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 click on the link in the description to read our full written
comparison where we'll dive much deeper into all
the soundbars and the benefits of each one
now 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 if you have any questions
regarding which one might be the best for your room feel
free to reach out to us over the phone chat with us on audioadvice.com or stop
into one of our raleigh or charlotte north carolina showrooms
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