Best Soundbar

We rate the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar is the best overall soundbar that you can buy today, but it is a lot of soundbar for a lot of money – $1999 / £1999 to be exact.

The Ambeo is a large soundbar, not one that will easily sit beneath a telly unless the TV is wall-mounted, stretching over a metre long and weighing in at 18.5kg. The similarly priced Devialet Dione tips the scales at 12kg, and we considered that to be fairly heavy. The Ambeo is heavier than some OLED TVs.

Which means it needs a fair amount of space to accommodate, but for its size and heft the build quality is excellent with a good selection of inputs that includes three HDMI ports, digital optical out and aux-in. Wirelessly there is support for Google Chromecast and Bluetooth 4.2.

The Ambeo Soundbar is an all-in-one effort, and one of a few that we’ve tested that lives up to its claims of offering 5.1.4 channel immersive sound. It sounds absolutely sensational, firing effects around a room and generating plenty of power and muscle to make films and TV shows sound at their exciting best. We found there to be a substantial level of bass for a single-bar system, with a good level of extension to the bottom of the low end and in addition, there’s also plenty of depth and nuance to the soundstage it creates, but you’ll want to make sure the Ambeo processing is switched on, as we found the bar’s performance lost a sense of depth and height with it off.

There’s Dolby Atmos, DTS:X as well as the less well known MPEG-H. To calibrate the Ambeo’s performance, it features a high-quality calibration microphone used to match the profile of the soundbar’s sound to your room, although it can do this from a single listening point. That means you want to be sitting in the right place at all times for the best experience possible.

There’s no soundbar on this list that sounds as good as the Sennheiser Ambeo, but its size and price will put many off. Rumours are circling that Sennheiser will announce a cheaper, smaller Ambeo soundbar later in 2022, which may be the compromise will prefer.

Reviewer: Steve May
Full Review: Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar

If the expense of the Sennheiser Ambeo causes your eyes to water, then the presence of an affordable soundbar you’re after with the boost of a dedicated subwoofer might be more attractive. In that case the Wharfedale Vista 200S is a highly recommended option.

We found the bar’s design to be attractive in appearance, and the construction to be durable. The black finish and glossy top surface doesn’t scream a cheap soundbar despite the the Vista 200S’s affordable price. With a width of 900mm it’s tailored to partner televisions up to 65-inches in size, and the fact that it boasts a slim for factor also means you won’t be living in fear of a soundbar blocking the picture.

In terms of features, we observed there wasn’t much to grapple aside from its active wireless subwoofer with a side-firing 165mm driver with 60W of power. If you’re wireless connectivity or immersive audio, you’d be better off seeking the compact and more expensive Sonos Beam Gen 2. We did note that three preset EQ settings for media playback are provided in Movies, Music and News to optimise the soundbar’s sound for those types of content.

We found that the sound quality for the price was especially good, with the 200S putting in a great performance across the frequency range with a top-end that didn’t suffer from a lack of detail, plus some punchy bass thanks to the active subwoofer. We also observed that the Vista 200S could get rather loud without sounding harsh or compressed due to its 120W of built-in amplification. It also dealt with dialogue well, even without a dedicated centre speaker, while if you’re interested in playing music through this bar, then it takes on a smooth and clear profile.

There are cheaper soundbars, such as the Sharp HT-SBW202, that serve as an alternative has but we haven’t come across another soundbar that offers as much performance-per-pound as the Wharfedale.

Reviewer: Steve Withers
Full reviews: Wharfedale Vista 200S

If you’re in the market for a soundbar that’s great with both movies and music, then we’d suggest you give the Sony HT-A7000 a closer look.

During testing, we found its audio delivery to be crisp and concise, with clear voices and especially powerful bass from a single-bar unit. Its 7.1.2 channel Dolby Atmos and DTS:X performance impressed too, with a great sense of height that makes for a more immersive performance than what you get from a ‘standard’ soundbar. Its claims of virtual surround sound weren’t too convincing, but this is likely down to needing a room with walls nearby to bounce sounds off to the listening position (which we didn’t have in our set-up).

The HT-A7000 is also an excellent performer for music with great tonality, depicting mid-range frequencies in a natural way, along with sharp highs and punchy bass. We would suggest that the speaker performs better with music in its Cinema mode rather than Music, eliciting a smoother performance with vocals.

There is an upgrade path with the ability to add rear speakers and a subwoofer, but this doesn’t at a particularly affordable price, taking the offering cost past $2000 / £2000. You at least get plenty of bang for buck for the bar on its own, with various options of playing audio through the system be it wired or wireless. There is Chromecast, AirPlay 2, Bluetooth 5 and Spotify Connect, and support for Hi-Res Audio with DSD and the wireless LDAC format.

There’s Sony’s 360 Reality Audio format that can play tracks in 3D from music streaming services such as Tidal and Deezer. Smart assistance is on the table with both Alexa and Google assistant here, but a separate compatible device is needed to enable hands-free control.

Its design is rather out there, with a reflective glass top surface and different combination of materials that may make it marmite to some (we rather liked it). It is also a large soundbar, wider than the Sennheiser Ambeo though thankfully not as tall, so it can fit beneath most TVs. You’d really want to pair with a TV 55-inches or bigger to get the best impact.

Reviewer: Kob Monney
Full review: Sony HT-A7000

Both the Sennheiser and Sony soundbars on this list cost of $1000 / £1000 for a Dolby Atmos soundbar. If that’s not a price you’re willing to jump over, then we’d suggest considering the Sonos Arc. While it’s certainly not cheap, its range of connectivity, streaming support and true upfiring speakers make it one of the outstanding options below £1000.

The Arc represented the first time Sonos waded into the Dolby Atmos waters and we found the bar produce plenty of height and width to its soundstage in testing, putting in a crisp performance with the top end good control, with a detailed presentation with the mid-range and low-end.

Our reviewer found the transition between mid-range and low-end is not the most fluid, hampering the cohesion of the Arc’s presentation. It’s also able to deal with music well, although again the blend of bass and mid-range did cause it to lack a bit of conviction at times. The lack of bass is an issue that hampers several Atmos single-bars such as the Bowers & Wilkins Panorama 3, but at least with the Arc a subwoofer can be added.

The Arc features HDMI eARC, which means you’ll need a TV with eARC to get the best possible Atmos performance from the soundbar. Wirelessly there’s AirPlay 2 (Sonos still omits Bluetooth from its spec), an in the S2 app there’s the ability to place the Arc within a multi-room system with other Sonos speakers. The S2 app also provides access to streaming services in the likes of Spotify, Tidal, Deezer, Qobuz as well as the Sonos Radio service. Those with an iOS device will take advantage of the Trueplay feature that optimises audio playback to a room.

Design wise, the Arc is is keeping with Sonos’ recent design language with its minimalistic look available in black or white. Like the other soundbars on this list its over a metre long but it’s quite discreet in its profile. The Arc is a very good Dolby Atmos soundbar but its not without its limitations, its lack of all-round DTS support means this isn’t the best choice for home cinema enthusiasts with DVDs and Blu-rays with DTS soundtracks.

Reviewer: Simon Lucas
Full review:  Sonos Arc