Compare the Best SoundbarsJune 2019

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

Soundbars range in price from £13 to £1,761 and in total we found prices for 225 soundbars. A new soundbar costs on average £283 and 80% of soundbars are priced between £59 and £595. The cheapest soundbar that we found is the DELL AX510 at only £14, and the most expensive is the NEC SP-PSCM at £1,761.

Soundbar Brands - Price Range

NEC soundbars start at £668 and their most expensive soundbar costs £1,761. The average price of NEC soundbars is £1,053 which is the highest average price of all soundbar brands.

Harman Kardon soundbars range in price from £800 to £850, and the second highest average soundbar price out of all brands is Harman Kardon soundbars with an average price of £825.

The average price of Naim soundbars is £495 which is the third highest average price of all soundbar brands. Naim soundbars range in price from £495 to £495.

Soundbar Brands - Average Ratings

We have checked 1,030 expert reviews and 74 user reviews for soundbars and used this information to evaluate the average rating for each brand of soundbar. The top rated soundbar brand is Samsung with an average rating of 90%. The second best brand is LG with 71% and the third best brand is Panasonic with 65%.

Biggest Soundbar Retailers

The biggest soundbar retailer by number of products currently for sale is eBay. We found 134 current soundbar offers from eBay. The second biggest retailer is Currys with 40 offers. That means eBay is over 3 times bigger than Currys when it comes to soundbars. Crampton and Moore is the third biggest retailer with 37 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 noticeable trend. November was the biggest month in 2018 for new soundbars, with 17 new soundbars released that month. 45 new soundbars were released in May 2017 making it the biggest month that year for new soundbar releases. The biggest month in 2016 for new soundbar releases was March, with 16 new soundbars released that month.

How Fast Do Soundbar Prices Drop After Release?

On average, in the first 6 months after release, soundbars drop in price by 8%. That means that on a typical soundbar costing £283 you could save on average £24 by waiting 6 months before buying.

Audio Output

'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.

We found 158 soundbars that are 2.1 channels soundbars, which makes 2.1 channels the most frequently found audio output amongst new soundbars. The second most frequently found audio output amongst new soundbars is 2 channels. We found 63 soundbars that are 2 channels soundbars.

Bluetooth

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

Of the 361 new soundbars currently listed on Kagoo, the vast majority are soundbars which support Bluetooth. 335 out of 361 are soundbars which support Bluetooth.

Subwoofer Included

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

Of the 361 new soundbars currently listed on Kagoo, the vast majority are soundbars with a subwoofer included. 242 soundbars out of 361 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. 67.2% of their soundbar prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.