The Best Soundbars for Every Budget

Forget the tiny booze bottles in your hotel room; Bose's mini bar serves up a cocktail of musical sound and impressive features that's actually worth your money. Unlike the similarly miniature Sonos Beam Gen 2, Bose's Smart Soundbar (8/10, WIRED Recommends) employs true up-firing drivers for convincing Dolby Atmos effects alongside a surprisingly fun and engaging sound signature.

The bar adds lots of extras, including Alexa voice control via built-in microphones, AI dialog mode for superb vocal clarity, and even the ability to use Bose's Open Earbuds as personal surround speakers. The midrange and treble outclass the bass, but if you need extra punch you can add a Bose Bass Module. Like Sonos bars, you can connect to other Bose speakers in multiple configurations and stream from several music services over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, adding up to a nifty and versatile package. —Ryan Waniata

Vizio soundbars have long been known to bend the basic rules of performance for your dollars, and the 5.1 Soundbar SE (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is the latest to personify this reputation. At just around $200, you're getting slick surround sound performance and impressive virtualized Dolby Atmos and DTS:X immersion in a compact bar-and-subwoofer package.

The system isn't the best for music (you'd be better off with some bookshelf speakers), and there's no optical input for older TVs. Otherwise, the only real downside is the wired speakers that plug into the subwoofer, limiting placement options. That's a small concession for true surround sound at this meager price, making the Vizio 5.1 SE a great option for movie nuts on a very tight budget.

When Sony first showed me the System 6 (8/10, WIRED Reviewed) at its Tokyo HQ, it seemed like an odd turn. At a time when slimmer, stand-alone soundbars with upfiring Dolby Atmos speakers and Wi-Fi connection rule the high-end soundbar market, the System 6 goes the other way. The mostly wired surround sound system feels like a Home Theater in a Box (HTB) of old, built around a hefty sub, a skinny bar, and tall rear speakers wired into a separate amplifier box.

While the heft and wires make for a more involved installation, the retro-style setup soon won my heart with sweet cinematic punch, engaging detail, and fantastic immersion, including decent Dolby Atmos and DTS:X virtualization. The only real downside is updating the firmware, which is done manually instead of through the app, causing headaches during my review (I never got it to work). Otherwise, this semi-modern take on an old classic provides a thrilling sonic experience that's worth a little hassle. —Ryan Waniata

Samsung's multi-speaker flagship bar has been our favorite one-box Dolby Atmos distributor for multiple generations. It's the best in its class at filling a room with musical, impactful, and immersive sound. The HW-Q990C improves on previous iterations with an upgraded subwoofer for tighter bass to go along with the same fluidly immersive audio experience that keeps Samsung at the top of the Atmos stack.

The Q990's four-piece, 11.1.4-channel setup supports both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, along with multiple top audio formats. Dual HDMI inputs let you connect a Blu-ray player or streaming device directly, and select newer Samsung TVs can connect wirelessly and use the TV speakers in concert with the bar via Samsung Q-Symphony. This bar is in its twilight days, but now that it often costs less than half its original price, we just can't quit the Q990C. Gamers will want to move up to the HW-Q990D or newer Q990F on sale, as both newer bars offer HDMI 2.1 support for plugging in game consoles directly without losing major features. Otherwise, there's no good reason to move on from the Q990C when it's this cheap. —Ryan Waniata

Very few soundbars at this size pack the soundstage of this aging but still awesome Dolby Atmos-enabled bar from Polk (7/10, WIRED Recommends). It’s simple and easy to set up, with a basic, no-frills remote and HDMI eARC connection to plug into a modern TV. You can choose between Movie, Night, and Music modes, which serve their intended purposes well. Cinema mode works in a 3.1.2-channel Atmos configuration with dual upfiring drivers—it’s pretty room-filling! Music mode gives you a more normal stereo image. Night mode limits the subwoofer action so you don’t wake the neighbors. The reason this scores lower than other bars we've reviewed on this list? We prefer a backlit remote control, and we wish it had Wi-Fi.

Vizio’s Elevate SE soundbar (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is the Jeep Wrangler of Atmos bars: It’s not built for luxury, but it'll get you where you wanna go. As the most austere model yet in the Elevate series, it skips features like Wi-Fi and smart assistants, offers no physical remote, and provides just one input for TV connection. What the SE lacks in extras it makes up for in sheer immersion, providing smooth and cinematic surround sound from a 5.1.2-channel setup at a very nice price.

The Elevate's wireless surrounds are a pain to set up, but its stable Bluetooth app makes adjusting settings a cinch, while HDMI eARC connection lets you control volume and power with your TV remote. Like previous Elevate models, the bar's slickest trick is its dual rolling speakers that face forward for surround and stereo tracks, and spin upward to expand the soundstage with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X 3D audio formats. Otherwise, this is a barebones machine built around great Dolby Atmos punch for your money. —Ryan Waniata

Sonos hasn't been easy to love lately, which is why the Sonos Arc Ultra (9/10, WIRED Recommends) feels like such a triumph. A full-shod upgrade of the original Arc, it's got better clarity, bigger bass, and more immersive and precise Dolby Atmos expansion. With 14 different speakers run through Sonos' proprietary waveguides, you'll feel effects whizzing past your face with Dolby Atmos mixes and surround sound alike.

Of course, the promise of Sonos is the versatility to build as you go, from a whole-home audio system to a multipiece surround setup. I built a gobsmacking system with the new Sub 4 and a pair of Era 300s (9/10, WIRED Recommends), though I did run into some oddities with the embattled Sonos app when I first connected it. Thankfully, a power cycle resolved my troubles, standing stable for weeks of testing. I'm not yet ready to call the software troubles over but it seems much better and the Ultra is unquestionably awesome, offering best-in-class performance. —Ryan Waniata

LG's 9.1.5-channel S95TR soundbar (8/10, WIRED Recommends) doesn't perform as well as Samsung's flagship Q990 series, but it's still one of the best performers in its class, and could be a better choice for those with newer LG TVs like the G5. Pairing the two lets you connect wirelessly, use your TV's speakers in tandem with the bar for more immersion, and control certain soundbar settings from the TV menu. It offers more ways to stream than Samsung's model, and supports gaming features like 120-Hz pass-through, but only includes one spare input. We already liked this system at its launch price, but it's especially tempting now that it's often on sale for hundreds less.

Sony's Bravia Theater Quad (8/10, WIRED Recommends) isn't a soundbar so much as an incognito audio system for those who hate the fuss and form of traditional setups. The four wireless speakers (just add power outlets) blend in with your living room decor and include stand mounts for setup on consoles, tables, or walls. Sony's advanced processing lets you futz with placement options, combining digital virtualization with 16 individual drivers for the most immersive Dolby Atmos performance I've heard in an all-in-one solution.

The central control box connects over HDMI eARC for playback control with your TV remote, and a spare HDMI input provides console support for advanced gaming features. It all runs smoothly via Sony's Bravia Connect app, which also assists with setup. The Quad extracts a very hefty price, including the need for a Sony subwoofer for full-throttle bass, but we've seen some recent sales that make it more approachable. If you're after transformative sound without disrupting the vibe, the Quad could be the perfect pick. —Ryan Waniata

If you or someone you love has a hard time hearing what the voices onscreen are saying, consider this awesome little soundbar from lesser-known (but long-standing) brand Zvox. The company has perfected what it calls “AccuVoice” technology, which uses digital signal processing to make voices sound clearer. It does this better than any soundbar I’ve tested with a similar feature.

This Dolby Atmos JBL bar has a pretty neat party trick: detachable wireless surround speakers. Want more immersion when you're watching a show or movie in your stylishly designed space? Just pop off the two speakers on the side of the main soundbar and place them behind you as wireless surround speakers. That makes them great for people short on power outlets or those who don't want to hide cable runs to the rear of the room.

This bar sounds excellent (8/10, WIRED Recommends), with some of the best Dolby Atmos immersion I have heard from a soundbar at this price. I also like that calibration will tune the sound to your room. The downside of wireless surround speakers? They need to be charged between uses (just pop them back on the soundbar between viewing sessions if you want them juiced up and out of the way). —Ryan Waniata

Five small speakers and a compact under-couch subwoofer make up this extremely easy-to-use system from Platin Audio (8/10, WIRED Recommends). It uses WiSA technology to stream and sync audio from a puck that you place near your screen or projector. It’s among the simplest surround-sound setups I’ve had the pleasure of setting up, requiring just a power source for each speaker and a single HDMI cable to plug into the puck. From there, an app and your TV’s remote control the system.

This has come to be among my favorite rigs for testing because I don’t have to move anything other than an HDMI cable between devices. I also like how sleek and well-made the speakers are, with beautiful woven cones and black cases that don’t get in the way visually. You can now get the Platin Monaco system with Dolby Atmos support via rear surround speakers, a replacement pair that shoots sound effects toward the ceiling from the rear to bounce it down above your head for full immersion. I like the standard system enough to still recommend it over the Atmos option if you're on a budget, but splurge for Atmos if you have the cash.