sorts of music formats, including lossless formats like .flac
VIZIO S4251w-B4 Sound Bar
- SLEEK ELEGANT & FUNCTIONAL - Alphasonik Introduces the modern accent table. Standing 25 inches tall, this contemporary accent piece compliments any modern setting perfectly. Featuring sleek piano black finish wrapped in black fabric. This table features a powerful built-in Bluetooth speaker and wireless Qi charging for enabled smart devices. The table itself has a large rechargeable battery so you can move it around for wireless use
- 360° BLUETOOTH SPEAKER - 10 state of the art drivers! 4 speakers, 2 tweeters and 4 passive radiators (bass) are wrapped behind the fabric producing crystal clear audio. This table produces a 360° full stereo effect producing massive audio to fill any sized room
- Qi WIRELESS CHARGING - The future is wireless. A built in wireless charger allows you to simply set your smart device on top of the Qi symbol on the center of the tabletop and it will begin charging your smart device. Compatible with all wirelessly enabled devices like iPhone, Samsung and more. Please note that Wireless charging only works when your phone is not covered with a protective case
- ALL THE PORTS - Two USB ports and AUX port are conveniently placed on the back side without sacrificing design. You can use the ports to power devices that require a cable or play music from any device using the included AUX cable
- QUICK & EASY INSTALLATION - Only 3 piece set up required and you're ready to enjoy within minutes
This VIZIO model is the most powerful “all included” pack of the brand and its rightfully here in our choice for best soundbar, as it is not only one sound bar but also a set with a subwoofer and two rear satellites. While it has less speakers that the SONOS, it also works appropriately with 5.1 surround systems. The similarities stop right there though. This VIZIO works with Bluetooth, as well as the subwoofer will require a Bluetooth port to work on with a stereo system.
Features:
- Sound bar with three channel and separate wireless subwoofer plus two rear satellite speakers
- Compatible up to 5.1 surround, 102 dB
- Bluetooth connectivity
Benefits:
- Different from other models, includes the subwoofer which is for sure the best channel providing deep bass in our list.
- This model doesn’t work with wifi routers, only through Bluetooth, but that is a plus to work well with many portable devices
VIZIO SB3821-C6 Sound Bar
- Enjoy 100 dB of room filling, crystal clear sound with less than 1 percent total harmonic distortion
- Wireless subwoofer adds rich bass from anywhere in the room
- Built in Bluetooth lets you lose the wires and listen to your music with a tap of a finger with built in Bluetooth. Sound pressure level - 100 dB. Sound bar frequency - 50 hertz - 19 hertz
- Premium audio with Dolby digital decoding, plus DTS TruVolume and DTS audio post processing
- Wireless remote for convenient volume, input and audio controls; Wireless subwoofer range approximately 60 feet – line of sight from sound bar
A demure version of the VIZIO B4, this C6 sound bar also makes use of the “pack” strategy and sells a sound bar with additional equipment, in this case, the brand also offers the wireless subwoofer. The number of channels here is also limited to 2 stereo speakers built-in, so it will work with 2.1 surround systems. While it offers less speakers, the potency of the sound remains almost equally powerful, after all this is a 100 dB sound bar.
Features:
- 2 speaker channels and 1 wireless subwoofer
- Compatible with 2.1 surround system, 100 dB
- Bluetooth connectivity
Benefits:
- Like the previous VIZIO model, it includes a powerful wireless subwoofer which is a great addition that is worth more than the whole set.
- Is also mountable on the wall
VIZIO S3820W-C0B
- 100 dB of room filling, crystal clear sound with less than 1 percent total harmonic distortion
- Deep Bass Modules provides added bass without the need for an external subwoofer
- Built in Bluetooth lets you lose the wires and listen to your music with a tap of a finger
- Stylish and compact the perfect complement to any small to medium size HDTV; Installation :Table top and wall mountable
- Premium audio with Dolby Digital, DTS Studio SoundTM, DTS Tru Volume TM, DTS TruSurroundTM.Sound Bar Frequency:60 hertz, 19 kilohertz; Installation: Table top and wall mountable
This C0B and the next model of our list are both 2.0 surround sound bars, so they are surely more affordable and are what many people are basically looking for in a great sound bar: just a powerful set of 2 speakers with better sound quality than flat TV screens can offer. Not that much different from other models, this one also works only with Bluetooth but, on the other hand, as it is a lighter model, it can be mounted on the wall. The output quality is also quite reasonable, is a 95 dB sound bar.
Features:
- 2 channels speakers sound bar
- Works only with 2.0 surround systems, 95 dB
- Bluetooth only
Benefits:
- Much more affordable as it doesn’t include subwoofer
- Includes remote and is also mountable on wall
VIZIO SB2920-C6
- 2.0 Premium Audio The VIZIO 2.0 Sound Bar is an easy way to enhance your audio experience when watching your favorite content on the TV. The full-range stereo speakers boost your audio, while DTS technologies simulate incredible surround sound
- Bluetooth Streaming Lose the wires and listen to your music with a tap of a finger from anywhere in the room. (Performance and compatibility among Bluetooth devices may vary.)
- Easy Setup With everything you need for a quick and easy setup, upgrading to a powerful audio experience has never been easier. Connect the Sound Bar to your TV using one of the included cables, sit back and enjoy
- Features DTS Studio Sound, DTS TruVolume and DTS TruSurround
- Ergonomic Remote for convenient access to volume, input and audio controls
The last VIZIO and last item at all of our list is the C6 sound bard that is quite similar to the C0B, though, it is available in two different sizes. It is a different option when it comes to aesthetics as you have a standard but it will provide the same quality output of 95 dB.Being last on our list doesn’t make this soundbar any less great than the ones reviewed before it as this is also one of the top sound bars on market today.
Features:
- 2 channels only sound bar
- 2.0 surround systems, 95 dB
- Bluetooth connectivity
Benefits:
- Available on two different sizes (29 inches and 38 inches)
What exactly are sound bars?
If you are not very familiar with what sound bars are, is important to notice they are not simply slim, stylish speakers that look better than conventional speakers sets. Sound bars are, in other words, a shortened home theater into one small, long box. As you can imagine, the potency here will be lost in favor to convenience, enhancement of living space and style, but the industry these days can do this kind of detriment with some respectful quality. A good sound bar will be able to provide rich and realistic sound under its restrictions, but in many cases it will be much more reasonable than using a home theater.
Advantages of a sound bar vs. home theaters?
Sound bars are, first, smaller, and they are sometimes the only solution of HQ sound some people can have for their livings rooms. As real state market shrinks the size of rooms, not everybody can even place a set of home-theater speakers appropriately, but, most importantly, the smaller the room, the less reasonable will be the deployment of a home theater. Sound bars work good for small spaces also because of acoustic reasons as more potent speakers or subwoofers sets provided by home theaters will just turn your room into a zone of noise disturbance as the sound will not reverb and resound good. Sound bars are demure in potency but they do not sacrifice that much definition.
How To Find the Best One?
There is not too much secrets here: the more channels a sound bar provides, the better, always. Even if you do not have too much space in your living room, whenever you are buying a system with less than 5.1 channels you are loosing more points of quality and that is simple to understand: all available HD movies you are able to watch these days in your own home are developed with the surround system of 5.1 channels, which doesn’t mean you MUST have a sound bar equally potent, but the more you drop that rate, the less accurately you will appreciate the sound of the movie. Details and effects will be lost, many sounds will be compressed as the number of speakers is reduced, so this is what you have to bear in mind when you are going to get a system that works with a rate lower than 5.1. Sometimes you just don’t have the space to fit a long sound bar like that and then, yes, you will have to stick with one that is more modest but that can still provide good quality especially if it use the same kind of speakers a multi channel one would use, that’s why you can see several VIZIO sets on our list as they are different options of high quality for different purposes.
What Do Our Reviews Have To Say?
You saw a huge drop of prices from 5.1 systems to the ones with lower definition and that is of few explanation. As we said before, is all up to your resource, both related to space and money. Even if for some people a sound bar system for $ 700 is too much compared to home theaters that can cost that amount, there are gaps of quality on the latter as not all home theater will be a good one, especially by that price. Also, is a money you invest on something you can surely fit on most rooms. For last, but not least, lower sets will not be an impediment for you to enhance later your own speaker systems, for example, implementing an aux subwoofer or extra rear speakers, it is for sure only that any sound bar of this list – as possibly most of them in the market – have better sound quality than regular television screens, so it is always an im