We’ve been putting devices to the test to help you find the best soundbars available in 2021.

By Holly Pyne

Published: Wednesday, 28 July 2021 at 12:00 am

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A soundbar is the best and simplest way to give your TV audio a boost. After all, if you’ve spent money on a nice TV, you want to make sure you’re getting the most from it.

However, with such a broad range of sizes and price points, it can be tricky to know which is the best soundbar to buy. Sound quality, features and design can all vary between brands and models, so you need to know where to spend your money and what functions you can do without.

We’ve spent the last few months reviewing a range of soundbars from the likes of Sonos, Sony, Yamaha and Roku, testing them against these categories to help you decide which soundbar best suits you and your TV.

Here is our hand-picked selection of the best soundbars to suit any budget, room size or TV set-up.

For other tech to upgrade your TV set-up, try our best streaming device guide. And, keep everything tidy with our best HDMI cables and cable management ideas round-ups.

How to choose the best soundbar 

• Sound quality: If you’re looking to buy a soundbar, improving your TV’s audio quality is going to be a priority. From Dolby Atmos to Sony’s Vertical Surround Engine, each brand will have its own technique to refine the TV’s output. This may be accompanied by audio modes found on an app or remote to fine-tune the sound further to increase bass or enhance the sound for speech.
• Design: Soundbars are available in a range of sizes and designs. There are two main design set-ups; an all-in-one soundbar or a soundbar with an accompanying subwoofer. Naturally, the latter will take up more space and tend to be in the mid-range or premium price point. You’ll also want to consider whether you’ll want to mount the soundbar or for it to sit on a TV unit. The colour options are limited, with most available only in black – or with the addition of white, in the case of Sonos.
• Features: Some models will come with additional features with the aim of drawing you away from their competitors. For example, Sonos has its own app featuring Sonos Radio, a streaming service containing curated stations based on genre, decade, artist, or mood. Then, you have the likes of the Roku Streambar, which combines a soundbar with a streaming device to give you access to Netflix, Disney+ and other apps that you can’t usually watch without a smart TV.
• Price: With the price of soundbars varying so considerably, your budget will be an important part of which model you end up with. You don’t have to pay a lot for a soundbar to drastically improve your TV audio, but there are some features, such as surround sound, that do tend to push up the price. Models under £200 are unlikely to come with surround sound or a wireless subwoofer but will often be compact and simple to set up, making them great for rooms with limited space. The premium soundbars are more likely to feature 360-degree sound, Dolby Atmos technology and more sophisticated audio modes. However, this can mean they’re much bigger and require a more extensive setup.

How much money should you spend on a soundbar?

The cost of soundbars varies drastically from anywhere around the £60 mark to upwards of £2,000. This can make it tricky to know how much to spend. You don’t need to spend a small fortune to get decent sound quality and specs. However, there is some truth in the fact that the premium models tend to come with a more extensive range of features and more sophisticated audio processing technology.

We’d also suggest that you consider how much you spent on the TV that you intend to use with the soundbar. If you’re just looking to upgrade the audio of an old TV, a budget soundbar costing under £200 is more than likely going to do the job you need it to. However, if you’ve invested a little more in building the ultimate cinematic experience, you’ll want a soundbar that does it justice. If this is the case, you might want to consider the mid-range or premium models that offer surround sound or come with wireless subwoofers for that extra oomph.

Best soundbars at a glance 

• Best overall soundbar: Sonos Arc
• Best soundbar for Sony TVs: Sony HT-G700
• Best soundbar for TV streaming: Roku Streambar
• Best mid-range soundbar: Yamaha YAS-209
• Best budget soundbar: TCL TS6100
• Best compact soundbar: Yamaha SR-C20A

Best soundbars to buy in 2021

Here is our expert pick of the best soundbars to buy in 2021.

Sonos Arc

Best overall soundbar

Pros:

• Brilliant sound quality
• Good volume range
• Sleek, modern design
• Simple set-up
• Two colour options
• Can be incorporated into a larger multi-speaker system

Cons:

• It’s big – might not fit neatly into all room types

Key features:

• Dolby Atmos
• Voice control via Google Assistant or Alexa
• Built-in IR repeater
• Speech enhancement mode on Sonos app to boost TV dialogue
• Stream music, podcasts and audiobooks from Spotify, Audible, Apple Music and Amazon Music.

Sonos makes brilliant speakers, so there’s no surprise that their premium all-in-one soundbar offering, the Sonos Arc, is equally spectacular. It is the bigger of the two soundbars made by Sonos and features 11 Class-D digital amplifiers, eight elliptical woofers and three silk-dome tweeters. The difference between TV-only audio and the Sonos Arc is immense. We could hear background noise and music on TV shows that we weren’t even aware of before.

Beyond the fantastic sound quality, the soundbar also has a great range of additional features. These include Alexa is built into the soundbar so that it can be controlled with voice commands, a built-in IR repeater and Sonos Radio via the Sonos app. The Sonos Arc also has the added bonus of being available in two colours; white and black. Not the most exciting colour choices but more options than most brands offer.

However, there are a few considerations. First, the Sonos Arc’s size means it is best suited to medium- to large-sized rooms. Second, the price. There are definitely soundbars and TV sound systems that cost a lot more than the Sonos Arc, but £799 is not an insignificant amount to spend. There are cheaper alternatives like the Sonos Beam, but we think you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more stylish soundbar that delivers so many features to such a high standard. If you want to give your TV set-up the ultimate upgrade, there’s no better soundbar to buy than the Sonos Arc.

Read the full Sonos Arc review.

Buy the Sonos Arc at:

• £799 at Sonos
• £799 at Very
• £799 at Currys
• £799 at John Lewis