ISSUE #1 JUNE 2018 BACKGROUND CONTENTS TIPS Types of Soundbar 4 There is still one aspect where today’s modern flat-panel 4K TVs do Simulated vs True Discrete Surround 5 not cut it: Sound. Do You Need A Subwoofer? 6 Number of Channels 8 With the latest OLED and QLED technologies, modern, thinner and Supported Audio Format 10 space-saving flat-panel 4K TVs deliver the best picture quality we Connectivity 12 have ever seen. Controls 16 However, their slim and minimalistic designs leave them no room to fit in good full-range speaker drivers. As an alternative, small COMPARISON built-in TV speakers are usually embedded behind or underneath Top 10 Ranked Discrete Surround Soundbars 18 them, often resulting in sub-standard dialog, thin sound and inad- equate bass. So, how do people match their 4K TVs with immersive Top 10 Ranked Virtual Surround Soundbars 20 sound? Top 10 Ranked Ranked Single Soundbars 22 For complete soundbars comparison, subscribe to us at Traditionally, people would assemble a multi-speaker surround nakamichi-usa.com/soundbar-resource sound system powered by an Audio Video Receiver (AVR) with five or more surround speakers. However, it is typically costly, time-consuming and requires a lot of space to fit all the speakers, including the wires, in one’s living room. A simple plug and play alternative is to use a soundbar. Some soundbars today can effectively contend with full-featured surround sound systems. Slim, easy to setup and affordable, they have evolved from singular, rectangular-shaped speaker boxes with only 2 channels to high-performance multi-channel surround soundbar systems. The latter can now deliver theater quality im- mersive surround sound experiences without the complexity and hassle of assembling traditional AVR-powered surround sound systems. It is no surprise that there are many soundbars available in the market today, ranging from “simulated surround” soundbars sold at as low as $100 to “true discrete surround” soundbar systems, some of which come with two subwoofers and multiple surround speakers that cost more than $1,000. This ultimate soundbar guide will give you a good understanding of all the main considerations when choosing a soundbar that will fit your needs. Also included are comprehensive comparison tables of the top-reviewed soundbars to help you get the best bang for your buck. 2 BEST SOUNDBAR BUYING GUIDE: BACKGROUND Source: Nakamichi website TIPS Types of Soundbars Simulated vs True Discrete Surround There are 3 types of soundbars available in the market for different needs: To get the best surround sound experience, multiple speakers are needed. In sound- bars, there are 2 methods to achieve surround sound. TYPES ACTIVE SOUNDBAR PASSIVE SOUNDBAR SOUNDBASE Includes everything you Separate audio video TYPES VIRTUAL SIMULATED SURROUND TRUE DISCRETE SURROUND Standalone speaker that need in one box (speak- receiver (AVR) required Character- acts as pedestal for your ers, subwoofer, amplifier, (for amplification, signal Relies on sound to reflect off your walls Discrete surround speakers placed istics TV while improving sound processor and connection processing and connection Characteristics to trick your ears into thinking there are around listening position similar to a quality ports) ports) speakers all around you traditional home theater system 1. More powerful and dynamic sound 1. More prominent surround effects Audio 1. On the console 1. On the console 1. On the console (under the than your TV speakers with accurate sound directivity Placement Performance 2. Wall mountable 2. Wall mountable TV) 2. Widen the soundstage of your TV 2. Delivers home theater experience 1. Simple to setup 1. More depth improves 1. Sound from all directions; true sur- 1. Flexible for customization round sound Pros 2. Small footprint bass output 1. Clean and neat setup with single 2. Future expandability 2. Consistent surround sound quality 3. Less cabling 2. Simple with single unit soundbar Pros regardless of room shape/size 2. Less cabling 3. Easier to set up than traditional sur- 1. Limited bass effect com- 3. Soundstage wider than its size round sound system 1. Costly setup pared to soundbar with 1. Fixed system configura- 4. Wider listening sweet spot 2. Home theater speaker external subwoofer tion Cons knowledge required 2. Limited stereo separation 1. Highly dependent on room shape and 2. Not expandable 3. More cabling 3. Unusable for large TVs size 1. More space required for setup 4. Bigger footprint with feet located at both Cons 2. Narrow sweet spot 2. Slightly more Cabling ends 3. Lack of rear surround effects; sound 3. More expensive only coming from front 4 BEST SOUNDBAR BUYING GUIDE: TIPS BEST SOUNDBAR BUYING GUIDE: TIPS 5 Source: Yamaha website There are 3 types of subwoofers can be found in a soundbar system: BUILT-IN SINGLE DEDICATED DUAL DEDICATED TYPES SUBWOOFER SUBWOOFER SUBWOOFERS Subwoofer integrated TWO dedicated powered Dedicated powered into soundbar without a subwoofers that emulate the Characteristics subwoofer for more separate, external en- movie theater, for deep and impactful bass closure room-filling bass Do you need a subwoofer? 1. More powerful bass with greater headroom Do you like to get your adrenaline pumped from 1. More powerful bass 2. Less bass distortion chest-thumping explosions and low-rumbling thun- output 1. Better-than-TV bass 3. Deeper bass with bigger 2. Deeper bass with der effects? If your answer is yes, you probably do effect driver (typically 8” to 10”) bigger driver need a subwoofer. Pros 2. Space-saving solution 4. Zero bass localization (typically 5” to 10”) 3. No additional connec- 5. Room-filling listening 3. Better bass distribu- tion needed sweet spot In any sound system, the subwoofer is a key compo- tion nent dedicated to reproducing low-frequency sound 6. Evenly-distributed bass effects. No matter how powerful a soundbar is, the across the room; maxi- mum sweet spots full impact of your movies will never be felt if a ded- icated subwoofer is not used. The subwoofer driver 1. Localizable bass if 1. Driver size is restricted size also plays a major role in how loud and deep not placed strategi- (typically 2.5” to 4”) your bass can go. For good bass impact and feel, we cally 1. Space requirement Cons 2. Bass is not as deep 2. Limited listening 2. More expensive recommend subwoofers with driver sizes of at least and impactful as a as sweet spot 8 to 10 inches. Lastly, there should also be sufficient dedicated subwoofer space in the subwoofer’s enclosure to accommo- 3. Space requirement date the rapid shifts of air caused by the driver’s movements. All in all, a soundbar with a dedicated There are 2 types of connections for external subwoofer available: subwoofer will deliver a fuller and more immersive audio experience for your entertainment. TYPES WIRED SUBWOOFER WIRELESS SUBWOOFER Pros Plug and play Freedom of placement, no audio cable required Cons Placement restricted by cable length Interference may occur by other wireless devices 6 BEST SOUNDBAR BUYING GUIDE: TIPS BEST SOUNDBAR BUYING GUIDE: TIPS 7 Source: Sonos website Source: Samsung website Number of channels You have probably come across some numbers like ‘2.0’, ‘3.1’ or ‘5.1’. Typically, these numbers represent the number of discrete channels in a sound system. Each discrete channel is independent, meaning that it outputs an entirely separate and different sound signal from the rest. What is the significance? This is important especially when listening to multi-channel surround sound that main- stream movies are usually encoded with, where the surround sound effects are mapped by the sound engineers to be outputted to various channels depending on where they should be coming from based on what is happening in the movie scenes. Surround sound on soundbars Most soundbars simulate the surround sound effects using a technique called virtualiza- tion, which involves the cross-mixing/matrixing of the multi-channel sound information to give listeners the impression that they are listening to surround sound. TYPES VIRTUAL SIMULATED SURROUND TRUE DISCRETE SURROUND However, soundbars with dedicated surround speakers have significant advantages in 2.X Stereo audio with wider soundstage Stereo audio with wider soundstage terms of delivering more immersive and precise surround sound that is closer to what the movie sound engineers intended. Addition of center channel for clearer Addition of center channel for clearer 3.X dialog dialog Separate left, right and center channels Addition of side-firing channels on the on soundbar. Addition of two surround 5.X soundbar to create simulated surround speakers to provide more accurate direc- by reflecting the sound off the walls tional sound effects from left to right and front to back for more realism Addition of surround channels on the soundbar for more detailed simulated Addition of 2 more surround speakers to 7.X surround. Sound is also reflected off the complete a 360-degree surround sound walls to mimic true discrete surround coverage sound Additional effects channels for wider 9.X and above N.A. soundstage, completing the 360 degree surround sound capsule 8 BEST SOUNDBAR BUYING GUIDE: TIPS BEST SOUNDBAR BUYING GUIDE: TIPS 9 Source: Nakamichi Source: Dolby website Supported Audio Format Dolby and DTS are the 2 companies who are dominating the world of audio-compression technologies. They develop most of all the audio formats that mainstream video content is encoded in, including those found on online video streaming platforms like Netflix, Blu-ray discs, gaming and broadcasting. When such content is decoded by sound sys- tems, the sound outputted is known to be rich, dynamic and of high-quality. The various Dolby and DTS audio formats, such as Dolby Digital and DTS Digital Surround, are also widely adopted by movie theaters and production studios.