The Bowers & Wilkins Formation Bar is a 3.0 setup. This premium soundbar has a very stylish design, and you can upgrade it down the line with a Formation subwoofer and satellite speakers. Its sound profile is pretty neutral, but there's a noticeable lack of thump and rumble in the low-bass, especially when watching movies. It also doesn't have any HDMI connections, which is pretty disappointing for such a high-end setup. It doesn't support object-based and lossless audio formats like Dolby Atmos or DTS:X. With no remote and a limited selection of physical controls on the bar, you also need to use its apps to control most of its features.
Our Verdict
The Bowers & Wilkins Formation Bar is fair for mixed usage. Its sound profile out-of-the-box is fairly neutral, with some extra muddiness in the high-bass that can slightly thin out vocals and lead instruments and a touch of extra brightness in the treble. You can notice the lack of low-bass in bass-heavy music and action-packed movies, though. Movie fans are also likely to be disappointed by the lack of Dolby Atmos support and its poor surrounds performance.
- Gets loud.
- Bass and treble adjustments.
- Stylish design.
- Lacks low-bass.
- Limited selection of sound enhancement features.
- No HDMI connections.
The Bowers & Wilkins Formation Bar is okay for dialogue-centric content like TV shows. This 3.0 setup has a discrete center channel that anchors voices to a pinpoint location in the soundstage, so you feel more immersed in your audio. However, there aren't any dialogue enhancement or night mode features to help improve the quality of dialogue. While there are a lot of wireless playback options to help you stream podcasts to the bar, we had some issues connecting via Bluetooth and Apple AirPlay 2.
- Gets loud.
- Limited selection of sound enhancement features.
The Bowers & Wilkins Formation Bar is decent for music. Its sound profile out-of-the-box is fairly neutral, with some extra muddiness in the high-bass that can slightly thin out vocals and lead instruments and a touch of extra brightness. Without a subwoofer, it struggles to reproduce the deep thump and rumble in the low-bass, so it's not ideal for fans of bass-heavy genres like EDM. There are some bass and treble adjustments to help you customize its sound, but unfortunately, it lacks a full graphic EQ.
- Gets loud.
- Bass and treble adjustments.
- Lacks low-bass.
- Limited selection of sound enhancement features.
The Bowers & Wilkins Formation Bar is middling for movies. There's no support for Dolby Atmos or DTS content. Also, it has to downmix surround content into stereo, which doesn't sound very immersive. While the dialogue is reproduced fairly clearly, there's a noticeable lack of low-bass, especially when you're watching action-heavy scenes in movies. On the upside, it does get pretty loud.
- Gets loud.
- Bass and treble adjustments.
- Lacks low-bass.
- Limited selection of sound enhancement features.
- No HDMI connections.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
This soundbar is available in 'Black', and you can see the label for the model we tested here.
If you come across another version of this soundbar, let us know in the discussions, and we'll update our review.
Popular Soundbar Comparisons
The Bowers & Wilkins Formation Bar is a very premium 3.0 soundbar that can be upgraded down the line with a subwoofer and satellites. Despite its high-end price, it lacks HDMI connections, and it doesn't support any object-based or lossless audio formats like DTS:X or Dolby Atmos. There's also a very limited selection of sound enhancement features to choose from.
See also our recommendations for the best soundbars, the best soundbars for music, and the best soundbars for movies.
The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is better than the Bowers & Wilkins Formation Bar. The Sonos is a 5.0 setup with Dolby Atmos support. It has better soundstage and surround performances, and there are more sound enhancement features available such as room correction. Also, unlike the Bowers & Wilkins, it has HDMI connections.
The Sonos Playbar is better than the Bowers & Wilkins Formation Bar. The Sonos is better built with better soundstage and center channel performances. It also offers more sound enhancement features to customize its sound. However, the Bowers & Wilkins does offer more wireless playback options, including Bluetooth.
The Bose Smart Soundbar 900 is a better standalone option than the Bowers & Wilkins Formation Bar. The Bose is a better-built 5.0.2 setup that supports Dolby Atmos content and has better soundstage and surround performances. Also, it comes with HDMI connections, unlike the Bowers & Wilkins.
The Sonos Arc is better than the Bowers & Wilkins Formation Bar. The Sonos is a 5.0.2 setup that's better built. Unlike the Bowers & Wilkins, it has Dolby Atmos support and an HDMI ARC port. Its soundstage, center, and surround performances are better, and it offers more sound enhancement features. That said, it isn't Bluetooth-compatible like the Bowers & Wilkins.
Test Results
