Roku Streambar Soundbar Review

The Roku Streambar is a 2.0 soundbar from this manufacturer's 2020 lineup. Just like the Roku Smart Soundbar, it offers access to several streaming platforms in one place thanks to Roku's streaming media player. You can also purchase wireless satellite speakers and a subwoofer separately to upgrade your setup. There's a mic built into its remote, so you can control some features using your voice. However, it doesn't come 'Roku TV Ready' so you can't connect it to a Roku TV to use that TV's remote to control the bar. Its main competitors are the Sony HT-S100F, the LG SK1, and the Bose Solo 5.

The Roku Streambar is a very small soundbar with angled edges. Its front and sides are wrapped in tight fabric that almost feels like it's stuck to the soundbar's body, while the top and rear of the bar are made from hard plastic.

The Roku Streambar doesn't come with a subwoofer, but you can purchase a Roku Wireless Subwoofer separately.

This setup doesn't have any satellites, but you can buy Roku Wireless Speakers separately.

This soundbar is quite small and can easily fit between the legs of most 55" TVs. It's not very tall, so it shouldn't block your TV unless it sits flush to the table.

This setup doesn't come with a subwoofer.

There aren't any satellites in this setup.

The back of this soundbar has one opening for its inputs and power cord. There are also universal holes on its underside so that you can wall-mount it, but the mounting parts are sold separately.

This setup doesn't come with a subwoofer.

The Roku Streambar doesn't come with any satellites.

The Roku Streambar has a great build quality. Its top and rear sides are made of dense hard plastic, while the front and sides of the bar are wrapped in a tight fabric, so it doesn't feel like it can easily rip. That said, dust and dirt may still collect on the fabric. There's rubber underneath the soundbar, which is a nice touch.

• Remote
• Batteries (2x AAA)
• Quick Start guide
• Optical cable
• HDMI cable
• Power cable
• Power adapter

The Roku Streambar's stereo frequency response is disappointing. It really struggles to produce a thumpy low-bass and the treble sounds a bit veiled. That said, it can reproduce vocal-centric content like audiobooks or podcasts clearly.

The Roku Streambar's stereo soundstage is decent. The soundstage is a bit wider than the bar, which is quite impressive for such a small bar, but it doesn't do any tricks to make it sound larger. The soundstage's focus is okay, but sounds seem to accelerate towards the far sides of the bar. That said, the focus is much more consistent towards the center, so objects are perceived as coming from accurate, pinpoint locations.

The Roku Streambar has okay stereo dynamics. It doesn't get as loud as many other soundbars we've tested, and won't be loud enough for a large or crowded room, but that's to be expected of its small size. While it also has a few compression artifacts present at max volume, it shouldn't be too noticeable.

This soundbar has a decent THD performance. There isn't a lot of distortion at normal listening levels, resulting in clean and pure audio reproduction. However, if you push the bar to its max volume, there's a jump in THD. That said, this may not be noticeable with real-life content.

The Roku Streambar has a decent center channel performance. It uses its left and right-firing speakers to mimic a center speaker, which doesn't sound as clear and detailed as a dedicated center speaker. Still, it can reproduce clear and accurate dialogue.

The Roku Streambar has a terrible surrounds performance. It has to downmix this content into stereo to play it, which doesn't sound as immersive as a setup with dedicated satellite speakers. It also doesn't result in a clear representation of objects in the surround image. Its audio reproduction is bass-heavy, and objects are perceived as coming from in front of you rather than from beside or around you.

The Roku Streambar doesn't support Atmos content.

This soundbar has poor sound enhancement features. It offers four EQ presets: 'Normal', 'Reduce Bass', 'Bass Off', and 'Bass Boost'. There's also an auto-volume/night mode as well as a dialogue enhancement feature. However, it lacks room correction.

Update 12/01/2020: Thanks to user feedback, we updated the HDMI Out to 1 (shared). Even though this soundbar doesn't have a Full HDMI In port, it has a Roku source built-in, so you don't need to have an ARC port on your TV to use the streaming features.

This soundbar has a couple of inputs. It doesn't have an HDMI In port, so you won't be able to use this bar as a hub between your TV and devices like a Blu-ray player. If you have an external hard drive or a flash drive, you can play audio from these devices using its USB port.

Update 01/13/2021: We re-evaluated our methodology for ARC support and concluded that DTS and Dolby Digital+ support should be reported the same over an ARC connection as over an HDMI IN and Optical connection, so we updated our results from "Yes" to "No". Some TVs, like the one we initially used for testing, may convert this content, but other TV brands may not. Ultimately, your experience may vary depending on your TV.

The Roku Streambar has mediocre audio support via its ARC port. It supports Dolby Digital content, which is commonly found on Blu-ray discs as well as streaming platforms. However, depending on the TV you use, it may not support DTS or Dolby Digital Plus.

This soundbar doesn't have a Full HDMI In port.

The Roku Streambar has mediocre audio format support via its Optical In port. It can only support Dolby Digital content and can't play DTS content, which is commonly found on Blu-ray discs or streaming platforms.

Update 05/26/2021: After a recent update, the Roku Streambar now supports Apple AirPlay 2.

This soundbar has incredible wireless playback options. You can wirelessly stream your favorite audio from your mobile device via Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay 2, or Wi-Fi. However, you can't connect to the bar using Chromecast built-in.

This soundbar doesn't have an HDMI In port, so it doesn't support 4k passthrough.

This soundbar doesn't come with a subwoofer, but you can purchase one separately.

There aren't any satellites in this setup, but Roku sells these separately.

The Roku Streambar doesn't have a display. Just like the Roku Smart Soundbar, it has a light in the center of the bar. It turns solid red when you've plugged it in and turns green when it's ready. The light also slowly pulses when you're on mute and it turns white for a moment to indicate that you've made a command. Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing its volume level if the TV is off.

This bar doesn't have any standard controls. It only has a reset button on the rear of the bar.

The Roku Streambar comes with a small and simple remote. You can control almost all of the bar's features. However, its companion app gives you access to Private Listening mode, so that you can listen to your TV's audio using headphones connected to your mobile device. The manufacturer also advertises voice control, although we don't currently test for this.

The Roku app controls all of the Roku Streambar's settings. You can turn the bar on/off, adjust volume levels, access channels, cast device files, change EQ presets, and adjust the auto-volume and dialogue enhancement features. There's also a unique feature called Private Listening mode which lets you listen to your TV's audio from headphones that are connected to your phone or tablet.

This soundbar doesn't really turn off and even when powering the bar off, it mainly turns the TV off. When connected via ARC, your TV remote can also power the bar on/off, and adjust volume.