JBL - Bar 300MK2

i just bought the jbl bar 300 mk2 for 400, its good 🤷🏽 can also cast music from my phone, so thats cool. its just an all in one bar with no sub or anything. also am not an audio man and never had a soundbar before. i mostly just watch streaming apps from my tv which mostly dont support dolby or any higher audio files. but im happy with it, it sounds pretty nice. (im sure others here will disagree lol)

music sounds good on it, has a suprisingly nice bass that you can increase or decrease, and the couple movies i watched on it so far had nice surround sound especially for just a sound bar that sits under the tv

For a bedroom, you don’t really need a sub. But you can always add the Sonos sub after. For that price range, I think the Beam is still the best sounding to me. I sold mine and downgrade to the JBL Bar 300 Mk2, and it’s been pretty decent so far (I just needed the extra HDMI port, which the Beam does not have). The Beam sounds a little better and definitely clearer. And damn, I actually miss having Amazon Alexa integrated into the soundbar

JBL 300 MK2 is a beast and I recommend it I personally hate quiet dialogue and loud noises, same problem with kids sleeping etc. The above has great dialogue isolation and boosting, but only if the sound is mixed in 5.1 or better. If you're watching content that's mixed in Stero sound, you'll need to turn on tv PCM mode and also any kind of Night Mode/dynamic sound suppression options on whatever you're watching it on. Once I did that, I don't get loud noises anymore. And it's quick to turn these settings off when I get 5.1 or better mixed content.

I have the Bar 300 and love it. Of course there is no sub so you don't get those overwhelming basses many people like ... And I hate. You have just regular basses, which won't shake your walls, fortunately. The sound projection is very good and can simulate rears, depending on your room configuration. It's Airplay and Chromecast compatible and very good for music too.

Got it for 250€ on sales some monthes ago in France.

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.

Avoid Sonos at al cost, they have had hugebissues during more than one year and are still struggling. Not sure the company will see 2027. I love my JBL bar 300, got it for 250€

For my gaming room I have a Bar 300. No rears and no sub. Sound is very good and no overwhelming basses. But enough basses for enjoying any movie. And music wise it’s very good too. It’s bluetooth and wifi and Chromecast and Airplay. We use it quite a lot for music.

I often recommend JBL bar 300 here. I got it for 250€. Amazing sound, mucj better than the Sonos Beam it replaced.

No, Sonos still has issues with its software since more than 1 year. And sound quality wise it’s quite disappointing. A JBL Bar 300 is much better and reliable, for example.

I have no experience with Samsung bars sorry, my first bars were Sonos and we ditched everything because of the app issues and got JBL. Just check it’s open with several HDMI, not just one and it accept every format like atmos and DTS. Having AirPlay and Chromecast audio can be usefull, that’s why we chose JBL. We didn’t want to go from the closed Sonos ecosystem to anything closed again.

Choosing Sonos is unfortunately looking for problems as the app issues are stil not resolved. Now, their current line has hardware issues too with the paint flaking from the grid. It is the most closed soundbar too : - Only one HDMI - No remote - No display - No chromecast audio - No DTS X - No DTS HD - No DTS Master Audio And sound quality ? Ho for sure you will see many people praising Sonos sound quality. But curiously when we ditched our full Sonos setup and replaced it with a JBL Bar 300 for the gaming room and a Bar 1000 for the living room we discovered how detailed and clear sound can be on a good soundbar. Now, Sonos sound is muddy and lacks detail in comparison.

My JBL Bar 300 and my Bar 1000 are very decent for music.

I got my JBL Bar 300 for 250€ and am incredibly happy with it. It’s much better than the Sonos Beam it replaced. Sound is so good you can actually use it for music too. There is no sub so it will not make these annoying and ovewhelming bass vibrations some people seem to enjoy.

Sonos sound is overhyped. It’s flat and lacks details. Of course on a quite cheap soundbar you cannot expect amazing sound quality. But my cheap JBL bar 300 sounds incredibly better than the Sonos Beam Inhad before.

Be aware that Sonos still have software issues. The shitstorm which happened more than 1 year ago has left marks. Things are still slow and unstable. Firing their CEO and some other people didn’t change anything. They have a hardware issue too on their current line of speakers : the paint is flaking form the grids. We had a complete Sonos setup in every room of our house and ditched it for other brands when the app debacle happened. We genuinely believed Sonos had the best sound. When I bought the JBL Bar 300 first to replace the Sonos Beam we had in the gaming room we felt frankly stupid. The JBL has a much better sound. So we got a JBL Bar 1000 to replace our Arc in the living room. Same thing, sound is much more detailed and precise. The only thing Sonos does better than others is pay influencers to make real users believe his brand is the best. It is not and far from it.

As I often say here, you are probably not aware Sonos is in trouble since more than 1 year. They have huge software issues and their app is not reliable since they moved their software to a cloud based platform. It has been so bad they finally fired their CEO and some other executives. Alas things are still not working properly. I ended up selling all my Sonos gear and replaced my Beam and my Arc + ones with a simple JBL Bar 300 and a Bar 1000. Sound is incredibly better on the JBL. Actually, despite the influencing action Sonos has on social networks, people begin to understand that the famous Sonos sound quality is not for real. Their speakers lack clarity and detail. My JBL bars are much more open and versatile too. Sonos has only one HDMI, no remote, no display. Now thinking about the money I spent in Sonos I certainly was stupid enough to get influenced by Sonos marketing.

Ikea has terminated its partnership with Sonos after the app shitstorm. They still sell stocks that’s all. I replaced the Beam 1 with the JBL Bar 300. It’s night and day. Sound is a lot more detailed, voices clarity is better, sound projection is better too as it really makes a sound bubble. There are 2 HDMI so you don’t loose one on your TV. More formats, a display and a remote. It does have autocalibration and you don’t need an iphone to do that, just use the remote.

You should probably avoid Sonos because of software issues still unresolved. And hardware too as the paint is flaking from the grids on the current line. It has only one HDMI, no remote, no display and is very closed too. A JBL Bar 300 is probably better for your room.

JBL seems perfect fornyour need. Just get a Bar 300, no sub, no rears, very good sound

I have a Bar 300 which comes without sub and without rears in the gaming room and am extremely happy with it ! But I don’t like heavy basses generally.

Hoooooo well I feel for you as we sold all of our Sonos gear in my house for the same reason. We hesitated a lot and tried various things with more or less luck. Finally we got JBL soundbars and are extremely happy with it. - bar 300 in the gaming room - bar 1000 in the living room - JBL Authentics 200 - 2 airpods Sound on JBL soundbars is incredibly precise, detailed and voices are cristal clear. We love the 2 soundbars even for simple music listening. Airplay works perfectly as well as multiroom. Be aware that Chromecast audio is not perfectly reliable for multiroom and some Android phones does NOT have chromecast audio compatibility (Xiaomi for example). Overall we were disappointed by Chromecast audio and went back to Apple iPhones to get Airplay which is flawless. We strongly recommend Airplay over Chromecast. I don’t like Apple much but multiroom is very important to us.

Sonos is still a messy experience since the severe app issues more than 1 year ago. They moved every function to a cloud based platform and everything is still unstable. And now since some monthes they have hardware issues too with the paint cracking and flaking from the grid of their current speakers like the Arc Ultra. So it won’t be the cat but it will be worse. We had a complete Sonos setup in the house and after monthes of unreliability we sold everything. I got a JBL Bar 300 for the gaming room and later a Bar 1000 for the living room. With JBL we discovered how much our Sonos arc + ones lacked in detail and precision. Sound quality is impressivebon the JBL and a lot better than our precious Sonos setup we don’t miss at all.

Anything but Sonos. They had a major industrial incident more than 1 year ago when they decided to move the entire software platform to the cloud. It has been a shitstorm and many users like me have left this brand forever. It is alas not yet over. They are not ready to go back to local control it seems and the software still lacks a lot about reliability. They have fired their CEO and other executives but it is not enough to solve the issues. Now they have hardware issues too : the paint is flaking from the grids on their current line. When we ditched everything Sonos in my house we replaced the Sonos Beam and the Sonos Arc by JBL Bar 300 and Bar 1000. They sound a lot better, are more open, more practical and … they support DTS properly … incredibly Sonos doesn’t. I’m sure there are other good brands but at least I can recommend these 2 JBL soundbars.

If you play 4K blurays you will need DTS too. Some soundbars have sound projection systems to simulate rear speakers. It’s not as good but can be quite interesting. It won’t work well in every room. If you have carpeted walls for exemple it’s not good. My JBL Bar 300 does have it and it’s quite surprisingly efficient. Bar 500 has it too and a subwoofer.

You may wanna check JBL bars. And avoid Sonos which are still in trouble because of their software issues. We ditched all our sonos gear in my house and replaced 2 soundbars, a Beam and a Arc+ Ones with a JBL Bar 300 and a Bar 1000. JBL clarity is incredible and voices does stand out. Globally its sound quality is vastly superior with a lot!more details.

I have replaced the Sonos Arc with a Bar 1000 and the JBL has a much more precise sound, much more detailed and clear. I first replaced a Sonos Beam used in the gaming room with a simple JBL Bar 300 and the JBL sound was incredibly better. This is why we purchased the Bar 1000 . And we were not disappointed. Sonos seems to spend more money influencing on the web than fixing its software. As some other fellow redditors have pointed it the Sonos sound quality is overrated. … which should be obvious from soundbars not even supporting DTS properly.

You probably want to avoid Sonos as their software issues are not solved yet. And they have hardware issues too. We actually replaced our Sonos Beam in the gaming room and our Sonos Arc in the living room with a JBL Bar 300 and Bar 1000. It’s quite amazing and definitively better. I had a chance to listen to a high end LG bar at a friend’s house and wasn’t impressed at all. There are other good options from brands like Samsung and Bose and probably others too, so take time to go to a shop and try it if you can.

It all depends on what you want. A single soundbar ? A soundbar with a sub ? A soundbar with rears ? I would recommend you to look at the JBL bars in your price range. I have the bar 300 and it’s amazing for the 250€ I spent. I replaced my Sonos Beam with this bar and it’s night and day. As a general warning I would strongly recommend to avoid Sonos as their software issues are still not fully solved, as they have hardware issues too and are the most closed system with only one HDMI and no serious DTS support. We sold all of our Sonos devices in the house and will never go back to this brand. Sound is not even very good.

Avoid Sonos anyway. Their software issues are still not completely solved. They have hardware issues too now with the paint flaking from the grids. And it’s extremely closed, with no support of DTS except the most basic and very old core signal which is compressed. Only 1 HDMI, no display, no remote … and a not so good sound for the price. We replaced our Sonos gear because of the lack of reliability with JBL soundbars and are incredibly happy with it. It does sound so much better. We have a Bar 300 and a Bar 1000. You may wanna check the Bar 1000 or 1000MK2 or 1300MK2 - not the 1300 first gen which has a design issue making the center voice not so good - issue solved with the 1300MK2

JBL bar 300. It’s the best sound quality you can have for around 250€ When the still unresolved software issues made our Sonos setup almost unuseable I first replaced my Beam in the gaming room by the Bar 300 and it was night and day. The Bar 300 is much more open than any ultra closed Sonos bar. It accepts more audio formats, has 2 HDMI instead of only one, has a remote and a display. But it has an incredibly better sound clarity with much more detail and realism. It makes an excellent music speaker too and it’s amazing for anything like classical music and acoustic where the sound texture of every instrument matter. It is Airplay and Chromecast Audio too so you are not locked in an Apple ecosystem for lossless music and it even has bluetooth.

A JBL Bar 300 is not expensive and has an incredible sound quality. It’s much better than a Sonos. It has good natural basses, but cannot make those rumbling infra basses some people like to feel. Without a sub it’s limited anyway. Avoid Sonos as they still have huge software issues and hardware too (the paint flaking of the grid).

I would suggest a JBL Bar 1300 MK2. I ditched all my Sonos setup because of the software issues which are still not solved despite what their influencers are saying. I replaced the Beam with a JBL Bar 300 and it sounded so much better that I quickly replaced the Arc + Ones with a Bar 1000. Once again same thing it sounds so much better, more detailed and clear that I felt a bit stupid for having chosen Sonos about 3 years before. - These JBL bars support properly DTS too which is not the case of Sonos. - They have several HDMI ports too (Sokos have only one) - And a remote and a display where Sonos heavilly depend on their borked app. That being said, be aware it’s probably best to avoid the JBL Bar 1300 first gen which has a design issue with the center voice. That’s why we decided for the Bar 1000.

I have had a very good experience with my JBL Bar 300 and Bar 1000. I got it when I ditched all my buggy Sonos gear and it’s incredibly better.

JBL Bar 300. Very good sound quality for the price. No sub. This is what I got to replace the Sonos Beam in the gaming room. Then we ditched all our Sonos speakers because of the software issues. We got a JBL Bar 1000 to replace the Sonos Arc. And it was incredibly better. Better sound, more open, more formats, and … no software issue. Unfortunately the Bar 1000 is not for you it has a sub. But you can set it to low level.

Avoid Sonos, sound quality is largely overrated and they have many many software issues. We replaced our Sonos gear with JBL bars and sound clarity and detail is incredible. We have a Bar 300 and a Bar 1000.

I replaced my Beam gen one by a JBl Bar 300 and the JBL sounded so incredibly better I felt stupid for buying the Beam before.

Sonos is not a reliable brand. This should be your first concern. They still have hardware and software issues. Sonos sound is clearly over hyped thanks to the brand paying influencers on social networks to make people believe they have the best sound. In reality it’s just good/average and a bit dull. We replaced a Beam by a JBL Bar 300 and it is incredibly better. Check the Bar 500 if you want a sub. There are other good brands too.

I had Sonos soundbars in my house and we decided to replace it because of the software issues. When we did, we first got a JBL Bar 300 to replace the Sonos Beam. It was sonincredibly better than the Sonos and for much less money we felt a bit stupid for believing their influencers on social networks. So we replaced the Arc + Ones with a JBL Bar 1000. Once again we were amazed by the sound quality. And the several HDMI on the bar, and having a remote, àd a display …. AND PROPER DTS SUPPORT. Sonos are just average and clearly overhyped thanks to the money they spend influencing instead of solving their software issues which are still not fixed.

Well check the Bar 300. I got mine for 250€. Sound is very very good. No sub, no rears.

Not any Sonos. We had a house full of Sonos including a Beam and a Arc + Ones before they messed it up big time and it became unreliable in an incredible extent. Then we ditched everything and replaced the Beam with a JBL Bar 300 and the Arc + Ones with a JBL Bar 1000. - Both JBL bars sound a lot better than the Sonos we had before. Sound is more precise, clear, detailed on the JBL. - JBL supports properly DTS on the contrary of Sonos. - There are more than 1 only HDMI port on the JBL. - And a remote - And a display Sonos heavilly relies on their app for any setting as there is no display and no remote. Unfortunately they decided to move their software platform to the cloud. It was a huge shitstorm for monthes and they finally fired a lot of people including their CEO and hundreds of workers who were there for the customer support … alas. Things are slowly going better but many users still report unbelievable issues. I wouldn’t recommend this brand at all as they are not reliable and are influencing a lot on social network to make people believe they have the best sound and their issues are solved which is not true. Ah, and now they have hardware issues on their current line : paint flaking from the grids. We are very happy with our JBL bars but be aware that the JBL Bar 1300 first gen has a design issue making the center channel not very good. That’s why we got the Bar 1000 instead. The 1300 MK 2 doesn’t have the same issue.

I got a JBL Bar 300 for 250€. This is an amazing soundbar for the price and is very good for music.

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.

I too can recommend the Bar 300 from JBL ! I had a house full of Sonos speakers and 2 soundbars and sold everything because of the software issues. I replaced first the Sonos Beam with a JBL Bar 300 and it’s incredibly better. So I replaced the Sonos Arc with a JBL Bar 1000 and we all are very happy with it.

I would say the JBL but I wasn’t able to make a very precise comparison. At home I have the Bar 300 and the 1000. 300 is quite good for music. 1000 is just incredible for music. We listen to uncompressed audio from our NAS or from CD with a BR player and sound is amazing.

As Sonos is still in trouble with software issues since more than 1 year, it’s difficult to recomment it. They have hardware issues too with the grids of their current line. In my house we ditched all our Sonos setup and got JBL Bar 300 and Bar 1000. We are very happy it’s incredibly better. It sounds better too. I would tend to recommend JBL but I cannot speak about the SB580.

In my house we ditched our full Sonos setup because of the software issues which still are not fully solved. So I would not recommend this brand even to my foes 😅. We replaced it with JBL devices which are just great and sound incredibly better. We have A JBL Bar 300 and a 1000.

In the gaming room mainly videogames and music on the Bar 300. In the living room : everything including lossless music from our NAS and from CD on the Bar 1000.

I would suggest a JBL Bar 300 or Bar 300 Mk2 check in your country if the Bar 500 is at a good price for you. You probably should avoid Sonos as they still have heavy software issues, it’s still not fixed after more than one year of shitstorm. They have significant hardware issues in their current line : paint flaking from the grids. When we ditched everything Sonos in my house I replaced the Sonos Beam in the gaming room with the JBL Bar 300 and it’s incredibly better. Sound is more detailed, precise. It’s a good bar to listen to music too, with a good musicality. And it’s more open, with a good support of DTS. Sonos doesn’t even support it properly.

I would suggest a JBL Bar 300 or Bar 300 Mk2 check in your country if the Bar 500 is at a good price for you. You probably should avoid Sonos as they still have heavy software issues, it’s still not fixed after more than one year of shitstorm. They have significant hardware issues in their current line : paint flaking from the grids. When we ditched everything Sonos in my house I replaced the Sonos Beam in the gaming room with the JBL Bar 300 and it’s incredibly better. Sound is more detailed, precise. It’s a good bar to listen to music too, with a good musicality. And it’s more open, with a good support of DTS. Sonos doesn’t even support it properly.

I have a JBL Bar 300. It has no rears and no sub. Sound is very good. There is a sound projection system which use lateral speakers in the bar to project sound in a way which can simulate rear speakers. More or less. It depends on the bar calibration and on your room layout and walls but the effect is quite nice. In my gaming room it does create a sound bubble. You are not in the center, more at the back edge but it’s already quite good. The Bar 500 is the same with a dedicated subwoofer.

Hahaha I have the Bar 300 in the gaming room and the 1000 in the living room. We have placed the rears plugged to adapters and we never attach it back to the bar. It can be used as fixed rears too. There are nice plastic ends to put on the bar when the rears are removed. In your case if you have any furniture to put it on, in the back of the couch, it can be a good option.

I would avoid anything Sonos. They are still in software issues since more than 1 year and now they have hardware issues too. Paint is flaking off the grids. I actually ditched all my Sonos gear and replaced it with my JBL Bar 300 and Bar 1000. Which both sound incredibly better than the Beam and Arc it replaced.

Hmmm not sure about JBL offerings for this price. I have a JBL Bar 300 I got for 250€ but it has no sub àd no rears. However it does a great job to project sound and give you some surround feeling.

Have you calibrated you JBL ? Check how to properly do calibration but it’s quite easy you have to stay in your couch with nobody else in the room, no noise at all and launch calibration with the remote. I have the Bar 300, same without sub in the gaming room and it’s amazing for the price and size. Given the issues come from your layout, it seem unlokely changing brand will change your problem.

JBL Bar 300. I had a full house of Sonos speakers and soundbars and when I ditched it because of its software issues I replaced the Sonos Beam in the gaming room with a JBL Bar 300. We were all amazed by its sound quality vastly superior to the Beam. And it has no subwoofer. I got it on sale for 250€. Now they have the Bar 300 MK2 which is a newer model. Sound is very clear.

JBL Bar 300. I had a full house of Sonos speakers and soundbars and when I ditched it because of its software issues I replaced the Sonos Beam in the gaming room with a JBL Bar 300. We were all amazed by its sound quality vastly superior to the Beam. And it has no subwoofer. I got it on sale for 250€. Now they have the Bar 300 MK2 which is a newer model. Sound is very clear.

Hi and I am sorry for your disappointment which is perfectly logical. Since years Sonos has a very strong influencing activity on social networks and on Reddit too. They pay people to promote their producs as if they were actual users pleased with their speakers. So you will read a lot of posts and comments telling you Sonos has the best sound and is the best in every way. But the fact is that Sonos sound is not that great at all. It lacks detail and precision, for example. Sonos soundbars have no remote, no display and only one HDMI which is very annoying too. And since more than 1 year they moved their app to a cloud based platform and it is still a disaster. They fired their CEO an others but it’s still unreliable. Now they have hardware issues too. However, for small soundbars with a sub, there are not many options. I would have suggested a JBl Bar 500 but it’s a bit too big for you maybe. I have a Bar 300 and a Bar 1000 and it’s incredibly better than my previous Sonos gear (Beam and Arc).

On the contrary to what someone told you here, Sonos doesn’t sound so good for music nor anything. We replaced all our Sonos gear in the house with JBL and discovered how much the so called Sonos sound quality was bullshit. My 250€ JBL Bar 300 has a much better sound quality than the Sonos Beam it replaced. And even than the Sonos Arc. We got a Bar 1000 to replace the Arc + Ones by a bar with rears too in the living room. Yes the Bar 1000 rears are maybe a bit quiet by default but you can just balance it and set it louder and voila no issue at all. Only little issue : be aware that the rears comes without power cord. We got 2 basic samsung USB adapters to be able to leave it in place. This is the limit of their mobile design. It can charge on the bar but we don’t want to bother with the charging and we use it like regular static rears.

I have only the Bar 300 and the Bar 1000 and voices are very clear to us in the house. You may wanna check what formats you use and if your TV is not messing it a bit like downmixing or something like that. You can try to connect your source directly to the soundbar and then the soundbar will send the picture to the TV. Have you calibrated the sound properly ?

I don’t think so. I have the 300 first gen I got to replace a Sonos Beam when we decided to ditch all of pur Sonos gear in the house. The Bar 300 is incredibly better than the Beam and no TV integrated sound system can match it. Keep in mind this is a standalone soundbar, so don’t expect rumbling basses and real precise rears.

Stay far from anything Sonos. As far as you can. More than 1 year ago they messed their software platform so bad they lost a huge number of customers. Now, it’s a bit better but there are still many software issues. They fired their CEO and other executive because of that. Now they even have hardware issues with their current line of products. Paint is flaking from the grids. And the worse thing is they seem to spend more money to influence on media and social networks than actively fixing their issues. Replacing our full Sonos setup in our house we learnt some things : • ⁠Sonos Sound quality is overhyped. It’s just average for the price. I replaced a Sonos Beam with a 250€ JBL Bar 300 and it was incredibly better in every way. then we replaced our Arc + Ones with a Bar 1000 and it was night and day too. • ⁠Sonos system is extremely closed. Only 1 HDM is a problem. It doesn’t support properly DTS. It only supports Airplay and no Chromecast Audio. • ⁠Sonos is very inconvenient without display and remote. • ⁠Sonos is extremely expensive. • ⁠Sonos software is so unreliable it can ruin your user experience. If you have doubts, just search for Sonos on Reddit the first page of results will be people leaving this brand.

Same here. And again sound quality is overhyped by their influencers. My 250€ JBL Bar 300 has much better sound than the Beam 2 it replaced.

I also have the 300, had it for almost 6 months for gaming streaming etc, Its all one needs for a small room. Have you touched the equalizer or just run it flat?

Just got JBL bar 300 MK2 and i’m amazed at the sound quality and the projection is great.

Soundbar. I have a JBL Bar 300 Mk2 with my Sony. Love it.

I have Jbl 300 mk2, I’ve been pleased with it so far, atoms and Dolby digital sound pretty good, no overhead effects but I have a very high ceiling

im sitting here with a new JBL Bar 300 and Sonos Beam (Gen 2) and struggling with which one to return.

I may not be able to answer what product you should buy with your requirements, but it appears from reading your post that you think the built in speaker in your TV sounds really good. There is no requirement to use a soundbar if you don't need it, that'd be a waste of money. What is it with the sound from your TV right now that you are not happy with? I think most purchase a quality soundbar because they are not happy with the sound from their TV's, or they want more than 2.0 channels. And you are correct, cheap soundbars does sound, cheap. Due to cost, they typically only use one full range driver of some kind for each channel and no tweeters, and if they are going after higher output in the lower frequencies to have some kinda bass output, they have to sacrifice performance in the high frequencies, almost always sacrificing clarity. If you want good quality audio you almost always have to find a soundbar that uses both a woofer and tweeter for at minimum the left, center and right channels, And with those, you're looking at the soundbars in the higher budgets usually, that also has more channels (but the additional channels are typically fullrange drivers where frequency range is not as important as the main channels). I used to have a very cheap 2.0 soundbar that I imported from china 10+ years ago. It had great clarity for voice, but of course lacked output in the bass frequencies. Now that that product died, I also searched for an upgrade and landed on a Q930D, for voice clarity this is on par with the cheap soundbar I had, and can be configured to use 2.0 channels if the input is 2.0 channels (doesnt upmix by default). The Q-range also offers customize 7-band (I think?) EQ settings for the "standard" mode that doesnt upscale the content, and there you can alter the frequency response to compensate if needed. (but in other modes, are limited to a 2-band EQ I tried a cheaper soundbar JBL Bar 300 and found it a lot worse for voice clarity than the previous cheap soundbar I had before. (Bar 300 uses fullrange drivers for the main channels that also was suppose to provide the bass output, not good for clarity). Only advice I have, look for soundbars with both a tweeter and woofer at as the main 3 channels. I would also suggest going for a 3.x channel soundbar as the center channel is where most voice content are located in movies, so it doesn't have to downmix the "voice" channel content. Last but not least, check [https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/index](https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/index) where you can find frequency response graphs for a lot of different soundbars (manufacturers dont publish those), that can give some hint at least in their performance.