Cheap Soundbars Called One of the Least Expensive Ways to Add Dolby Atmos to a TV
Engadget reports that budget soundbars, some under $200, are among the cheapest ways to bring Dolby Atmos to a television, though many rely on virtual processing instead of upward-firing drivers.
Televisions from LG, Sony, Hisense and several other brands now ship with integrated speaker arrays that support Dolby Atmos, but those sets may not fit every budget or satisfy listeners who care about audio quality, Engadget reported. For most viewers, the outlet said, a soundbar is the practical alternative to spending thousands on a multi-speaker configuration.
The limitations of built-in television audio stem largely from physical design, according to the report. Flat-panel sets are now barely thicker than a smartphone, which forces manufacturers to use compact speakers that fire downward or toward the rear. In those positions, a wall, media stand or floor absorbs sound before it reaches the listener, and the thin chassis leaves no room for the larger drivers or resonance cabinets needed for dynamic output.
That arrangement removes the height channels and depth that spatial audio depends on, producing flat acoustics, indistinct dialogue and weak bass, Engadget reported. The shortcomings are especially apparent when music is streamed through the television, where reduced vocal clarity can make a familiar track sound wrong. Even some high-end televisions with internal Dolby Atmos support struggle to project sound forward into a room, the report said, causing dimensional audio cues to scatter in unintended directions. Without upward- or side-firing drivers, many of those effects are lost.
The trade-off for buyers is in how inexpensive soundbars produce the effect. Many budget models depend on virtualized Dolby Atmos, using specialized sound coding to mimic overhead speakers instead of relying on real upward-firing units. Engadget described the resulting immersion as not comparable to genuine upward-firing drivers, but still a clear improvement over the speakers inside most televisions.
Virtual-processing soundbars from Amazon, TCL and more established brands such as LG lack the height channels required to take full advantage of Dolby Atmos, according to the report, yet some of them sell for under $200. Engadget advised buyers to confirm that their television supports Dolby Atmos passthrough before purchasing one of these affordable units. If it does not, an inexpensive 4K streaming device such as the Roku Express 4K+ or the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K can handle the signal without adding much to the cost.