Sound effects in films – bullets, rain, a speeding car, for instance – feel fantastically real, and put most other soundbars to shame. The size and power mean it feels more like a dedicated surround sound system, all squished into one box, and even films you’ve seen countless times - in our case, the Bond movie No Time To Die - are given a new cinematic lease of life. Sennheiser makes some very impressive soundbars, but not everyone has the space for its larger Ambeo Max paired to its subwoofer. That’s why we adore the Ambeo Mini: it’s a fraction of the size when compared to the brand’s full-size models but still gives you punchy sound quality, with a premium build, responsive touch controls and solid, booming bass. This is a soundbar that’s perfect for a main bedroom or a smaller living room. The soundbar itself is compact – just 61cm wide and 6cm tall – and neatly styled, with rounded cabinet edges, a full-length grille on its front fascia, and control buttons on top.
An LED status light denotes volume changes. Raise the level and it expands horizontally, vaguely reminiscent of a Cylon's visor (original series, not the remake...). A slight criticism is the sheer number of volume steps – you can hammer away at
the remote's key for quite a while before reaching the level you want. The soundbar doesn't mind being driven loud, although it's obviously not suited to a large room. Another gripe is that for UK buyers the bar's USB port is service only, but in the US it doubles as a media player (MP3, WAV). If you’ve been swayed by an extra-large TV set, you’ll need a soundbar to match. Few designs are better suited than the 130cm wide HT-A7000. With 11 speakers – two upward-firing speakers for Atmos, two tweeters, five forward-facing drivers and two built-in subwoofers – and 500W of power, it elevates your home movie watching, while also improving how sport sounds, and even gives I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here a welcome upgrade.

There’s also AirPlay 2 from Apple devices, which we’ve used to play the same album from our iPhone over a Roku Streambar in the living room, Apple HomePod Mini in the hallway and Sonos Roam outside – all fully synchronised. Weight and dimensions The Sonos Arc has been scooping up industry awards like they’re going out of fashion. It offers a wonderful combination of usability, features and brilliant sound performance, and if it’s within your budget, this soundbar should be very close to the top of your shopping list. We set it up in under five minutes – plug in the mains power cable, attach the HDMI cable to your TV and follow the steps on the brand’s Smart Control App to pair it to your home’s wifi network. From there, you tailor the sound output to your room using the four built-in microphones and we found the process to be seamless – with the soundbar examining the size and shape of our space and altering the output accordingly.

Please wait.

Thankfully the set-up was impressively easy, and while it isn’t quite as simple as plug-and-play, it isn't far off. The JBL One app has loads of settings you can adjust and it also features room calibration that helps adapt the sound based on the space you’re in. With the Sonos Ray and Arc also on this list, it’s safe to say we’re huge fans of Sonos and its multi-room brilliance. The latest version of the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is also a superb option that we recommend, but if you want “real” Dolby Atmos via upward-firing speakers, this is one of the most affordable ways to get proper cinematic audio. This means you can buy multiple speakers for a surround-sound setup or use the soundbar as a regular speaker and have music playing out into multiple rooms. Sonos speakers are particularly good at this, and if you already have one of their speakers for music, you won’t be disappointed if you add one of their soundbars too. This is measured in wattage. The bigger the wattage number, the more powerful the sound (anything above 250W will be loud enough to wake the neighbours). However, not all brands provide sound output information, as it can easily be confused with sound quality. Dolby Atmos

It’s not a soundbar for everyone. This model is too big and cumbersome for many living rooms and TVs, but once in position, you’ll be transported to your own mini multiplex, as 5.1.4 channels of Dolby Atmos flood the senses with a deep and powerful, but controlled performance.For example, JBL's previous entry-level soundbar – the Bar Studio, reviewed here – offered a choice of five preset EQ modes (Standard, Movie, Music, Voice and Sport), plus user adjustment of bass output, and the option of instigating a virtual surround mode. Its replacement model throws all that away. The result is a supplied handset that's comically uncluttered, with just power, volume, mute and TV/Bluetooth source buttons. There’s a snug but well-lit LED panel on the front, and power/volume buttons on the side in the event that you ever misplace the remote. Measuring 50 cm in length, this sits well on smaller cabinets or, like us, the top of a fireplace, but there are also two pre-built holes for wall mounting if you prefer.

One of the more important features if you care about surround sound, Dolby Atmos is a cinematic audio format that ensures sound bounces around the room to give you a truly cinema-like, immersive experience. There are nine drivers behind the stylish metal grille, and deep bass is taken care of by the separate, powerful, wireless subwoofer. Combined, they create a complete 3.1.2-channel system that slots elegantly into your living room. And if you’ve struggled to find a soundbar to sit beneath your TV, that doesn’t impede your viewing, this could be the one. Unlike the Sonos Beam, the Bose has two upfiring speakers, which really helps make the most of Dolby Atmos movies. The sense of extra scale here is really impressive given the soundbar’s dimensions. Using Bose’s “TrueSpace” tech, it also does a great job with non-Atmos content, helping boost it to all parts of the room. Bose has a long history of being able to swamp a room using relatively tiny speakers, and here’s no exception. It’s loud, detailed and extremely impressive, with dialogue especially present. It comes with one HDMI eARC output so your TV will need to be able to process Dolby Atmos for you to benefit properly. There’s also an optical output, but again, this can’t handle the bandwidth needed for true Dolby Atmos. There’s also wifi, Chromecast, Spotify Connect, Apple AirPlay 2 and voice control via Alexa.

Specs & Downloads

This 2-in-1 device is a soundbar and TV streaming device combined, making it a good option if you’re looking to upgrade a basic home entertainment set-up, or want an inexpensive way to improve a second TV. It isn’t as powerful as a bigger or more expensive soundbar, but it makes dialogue sound clear and provides a good sense of bass. There’s wifi and Bluetooth streaming and Alexa voice control built-in, as well as Apple AirPlay 2, so it is easy to integrate into your existing setup. It also features “SpaceFit” sound, which like TruePlay with Sonos, uses microphones to tune the soundbar to the shape of the room. And if you are connecting to a new Samsung TV, you can take advantage of “Q Symphony”, which synchronises the TV's speakers and the soundbar to create a bigger, more immersive soundstage. Given the stripped-down spec, the Bar 2.0 All-In-One lives or dies on its performance. Thankfully, it proves highly accomplished, and reaps the rewards of an increase in onboard power over its forebear (now a claimed 80W rather than 30W), and, says JBL, improved driver design. If you have other speakers that use the same voice assistant or are from the same brand, you can connect them together through your wifi to play audio at the same time.

There are six speakers here, and while it doesn’t include any upfiring options to help create a greater sense of 3D atmospheric sound, it does enhance audio considerably without sacrificing dialogue for the impact of explosions and action sequences.This Denon soundbar doesn’t have wifi connectivity and you can’t talk to it with a voice assistant, but it does have the latest “virtual” Dolby Atmos compatibility (albeit without upfiring drivers) and creates a big, impressive sound for not very much money. If you’re looking to upgrade your TV audio, this is a great place to start. There are no upfiring speakers here, which is a shame for the high price. Still, it recreates a 7.1.4 theatre system and has two subwoofers inside the fabric-coated body that deliver just enough bass for snug areas, even if it’s not as immersive as some rivals. On test, we played a few of the classics – the lobby shootout from The Matrix, the bank robbery scene from Heat and multiple Star Wars movies – and were very impressed with the soundstage, it’s wider than you expect, and any vocals are clearly heard over the action.