Compare the Best SoundbarsJanuary 2021

Soundbar Buying Guide

Subwoofer

While most soundbars comprise of just the bar itself, others come packaged with a separate subwoofer unit. This is a loudspeaker designed specifically for bass frequencies, meaning it will augment the standard soundbar and provide substantially more powerful bass notes. This boosts the overall sound quality of the TV, and is especially good if you watch a lot of action-heavy blockbusters, since the explosions and gunshots will have a lot more presence.

Wireless Streaming

The majority of soundbars are designed to be plugged in directly to the TV, rather than using a wireless connection. This is minimise any delay in the audio - wireless connections can generate a very slight delay while the data is sent from the TV to the soundbar, meaning that the video and audio signals the TV could drop out of sync. Wired connections have no such delay, meaning the video and audio will always be perfectly in sync.

Many soundbars do have wireless capabilities, but they are instead used for streaming audio from your phone/tablet/etc. Because there is no video signal, the small delay doesn’t really matter. This means that as well as TV audio, soundbars can also be used for music on demand, making them great for parties or just relaxing with your favourite music!

Soundbar Prices

We currently list 209 soundbars ranging from £17 to £1,299. A new soundbar costs on average £312 and 80% of soundbars are priced between £69 and £656. The Samsung HWQ950T is the most expensive soundbar that we found at £1,299, and the DELL AX510 is the cheapest at only £18.

Soundbar Brands - Price Range

Bang & Olufsen soundbars start at £1,250 and their most expensive soundbar costs £1,250. The highest average soundbar price out of all brands is Bang & Olufsen soundbars with an average price of £1,250.

The average price of M&K soundbars is £1,000 which is the second highest average price of all soundbar brands. M&K soundbars range in price from £1,000 to £1,000.

Naim soundbars start at £749 and their most expensive soundbar costs £749. The third highest average soundbar price out of all brands is Naim soundbars with an average price of £749.

Soundbar Brands - Average Ratings

We have checked 1,332 expert reviews and 2,705 user reviews for soundbars and used this data to calculate the average rating for each brand of soundbar. The top three soundbar brands are Samsung, LG and Yamaha. Samsung has an average rating of 86%, LG has an average rating of 81% and Yamaha has an average rating of 71%.

Biggest Soundbar Retailers

The biggest soundbar retailer by number of products currently for sale is eBay. We found 126 current soundbar offers from eBay. The second biggest retailer is Amazon UK with 107 offers. That means eBay is slightly bigger than Amazon UK when it comes to soundbars. Quzo is the third biggest retailer with 78 current offers.

When Are Most New Soundbars Released?

Most new soundbars tend to be released between March and May. For the latest soundbar technology you may be best waiting until March 2021. Alternatively you might be able to buy one of the current soundbars cheaper in March once the latest models have been released. Last year most new soundbars were released in May, with 10 new soundbars released that month. The biggest month in 2019 for new soundbar releases was March, with nine new soundbars released that month. In November 2018, 22 new soundbars were released making it the biggest month that year for new soundbar releases.

How Fast Do Soundbar Prices Drop After Release?

In the first 6 months after release, soundbars drop in price by 15% on average.

That means that on a typical soundbar costing £312 you could save on average £47 by waiting 6 months before buying.

Audio Channels

'Audio Output' denotes the number of individual channels for the soundbar to use. Specific sounds and parts of the screen are assigned to individual channels, allowing the soundbar to simulate surround sound and create a deeper audio depth.

Amongst new soundbars, the most common audio channels is 2.1 channels. We found 206 soundbars that are 2.1 channels soundbars. We found 75 soundbars that are 2 channels soundbars, making this the second most common audio channels amongst new soundbars.

Bluetooth

Whether the sounder has support for wireless Bluetooth connections or not.

Of the 454 new soundbars currently listed on Kagoo, the vast majority are soundbars which support Bluetooth. 93% of soundbars are soundbars which support Bluetooth.

Subwoofer Included

Whether the soundbar includes a subwoofer, which is a loudspeaker for low frequencies (bass sounds).

The vast majority of the 454 new soundbars currently listed on Kagoo are soundbars with a subwoofer included. 307 soundbars out of 454 are soundbars with a subwoofer included.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Soundbars?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying soundbars. For each retailer it shows the total number of soundbars where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying soundbars. For each retailer we took all of their prices and looked at what proportion of those prices where the cheapest on the market. The cheapest retailer that we found was eBay. 90 of their soundbar prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Soundbars for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for soundbars by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of soundbar prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's soundbar prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers. The cheapest retailer that we found using this approach was eBay. 71.4% of their soundbar prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.