Everything You Need to Know About Soundbars

When buying a new TV, the sound may not always be satisfactory. This is why soundbars, small speakers that connect to the TV and allow you to create wireless surround systems, have spread on the market. Say goodbye to tangled cables in the living room and enjoy a great sound experience.

Compared to traditional audio systems, equipped with speakers, amplifier and subwoofer, soundbars are much more compact and practical, and in some cases, they can integrate Alexa or Google to control your home automation system. The sound bars are also much cheaper, but clearly the directional effect they create represents a simulation compared to the effect created by a real home entertainment system: they still represent an excellent compromise between audio quality, practicality and price.

The differences between soundbar and home theater

And it is precisely by knowing how a soundbar works, that the differences with a home theater become particularly evident. While the soundbar is a single physical speaker (in which, let's not forget) there are several speakers, home theater systems use several individual speakers to be placed within the room.

Generally speaking, these are systems that use at least 5 "satellites" (i.e., the left, center, right and surround left and right speakers), together with a subwoofer to be placed in the front of the system. The speakers are two-way, that is, they emit only highs and mids, while the bass is managed entirely by the subwoofer.

Clearly the best soundbar under 15000 will never reach the quality of the best home theater system, both in terms of power and in terms of audio quality, but the convenience of having a single device to connect, eliminate all the cables necessary to position the satellites and, maybe, exploiting the potential of digital assistants in a single speaker, maybe it's worth the compromise,

How to choose the best soundbar?

In choosing the best soundbar, the economic factor is what will likely influence the buying of the device. There are all the prices but, regardless of the cost, the factors to be evaluated are many. It is important to take into consideration the audio quality, the design, the connectivity, the audio technology that is supported and, of course, the power.

Audio quality

Judging the audio quality of a soundbar is very complicated. Also, because, especially as regards the medium / high market segments, we are now talking about devices capable of guaranteeing a sound rendering that until recently was truly unimaginable in such compact devices.

Clearly, however, that of audio quality is one of the factors in which a very subjective evaluation comes into play, based on the specific tastes of each user and, above all, on his needs: the objective audio performance is influenced not only by the quality of the speakers and integrated amplifiers, but also the positioning of the soundbar, the size of the environment in which it will be mounted and the type of use that will be made of it.

Audio technologies

In any case, it is very important to be able to understand which audio technologies are supported by the soundbar you are about to purchase. To obtain a satisfactory sound performance it is very important that, before purchasing, you make sure that the chosen model supports aptX, Dolby Atmos and DTS audio technologies.

Design

Design is clearly the first factor to consider when approaching any soundbar model. Inexpensive soundbars generally consist of a single unit, while others include the ability to use other external speakers and subwoofers.

In fact, there are active soundbars, with integrated subwoofers, or passive soundbars that therefore require power and other external speakers.

Connectivity

Connectivity is probably one of the most important factors to consider. A factor that varies greatly depending on the type of device to which it will be connected. Some soundbars connect via the digital optical cable, others connect to the TV via an HDMI cable that uses ARC technology, while others have multiple analog inputs and even NFC.

It is also very important to consider the presence of Bluetooth, in order to easily connect the smartphone, NFC or Wi-Fi, if you want to use services such as Spotify, Apple Music and the like, without the need to necessarily use the smartphone.

Power

It is an important factor, but very simple to evaluate. Basically, the power of a soundbar depends on the number of speakers it integrates and on the wattage of each of them.

From these values it is possible to understand the maximum volume that each model can reach, but it is very important to consider one important thing: a powerful soundbar is not always necessary, especially in not too large rooms.

Functionality

Assuming that the soundbars are not just hardware, but above all management by the software, it is easy to understand that one of the most important factors (able to guarantee a good audio performance) depends on the hardware management system.

Additionally, some of the best soundbars also integrate Google Assistant or Alexa, are compatible with all music streaming services, and even have the ability to support Apple's AirPlay 2 and Google Cast.

Conclusion

The TV you purchased doesn't have great sound quality? Don't worry: soundbars are devices that serve to have excellent audio quality without having a thousand accessories or having to use cables and wires.