Three important lessons Dolby Atmos soundbars can learn from “proper” home theater sound systems
Looking for a home theater audio solution? You’ll find two connected paths in front of you: one leads to the AVR and surround sound speaker package, the other to the Dolby Atmos sound bar.
You might think that these devices could live in harmony, but we often see people who say that soundbars are inferior and can’t deliver cinematic sound that even remotely competes with the best AVRs.
While there’s a bit of truth to that – we’ve tested hundreds of soundbars, AVRs and surround speaker packages in total and found that a true surround sound system will always beat the soundbar experience – there’s actually a lot more to the story.
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Convenience is the main draw of a sound bar – and the reason I use one myself. Not everyone, especially those in pokey city apartments or shared housing, has the space to run a full 5.1.2 (or higher) system; and trying to move the wires in the rented space is a thought that sends shivers down my spine.
Simply put, soundbars have their place in this world, and we are fans of them even if they are considered “home cinema” sound solutions.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.
Don’t get bored with HDMI ports…
While soundbars have been improving in this regard in recent years, we still see some models being introduced without the most important connectivity options. HDMI passthrough – which (I recently lamented) Sonos and LG haven’t included in their latest soundbars – is a feature I think every soundbar should include.
AVRs, understandably, have featured plenty of HDMI sockets for connecting Blu-ray players, streamers, game consoles and more to your TV or projector for a long time. As such, AVRs have become the beating heart of many home theater systems, serving as a central interface that controls connected devices and home theater audio alike.
We have to give the likes of Samsung, JBL and Sony kudos for including full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets in their flagship soundbars; and Sennheiser and Harman Kardon also please me by including HDMI sockets in their ‘bars, although they are usually 2.0 standard and therefore do not support many gaming features.
If the soundbar is going to take the precious HDMI 2.1 socket – most TVs only have two of these, anyway – then it’s fair that they have to give something back.
Fewer apps, more screen settings…
I’ve lost count of how many soundbar apps are currently clogging up my iPhone’s storage — and I’d like to get rid of most of them. While this isn’t the only problem, I’ve tested many soundbars with less-than-optimized apps, and connectivity is often the first hurdle to overcome.
I’ve had soundbar apps that completely refuse to connect to their soundbar, and that locks out several key features, including calibration, access to audio modes and input selection, leaving them to be managed with a remote handset or on-device buttons and rendered by a dot display or a confusing series of flashing LEDs.
All of this could be avoided if most soundbar manufacturers included an on-screen setup, which would allow us to adjust the settings without relying on the app.
We recently saw this installed on the Yamaha True X Surround 90A, which was a welcome addition, while most AVRs offered a longer screen setup. The Denon range has supported this for a while, and we even saw a stripped-down (yet incredibly functional) version included in the JBL MA7100HP, which made setup and operation much easier.
Considering many sound bar manufacturers also produce TVs (think Sony, LG and Samsung), an on-screen menu system linked to their smart platforms would be a nice touch.
Get ready to customize the sound and balance…
I think this is where people overemphasize the difference between AVRs and soundbars. A soundbar is a plug-and-play device; Sure, there are often different sound modes, and most soundbars that support Dolby Atmos include a way to calibrate them, but there aren’t usually many ways to customize the sound of your soundbar.
Vague EQ settings aside, I can understand why soundbars aren’t as deep as AVRs when it comes to customizing the sound. They are generally aimed at people who are not interested in the complexity of a full home cinema speaker system; for them, ease of use and quick sound payment are the main concerns. That being said, a deep customization menu for enthusiasts will go a long way in winning over die-hard audiophiles.
Balance, on the other hand, can be easily improved on most soundbars. We often see soundbars using a built-in microphone, or using the microphone on your smartphone, to take measurements and measure the sound of your room.
While this often works well, I really like the precision of the AVR’s calibration system, which usually involves plugging in an external microphone (usually in a box) and placing it in your main living area, to fine-tune the sound to where you’ll be watching your movies or TV shows.
We have seen this very thing in the sound bar – the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Max was introduced with an external microphone for this very purpose. But very few soundbars sporting this feature have passed our home cinema test room since then.
A more accurate and complete way to measure sound could counter some of the criticism surrounding the idea that soundbars “don’t do real Dolby Atmos”. If you’re spending around £1000 on a flagship model, a built-in microphone shouldn’t be out of the question.
MORE:
Check out our full Marantz Cinema 30 review
And ours Sonos Arc Ultra review
Here it is how to set up and get the best sound from your AVR
