The 5 Best Soundbars For Dialogue - Fall 2020
Reviews

The best soundbar for dialogue we’ve tested so far is the Sony HT-Z9F. This 3.1 setup has a well-balanced sound profile, and its wireless subwoofer provides a bit of extra bass for action-heavy TV shows. Thanks to its dedicated center channel, this soundbar is excellent at clearly and accurately reproducing dialogue-heavy content like podcasts and TV shows.

This soundbar has many sound enhancement features that can help improve your listening experience. There's a dialogue enhancement feature that brings more clarity to your listening experience, as well as a night mode feature that helps keep commercials from sounding louder than your show. Six different EQ presets allow you to customize the bar's sound profile to match your audio content. You can also use this soundbar for surround sound and Atmos content, but without dedicated surround speakers, the sound isn't nearly as immersive as other setups.

On the other hand, this soundbar faces steep competition. The Samsung HW-R650 may offer better value, but it was discontinued after the 2020 launch of the Samsung HW-T650 and may be hard to find. We plan on reviewing the new model, but since we haven't tested it yet, we can't confirm that it performs as well as the older Samsung.

The Sonos Beam is the best standalone soundbar for dialogue that we've tested to date. This compact 3.0 channel soundbar packs a punch for its small size. It has a well-balanced sound profile and its dedicated center channel helps to provide clear dialogue for your favorite TV shows or podcasts.

This soundbar has a lot of sound enhancement features that can help immerse you in your audio. Its room correction feature allows it to adapt to your room setup so that it can reproduce audio that sounds more accurate. There's also a night mode and a dialogue enhancement feature that can help make voices clearer and easier to understand, at any volume. If you want to upgrade this setup down the line, it's easy as Sonos also sells wireless subwoofers or rear speakers separately.

On the downside, this soundbar lacks connectivity options like a full HDMI In port. You won't be able to stream podcasts from your mobile device using Bluetooth, and there's no DTS support. If an HDMI input is a necessity, the JBL Link Bar has three HDMI inputs as well as an HDMI ARC port. It can also support Bluetooth as well as Chromecast built-in, and it can play DTS files. However, it's much bigger than the Sonos and its reproduction of voices isn't as clear.

The best soundbar for dialogue in the budget range that we've tested so far is the Yamaha YAS-209. It's currently priced at over $300; however, it's been seen under that price point recently. This 2.1 speaker setup has a well-balanced sound profile that does a good job making voices sound clear and accurate.

For a budget soundbar, there are still a decent amount of sound enhancement features to improve your listening experience. This soundbar comes with a dialogue enhancement feature, and you can even choose between six different EQ presets to better suit your needs. Its dedicated subwoofer also provides a bit of extra bass for action-packed scenes. It may not get as loud as some of the other soundbars we've tested, but it should still satisfy most listeners.

On the downside, this soundbar doesn't have the best build quality, and the mesh-like fabric covering the soundbar tends to attract dust and dirt. Also, there isn't a dedicated center channel, so it doesn't reproduce center sound as clearly as some other soundbars. However, as an upgrade over the now-discontinued Yamaha YAS-207, this soundbar comes with some new features including Wi-Fi wireless playback capabilities that make it easy to play audio from your phone, tablet, and TV.