Compare the Best SoundbarsFebruary 2020

Soundbar Buying Guide

A soundbar is a type of speaker designed to plug into a television and serve as a sound system for the device. Most soundbars are more powerful and better configured than the speakers built into TV sets, so a soundbar is a good way of improving the audio quality of your TV setup.

Soundbars are usually designed as long rectangles that can be placed directly under your TV screen, though some designers have experimented with other designs - including larger box-shaped designed that can double as a stand for the whole TV. These alternate designs are few and far between however - most are a simple rectangle, making them unobtrusive and easy to fit alongside your current TV setup.

It’s worth noting that a soundbar may be a necessity for more modern televisions - ultra-thin OLED TVs are so thin that they cannot fit any speakers into the unit, so have to rely on an external soundbar for all audio.

Subwoofer

While most soundbars comprise of just the bar itself, others come packaged with a separate subwoofer unit. This is a loudspeaker designed specifically for bass frequencies, meaning it will augment the standard soundbar and provide substantially more powerful bass notes. This boosts the overall sound quality of the TV, and is especially good if you watch a lot of action-heavy blockbusters, since the explosions and gunshots will have a lot more presence.

Wireless Streaming

The majority of soundbars are designed to be plugged in directly to the TV, rather than using a wireless connection. This is minimise any delay in the audio - wireless connections can generate a very slight delay while the data is sent from the TV to the soundbar, meaning that the video and audio signals the TV could drop out of sync. Wired connections have no such delay, meaning the video and audio will always be perfectly in sync.

Many soundbars do have wireless capabilities, but they are instead used for streaming audio from your phone/tablet/etc. Because there is no video signal, the small delay doesn’t really matter. This means that as well as TV audio, soundbars can also be used for music on demand, making them great for parties or just relaxing with your favourite music!

Simulated Surround Sound

Traditionally surround sound works by having multiple speakers (usually 5-7) arranged in such a way as to give the audio a sense of depth and 3 dimensions in order to increase immersion when watching films or playing video games.

Since soundbars only have a single speaker, they are not capable of true surround sound - however some newer soundbars have a method of simulating surround sound. They do this using a trick called ‘binaural audio’, which carefully directs sound to the left or right channels in order to simulate a 3D effect without extra speakers. You can hear an example of binaural audio here - Virtual Barber Shop

Generally only the higher-end soundbars have the is capability, but if you can afford the expenditure, you will gain a far more immersive audio quality from your movies and video games.

Soundbar Prices

Soundbars range in price from $20 to $2,396 and in total we found prices for 117 soundbars. On average, a new soundbar costs $330 and 80% of soundbars are priced between $74 and $698. The most expensive soundbar that we found is the Samsung HW-Q80R at $2,396, and the cheapest is the Lenovo 0A36190 at only $20.

Soundbar Brands - Price Range

Harman Kardon soundbars range in price from $600 to $1,500, and the average price of Harman Kardon soundbars is $966 which is the highest average price of all soundbar brands.

Dali soundbars range in price from $899 to $899, and the second highest average soundbar price out of all brands is Dali soundbars with an average price of $899.

The average price of Naim soundbars is $879 which is the third highest average price of all soundbar brands. Naim soundbars start at $879 and their most expensive soundbar costs $879.

Soundbar Brands - Average Ratings

We have analysed 1,459 expert reviews and 477 user reviews for soundbars and used these reviews to determine the average rating for each brand of soundbar. The top three soundbar brands are LG, Yamaha and Sony. LG has an average rating of 72%, Yamaha has an average rating of 71% and Sony has an average rating of 68%.

Biggest Soundbar Retailers

We found 107 current offers for soundbars from eBay making it the biggest soundbar retailer. That is over 5 times bigger than the second biggest retailer, Target for whom we found 20 current offers for soundbars. The third biggest retailer is Adorama with 19 current soundbar offers.

When Are Most New Soundbars Released?

March to May is the most common period for new soundbars to be released in. If you want the latest soundbar features you may want to think about waiting until March 2020. It's also worth keeping in mind that the price of the current soundbars tend to drop off when the next models are released. Last year most new soundbars were released in March, with nine new soundbars released that month. The biggest month in 2018 for new soundbar releases was November, with 17 new soundbars released that month. In May 2017, 42 new soundbars were released making it the biggest month that year for new soundbar releases.

How Fast Do Soundbar Prices Drop After Release?

On average soundbars drop in price by 14% in the first 6 months after release.

A typical new soundbar costs on average $330. By waiting 6 months before buying you could save on average $47.

Audio Output

'Audio Output' denotes the number of individual channels for the soundbar to use. Specific sounds and parts of the screen are assigned to individual channels, allowing the soundbar to simulate surround sound and create a deeper audio depth.

Amongst new soundbars, the most popular audio output is 2.1 channels. We found 174 soundbars that are 2.1 channels soundbars. 2 channels is the second most frequently found audio output amongst new soundbars. We found 67 soundbars that are 2 channels soundbars.

Bluetooth

Whether the sounder has support for wireless Bluetooth connections or not.

Of the 390 new soundbars currently listed on Kagoo, the vast majority are soundbars which support Bluetooth. 362 soundbars out of 390 are soundbars which support Bluetooth.

Subwoofer Included

Whether the soundbar includes a subwoofer, which is a loudspeaker for low frequencies (bass sounds).

Of the 390 new soundbars currently listed on Kagoo, the vast majority are soundbars with a subwoofer included. 260 soundbars out of 390 are soundbars with a subwoofer included.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Soundbars?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying soundbars. For each retailer it shows the total number of soundbars where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying soundbars. For each retailer we took all of their prices and looked at what proportion of those prices where the cheapest on the market. The cheapest retailer that we found was eBay. 99 of their soundbar prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Soundbars for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for soundbars by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of soundbar prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's soundbar prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers. The cheapest retailer that we found using this approach was eBay. 92.5% of their soundbar prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.