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The 5 Best All-In-One Soundbars - Winter 2024 Reviews

Updated
Best All-In-One Soundbars

If you don't have a lot of space in your living room, a standalone soundbar is a great option to upgrade your TV speakers. These setups are designed to offer an immersive listening experience without the need for a dedicated subwoofer or satellite speakers. Thanks to side-firing and up-firing drivers built into the bar, many all-in-one setups can play surround and Dolby Atmos content.

We've tested over 190 soundbars; below, you'll find the best soundbars without subwoofers to buy. You can see our recommendations for the best soundbars, the best Dolby Atmos soundbars, and the best small soundbars.


  1. Best All-In-One Soundbar

    The best all-in-one soundbar that we've tested is the Sonos Arc. This premium standalone setup stands out from the crowd thanks to its wide and immersive sound, which brings a cinematic feel to your favorite movies and TV shows. It supports many audio formats commonly found on both streaming platforms and Blu-rays, including Dolby Atmos, DTS, and Dolby Digital. Despite the lack of satellites, the bar can still beam sound effects throughout your living room to make it seem like the action on screen is taking place all around you. Dialogue and other effects are clearly reproduced, too.

    This soundbar has many features to make the most of your listening experience. As with most premium setups, it has a room correction tool designed to optimize sound based on your room's unique acoustics—this manufacturer calls it Trueplay. The feature is only available with iOS devices, but Android users can use bass and treble adjustments to manually control the bar's sound instead. If you're an avid Android user looking for a similar option with room correction available on both Android and iOS devices, check out the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar. It's another premium standalone bar with a wide and immersive soundstage, though its surround performance isn't quite as impressive as what you get with the Sonos, and it doesn't support DTS content.

    See our review

  2. Best Upper Mid-Range All-In-One Soundbar

    Want a more affordable all-in-one soundbar? Check out the Sonos Beam (Gen 2). At less than 26 inches in width, this soundbar is a great choice for those who don't have space for a larger standalone bar. Despite its small size, the bar can still bring a wide and immersive sound, thanks to its side-firing speakers that beam sound throughout your room. Compared to the first-generation model, this version adds support for Dolby Atmos content commonly found on streaming services and Blu-rays. As a result, you enjoy a clear and life-like feel with all your favorite movies and TV shows.

    You'll find a selection of sound enhancement features similar to the Sonos Arc. Like most premium bars, there's a room correction feature, which Sonos calls Trueplay, via the app on compatible iOS devices. With it on, vocals and lead instruments reproduce pretty clearly, and there's a touch of extra boom in the bass to bring action-packed scenes to life. If you want to customize it, bass and treble adjustments are available. That said, since this setup is smaller than the Arc, it doesn't get as loud. It brings an immersive feel with Atmos content, but it's not as life-like as what you get with the Arc. Still, it's a solid pick for those without a lot of space who want a premium bar.

    See our review

  3. Best Mid-Range All-In-One Soundbar

    The Samsung HW-S60B is a standalone soundbar that's a more affordable alternative to our top picks. This sleek 5.0 soundbar boasts a stylish design that's easy to blend into your living room decor, with an all-white alternative available known as the Samsung HW-S61B. Plus, it offers many different sound customization features to make the most of your listening experience. For example, there's a room correction tool on hand to optimize its sound based on your room's unique acoustics, as well as a graphic EQ to manually switch up its sound.

    Built-in Alexa support also lets you control the bar using your voice, which is a cool touch. Much like our top picks, this soundbar offers a pretty versatile performance suitable for listening to many different types of audio content. It has a clean and accurate stereo content reproduction, including most music and TV shows. Plus, it supports many audio formats commonly found on streaming platforms and Blu-rays, like Dolby Digital and Dolby Atmos. Compared to the Sonos Beam (Gen 2), the bar has to downmix height content like Atmos into surround sound to play it. The resulting sound is less clear or real, so you don't feel quite as immersed as with our top picks. If you don't watch much Atmos content, you may find it's a better deal.

    See our review

  4. Best Budget All-In-One Soundbar

    The Sony HT-S100F is the best budget all-in-one soundbar we've tested. It offers a solid upgrade over your existing TV speakers for an affordable price, so it's a great entry point for users who've never owned a soundbar before. It's less premium than the Samsung HW-S60B/S61B but still solid and well-built. As a 2.0 bar, it's ideal for stereo content, which includes most music and TV shows. Voices are clear in the mix, and there's even a dialogue enhancement tool to make it easier to follow along with the action on screen.

    With a small and compact design, this soundbar is ideal for those who don't have a ton of space in their living room setup. You can even use it with your computer, which is handy. That said, the bar's sound enhancement features are limited. Unlike the Samsung soundbar, there's no room correction tool, so it sounds slightly different depending on your room. Without bass and treble adjustments, you can't manually compensate for this. Still, if you want a simple, plug-and-play bar for less, it's worth checking out.

    See our review

  5. Best Standalone Soundbar With An Integrated Subwoofer

    Are you a bass lover? If so, you'll want to check out the Sennheiser AMBEO Soundbar MAX. It comes with an integrated subwoofer, and it's one of the only bars we've tested that can reproduce a deep and extended low bass without the need for a dedicated sub. As a result, it's a great choice for smaller spaces or anyone who doesn't have room for a bulky subwoofer. The bar is quite large and heavy, so it's not ideal for everyone, but it packs a punch, especially in the overall sound quality.

    This soundbar is great for listening to everything from music to movies to TV shows—and its virtual surround feature called AMBEO 3D is a handy way to enhance your listening experience. It offers a wide, immersive sound, with plenty of rumble in the bass during action-packed scenes. There's even a room correction mode, like the other premium bars on our list, and a graphic EQ to manually customize its sound across the range. It's a unique bar with a powerful performance overall. That said, given its size and price, bass lovers might find it's a better value to add on a separate sub to the Bose or the Sonos instead.

    See our review

Notable Mentions

  • Sony HT-A7000: The Sony HT-A7000 is a premium 7.1.2 setup with Dolby Atmos support. It provides a pretty immersive sound and has extra features like room correction, and it's compatible with 4k video at 120Hz via HDMI 2.1 if you're into gaming. However, it can't give the same immersive feeling as the Sonos Arc with Atmos and surround sound content. See our review
  • Sony HT-A5000: The Sony HT-A5000 is a 5.1.2 setup. It features 4k video at 120Hz passthrough using HDMI 2.1 compatibility. It can playback surround sound and Dolby Atmos content, though its sound isn't quite as clear or real as what you get with the Sonos Arc. See our review
  • Sennheiser AMBEO Soundbar Mini: The Sennheiser AMBEO Soundbar Mini is a good alternative to the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) if you want a small standalone bar with built-in voice assistant support. It has a graphic EQ for more control over its sound. However, its soundstage performance isn't quite as impressive as the Sonos, and it's more expensive. See our review
  • Sonos Ray: The Sonos Ray is the manufacturer's more budget-friendly all-in-one bar that's a good alternative to the Samsung HW-S60B/S61B if you want something that can integrate into your existing Sonos ecosystem. However, unlike the Samsung soundbar, it doesn't support Dolby Atmos content. See our review
  • Bose TV Speaker: The Bose TV Speaker is another budget-friendly all-in-one bar ideal for those already owning products in the manufacturer's ecosystem. Unlike the similarly-priced Samsung HW-S60B/S61B, it doesn't support Dolby Atmos content. See our review

Recent Updates

  1. Mar 18, 2024: This review was checked for accuracy with no changes to the picks.

  2. Jan 24, 2024: Added the Sennheiser AMBEO Soundbar Mini as a Notable Mention.

  3. Nov 27, 2023: Replaced the Bose Smart Soundbar 900 with the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar as an alternative to the Sonos Arc since it offers better bass.

  4. Oct 03, 2023: Confirmed the accuracy and availability of product picks.

  5. Aug 09, 2023: Replaced the Sonos Ray with the Samsung HW-S60B/S61B as 'Best Mid-Range'. Added the Sonos Ray and the Bose TV Speaker to Notable Mentions.

All Reviews

Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best all-in-one soundbars and the best soundbars without subwoofer add-ons for most people to buy. We factor in the price (a cheaper soundbar wins over a pricier one if the difference isn't worth it), feedback from our visitors, and availability (no soundbars that are difficult to find or almost out of stock everywhere).

If you would like to choose for yourself, here's the list of all our standalone soundbar reviews. Be careful not to get caught up in the details. No soundbar is perfect. Personal taste, preference, and listening habits will matter more in your selection.