Approach To Buying A Soundbar - features that count and how to get the best out of it
Covid has intensified the rebirth of the Home Theatre system, and that begins with a TV upgrade. But after buying that fancy TV, with the latest apps and 4k resolution, you think you're in TV heaven, enjoying some high quality images. However when you begin streaming movies that indicate they are master in Atmos, somehow the sound is flat. Or worse, even for free to air TV broadcasts, the dialogue is not very audible and the TV speakers don't even go that loud.
Well, with the advent of wafer thin TV sets, there is no more room to put proper speakers inside. Don't let those specs of "20W per channel with subwoofer" fool you. Some TVs even say they are Atmos equipped.
Remember, to get a full home theatre surround experience, you need sound to come from the front, the sides and for Atmos, from the top, or at least have sound bounce off surfaces so they sound like they are not just radiating from the front.
Many home owners who live in smaller settings and are not audiophiles, don't want the clutter of running speaker cables all over, and rue to have large speaker boxes flanking their TVs. Even an external subwoofer is something that seems out of place in their idea of a well decorated room.
Cue the soundbar. If you believe the marketing, a soundbar will be able to give you that home theatre experience, sans the clutter and cables, and even sound good in music. So is that possible?
I have previously share a few posts on soundbars:
Let's first get the negatives out of way...
Soundbars can range in price from a couple of hundred dollars to a few thousand. Some utilise internal subwoofers whilst others require you to buy one. Others also sell separate surround speakers, which are called wireless speakers. A few are really wireless, as they run on built in batteries, whilst others still need a plug in power source.
Now even the best top of the line ones won't give you the same immersion as a full fledge surround sound system for the same money. What you gain in aesthetics, you lose in immersion.
Furthermore, it is very important to check the actual number of channels in your soundbar. The basic ones also carry "Atmos" logos on the box, but they may only contain two channels and make use of psycho-acoustics to simulate surround. So it's just trickery and not real surround.
Even those with extra channels for the sides, and Atmos channels rely on reflections, which means ideally you need to be seated in a centre of a rectangle room, with reflective solid walls on all sides and also on top. How many of us use or sit in such a room?
Even those with extra channels for the sides, and Atmos channels rely on reflections, which means ideally you need to be seated in a centre of a rectangle room, with reflective solid walls on all sides and also on top. How many of us use or sit in such a room?
The soundbars are also necessarily slim with a thin profile to fit under the wall or table top TV sets, so they do not block the screen. This has an impact on the size and quality of the drivers used and consequently, the sound quality. Music playback, especially for those entry level ones are pretty nasty.
The other thing is money. Take a certain amount of money that you are willing to pay. The returns on sound quality is proportionately reduced accordingly to the number of channels you are buying. Take a stereo set, with only two speakers, all the money goes towards the amplification, the drivers and cabling for only two speakers. Once you add more channels, the amount spent on developing each additional channel will then impact and reduce what they can spend on each channel, thereby reducing the sound quality.
So my advice for those with a limited budget is to assess what's important: having a Atmos sticker and a more disappointing experience or get something without that and just improve dialogue and music.
In my opinion, the bottom line for getting external speakers is to improve the viewing and listening experience. After all, the sound bar is meant for improving dialogue first and foremost, then aid in some enhancement of the movie listening experience, and sound reasonable in music.
I'm realistic with what soundbars can recreate. To really create a surround experience, choose a soundbar that has real side surround speakers. As for Atmos, you will be need upfiring speakers, and if your side / rear surrounds are also equipped with them, the surround immersion will be even better.
So if you are limited to a single bar solution, the surround effect will be largely determined by how flat and reflective your ceiling is.
The higher end ones will also be equipped with a calibration tool of sorts and this helps to determine how far the soundbar and any other speakers are located from your sitting position.
The other feature that I look out for is a subwoofer. Here you have some choices. The ideal one is that you have a dedicated external subwoofer, that will partner with the soundbar. Some brands offer the choice of buying the soundbar with or without the sub, and I highly recommend the former if a good movie experience is what you are after. Built in subwoofers are usually quite weaker. Others use some port trickery to accentuate the bass, but few soundbars reach below 60 Hz without a good sub. If the soundbar offers an external sub-out, that's an interesting option too.
What are the various levels of soundbars?
- well even a single speaker can act as a sound bar, if clearer or louder diction is all you require
- two speakers allows stereo output, and some make sure of these to generate a pseudo-surround by adding time delays
- three speakers is the beginning of a real soundbar. This allows clearer dialogue from a dedicated centre channel
- 5 channels gives you side surround and either reflections from side walls or a real side surround speaker can really up the surround experience
- most soundbars won't get you 7 ear level surround speakers, so 7 channels usually means 5 plus a pair of upfiring Atmos speaker
- if there are nine channels, the soundbar either goes for more upfiring Atmos channels or occasionally 7 ear level channel
To these channels one can add a sub to make the sound more robust and the tactile feel is very important for movies
Even a two channel stereo system can double up as a soundbar, but the wider the gap between the speakers, the more obvious the gap if you do not sit in the centre.
The centre speaker is vital for the best movie experience.
Now placement of these speakers is vital. The surround channels need to be at least in line with the sitting position or slightly behind it. Check the manual for the specific model for what the manufacturer suggests
Then if the soundbar allows levels adjustment, that will be great.
Having a distance level adjustment is also important
Some have their own calibration tools, and this really helps, and others just hope for the best. The higher end ones usually feature this.
Finally some features that may allow you get a better listening experience:
- DTS decoding. This feature is becoming more rare these days, and not all brands offer it
- extra HDMI inputs. If you want your soundbar to be the centre of your home entertainment system, this is a good thing to have
- eARC. This should be standard in all 2023 soundbars, but it isn't. However it isn't so important if you only have two channels / drivers and your entry level soundbar isn't capable of high resolution audio.
- streaming options are always welcome, but accessing them is what differentiates the user experience and this boils down to the app as well as the remote
- physical remote. As strange as it sounds, some high end models are no longer offered with this and that makes the assumption you only use the eARC input and your TV is the main controller.
- input buttons. I like to be able to program certain streaming channels so I can access them with a press of a single button and that's not always available. In fact it is pretty rare. Kudos to Bose and Denon on this front.
Now for the nitty gritty.. I like to have attention to detail and these details make or break a purchase.
- Make sure you measure the height of the bar and check that it sits properly under your TV especially if the TV is sitting on your table top. Check the width too in case it's too wide to fit between the legs of your TV.
- How is the wifi quality. Do some homework. Certain models experience frequent dropouts in the subwoofer and surround connection to the main soundbar.
- How easy is the setup and does daily use require many presses of the buttons on the soundbar app.
- Are there physical buttons for adjustments on the bar?
- There is no need to buy the same brand as your TV or Blu Ray player. Some offer a few more buttons the TV remote that control the playback, that's it.
- Sony is one of the few brands that has a centre speaker mode, that allows you to use the TV as a centre speaker for it's A9 model, but that's because it does not come with a centre speaker.
- If music matters, bring some of your favorite tracks to audition. Or even bring a USB drive of your favorite movie scene. But a caveat is that not all soundbars have a USB port and you may have to rely on the one on the TV.
- Will you require an entire home ecosystem of sound? Then choose a brand such as Sonos, Bose or Denon which have some system that allows you to listen to music from one source wherever you place a speaker.
- Do pay attention to the weight of the bar, and see if your console is strong enough, or if you wall mount it, how strong is the feature wall and does it stick out a lot?
- What is the version of Bluetooth and does it support APTX for better sound. I like Airplay too as it fits into my ecosystem.
- I prefer a physical remote and one that uses AA or AAA batteries.
My philosophy is to get a good one so you do not get buyer's remorse and end up being unhappy or dissatisfied with the sound from the word go. Be realistic with how good the immersion is, especially if you do not sit in an ideal room.
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