Two things I liked about JBL’s nifty soundbar package – and two things that let it down
In just the past few months, we’ve seen an entire army of soundbars march into our testing room to compete with the class leaders. The JBL Bar 300MK2, for example, gave the award-winning Sonos Beam Gen 2 a real run for its money with room-filling, bassy sound performance.
So it was good that its older sibling, the JBL Bar 1000MK2, got a chance. Launched at £1000 / $1200 / AU$1600, the Dolby Atmos package goes head-to-head with Sonos’ other model, the Arc Ultra (£999 / $999 / AU$1799).
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It has a 7.1.4 configuration and is powered by a total power of 960W. But does the JBL Bar 1000MK2’s extra kit mean it takes Sonos’ crown?
Flexible design
First, the innovative design of the sound bar really stands out from the crowd. It features battery-powered speakers, which can be connected to a large soundbar via a magnetic port, or used wirelessly to act as separate surrounds.
JBL also offers a Stream feature, which allows you to place your surrounds in another room while the audio from your TV or Bluetooth device continues to play, turning it into a pure wireless speaker. This works by selecting a mono or stereo downmix with the accompanying app, then taking one or both speakers into a different room to deliver your chosen mix.
The speakers offer 10 hours of battery life, and can be charged by plugging them into the mains or simply plugging them back into the main soundbar.
That’s all an outstanding proposition, with the JBL model offering flexibility unmatched by most soundbars.
A fun yet detailed performance
But how does it work beyond this flexible design? However, the JBL Bar 1000MK2 is able to deliver powerful, exciting sound that is a huge improvement over most built-in TV speakers.
This is aided by the sense of motion and accuracy of the sound bar. If you watch Blade Runner 2049for example, the drones of the future bypass the observer in a way that will make you double-check that you are not sitting next to a Replicant.
Thanks to the soundbar’s powerful speakers, there are decent high-end effects that add to the immersive viewing experience. With Spider-Man: Homecomingwe note: “As Tom Holland’s Spider-Man clings to the shield plane for his life, we hear the sounds of its engine going with precision.”
A separate subwoofer also adds more oomph to movies, without being overly distracting.
Subwoofer has no penalty
That being said, the subwoofer struggles to deliver bass with tact and detail. When we first took it out of the box, the JBL’s low frequencies were strong but interfered with other frequencies. That means we access the JBL One app to adjust settings, from which you can access the EQ controls.
After fiddling with the settings, we settle on a slightly rocker bottom that feels better balanced – but still not as detailed as class leaders like the Sonos Arc Ultra.
The JBL delivers more powerful bass than the Award winner, but the Sonos manages to be punchier with an overall accurate sound that’s particularly impressive when transitioning to music.
We notice in our review that we listen to the main theme that appears Jurassic Park via Qobuz Connect: “The low-end energy is delivered with great subtlety and finesse that builds with the swell of the entire orchestra effectively.”
Those around them fail to shine
The detachable surrounds don’t pack what we’ve come to expect from the JBL model.
Despite their practical design, they don’t create the same scale as those from rival systems, and they struggle to produce really focused sound above us even when cranked up to their maximum volume.
We also tested our surrounds when connected to the main soundbar for comparison, but this understandably makes the sound field less focused. Using a soundbar with this layout means it loses the benefits of its smart design, however, so we can’t imagine most people listening like this unless they’re charging the environment.
With the Sonos Arc Ultra, however, the All-in-one model is able to create a more convincing surround experience than the JBL Bar 1000MK2 even without separate speakers. Ultimately, additional kit can’t compete with the award-winner’s highly structured and consistent sound performance, meaning its crown remains intact.
MORE:
Here is our review of JBL 1000MK2 bar
Check out our thoughts on Sonos Arc Ultra
Two things stop this plucky Dolby Atmos soundbar from beating reigning champion Sonos
