Recommended Premium Soundbars

If you’re looking for an easier way to get a full home theater style setup with big, exciting sound, the Nakamichi Dragon is the only pick and none of the other systems came close to challenging a true home theater setup. The performance you get for $2877 is actually crazy considering a Marantz AVR capable of delivering a similar channel count is $2800 by itself.

If what you’re looking for is a bar that’s simple to set up, has a great ecosystem with room correction and voice assistants built in and very pleasing sound, the Sonos Arc Ultra is definitely the way to go. I actually wouldn’t recommend jumping right into the entire Ultimate Immersive package from the start because the Arc Ultra is very capable on its own for $1099 and you might decide that it’s totally sufficient for your room. If not, you can always add the other pieces later. But given the option of the Sonos versus its direct competitors which are the Bose Lifestyle Ultra and Sony Bravia Trio, I’m choosing the Sonos every time.

If you’re looking for big sound on a budget, the Hisense HT Saturn has blown me away every time I’ve used it, and aside from a very undersized subwoofer, it punches way above its price in terms of spatial effects and DSP.

If you crave the extra bass on a budget, the Ultimea X100 also performed decently well, but needing to run power cables for four surround speakers, a soundbar, and a sub feels less like a soundbar and more like a home theater in a box. I wish there was an option to set up two of the X100’s satellite speakers as left and right front channels instead of just surrounds because I think it would be much more useful for people whose couches are all the way up against a wall.

If you absolutely want a bar-only solution, you have a console table or TV stand large enough to fit the Hekla, and you don’t mind its $3600 price tag, there’s no other bar-only solution that comes close to the spatial effects and tonal range of the Hekla. But with that said, it’s still just a soundbar and overall performance was more similar to a more budget friendly four piece system like the Samsung Q990H, or better yet the Q990F which is basically the same system with fewer DSP options, for considerably less money, though I would personally never choose the 990H or F over the Hisense HT Saturn.