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Tag: soundbars

  • 15 Best Soundbars for Every Budget (2024): Vizio, Sonos, Samsung, Yamaha, Sony

    15 Best Soundbars for Every Budget (2024): Vizio, Sonos, Samsung, Yamaha, Sony

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    There are a lot of great soundbars out there, and we don’t have room to feature them all. Here are some others you might want to consider.

    Vizio Elevate M-Series for $600: If you want full-featured Dolby Atmos and you like a bit of flair, Vizio’s second Elevate bar is worth considering. Drivers pop out of the side and aim toward your ceiling when Atmos content is playing, giving it a nifty party trick to show your pals. Sound quality is solid too, and we like the compact design and easy setup. However, you will have to route some speaker cables for the rear surrounds.

    The Yamaha SR-C30A for $200: This model SR-C30A soundbar looks very similar indeed to the SR-C20A, and that’s because they’re the same thing where dimensions, specification, and sound quality are all concerned. The difference is that the SR-C30A ships with a compact (335 x 160 x 364 mm) wireless subwoofer for some authentic Hollywood-style rumble and punch. —Simon Lucas

    Sennheiser Ambeo Plus for $1,000: Given the price and the physical dimensions of the soundbar—which doesn’t even include a subwoofer—the Ambeo Plus might look like a poor deal. But thanks to its 400 watts of power and its nine carefully developed and even more carefully positioned speaker drivers, this Sennheiser is capable of big, enveloping sound with a strong suggestion of the sonic height that Dolby Atmos soundtracks thrive on. By way of an encore, it turns out to be a hugely capable wireless speaker when you want to listen to some music, too. —Simon Lucas

    The Polk React for $236: This soundbar works if you want to get surround sound eventually but don’t have the cash right now. The Alexa-enabled soundbar is fine on its own, with surround speakers and subwoofers available from Polk if you want to upgrade.

    The Vizio Elevate P-Series for $799: This is an awesome-looking soundbar with side speakers that swivel skyward when you’re watching content with object-based audio. It’s a nice-sounding bar, and that gimmick is neat, but there are better options for under $1,000.

    Roku Smart Soundbar for $129: If you’re after a soundbar that also doubles as an awesome streaming device, WIRED senior writer Adrienne So swears by the Roku smart soundbar. After she spent years without one, I sent her home with this Roku model, and she was so impressed that she shouted it from the rooftops. Setup is extremely easy, and because it comes with Roku’s simple streaming interface (and support for surround sound, as well as 4K and High Dynamic Range video), you can stream movies and shows from just about every streaming service. You can also add a Roku subwoofer or surround-sound speakers down the line. We encourage getting a sub. We’ve linked to Roku’s Walmart version, named “Onn,” because it looks like the original model is being discontinued. It’s cheaper and slightly weaker but still a lot nicer than standard TV speakers, and it comes with the built-in Roku streaming interface.

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  • TCL Q6310 Soundbar Review: Solid Sound, Uninspiring

    TCL Q6310 Soundbar Review: Solid Sound, Uninspiring

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    Swapping between the bar’s multiple inputs is slightly more intuitive, with a different LED color assigned to each input: HDMI ARC glows magenta, optical is yellow, the analog input is green, and the USB input is cyan. This color coding has become more common in A/V gear of late, usually seen in active/powered bookshelf speakers like the KEF LSX II where space is at a premium. In the Q6310’s case, the bar’s center-channel speaker likely takes up the real estate a traditional digital display might inhabit.

    Another likely reason TCL punts on the visual display is that, as a Roku TV Ready soundbar, the Q6310 is designed to allow you to control and adjust some settings directly from a Roku-powered smart TV. That functionality stems from a long partnership between the two brands, with Roku taking the reins as the smart interface in many TCL TVs (though TCL now seems to favor Google TV for its more premium models).

    TCL Q6310 soundbar remote

    Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    If you don’t have a Roku-powered TV, TCL’s app makes controlling the bar’s sound modes, volume, and other settings much easier via an iPhone or Android device. Other app settings include a Night Mode to keep the dynamics in check when the family’s asleep, a Dialogue Enhance feature, and virtual surround sound control.

    There’s also a calibration feature, AI Sonic, which uses your phone’s microphone to adjust the sound to your room, à la Sonos. That’s an impressive inclusion at this price, but the setup experience is quite loud and I couldn’t hear much of a difference once finished.

    Aluminum Punch

    TCL Q6310 Soundbar

    Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    My first thought when I started evaluating the Q6310 was that it doesn’t sound much better than a lot of high-end TVs I’ve auditioned this year. The sound is clear and forward, especially for dialogue, but there’s a brittle, metallic quality to the midrange and treble registers that can feel as thin as the soundbar looks. To be fair, a lot of pricier TVs these days are outfitted with multiple speakers like soundbars are, so comparing the two isn’t as big of a diss as it once was.

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