Are Soundbars Worth It? – 7 Key Tips

So, are soundbars worth it? Well, soundbars are touted as an easy method to upgrade your TV’s audio quality. Compared to home theaters, soundbars are cheap, less complex, and takes less space – they’re minimal and sleek.

So, are soundbars worth it? In short, YES, soundbars are worth it. Soundbars have an easy installation process, are stylish, (fewer wires, cords, buttons, & speakers), plus they’re affordable. 

Also, soundbars have better sound quality than built-in TV speakers and are compatible with the latest sound technologies including smart-home devices. 

A soundbar will have 2+ speakers (surround or stereo) in its long cabinet – some soundbars may have a wireless speakers – check these check soundbars. 

Are Soundbars Worth It? – 7 Key Tips 

Quality soundbars are excellent to get high-quality audio from your TV. Despite that most soundbars won’t sound better than separate speakers (for music), they’re superior to built-in TV speakers. 

1. Soundbars is Easy to Setup/ Install and Use

Soundbars will be easy to install or setup – both the soundbar and its other components. It’s easier than setting up the regular sound systems that you have to ensure they fit and work together. 

Further, you won’t have to care and work with the many sound system components. You can easily integrate them with devices and components like your TV – mics for recording acoustic guitar. 

This is thanks to the soundbar’s smart technology – and hence it allows extensive wireless connections. Soundbars have limited input ports to connect to other devices. 

• So, if you’re searching for a high-quality soundbar for your home – try one of these top tech listed best soundbars that are good for your living room, bedroom, and home theater entertainment setup. 

Some soundbars have apps that make it super easy to install and use the Soundbars. Thus, you can easily stream or change the show, and music without using a remote TV controller. 

Also, the apps make the soundbars to be very compatible with your smart-home devices and thus enable hands-free control of your entertainment devices. 

• Simply place the soundbar, connect the TV plus other components. Ensure to do the connections prior to mounting the soundbar permanently – check optical vs digital coaxial. 

2. Soundbars have Superior Sound quality

Initially, soundbars fell short on sound quality – they offered a better alternative to the sound system for the flat-screen TV. Thus, soundbars were just slightly superior to the in-built TV speakers. 

However, soundbars are now deep and better positioned in the home entertainment space and hence have developed to become better sound systems. 

In addition, its now possible to add other fitting components to your soundbars that’ll help create an excellent surround sound in your room either small or large. 

Further, the in-build speakers in your soundbars are of better quality plus have sub-woofers and surround-sound speakers for better entertainment. 

Regardless if you need a 7.1, 5.1, 2.1 or such setup – the soundbars will come a great price. Check the difference between 2.1 vs 5.1 Soundbars. 

3. Soundbars have Minimalist and Sleek Design

To match your chic modern decor, soundbars have a minimalist and stylish design that you’ll love. Further, with their wireless subwoofer, you’ll have even fewer wires that will be crossing around your spaces and rooms.

Therefore, the soundbar design will match your TV’s slim aesthetic – which also providing quality audio that’ll go well with the excellent TV visuals for watching different films and TV shows with a great experience.

The soundbar will sit flush with your cinema set-up or against the wall  – which is great for little spaces or small homes – thanks to their minimal and sleek design which is pleasing both to the ear and to your eyes. You can wall-mount the soundbar on the side, above, or in front of the TV screen.

Your traditional surround audio systems have bulky ugly looking components despite giving excellent sound quality. But we hate the disorganization, including the large wiring and equipment particularly if these ones aren’t in your main living area.

Therefore, with a good-quality soundbar, you can get great sound while also keeping your rooms and spaces tidy and neat – call it compact and stylish.

For example, the system acts like the receiver while also holding all your front speakers – that’s a minus 3 of the large components in your traditional surround audio systems. Notably, wireless connectivity allows you to place the surrounds and sub(s) at your selected location without needing wires. 

4. Soundbars are Compatible with Latest Technology

By design, most soundbars will seamlessly integrate with your favorite smart-home devices that have the latest technology including the smart TV, Amazon Alexa, Dolby Atmos, or even 4K TV. 

The latest soundbars allow wireless audio streaming through Bluetooth plus they’ll have convenient inputs like Coaxial and Optical, regular HDMI, and HDMI ARC – check differences in soundbar’s HDMI vs optical inputs. 

Therefore, both on cost and convince, getting a soundbar that’ll readily integrate and work with current and most future technology is an excellent feature – check these cameras for music videos. 

1. For example, the soundbar will allow whole-home blue-tooth and audio connectivity by blue-tooth streaming from the computer, tablet, or smartphone to your TV and thus you can easily listen to music or Spotify on higher-quality speakers. 

2. Further, you can get smart soundbar models such as Roku and JBL that have smart software like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Roku OS. Thus, you can easily give your old TVs a new life without – automation plus streaming – with no need for additional cables or set-top streaming boxes. 

3. Also, soundbars will have Dolby and channel Atmos – shown with numbers like 5.1.4 where the number (5) represents # of channels, number (1) states if there’s a sub-woofer (maybe even a wireless satellite speakers) and the last number (4) denotes support for DTS:X / Dolby Atmos Surround that’ll support many objects. 

• What’s the best soundbar under 200 – Well, I recommend this compact and lightweight Vizio SB3621n-E8 to give you excellent quality from your TV at a budget. It has a wireless sub-woofer plus allows blue-tooth connectivity.
• What’s the best soundbar with Alexa – Well, I recommend this Yamaha YAS-209 that has an on-board Amazon Alexa to give you great connectivity and great sound quality.

5. Soundbars are Cost-effective (between $100 & $1,000) 

Most soundbars will cost anywhere between $200 & $600 but maybe lows of $100 or highs of $1000. Therefore, these are highly affordable compared to your regular surround audio system. 

Components of your regular surround audio system are costly when purchased separately. Compared to the soundbar package or a soundbar, even a package sound system deal will be more expensive. 

But, are cheap soundbars any good? There are many top-selling soundbars, its possible to find quality soundbars that are affordable. Thus, no risk of trading on sound quality to the reduced price. 

Therefore, you’ll find low-priced soundbars with impressive sound quality that’ll readily replace your traditional audio system package – so check these affordable and quality soundbars. 

But which soundbar size should you choose? Well, soundbars will come in varied sizes and shapes. Evidently, large-sized soundbars could have more drivers and thus a bugger sound but most of the time this will only give you the longer box. 

Most of the new soundbars will cost anywhere from $200 and will come with a number of HDMI inputs that will be helpful for connecting AV devices to your soundbar directly as opposed to taking them through the TV. 

However, to future-proof your soundbar, check that it has 3+ inputs and ensure they’re passing both HRD and 4K signals – particularly for the 4K TV. You can stream music and other audio for the tablet or audio including from music apps like Spotify or Pandora. 

Do I need an in-built Google Assistant or Alexa?

Currently soundbars comes with voice-assistants that’re in-built made by  Sonos Beam, Google or Amazon. Don’t have to purchase soundbar plus a Nest Mini separately – stylish and saving space. 

The voice-assistant speaker like the Polk Command Bar or the Echo Dot will require that you have the “always on” microphone – you can control the soundbar functions including turning off lights. 

The voice -assistant feature just sit around like a web browser that’ll wait for anyone to say “wake” and it’ll respond juts like a web search – check these best earbuds under $50. 

Also, the app can also allow you to read back that it records – for check on privacy issues. But if such automation are too much for you, simply get a soundbar without the google voice-assistant. 

Further, you should know that Amazon Echo Link allows a user to install Alexa capability on all soundbars that have analog input – but also check the input to hear music and responses. 

Do I need Dolby Atmos or Surround sound?  

Previously, 2-channel soundbars sounded alike with stereo or surround modes but wall-bouncing & Dolby Virtual:X like Sennheiser Ambeo & Samsung HW-Q70R enhance immersion. 

However, you may add extra surrounds (e.g. Ikea Synfonisks) on your soundbar like Sonos Playbar to get you better surround and extensive immersion for movies. 

Luckily, you can include surround speakers to most mid-range soundbars for brands such as Samsung, LG, and Polk using Wi-Fi to link to stand-alone wireless speakers. 

Therefore, there has been a major rise in the Atmos soundbars that has led to a significant drop in the prices. Different streaming services like Netflix  provide Atmos soundtracks for TV and movies.

Conclusion 

After connecting the TV, check if the audio signals are sending correctly to your soundbar through TV audio by turning off the internal speakers of your TV. 

You can check other connections like mini-jack – 1/8-inch (3.5mm) on your basic soundbar to connect audio sources like music or record players. – check how to convert your RCA to the 3.5 mm cable.