Compare the Best SoundbarsSeptember 2019

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

In total we found 121 soundbars ranging from $13 to $3,396. On average, a new soundbar costs $359 and 80% of soundbars are priced between $58 and $720. The DELL AX510 is the cheapest soundbar at only $14, and Samsung HW-MS650 is the most expensive at $3,396.

Soundbar Brands - Price Range

Naim soundbars start at $879 and their most expensive soundbar costs $879. The highest average soundbar price out of all brands is Naim soundbars with an average price of $879.

Harman Kardon soundbars range in price from $475 to $1,000, and the second highest average soundbar price out of all brands is Harman Kardon soundbars with an average price of $685.

Samsung soundbars range in price from $100 to $3,396, and the average price of Samsung soundbars is $668 which is the third highest average price of all soundbar brands.

Soundbar Brands - Average Ratings

We have checked 1,052 expert reviews and 187 user reviews for soundbars and used this information to determine the average rating for each brand of soundbar. The top three soundbar brands are LG, Yamaha and Panasonic. LG has an average rating of 71%, Yamaha has an average rating of 71% and Panasonic has an average rating of 66%.

Biggest Soundbar Retailers

The biggest soundbar retailer by number of products currently for sale is eBay. We found 113 current soundbar offers from eBay. The second biggest retailer is Walmart with 38 offers. That means eBay is more than twice as big as Walmart when it comes to soundbars. Adorama is the third biggest retailer with 24 current offers.

When Are Most New Soundbars Released?

We looked at the release dates for new soundbars over the last 3 years, but couldn't see any obvious trend. The biggest month last year for new soundbar releases was November, with 17 new soundbars released that month. In May 2017, 43 new soundbars were released making it the biggest month that year for new soundbar releases. March was the biggest month in 2016 for new soundbars, with 16 new soundbars released that month.

How Fast Do Soundbar Prices Drop After Release?

In the first 6 months after release, soundbars drop in price by 14% on average.

That means that on a typical soundbar costing $359 you could save on average $51 by waiting 6 months before buying.

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.

We found 165 soundbars that are 2.1 channels soundbars, which makes this the most frequently found audio output amongst new soundbars. 2 channels is the second most popular audio output amongst new soundbars. We found 65 soundbars that are 2 channels soundbars.

Bluetooth

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

The vast majority of the 372 new soundbars currently listed on Kagoo are soundbars which support Bluetooth. 347 soundbars (93%) are soundbars which support Bluetooth.

Subwoofer Included

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

The vast majority of the 372 new soundbars currently listed on Kagoo are soundbars with a subwoofer included. 67% of soundbars 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. 108 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. 95.6% of their soundbar prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.