JBL - Bar 1300

Samsung, the JBL is more bass heavy out of the box. But the overall tone and soundstage the Samsung provides is clearer and more full. Just adjust the settings to your liking and the Samsung takes the cake.

I demoed both jbl and sony. I choose jbl over sony. Sony made my head ache and felt very claustrophobic in sound idk how else to explain, it wasn't the most pleasent sound i have heard in a while even my old DAV hme theatre was more pleasing to me. As for jbl it might lack vocal clarity and surround volume, i am optimistic for the Mark 2 to fix all that and provide an even more movie theatre experience

But With 1200w power? It might be a huge upgrade if you love bass. I will get a home demo done before i make any decisions if i were you. As for clarity i found 1300 enough in my home demo, samsung on the other hands lacks punch and was very shrill

I demoed three soundbars today, attaching indian prices: JBL 1300 - 1200 usd Samsung Q990F - 1000 usd LG S90TR (closest demo available, but I’d be buying the S95TR or AR) - 700 usd My impressions: JBL 1300 → Amazing bass, punchy and cinematic, literally vibrates the space. Feels like a movie theatre. Vocals are a bit muddy at higher bass levels, but lowering the bass to 2–3 makes it more balanced and listenable. Max is just too much for dialogue. Samsung Q990F → Clearest, most vocal-driven sound with great separation and detail. Fantastic for music. But… bass was underwhelming, even when maxed out. Felt like it lacked low-end impact compared to the others. LG (S90TR) → Feels right in the middle — Cinema mode sounded excellent with good layering, more punch than Samsung, less overwhelming than JBL. Immersive, but vocals weren’t as clear as Samsung and it cracked a bit at times. For music, Samsung was the best. For bass-heavy content, LG and JBL win. Worth noting — this was in a huge, loud store, so not a real-world home listening scenario. Only JBL is offering me a free home demo, so I’ll try that first to see if it’s clear enough for news/vocals for my family. If not, I might end up with the Samsung for clarity’s sake. My question to you: If you own any of these — are you happy with the bass on the Q990F? Do you feel LG or JBL strikes the best balance for movies and clear dialogue in a living room?

Yeah the surrounds for JBL were a weak spot and so is the vocal clarity at times. And for samsung the bass is very poorly done. Samsung was also very sharp and hurt my ears sometimes. I would pick jbl because i only watch tv for movies while my dad uses it for news and he doesn't care which soundbar we buy. Waiting for MK2 to finally upgrade from a dying DAV

I have the JBL Bar 1300, a great deal, but nowhere near the depth on the sonos sub and arc my dad have. I still think it’s waaay to much to spend for watching movies, where Samsung and JBL is better for cinema for half the price. And sonos is the best for music and only great for cinema experience. And with Mette Frederiksen messing up everyones economy here in Denmark🇩🇰🥲🤣 I would personally go with the smaller Samsung model tbh - unless you have a REALLY big living room and you need the extra watts. Think about how much you actually need to play on max volume…

No, the 1300s only gimmick is the detachable speakers, but they're mediocre at best. The bass and music performance is great (probably better than the 990F), but it is definitely not $400 better. Especially considering everything else that the 990F does better. You'll be more than satisfied with the bass reproduction on the Samsung. Turn sub up to +2/3, and you'll be happy. Then, there's bass boost and an EQ as well to tune it even further to your liking.

I own jbl bar1300 currently, with base you will not regret and very good with music, but movies not so good,surround sound immersion is abit lucking.

Jbl's 10" subwoofer which is on bar1000 have never been disappointment, think the problem is with soundbar's tunning for movies to be like samsung q990F, currently rocking jbl bar1300

Surround sound and immersion for jbl bar1300 for movies isn't good, owned jbl bar 9.1 enjoyed everything i watched, movies used to feel in centre of what was being played on tv.

I thought so, and upgraded but totally disappointed wish had remained with 9.1,if you've tested bar 9.1 's sweetness don't go to bar1300 it sounds totally different, no immersion even on rtings.com 9.1 scores more than bar1300.

Have jbl bar1300, hates it every day, surround sound immersion and effects is too bad .owned jbl bar 9.1 was way too good. Samsung q990F think it's better.

Have the original bar1300 hate it everyday worst heights rear speakers are dumb no immersion at all ,the only good is subwoofer but the bar and rears sounds worst

You own jbl bar1300 mk2? ,if yes ,apart from the bass,how is the soundbar and rear surrounds performance as in immersion and height effects with non-atmos movies. Am concerned be'se I own bar1300 mk1 which is under whelming, surround sound performance is way too bad compared to 9.1 which I had before, sorry but I don't want to fall in same hole.

Hey bro. Don’t listen to him. He just another delulu hater. Sonos absolutely will not crash and jbl 1300 center are fine.

I use a similar soundbar although it's the jbl bar 1300. What's your audio output set to when gaming? Is it linear pcm or dolby audio/atmos? I've set mine to dolby audio and can hear surround sound but I'm wondering if the other options utilize my channels better

I use a similar soundbar although it's the jbl bar 1300. What's your audio output set to when gaming? Is it linear pcm or dolby audio/atmos? I've set mine to dolby audio and can hear surround sound but I'm wondering if the other options utilize my channels better

I have a not expensive JBL Bar 300 and love it. However you should avoid their bar 1300 which jas an issue with the center voice.

Indeed JBL is a good option. We have 2 at home and are very happy with it. Incredibly better than our previous Sonos setup we got rid off because of the app issues which are still not solved despite what influencers are telling everywhere. Be aware that the JBL Bar 1300 (the first one not the Mark II) has a center channel issue, making the voices not very clear. This model seems to be avoided. That’s whe we got the Bar 1000 instead.

We are very happy with the 1000 in the living room, it sounds so good we use it for music too. We can even listen to our CD collection using our BR 4k deck. For movies it’s perfect. Voices are really better than with our old Sonos Arc. At first we wanted to get the Bar 1300 but it has issues with the speaker layout and so the center voice is not so good. The 1000 is more than enough for us anyway.

We replaced our stereo Marantz amp years ago by a soundbar. It was a Sonos and we were amazed by its sound. It was so much better. And then 3 years after we ditched everything Sonos in the house because of the software issues and we were amazed again by our JBL soundbars. Sound was again incredibly better. Don’t listen to people saying soundbars are not for music. That was maybe true 10 years ago. It’s the same stupid language that saying vinyl is better than CD and that film photography is better than digital. I would recommend JBL bars. Have the Bar 300 and Bar 1000. Avoid the Bar 1300 first model which has a design issue with the center voice. Bar 1300 MK2 seems tonuave solved this issue. At all cost avoid Sonos. They spend more money influencing social networks than actually fixing their software mess. And it doesn’t sound as good as advertised.

When I had the previous version, yes. Atmos effects were very pronounced

I have Ambeo Plus with Ambeo sub. Ambeo soundbar is great, the fact that you can also adjust central speaker is amazing for example for watching youtube. It replaced my floor standing speakers, was that good. Just do not expect any surround sound of it. Front sound stage is really good. Sub is a different story, its ok, theres plenty of bass after adjusting in app, but its not going low enough. Fortunately Ambeo Plus has sub out at the back, so I had connected my old KEF sub and the whole system sounded really good. Great fronts with deep bass. You can even buy wireless transmitter and receiver and place your sub wherever you want. As i wanted more surround for movie night, I've bought JBL BAR 1300 on really good promo. Bar itself sounds very comparable to Ambeo, might be even a bit brighter, detachable rears are very good. Practicality is great. The sub from JBL is definitely going lower than Ambeo, but its still not I would consider low enough. And the centre speaker is not as good as Ambeo, cant adjust it in app, so sometimes its annoying to watch yt content. I haven't listened to Samsung or Sonos, but Samsung sub is apparently weaker than Jbl. Sonos might be in the same league. I would forget about LG. From what I know now after testing Ambeo and Jbl, as a new customer I would buy Ambeo for everyday music listening, watching content on tv or yt. I wouldn't buy ambeo sub, I would grab a proper sub from SVS or KEF and use that with bar.