best soundbar in 2020 with full explanation
today we'll compare six high-performance soundbars from six of the biggest names in home audio sonos jbl bowers and wilkins sony samsung and sennheiser we'll discuss the high notes of each soundbar and will award bonus points to the bars that include a subwoofer plus other cool features our list of the best high performance soundbars is based on the price and the features that complement both music and home theater applications including dolby atmos surround sound the soundbars we'll be comparing today are the new sonos arc the jbl bar 9.1 bowers and wilkins formation soundbar sony hd-st5000 samsung hw-q90r harmon and
kardon soundbar and last but not least the sennheiser ambeo we're going to give you everything you need to choose the right high performance soundbar with the best features for any room in your home be sure to let's get started keep in mind that not all of these soundbars come bundled with a
subwoofer but we'll be sure to point out the ones that do all six of these soundbars have some important features in common for example hdmi arc connection types multi-room support voice assistant features and with the exception of the bowers and wilkins formation soundbar there's dolby atmos surround sound for the most realistic 3d soundstage available with dolby atmos speaker drivers direct sound upwards towards the ceiling where the sound then bounces back down to you this allows you to experience the sound of a helicopter flying above you with true 3d sound the more dolby atmos speakers the sound soundbar has the more holographic the experience will be so with that said some soundbars like the jbl bar 9.1 and the samsung hw-q90r include detachable speakers that allow you to place the left the right or rear channel speakers
anywhere in your room for enjoying atmos sound all around you for older tvs that don't allow you to see the benefits of hdmi arc or e-arc hands-free remote controls with the most popular voice assistants will let you control your soundbar with your voice or from your phone or a tablet too alright now that we provided a general overview of some important features to look out for in each high performance soundbar we'll take a closer look at each system and compare them feature for feature to see how they perform against each other for both price and
the benefits you get first up is the new sonos arc the arc sets a new standard for the smart soundbar concept for 799 dollars the sonos arc has 11 speakers all housed inside the unit which are capable of filling an entire room with premium dolby atmos surround sound the new custom elliptical woofers in each driver provide the left center and right
and surround channels with five channel phased array there's two height channel speakers which fire sound upward which adds the new sonic dimension of atmos 3d for really immersive cinematic sound sonos then hired oscar-winning sound engineers to tune the arc so that you hear every nuance in the human voice using special speech enhancement
technology the arc actually pushes dialogue a little further up front for easier to understand speech by adding the sonos sub or a pair of rear speakers like the sonos one sl the arc's surround channel drivers automatically adjust to extend the bass drivers accordingly this makes the sonos arc the easiest to expand system of any atmos soundbar on the market sonos also has a cool room calibration software called truplay that will help you tune the sound field
to the specific acoustics of your room next is the jbl bar 9.1 soundbar with wireless subwoofer jbl is known world wide as the brand audio professionals count on so as the least expensive all-in-one complete system on our list jbl's bar 9.1 delivers a lot of value for the money this complete all-in-one dolby atmos system brings the surround sound experience of the movie theater right into your home with two detachable battery-powered surround speakers and a wireless sub included four up-firing speakers will bounce sound up to the ceiling back
down to you for a thrilling 3d experience with nine channels of dolby atmos plus a single channel for the sub bass frequencies you get all of this for just under a thousand dollars the rear surrounds are optional add-ons and many of the other systems including sonos and bowers and wilkins so this really makes the jbl bar 9.1 stand out in terms of the value you get just place the two detachable surround speakers behind you and enjoy the cinematic 9.1
experience of atmos surround sound the jbl bar 9.1's detachable rear surrounds are also wireless and rechargeable after about 10 hours of play time you just dock the detachable wireless rear speakers into the bar 9.1 built-in magnets to recharge them charge time is about 3 hours the battery powered rear surrounds are not only convenient they also add more to the immersive experience they did a great job of recreating the elevation in our soundstage but it
was the exhilarating bottom end weight from the sub that over delivered on performance in this deal we expected a great sub because it's jbl but the subwoofer jbl packaged in this complete system exceeded our expectations at this price point we really
like that there are no extra wires or extra power connections needed and we think the jbl bar 9.1 represents one of the most convenient solutions for a complete dolby atmos experience at a great price moving on we have the bowers and wilkins formation wireless soundbar up next even though this high performance soundbar does not present surround sound in the dolby atmos format this is the
soundbar to own if any of your rooms aren't large enough to benefit from the cool 3d effects of dolby atmos or if you're a music lover who's serious about great multi-room streaming sound this also makes a great soundbar for you the formation bar inherits bowers and wilkins legendary loudspeaker technology and craftsmanship the formation bar is powered by nine b&w drivers all optimized to create a wide and immersive three channel high fidelity sound stage for music and movies a dedicated center channel focuses the presentation of dialogue
with crisp clear sounding audio so you'll never miss a beat in the storyline we really enjoyed the multi-dimensional sound coming out during movies especially when we paired the bar with the formation base adding the bass presented new layers of dynamic details for a complete 5.1 surround sound experience that made our music and movies come
alive b&w even developed its own patented robust mesh network to run independently of your home's wi-fi network this provided one of the most stable streaming performances for high-res audio with near-perfect synchronization between other formation speakers so no more dropouts or running into glitchy issues caused by limited bandwidth with this bar the formation wedge and duo complete the formation series letting you cover your whole house with
great high-end b&w sound whenever you're ready to expand this setup up next is the sony hd-st5000 7.1.2 high-res dolby atmos soundbar this complete 7.1.2 system makes immersive surround sound extremely simple to set up and elegant use at just a little under fifteen hundred dollars it gives you the dolby atmos and dtsx 3d surround sound experience plus a subwoofer seven coaxial speakers on the front of the bar all have a woofer and a tweeter housed
inside the speaker units these emulate a natural three-dimensional sound field accurately while two dolby atmos enabled speakers on each side of the bar bounce sound off the ceiling to reproduce overhead sound the sony hd-st5000 also packs in the most features making this premium soundbar one of the most innovative designs on the market it combines
sony's virtual surround sound dsp with a high performance digital amplifier to deliver the purest sound quality for precisely aligned audio across the frequency spectrum for frequencies that go rogue above 40 kilohertz sony's special digital amplifier reduces distortion for pristine sound quality while sony's advanced clear audio plus adjusts the sound settings
automatically so no matter what you'll always hear movies music and video games with the highest fidelity for music there's even a special digital enhancement engine that will analyze your music for lost harmonics and restore the quality of compressed files to near high resolution quality whether it's the superb sound quality or the cool features packed inside
we think this high performance soundbar delivers exceptional value for less than fifteen hundred dollars it's one of the most premium soundbar systems for the money and the list of really useful features means you'll never run out of ways to keep enjoying it moving on we have the samsung hw-q90r harman kardon 7.1.4 soundbar with dolby atmos samsung is an innovator in home entertainment solutions and other high-tech devices samsung teamed up this
time with harman kardon to bring high performance sound to samsung's state-of-the-art home entertainment experiences harman kardon brings 65 years of technical audio expertise to samsung's best soundbar so we think this collaboration is one of the most impressive all-in-one bundles for the money similar to the jbl bar 9.1 samsung gives you a matching wireless sub and rear speakers all included this bundle kit is powered by an impressive 17
speakers all working together to surround you in 7.1.4 channels of 3d dolby atmos sound nine of these speaker drivers are forward-facing which each have one tweeter two mid-range drivers per channel and this gives you three channels on the right center and left all working together to project a wide sound stage four up-firing speakers reproduce the elevation
in the sound field and two side-firing speakers send sound all around you the subwoofer has an eight-inch driver that will reproduce low-end frequencies down to 34 hertz samsung's adaptive sound technology will analyze each scene in a movie and automatically optimize the audio so that you hear voices clearly even at low volume gamers will also really appreciate getting the upper hand when the sound of footsteps coming from behind you are optimized
more clearly in the sound field for more spacious cinematic realism i was really impressed with how well samsung's game mode pro enhanced the gaming experience also the hw-q90r is controllable with the smart things app so you can connect this soundbar to your network and have complete control over the whole audio experience throughout your house with
other smartthings connected devices if you're wanting more advanced features that will enhance your experience for playing video games watching movies or listening to music plus more expandable listening throughout the house we think the samsung hw-q90r is the most premium system you can own at this price point finally we have the sennheiser ambeo soundbar at $2499 it's not cheap but if you have the budget and you want extraordinary sound you'
ll want to keep watching the ambeo soundbar will give you a complete end-to-end 5.1.4 dolby atmos experience that will reproduce deep low end frequencies even without a subwoofer while there is an output to connect a sub i personally did not see a need for one this state-of-the-art device is capable of reproducing extreme bass as low as 30 hertz and it will also
go all the way up to 20 kilohertz the sennheiser ambeo harnesses its power to present audio across the frequency spectrum using 13 high-end drivers built right inside the unit six long throw woofers reproduce deep 30 hertz bass and five high-end tweeters cover your room with high fidelity sound while two top firing drivers present the sense of vertical elevation in your sound field all directly from the unit the ambeo produces one of the best 3d home
audio experiences we have ever heard coming out of a single soundbar advanced room calibration controls provide you the ability to personalize your studio grade experience right from within the sennheiser smart control app the included microphone that comes with this soundbar also captures the unique acoustic properties of your room for a spacious 3d experience that's tailor made if you want the best performance available for both cinema and music in
an all-in-one system the state-of-the-art technology and immersive atmos surround sound coming out of just the ambeo is hard to beat for just shy of $2500 this sits at the top of the soundbar category in terms of price and performance because it is state of the art and one of the best soundbars we've ever seen adding any soundbar to your tv watching for movies shows sports or music adds so much more to the experience all of them will really enhance movies gaming and music compared to the thin sound coming out of a flat screen tv so you really can't go wrong with any of these soundbars but each one really does perform slightly differently in every room so i thanks for watching
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