From budget to blockbuster: The best soundbars of 2026

TV picture quality has come a long way in the last few years. Even cheap TVs now look about as good as something that would’ve cost you $1,000 or more just a couple of years ago. But TV audio hasn’t kept pace, and the reason is pretty straightforward. TVs have gotten so thin that there just isn’t enough room left inside for speakers that sound great, so even on the best TVs, dialogue ends up sounding muffled, bass is almost non-existent, and you find yourself constantly riding the volume button between scenes you can barely hear and ones that are suddenly too loud.

A soundbar can fix that, but the category has grown so much that choosing the right one can be quite exhausting. You can spend as little as $200 to clear up dialogue and add real bass, or spend thousands on a setup that offers a complete home theater experience. The eight picks below cover that entire range, making it easy for you to pick the best soundbar for your needs and budget.

TL;DR: Three picks for three different needs

• Samsung HW-Q990H: The best overall pick if budget isn’t a deciding factor. It offers real 11.1.4 surround from a wireless subwoofer and rear speakers, not a virtualized approximation like some of the single-unit options.
• Hisense AX5140Q: The best value pick for real surround sound. Like the Samsung soundbar, it also comes with a wireless subwoofer and rear speaker setup, but at a fraction of the cost.
• Sonos Ray: The cheapest way to notice an immediate upgrade over your TV’s built-in speakers, and it expands into a full Sonos system later if needed.

The comparison table below breaks down all eight picks, including the five not listed here.

How to choose the right soundbar for your setup

The specs only tell part of the story. Here are three things to keep in mind before you lock in your pick:

• Room size: Virtual surround, the trick most soundbars under $1,000 use, bounces sound off nearby walls to fake a rear-channel effect. That works in a small room, but falls apart in a big one. Past a certain square footage, only a system with rear speakers, like Samsung HW-Q990H, the Hisense AX5140Q, or Nakamichi Dragon, delivers actual surround sound instead of an approximation.
• HDMI eARC or optical: eARC delivers full, uncompressed Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and lets a TV remote control the soundbar through HDMI-CEC. Optical only handles compressed 5.1 audio and can’t pass Atmos or DTS:X at all, which is why the HDMI-less Sonos Ray skips both. You should use eARC if your TV has it.
• Dolby Atmos or DTS:X: Both add height and placement to a mix, but nearly every streaming service uses Atmos. DTS:X shows up more on Blu-ray and some gaming platforms. Streaming-only households won’t notice the gap, but Blu-ray collectors should confirm DTS:X support specifically, since the Sonos Arc Ultra, Bose Smart Soundbar, and Klipsch Flexus Core 200 skip it, and the Sonos Ray skips immersive audio formats altogether.

With that in mind, here are the eight soundbars worth spending money on right now.

Samsung HW-Q990H: Best soundbar overall

Samsung’s flagship system has been a recurring pick on this list, and the HW-Q990H keeps that streak going in 2026. It’s an 11.1.4-channel system built from four separate pieces, including the main bar, a compact wireless subwoofer, and two wireless rear speakers, which add up to 23 individual drivers.

The wireless subwoofer and rear speakers use the redesigned enclosure Samsung introduced on the previous Q990F, with identical dimensions and driver layout. The system supports both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, so nothing in your Blu-ray or streaming library gets left out. You also get Samsung’s SpaceFit Sound Pro tech, which continuously analyzes the room to adjust the output, instead of relying on a one-time calibration during setup.

Samsung introduces two new features with this model that further enhance your listening experience. Sound Elevation lifts the perceived height of dialogue and effects so the audio feels level with a large TV screen, while Auto Volume levels out sudden spikes when switching between channels, apps, or sources, so you don’t need to fiddle with the remote. If you own a compatible Samsung TV, you also get the 2026 version of Q-Symphony, which now blends output across up to five connected devices for an even wider soundstage.

Connectivity options include HDMI eARC and two HDMI 2.1 inputs with 4K/120Hz support, VRR, and ALLM passthrough, along with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. You also get Alexa built-in for hands-free controls.

At almost $2,000, the Q990H is the priciest non-audiophile-grade system on this list, built for those who want the most complete soundbar experience without stepping into full home theater territory. If that sounds steep, the Q990F is still available at a discount and remains a great pick as long as you don’t mind missing out on the two new features.

Sonos Arc Ultra: Best expandable Dolby Atmos soundbar

Two years after replacing the original Arc, the Sonos Arc Ultra still anchors the top of Sonos’ soundbar lineup. Sonos swapped the original Arc’s 5.1.2 array for seven tweeters, six mid-woofers, and 15 amplifiers, built around a new Sound Motion woofer that trades one large driver for a smaller, dual-membrane design tucked into a similar footprint. In our review, we found it to be louder and more articulate at the low end than its predecessor without much growth in size.

The Arc Ultra offers Wi-Fi 6, Ethernet, and Bluetooth 5.3 for connectivity, along with a single HDMI eARC port for TV audio. There’s no dedicated HDMI input for other devices, though, and optical requires an adapter that’s sold separately, so anything beyond the TV connection has to route through the eARC port. For voice control, you can choose Sonos Voice Control for Sonos-only functions, or Amazon Alexa if you want it to reach further into general smart home commands.

At almost $1,100, it’s on the higher end for a single soundbar system, but the Arc Ultra earns its keep long-term through expansion. You can add a pair of Era 100s or Era 300s as surrounds, deepen the bass with a Sub or Sub Mini, or pair Sonos Ace headphones to pull the spatial mix directly to your ears when quiet hours call for it. That’s the appeal of buying into Sonos specifically. You can start with a single soundbar and eventually fill your whole house.

Note that you won’t get DTS:X support here, only Dolby Atmos, so if you have a serious 4K Blu-ray collection, look elsewhere on this list. But if you’re building a home theater one Sonos speaker at a time, nothing else on this list expands as smoothly.

Nakamichi Dragon: Best no-holds-barred soundbar

The Nakamichi Dragon is built for one specific buyer, someone who wants the biggest, most complete soundbar system on the market and doesn’t care about the cost. It consists of a main bar that holds 14 drivers, two wireless subwoofers with four more split between them, and two omni-motion surround speakers to round out the 11.4.6 channel setup. Add it all up, and the system puts out 3,000 watts total, which is more than what many home theater receivers manage on their own. In our review, we called it light-years ahead of any other soundbar-based system, and that still holds true.

Format support is just as extensive. The Dragon was the first wireless soundbar system to support DTS:X Pro, a format that scales up to 32 speaker channels versus 11 on standard DTS:X. Full Dolby Atmos support is included too. On the connection side, you get HDMI eARC plus three more HDMI 2.1 inputs, both with 4K and Dolby Vision passthrough, so you can plug in multiple 4K sources without needing a separate switcher box. Bluetooth handles wireless streaming and supports aptX HD for higher-quality audio. Setup happens through a menu that shows up directly on your TV screen, where you’ll pick your room size and adjust EQ presets. It takes more than five minutes, but it’s more approachable than most receiver-based systems at this scale.

Price is where the Dragon gets complicated, since it comes in four different subwoofer configurations, each with its own cost. The version with dual opposing 8-inch subwoofers, the one detailed above, runs $3,299.99. Step down to a single 12-inch subwoofer and the price drops to $2,877, the cheapest option in the lineup. Step up instead, and dual 12-inch subs cost $5,199.99, while quad 12-inch subs top out at $8,199.99.

A traditional setup consisting of a receiver, dedicated wired speakers, and a separate subwoofer would still sound better for similar money. But the Dragon gets you convenience. You skip the receiver, the tangle of speaker wire, and the calibration microphone, and you still end up with a system loud and layered enough to fill a large room on its own.

Harman Kardon Enchant 1100: Best standalone soundbar for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X

The Harman Kardon Enchant 1100 solves a problem few single-speaker soundbars handle well. It gives you real Dolby Atmos and DTS:X from one box for under $1,000. Eleven drivers create a 5.1.2 configuration, including two up-firing units that handle the height effects, while Harman’s MultiBeam processing widens the soundstage without adding hardware. The whole system offers 315 watts total output, enough to fill your mid-sized living room on its own. PureVoice ensures dialogue sounds crisp at low volume too, which is useful if you’re watching late at night and don’t want to wake anyone up.

For connections, you get one HDMI input with 4K and Dolby Vision passthrough, useful if you’re running a game console or streaming box through the bar, plus an HDMI eARC output, digital optical, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.3. You won’t get a built-in voice assistant, though. If that’s a feature you specifically want, this one’s not for you.

Bass is one place where the Enchant 1100 lags behind, but you can add the optional Enchant Sub down the line to fix that. You can even add a pair of Enchant speakers and get a full 7.1.4 wireless system when your budget allows.

That expansion path is one of the main reasons to buy this one. It offers real height effects with just the single unit, and lets you upgrade to a full 7.1.4 system whenever you’re ready for it.

Klipsch Flexus Core 200: Best standalone soundbar under $500

The Klipsch Flexus Core 200 punches well above its price bracket in physical size alone. At 44 inches, it’s closer in size to the pricier Sonos Arc than to other budget soundbars, all while priced under $500. That size pays off in bass too. In our review, we found that the Core 200’s low end went toe-to-toe with far pricier standalone bars like Sony’s $1,300 HT-A7000 and the $1,500 Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus.

You get a 3.1.2 channel system, consisting of a dedicated driver array that handles the front and center channels, including a horn-loaded tweeter that keeps dialogue distinct even when the rest of the mix gets busy, while two up-firing drivers on top handle Dolby Atmos height effects. The whole system outputs 185 watts total.

You don’t get DTS:X support, a gap that matters mostly if you’re a Blu-ray collector rather than a streaming household. There’s no Wi-Fi either, so you’ll stream through Bluetooth only, but the Klipsch Connect app gives you EQ controls and presets that most budget bars skip entirely.

Connectivity options include an HDMI eARC port, a digital optical input, a USB port for the wireless dongle used with optional accessories, and an RCA output for connecting a wired subwoofer of your own. If you outgrow the standalone unit, you can expand it with the Flexus Sub 100 subwoofer and Flexus Surr 100 surround speakers to build toward a fuller system over time, the same modular philosophy Klipsch built into the pricier Core 300, minus the price of admission.

Bose Smart Soundbar: Best small soundbar

Bose retired the Smart Soundbar 600 in 2024 and replaced it with a single, unnumbered Smart Soundbar priced at $549, keeping the same compact footprint while adding a few tricks the 600 never had. Its five-driver array creates a 3.0.2 configuration and handles Dolby Atmos through Bose’s own digital signal processing rather than a subwoofer or rear speakers. The soundbar keeps the same low-profile design as the 600, just 2.2 inches tall and 4.1 inches deep, easy to tuck under your TV without blocking the screen.

Despite its compact size, you get a wide range of connectivity options. HDMI eARC and optical handle wired connections. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth cover wireless, with AirPlay 2, Chromecast, and Spotify Connect running on top of that Wi-Fi connection for streaming. Both Alexa and Google Assistant are also built in for voice control.

Two features separate this from the 600 it replaced. AI Dialogue Mode automatically boosts speech whenever background effects threaten to bury it, and Bose Personal Surround Sound pairs the soundbar with Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds to turn them into your own personal set of rear speakers. The latter is useful for late-night viewing when a full surround setup isn’t an option, though you’ll have to shell out an extra $299 for the earbuds themselves.

The Smart Soundbar, like its predecessor, doesn’t offer DTS support, so anything encoded in DTS gets downmixed to stereo instead. Nonetheless, it is a great option if you have limited room to work with in your setup.

Hisense AX5140Q: Best budget soundbar with real surround

Most soundbars in this price range fake their surround effect through virtualization. The Hisense AX5140Q doesn’t, and that’s the whole appeal. For $399.99, you get a 5.1.4-channel soundbar, a wireless 6.5-inch subwoofer, and two wireless satellite speakers delivering real rear-channel audio rather than a simulated approximation.

The whole system puts out 600 watts of total power, a big number for the price. Four up-firing drivers handle Dolby Atmos and DTS:X height effects, two built into the main bar and one on each satellite speaker, and a built-in room correction feature analyzes your space before playback to adjust output accordingly.

You get more connectivity than the price suggests too, HDMI eARC, digital optical, a 3.5mm AUX input, USB, and Bluetooth 5.3. If you own a compatible Hisense TV, you also get Hi-Concerto mode, which blends the TV’s own speakers into the mix for a wider soundstage, similar in spirit to what Samsung offers with Q-Symphony on its own lineup.

Bass is the AX5140Q’s standout trait, strong enough that dialogue clarity and midrange detail can end up taking a back seat. Don’t expect a refined system built for critical music listening. Expect one built to make an action movie feel loud and physical without spending real money to get there. The subwoofer and rear speakers also arrive pre-paired out of the box, so setup means plugging in three separate boxes rather than any kind of manual pairing process. For the price of a mid-range soundbar alone elsewhere, you get a full surround package with real rear speakers.

Sonos Ray: Best budget soundbar

At $219, the Sonos Ray is the cheapest way into the Sonos ecosystem. Two tweeters and two woofers fill a cabinet just 22 inches wide, all facing forward for direct, focused sound. Trueplay room correction comes standard too, using your phone’s microphone to measure the space and adjust the output automatically, the same tuning tech used across nearly the entire Sonos lineup.

Connections are limited to a single optical input, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi, with no Bluetooth at all. Over that optical connection, the Ray decodes stereo PCM, Dolby Digital 5.1, and legacy DTS Digital Surround, not the newer object-based Atmos or DTS:X formats, so if you’re chasing immersive height effects, this isn’t the pick, and you should probably stretch your budget. There’s no built-in microphone either, so Alexa or Google Assistant only work if you pair the Ray with another voice-enabled device.

Our review compared the Ray directly to the pricier Sonos Beam and found it still delivers a real fraction of that performance, without asking you to pay for the surround and voice features you might not need.

You can expand it into a full 5.1 system later with a Sonos Sub Mini and a pair of Era 100s or Sonos Ones, so buying a Ray today doesn’t have to be your last soundbar-related purchase. At its price, it’s a sensible entry point into a Sonos multi-room setup, or just the fastest way to hear an upgrade over whatever came built into your TV.

Also worth checking out

If none of the eight above quite fit your needs, one of these might. Each one earns its spot through a single standout feature:

• JBL Bar 1000MK2 ($1,199.95): The rear speakers detach, run on their own battery for about 10 hours, and double as portable Bluetooth speakers. Nothing on the main list does that. It’s a 7.1.4 system with a 10-inch wireless subwoofer, full Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support, and three HDMI inputs with 4K passthrough.
• Klipsch Flexus Core 300 ($1,199): This is the step up from the Core 200 on the main list, and offers Dirac Live room correction, true discrete surround channels, and Wi-Fi streaming. DTS:X is supported here too. The tradeoff is that it’s more than double the price.
• Vizio Elevate SE ($485.96): Its speaker modules physically rotate from front-firing to up-firing whenever Dolby Atmos or DTS:X content plays, the same trick the original Elevate popularized at a much higher price. It’s an innovative engineering approach that nothing else on this list attempts.

Setup and calibration tips

A few adjustments can make a real difference once you’ve got one of these soundbars in your room.

• Center the bar under your TV, and keep the drivers unobstructed. If you tuck it under your TV, you’ll muffle the output, especially on models with up-firing drivers. Block that upward path, and you’ll lose the height effect entirely.
• Run the automatic room correction on first setup. Whether you’ve got Samsung’s SpaceFit Sound Pro, Sonos’ Trueplay, or Hisense’s Room Fitting Tuning, all of them use your phone’s microphone to measure the room and adjust output accordingly. It only takes a couple of minutes and meaningfully improves how balanced the sound ends up.
• Place the wireless subwoofer on the floor, ideally in a corner or against a wall. That positioning reinforces bass response. Hisense’s own setup guide for the AX5140Q calls this out directly, and it holds for most soundbars with wireless subs on this list.
• Put rear or surround speakers behind your listening position, not off to the side. Keep their up-firing drivers unobstructed too, same rule as the main bar.
• Confirm HDMI eARC is enabled on your TV. Many TVs ship with eARC off by default, and the setting is often buried deep in menus. Without it turned on, your soundbar can connect but falls back to a lower-quality signal, so it’s worth checking even if you’ve already got the cable plugged in correctly.