Compare the Best SoundbarsApril 2018

Soundbar Buying Guide

A soundbar is a type of speaker designed to plug into a television and serve as a sound system for the device. Most soundbars are more powerful and better configured than the speakers built into TV sets, so a soundbar is a good way of improving the audio quality of your TV setup.

Soundbars are usually designed as long rectangles that can be placed directly under your TV screen, though some designers have experimented with other designs - including larger box-shaped designed that can double as a stand for the whole TV. These alternate designs are few and far between however - most are a simple rectangle, making them unobtrusive and easy to fit alongside your current TV setup.

It’s worth noting that a soundbar may be a necessity for more modern televisions - ultra-thin OLED TVs are so thin that they cannot fit any speakers into the unit, so have to rely on an external soundbar for all audio.

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!

Simulated Surround Sound

Traditionally surround sound works by having multiple speakers (usually 5-7) arranged in such a way as to give the audio a sense of depth and 3 dimensions in order to increase immersion when watching films or playing video games.

Since soundbars only have a single speaker, they are not capable of true surround sound - however some newer soundbars have a method of simulating surround sound. They do this using a trick called ‘binaural audio’, which carefully directs sound to the left or right channels in order to simulate a 3D effect without extra speakers. You can hear an example of binaural audio here - Virtual Barber Shop

Generally only the higher-end soundbars have the is capability, but if you can afford the expenditure, you will gain a far more immersive audio quality from your movies and video games.

Soundbar Prices

The price range of soundbars is from £11 to £1,181 and in total we found prices for 148 soundbars. A new soundbar costs on average £270 and 80% of soundbars are priced between £65 and £500. The most expensive soundbar that we found is the Medion LIFE E64058 at £1,181, and the cheapest is the DELL AX510 at only £12.

Soundbar Brands - Price Range

The average price of Medion soundbars is £655 which is the highest average price of all soundbar brands. Medion soundbars range in price from £130 to £1,181.

The average price of Sonos soundbars is £569 which is the second highest average price of all soundbar brands. Sonos soundbars start at £569 and their most expensive soundbar costs £569.

Bose soundbars range in price from £424 to £575, and the average price of Bose soundbars is £499 which is the third highest average price of all soundbar brands.

Soundbar Brands - Average Ratings

We have analysed 545 expert reviews and 1 user reviews for soundbars from across the internet and used this information to calculate the average rating for each brand of soundbar.

Biggest Soundbar Retailers

The biggest soundbar retailer by number of products currently for sale is Amazon UK. We found 122 current soundbar offers from Amazon UK. The second biggest retailer is eBay with 100 offers. That means Amazon UK is significantly bigger than eBay when it comes to soundbars. Currys is the third biggest retailer with 43 current offers.

When Are Most New Soundbars Released?

We looked at the release dates for new soundbars over the last 3 years, but couldn't see any prominent trend. March was the biggest month in 2017 for new soundbars, with 20 new soundbars released that month. In March 2016 22 new soundbars were released making it the biggest month that year as well for new soundbar releases. Also the biggest month in 2015 for new soundbar releases was March, with 37 new soundbars released that month.

How Fast Do Soundbar Prices Drop After Release?

New soundbars drop in price by an average of 5% in the first 6 months after they wer first released. That means a saving of £13 on a typical £270 new soundbar if you wait 6 months before buying.

Audio Output

This 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.

2.1 channels is the most popular audio output amongst new soundbars. We found 68 soundbars that are 2.1 channels soundbars. We found 22 soundbars that are 2 channels soundbars, making this the second most frequently found audio output amongst new soundbars.

Powers

This denotes how powerful the soundbar is, measures in watts.

Across the range of soundbars, the powers range from 2W to 510W. The powers of the majority of soundbars range from 2W to 53W. The JBLBar 5.1 has the biggest power. This soundbar is a 510W soundbar and currently retails for £649.99. The soundbar with the smallest power is the JBLBar 5.1, which is a 2W soundbar and sells for £44.17.

Connection

Amongst new soundbars, the most common connection is Wired. We found 314 soundbars that are Wired soundbars. We found 314 soundbars that are Wireless soundbars, making this the second most common connection amongst new soundbars.

Bluetooth

This denotes whether the sounder has support for wireless Bluetooth connections or not.

The vast majority of the 200 new soundbars currently listed on Kagoo are soundbars which support Bluetooth. 174 out of 200 soundbars are soundbars which support Bluetooth.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Soundbars?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying . For each retailer it shows the total number of 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 Amazon UK. 58 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 by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers. The cheapest retailer that we found using this approach was Amazon UK. 47.5% of their soundbar prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.