Our Soundbar Connectivity Tests

If you want to connect your soundbar to your gaming console, PC, TV, and more, you'll want to see which physical inputs are available. Most soundbars we've tested have ARC and Optical In ports, commonly used to connect the soundbar to your TV. However, a Full HDMI In port can also be helpful for some listeners since it allows you to use your bar as a hub between different devices and may also support high-quality passthrough. That said, you may also want to get your audio from other sources like older devices or USB drives, so other ports like AUX In or USB In may be important to you.

If you plan to connect your soundbar to your media device via ARC, you'll want to make sure that it supports the audio formats you like to watch. Dolby Digital is the most common surround sound format on the market, and you can often find it on Blu-ray discs and streaming platforms. DTS is a competitor to Dolby Digital, often used as the fallback for the higher-quality DTS-HD MA format. However, ARC doesn't support more than a 5.1 channel setup, so unless it has an eARC standard built-in, it can't support more advanced audio standards like Dolby Atmos or DTS:X.

During our testing process, we plug the soundbar into the HDMI Out port of our testing TV. Then, we plug our testing PC into the HDMI In port of the TV. We play the audio formats to see if the soundbar reproduces it clearly. It's important to keep in mind that the soundbar doesn't always tell us if it's playing the correct audio format or downmixing it, so it can be hard to know what the soundbar supports.

A Full HDMI In port is another option for connecting media devices like TVs to your soundbar. Unlike ARC ports, Full HDMI In ports can support 7.1 formats and above, making it easy to watch object-based formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. That said, depending on the audio formats you prefer, you may want a soundbar that supports certain formats. Dolby Digital is the most popular surround sound format, commonly found on Blu-ray discs and streaming platforms.

We use a splitter to send the same audio format to both the soundbar and the receiver. We make sure that the receiver is also displaying the correct format and that the soundbar is reproducing sound properly. However, if the sound is choppy or if the bar is silent, we know that the particular audio format isn't supported.

If you want to connect devices like your TV to your soundbar, you may want to use the Optical In port. Compared to Full HDMI In and ARC ports, Optical has fewer features available. It doesn't support 7.1-channel surround formats like Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD, or Dolby Digital Plus, so you can only use it for 5.1 formats like Dolby Digital and DTS if they're available.

We perform the audio format support test for Optical using the same procedure as our Full HDMI In tests.

Latency is a measurement that shows the delay between the audio you hear and the video you see. You may have noticed latency issues while watching videos before, especially if the words you heard didn't seem to be in sync with the character's lip movements. If you plan on watching a lot of videos over devices connected via ARC, Full HDMI In, and Optical, you'll want to make sure that your audio and video match up correctly.

We evaluate the latency over the Full HDMI In, ARC, and Optical In ports. We connect the same Samsung Q80T TV for consistency and set up a tripod 5.75 feet away from the TV to record the results. Then, we play an audiovisual latency video and record the results. However, it's important to keep in mind that some TVs and some apps can compensate for latency differently, so your experience may be a bit different from our results.

You can learn more about our soundbar latency tests here.

Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets can be convenient locations to store audio content like music, podcasts, and audiobooks. You may be able to wire some of these devices to your soundbar for audio playback, but many listeners find it more convenient to connect wirelessly. For this test, we look to see if the bar supports Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Chromecast built-in, and Apple AirPlay, which are some of the more common wireless playback options on the market. Bluetooth can be especially useful since it doesn't require an Internet connection to work. However, your device may offer other connectivity options depending on their brand, like Apple's AirPlay or Google's Chromecast built-in. It's important to keep in mind that we don't test the performance of the wireless playback options, and we only report what the soundbar supports.

If you like to use your soundbar as a hub between different devices, you may want a soundbar that supports high-quality passthrough. Some soundbars support video passthrough, which lets you connect your media device like a PC or Blu-ray player to the soundbar and then connect the soundbar to your TV without losing video resolution. As a result, images on your TV look vivid and bright, and text appears clear and crisp. Your audio on the soundbar will be clear, too, and you'll have fewer unsightly cables around.

Our team uses an HDMI cable to plug our testing PC into the soundbar's Full HDMI In port. We then connect the soundbar's HDMI Out port to our testing TV's HDMI In port. We attempt to playback the different formats, using the Windows Advanced display settings to confirm whether or not the display information is correct. Keep in mind that if a soundbar doesn't have a Full HDMI In port, you won't be able to use it for high-quality passthrough.

Depending on how your room is set up, you may want to position your subwoofer in a specific place. Some listeners may find that their listening experience is enhanced by positioning the subwoofer in one location, while others may be more concerned with keeping a bulkier sub out of sight. Also, a sub with many wires could be distracting or unsightly and may even pose a tripping hazard if you can't place it out of the way.

For this test, we evaluate how the subwoofer connects to other devices. Most of the time, your subwoofer connects to your soundbar wirelessly, meaning that you only have to plug it into an outlet to get it to work. In rare cases, you may need to wire your subwoofer to the soundbar; this could be limiting for some listeners.

For many listeners, it's important to have a lot of flexibility when placing their satellite speakers in their room. For example, you may want to position them beside or behind your couch to feel more immersed in your audio content. However, depending on how your soundbar is designed, you may have some limitations on where you can place the satellites.

For this test, we evaluate how the satellites connect to other devices. In most cases, you'll need to at least plug the satellites into a power outlet to get them to work. However, you may also need to plug them into the subwoofer, the soundbar, or a special wireless receiver unit, which can limit where you place them in your setup. In unique cases, like with the JBL Bar 9.1, you may be able to find truly wireless satellite speakers that can be placed anywhere in your room after charging them.