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Soundbar reviews

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Last updated: 10 July 2023
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Checked for accuracy by our qualified fact-checkers and verifiers. Find out more about fact-checking at CHOICE.

Our audio experts test every soundbar to find out which ones:

  • sound the best for music, movies and newscasts
  • are best suited to your TV and space
  • include a subwoofer and rear speakers
  • are easy to operate
  • are the most energy-efficient.
 

We've also partnered with Shop Ethical on this update to show the ratings the Ethical Consumer Group gives to each company.

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We look at soundbars with a variety of surround configurations including stereo (2.0), 2.1, 3.1 and 5.1, as well as newer models that support Dolby Atmos and DTS-X.

Our interactive comparison tool will help you find out which models have Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ARC and eARC, and support for Google Assistant or Alexa. Our Recommended list will show you at a glance which soundbars come out on top.

Some manufacturers sell rear speakers as optional extras for a true surround sound experience. In this case, we conduct two tests – one on the default kit and another with the optional rear speakers. These are added to our table as two separate entries. Though we note if Atmos and DTS-X are available, we don't conduct a specific test for these audio codecs.

October 2022 update

We've slightly altered the way we weight and display results from our stereo audio listening panel. The panel consists of music and voice assessments which are used to create the stereo listening score. We've replaced the stereo listening score with separate music and voice results with minor adjustments to the weighting that creates the CHOICE Expert Rating. This may result in slight changes to the CHOICE Expert Rating and product recommendations for currently available models.

Models have not been re-tested and the method remains unchanged as this data was already recorded for all but two soundbars. The Polk Magnifi Mini and Panasonic SCHTB688 were not assessed for voice performance. Weighting has been evenly distributed across music and multi-channel for these soundbars.

Shopping links on the CHOICE website

CHOICE is an independent, nonprofit organisation dedicated to helping consumers. Clicking a link will take you to a retailer's website to shop. While we make money if you buy through some retailer links, this doesn't influence any of our rankings. 100% of the money we make goes straight back into our nonprofit mission. We're currently testing this service and will consider providing more shopping links in the future. Tell us what you think.

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Brand

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List of brands we tested in this review.

    Price

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    Recommended retail price at the time of testing. We suggest shopping around where you can to find more competitive prices from retailers.

    enter value/s in increments of 1 between 80 and 3999

    Recommended products

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    Member only

    This test score is for members only. Join now to unlock our expert results.

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    Type

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    Models listed as 'soundbar' do not include a subwoofer. A soundbase includes a built-in subwoofer and some models also include rear speakers.

      Music quality score

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      Audio experts listen to two songs to assess music quality. This contributes to the stereo listening panel score.

      enter value/s in increments of i between 48 and 93

      Multi-channel audio quality score (movies)

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      Audio experts listen to 5.1 channel film audio with video in a small lounge room environment to assess multi-channel (surround sound) immersion and audio quality. This includes assessing surround sound on soundbars with less than 5.1 channels e.g. stereo, 2.1, 3.0 and 3.1.

      enter value/s in increments of i between 35 and 97

      HDMI inputs

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      Multiple HDMI inputs allows you to connect different devices into the soundbar such as a PVR, Blu-ray player or games console and switch between devices to listen to and watch on the TV.

      enter value/s in increments of i between 0 and 4

      Shop Ethical rating

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      Shop Ethical rates the environmental and social impact of the company (not the product) using independent sources. This rating is not included in our total score. N/A means there is no rating for that company.

        Included in this review

        Members-only access
        • Recommended
        • CHOICE Expert Rating
        • Music quality score
        • Voice quality score
        • Multi-channel listening panel score
        • Ease of use score
        • Remote score
        • Standby energy score
        • Good points
        • Bad points
        • Price
        • Shop Ethical rating
        • Annual standby energy cost
        • Month and year tested
        • HDMI-ARC support
        • Video switching
        • Bluetooth
        • NFC
        • Wi-Fi
        • Dolby Atmos
        • DTS X
        • Alexa support
        • Google Assistant support
        • HDMI input
        • Automatic room calibration
        • Wall mountable
        • Wireless subwoofer
        • Wireless surround speakers
        • Subwoofer speaker orientation
        • Multi-channel claim
        • Internal speakers
        • Soundbar dimensions (cm, H x W x D)
        • Subwoofer dimensions (cm, H x W x D)
        • Soundbar weight (kg)
        • Subwoofer weight (kg)
        • Country of origin

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