Your TV sounds awful. That’s not an indictment of your shopping skills, your budget or even the TV’s manufacturer. It’s just basic physics.
The tiny speakers crammed in modern flat-screen TVs simply can’t reproduce the physical sound waves as well as the larger speakers in older TVs. And you don’t need to crave window-rattling action sequences to notice the problem. It also shows up in television shows, making dialog difficult to hear.
You don’t need captions; you need better speakers. And for most people, the easiest, fastest, most affordable option is a simple soundbar.
Why your TV alone can’t reproduce good sound
While every other TV feature has gotten better over the last two decades, from streaming apps to wildly improved picture quality, sound quality has regressed. As a pro who has reviewed dozens of TVs and speakers over the past decade, it’s impossible to miss. Frustratingly, the svelter and more premium your TV, the worse it likely sounds. That’s because those razor-thin TVs contain speakers barely bigger than what you’d find in singing greeting cards.
Luckily, you don’t have to spend three grand on a sprawling eight-channel home theater to vastly improve your TV sound. Setting aside just over $100 for a standalone soundbar can get you there.
Not just any soundbar. After over a decade reviewing them, I’m the first to admit there are plenty of duds that create more problems than they solve. But if you know where to look, you can get a lot for your money, leading to more immersive viewing, deeper engagement and much clearer dialogue, so you can drop those pesky subtitles.
These are my favorite soundbars at multiple price points to help you turn your TV’s sound from a problem to a pleasure.
The entry level:
Vizio AIO (All In One) Soundbar
Vizio
AIO (All In One) Soundbar
from $128
Vizio soundbars have a reputation for outperforming their modest price points, and the Vizio AIO is the latest embodiment. It captures the company’s typical sound-first design in a stylish minimalist package. At just 34in across and under 3in high, the AIO fits well even in small living rooms and bedrooms. Its fabric-wrapped tubular frame virtually disappears on your console.
You won’t get many extras here, not even a dedicated remote, but you shouldn’t need one: modern TVs let you control volume and power through the TV remote, as long as you connect it through an HDMI ARC or eARC port. Vizio’s app unlocks the rest, including settings such as EQ, sound modes and basic playback control. There’s no wifi, but Bluetooth lets you stream music from your phone or other devices.
It’s the performance that really sets this bar apart, offering surprisingly bombastic bass for its size, full-bodied higher frequencies for instruments such as strings and horns, and clear dialogue. While it’s not the most dynamic bar for music, you’ll enjoy solid detail and balance across registers. At this price, it’s hard to do better for a plug-and-play model.
Vizio
AIO (All In One) Soundbar
from $128
The step up:
Sony Theater Bar 5
Sony
Theater Bar 5
from $348
Another system that puts performance above extras, Sony’s Theater Bar 5 is a ringer for its size. Its simple bar-and-subwoofer setup makes it great for small to moderate-sized rooms. Sony stripped out features such as wifi, an equalizer, or even much of a visual display to focus on sound quality. It pays off, providing a pleasing mix of musicality and power for your money. There’s even a dedicated center speaker to keep dialogue out front, something many soundbars at this price lack.
If you’re tight on space, you may initially balk at the subwoofer, which takes up a few feet of floor space. But subwoofers aren’t just for explosions or kick drums. They’re key to truly impactful performance for everything from action films to dramas and music. Most importantly, the Bar 5 does a great job blending its low-end punch with its crisp sound above for a seamlessly smooth delivery.
You’ll also get Bluetooth streaming and some virtual surround sound tricks, including support for 3D audio formats such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. The effect is limited without dedicated surround or up-firing speakers to provide the spherical immersion for which these formats strive, but Sony’s acoustic wizardry expands the soundstage beyond the bar’s physical footprint.
Sony
Theater Bar 5
from $348
The ultimate micro soundbar:
Bose Smart Soundbar
Bose
Smart Soundbar
from $549
For a smaller system loaded with features, Bose’s taut Smart Soundbar is the best mini-bar I’ve tested. At just 27in across and 2.2in tall, the Smart Soundbar feels more like a Bluetooth speaker than a capable audio system, but its looks are deceiving. Five integrated speakers combine for clean, tactful and surprisingly musical performance, shining through in everything you play.
Unlike Sonos’ rival Beam, the Smart Soundbar even includes up-firing drivers for immersive sound that draws you in, especially with Dolby Atmos video. Like the other bars on our list, Bose’s system connects over HDMI ARC/eARC for simplified control with your TV remote, but you’ll also get a dedicated remote and a great app for multiple ways to play.
That’s just the tip of the bar’s perks, which includes wifi connectivity for high-quality streaming from apps such as Spotify and Apple Music, an equalizer, sound modes, and the ability to connect with other Bose speakers. You can even connect Bose’s fancy Ultra Open earbuds as wearable surround sound speakers. The bar’s biggest drawback is its limited bass response. You can add a Bose subwoofer later (albeit at a high cost), but even without it, the Smart Soundbar serves up best-in-class performance.
Bose
Smart Soundbar
from $549
For even bigger sound
Here are a few of my other favorites in other styles and price points.
This powerful standalone soundbar can be expanded with additional components as your needs change, but skips features such as wifi to keep the price low.
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The ultimate one-piece soundbar can also be expanded with other Sonos gear for a multi-room sound or surround sound, offering the best of all worlds.
You’ll need to make room for its wireless subwoofer and surround speakers, but this older iteration of Samsung’s multi-piece soundbar system offers incredibly thrilling surround sound from a single box at half the price of the current model.
Other pieces you might enjoy from the Filter, the Guardian’s guide to buying fewer, better things:
