Call me a snob, but I can’t stand going to watch something at a friend’s house if they don’t have a soundbar. It’s the bare minimum required if you want to get good sound out of your TV—let’s not even talk about Dolby Atmos or surround sound. Many modern TVs claim to have Dolby audio or multi-channel surround, but in practice, without a dedicated speaker system, it always just falls flat.
So yeah, maybe there is a reason you watch everything with subtitles, bud, and it’s not because you prefer it. I’m not even being decadent here. Once you’ve set up your first soundbar, you’ll literally hear the difference between that and wimpy TV speakers.
You’ll never want to go back, either. If anything, you’ll want to build more on—adding a subwoofer, and soon after that some rear speakers. But that’s the point: The soundbar is the center of it all—a perfect starting place for those who want more, but also a great end point for those who want to just settle.
Two of these six bars are excellent standalone options, while two others come with subwoofers. The other two beyond that are a little different, but hold your horses. Just know that no matter your budget or home theater setup, you’ll find the right soundbar for you among these choices.
From Sony to Sonos, these brands are the best of the best. It may be part of our best home theater set of the year, per Esquire’s 2026 gadget awards, but that doesn’t mean this Bose bar won’t pack a punch on its own. As a standalone sound system, this bar is equipped with best-in-class spatial audio technology so, despite it being one unit, you get a pretty convincing illusion of side and rear speaker sound.
It has all the smart home and quality-of-life features you would want from something I’m calling the best. You can use a voice assistant or a phone app for control, but most of the time you’re going to be using your TV remote because, if you connect via HDMI e-arc, it should all just work as one. These are the conveniences you are going to get with any of these soundbars, but between us, the Bose will sound the best.
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