The 6 Best Soundbars For Dialogue - Fall 2021 Reviews

The Samsung HW-Q950A is the best soundbar for dialogue clarity that we've tested. This premium 11.1.4 setup offers a very versatile overall performance, and its discrete center channel accurately localizes voices to a pinpoint location in the sound image. It also has a very balanced and neutral sound profile out-of-the-box, so voices are reproduced clearly and with detail.

This setup comes with lots of sound enhancement features to help improve your listening experience, including an Auto EQ room correction feature and a graphic EQ for sound customization. You can also use its Active Voice Amplifier to make voices in your TV shows sound more clear and crisp, and its auto-volume mode helps balance the volume level across different programs. It also supports lots of wireless playback options, so you can wirelessly stream podcasts and audiobooks to the bar.

Unfortunately, though it has a good build quality overall, the fabric covering the bar and the satellites seem like they could rip or get dirty easily. Also, you can't wirelessly stream audio to the bar via Chromecast built-in, which could be disappointing for some users. That said, this versatile setup is a solid choice for listeners who want to hear dialogue clearly in music, movies, and TV shows.

The Sennheiser AMBEO Soundbar is the best standalone soundbar for dialogue that we've tested. This 5.1.4 setup has a unique design with 13 speakers that help create a more immersive listening experience without satellite speakers. It has a discrete center channel, too, so voices are reproduced clearly and with detail.

Out-of-the-box, it offers a neutral, balanced mid-range that's suitable for dialogue-centric content like podcasts and TV shows. There's also a graphic EQ and presets available to help you customize its sound, as well as a room correction feature to optimize audio reproduction based on your room. If you want to make voices clear and crisp, you can also use its dialogue enhancement feature.

Unfortunately, it's pretty big and tall, so it may not fit very easily into your existing setup. Also, it lacks some bass out-of-the-box, so you don't feel the deep thump and rumble in action-packed movies. However, this shouldn't be too noticeable since there usually isn't much bass reproduced with dialogue-heavy content. You can also use its bass adjustment feature to add more punch to your audio.

The Sonos Beam is the best soundbar for speech that we've tested if you prefer a small bar. This well-built 3.0 soundbar comes with a room correction feature that automatically optimizes audio reproduction based on the unique acoustic characteristics of your room. With this feature turned on, it has a very neutral sound profile that can reproduce dialogue clearly and accurately.

Despite its small size, this soundbar can still get loud, and it uses its side-firing speakers along with its center channel to help create a wide-sounding soundstage. There are bass and treble adjustments available to help you customize its sound and a dialogue enhancement mode for clearer speech. It also has built-in support for both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, which is handy.

Unfortunately, this small soundbar struggles to reproduce a thumpy, punchy low-bass, which can be disappointing for fans of bass-heavy audio. It doesn't support Dolby Atmos content, either, so it may not be ideal for some movie fans. That said, if you like to watch TV shows and don't have a lot of space in your setup, it's a solid choice.

The best soundbar for dialogue in the budget range we tested is the Vizio V Series V51-H6. This 5.1 setup has a very balanced sound profile out-of-the-box, especially in the mid-range where most voices are reproduced. As a result, the dialogue in vocal-centric content like TV shows and podcasts is clear and detailed. You can even use the dialogue enhancement mode to make them more crisp.

This setup comes with a dedicated subwoofer as well as two discrete satellite speakers. It supports surround content, and its satellites help to more accurately localize surround objects within the sound image. There are also a couple of EQ presets as well as bass and treble adjustments available to help you customize its sound based on your preferences.

Unfortunately, this soundbar doesn't support Dolby Atmos content, which can be disappointing if you like to watch movies. Also, it lacks a Full HDMI In port, so you can't use it as a hub between different devices like your PC and your TV. That said, you can still connect it to your TV via ARC or Optical In.