The best soundbars to buy in 2022

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T V TV speakers are not good. The built-in audio on sets that have gorgeous picture quality rarely does justice to the visual side. With TVs getting slimmer and sleeker, there isn't much room for powerful drivers. Sony has great sounding speakers in their most premium models, but they cost thousands of dollars.

If you're like most people and don't want to spend a lot of money on a new TV, a soundbar is still the easiest way to improve your audio.

In terms of future-proofing, we strongly recommend buying a soundbar with a modern surround format, as there is now a massive selection of content across streaming services that supports the modern surround format. If you want the soundbar to function as a middle point between gaming consoles and your TV, you have to consider whether or not you want it to support HDMI passthrough. If your TV is new, you might want to use the soundbar for audio only.

Image: Vizio

1. Vizio M-Series 5.1.2 Premium Soundbar

Best soundbar under $500

Vizio has been the go-to recommendation for a quality soundbar that comes at a sensible price. Other companies require you to purchase separately, but Vizio often bundles in the rear-channel speakers and floor-standing subwoofer.

The M512a-H6 is the best price-to-performance pick among the soundbars. The speakers on the soundbar are up-firing for the best sound. The system comes with a backlit remote control that can be used to switch between TV audio and music. If you skim through reviews on Amazon or Best Buy, you'll find a number of satisfied customers who praise the atmospheric Atmos sound, dialogue clarity, and more. You're getting the complete system for $499.99.

For about $500, you can get the M-Series Dolby Atmos soundbar, which includes a subwoofer and wired rear surround speakers.

• $500 at Best Buy
• $498 at Amazon

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

2. Sonos Arc

Best soundbar for both home theater and music

If you want a premium home theater experience but still want to listen to music through your soundbar, we recommend the Sonos Arc. The Arc is the company's flagship home theater product and it has 11 internal speakers that deliver impressive Atmos performance. With services like Apple Music and Amazon Music now offering Atmos tracks, this is a great choice for getting the most from those songs.

You can use your preference of either Amazon'sAlexa or the Google Assistant to control the Arc's hands-free voice controls. You have a lot of options for playing content on the device.

Adding those to your system can quickly get you far more expensive, but the Arc proves it can hang with some of the very best premium. It's the obvious choice if you've already got Sonos products at home.

The company's multi-room audio platform integrates with the Sonos Arc, which is a powerful Dolby Atmos speaker. It's a feature-rich soundbar that sounds just as good when playing music as it does when it's plugged in.

• $900 at Best Buy
• $899 at Sonos

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

3. Sonos Beam (second-gen)

Best soundbar for apartments and smaller spaces

The Sonos Arc might be too loud for your specific TV room. If that is the case, the second-generation Sonos Beam isn't a bad fallback, and you will save hundreds if you go with the company's entry-level soundbar.

You get the same features, like voice assistants and full integration, with the same platform. The second-gen Beam has Atmos support. The Arc has dedicated up-firing speakers for Atmos height channel effects, which is a key difference between it and the Beam. The Beam uses virtual reality to fake your ears and brain into thinking it is the real thing. It's not a match for the Arc's pull-you-in immersion, but it pulls off the trick fairly well.

Image: Vizio

4. Vizio Elevate

Best Dolby Atmos soundbar for around $1,000

Not many soundbars can match the cool factor of Vizio's Elevate, which rotates its left and right speakers upwards when playing audio. The Elevate is more than a parlor trick; it's a high-end 5.1.4 soundbar system that comes with a subwoofer and two satellite speakers.

The Elevate can also play sound from your TV. The Xbox Series X and PS5 do not support passthrough of 4K. We have a recommendation below that. The audio quality of the Elevate isn't as good as the company's other soundbars, but it's still good.

The rotating side speakers on the Elevate are unique and can be used to play surround sound audio.

• $898 at Amazon
• $1,100 at Best Buy

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

5. Sony HT-A7000
Best soundbar with HDMI 2.1 passthrough

Sony's flagship soundbar is the only recommendation that supports HDMI 2.1 passthrough for features like 4K 120Hz gaming and 8K video content. The price of the HT-A7000 is $1,399.99. It has a design that is worthy of its asking price and it has an expansive 7.1.2 speaker array into a piece of hardware.

Sony has a lot of features like AirPlay 2, Google Cast, and regular Bluetooth support. The company's sound field maximization technology automatically adjusts audio based on a room's acoustics to ensure the soundbar is performing at its best.

The Sony HT-A7000 is an ultra-premium 7.1.2 Dolby Atmos soundbar with phenomenal audio quality that supports HDMI passthrough for modern features like 120Hz 4K gaming, 8K streaming, and more.

• $1,400 at Best Buy
• $1,398 at Amazon

Image: Roku

6. Roku Streambar

Best soundbar with built-in streaming apps

Do you know the size of that thing? You don't need a giant soundbar to get rid of your TV's terrible audio. The Streambar is a very small 2.0 stereo channel soundbar that can be used as a 4K streaming device. Plug into your TV's HDMI input and you'll also get access to Roku's easy-to-use software and an endless supply of streaming apps.

It isn't going to compete with any of the bigger, pricier picks on this list. If you're not happy with the Streambar, there's the option of adding wireless speakers and a subwoofer to make it better.

The Streambar is an inexpensive soundbar that will improve upon your TV's built-in speakers with better voice clarity and overall sound. It also doubles as a Roku streamer and supports 4K video.

• $108 at Amazon
• $130 at Best Buy