TCL Alto 3  Soundbar Review

The TCL Alto 3 is a simple, rectangular soundbar. It's mostly made of plastic, and there's a glossy finish on the top, back, and underneath of the bar and a matte finish on the sides. There's also fabric covering the front.

There's no subwoofer with this soundbar.

There aren't any satellites in this setup.

This soundbar is fairly compact, so it should easily fit between the legs of most 55" TVs. It isn't very tall, either, so it shouldn't block your screen unless your TV sits flush on the table.

This setup doesn't have a subwoofer.

This soundbar doesn't come with satellite speakers.

On the back of the soundbar, there's an opening for the inputs and the power cable. Unfortunately, it doesn't have any mounting holes, so you can't wall-mount it.

This setup doesn't have a subwoofer.

This setup doesn't have any satellites.

The TCL Alto 3 has a decent build quality. It's mostly made of plastic, which feels solid and durable. However, the fabric covering the front of the bar could easily rip or get dirty. Also, like the TCL Alto 5, the glossy plastic on the top, back, and underneath the bar can collect fingerprints.

• Quick Start guide
• Optical cable
• Remote with batteries (2x AAA)
• Power cord for soundbar

The TCL Alto 3 has a poor stereo frequency response. It lacks a lot of low bass, even compared to other budget-friendly standalone models like the TCL Alto 6, so you really don't feel the deep thump and rumble in bass-heavy music genres like EDM and hip-hop. It's also underemphasized in the treble range, so voices and lead instruments can lack detail and sound a bit lispy or dull. However, its balanced mid-range is suitable for listening to vocal-centric content like podcasts or TV shows. There are also a few EQ presets to help you adjust its sound.

The TCL Alto 3 has a middling stereo soundstage. The soundstage is about as wide as the bar itself, but the bar is quite small. It has an okay focus, but objects in the stereo image like footsteps seem to come from a general area, rather than an exact, pinpoint location.

The TCL Alto 3 has very good stereo dynamics. It doesn't get as loud as some of the other soundbars we've tested, so it may not be suitable for use in large rooms or at crowded parties. However, it doesn't have a lot of compression at max volume, which is nice.

The TCL Alto 3 has a very good stereo total harmonic distortion performance. At normal listening volumes, there isn't a lot of distortion, resulting in clean and pure audio reproduction. There's a bit of a jump in THD when you play the bar at max volume, but this shouldn't be too audible with real-life content.

This soundbar has a fair center channel performance. It doesn't have a dedicated center speaker, so it uses the left and right speakers to create a sound in the center. However, this doesn't sound as clear or real as a discrete center speaker. On the upside, the sound profile is quite neutral, which is suitable for dialogue-heavy content like podcasts and audiobooks.

The TCL Alto 3 has a poor surround performance. It has to downmix surround content into stereo, which doesn't sound as clear and real as a soundbar with discrete surround speakers. Surround objects seem like they're coming from in front of you, rather than from all around you.

This soundbar doesn't support Atmos content.

This soundbar only has three EQ presets: 'Movie', 'Music', and 'TV'. The 'TV' mode doubles as a dialogue enhancement feature, so voices sound more clear and crisp. Check out the Creative Stage if you want a similarly-priced soundbar with bass and treble adjustments.

The TCL Alto 3 has a few inputs. There's a 3.5mm AUX port, so you can play music from your smartphone using the bar. However, it lacks HDMI inputs, so you can't use the bar as a hub between your devices.

This soundbar doesn't have any HDMI ARC inputs.

This soundbar doesn't have any HDMI inputs.

This soundbar supports Dolby Digital over an optical connection. However, it doesn't support DTS content, which is often found on Blu-ray discs and streaming platforms.

The TCL Alto 3 has mediocre wireless playback options. You can stream audio from your phone or tablet to the bar wirelessly via Bluetooth, but that's about it.

The TCL Alto 3 doesn't have an HDMI In port, so it can't support high-signal passthrough.

There's no separate subwoofer in this setup.

This soundbar doesn't have any satellite speakers.

The TCL Alto 3 has a simple interface with one LED light on the center of the bar that changes colors depending on the command. It tells you whether the bar is on standby or mute, your input, and your EQ preset.

On the side of the bar, physical buttons let you turn the bar on and off, change the source for inputs, and adjust the volume.

The remote is simple and allows for the same controls that can be found on the bar. It also lets you activate Bluetooth pairing, change the EQ setting, play/pause your content, and mute the bar.

This soundbar doesn't have a dedicated companion app.

The TCL Alto 3 doesn't have a power-saving feature, so you have to physically press the power button on the bar to turn it off. It also doesn't support HDMI CEC, so you can't use your TV remote to control the bar's basic functions.