No home entertainment system can deliver an extraordinary experience without proper sound quality, even if you have the best picture quality from your TV. Like in a movie theater or a stadium, sound plays an important role in immersing the audience. TVs are getting thinner and thinner, which means less space for proper speakers. Despite this, our testing shows that some modern high-end TVs can get loud; some have okay bass and deliver clear and understandable dialogue, but the sound quality is nothing compared to a proper sound setup. We suggest you check our recommendations for the best soundbars if you want the best sound. However, there are still some TVs that provide solid enough sound to immerse you in your content.
Below are our recommendations for the TVs with the best sound you can buy. If you're more concerned about image quality, make sure to check out recommendations for the best TVs, the best outdoor TVs, and the best smart TVs. You can also vote on which new models you want us to purchase and test. To learn more about the current TV models on the market, check out our 2025 TV lineup page.
Quick Look
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests are done with specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
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Best Sounding TV
Mixed Usage8.9Home Theater8.9Bright Room8.2Sports8.4Gaming9.2Brightness8.5Black Level10Color8.8Processing (In Development)8.7Game Mode Responsiveness9.4Resolution4kNative Refresh Rate144HzScreen FinishGlossyTypeOLEDSub-TypeWOLEDSee all our test resultsDolby VisionYesThe best-sounding TV we've tested is the Panasonic Z95B OLED. It has a built-in 170W 5.1.2 sound system with Atmos support, which gives it similar sound quality to a mid-range soundbar. Although its bass isn't as deep as soundbars with a dedicated subwoofer on your floor, the built-in subwoofer provides more bass than traditional TV speakers, so you hear some low-end rumble in movies, shows, and games. The sound profile is pretty well-balanced, and dialogue is easy to understand due to its dedicated center channel, even in action scenes. The speakers get loud enough to fill a room, which is great if you're seated towards the back of a large space. You can also plug your own soundbar or home theater system into the TV, since it passes through all Dolby audio formats. However, it doesn't pass through DTS audio formats commonly found on physical media.
Fortunately, you also get one of the best-looking OLED TVs on the market. Blacks are inky, colors are incredibly vibrant, and it has excellent brightness, so movies and shows look incredible whether they're in SDR or HDR. It has solid reflection handling, so you can use it in a bright room, and reflections aren't a major issue. The TV also has modern gaming features like HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 4k @ 144Hz, and VRR. Furthermore, it displays crystal clear motion, so fast-paced games look great.
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Best Sounding Bright Room TV
Mixed Usage8.4Home Theater8.6Bright Room8.5Sports8.5Gaming7.7Brightness9.0Black Level8.7Color8.5Processing (In Development)8.7Game Mode Responsiveness6.5Resolution4kNative Refresh Rate120HzScreen FinishGlossyTypeLEDSub-TypeVASee all our test resultsDolby VisionYesThe best-sounding TV for a bright room we've tested is the Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED, an amazing TV loaded with modern features. It uses a 70W 2.2.2 channel speaker system with two mid-range drivers, two tweeters, two beam tweeters, and two subwoofers. Its well-balanced sound profile makes dialogue clear and easy to understand. Even though it doesn't have a ton of low-end rumble, it does produce a small amount of bass, so the speakers don't sound hollow. It gets very loud, with little compression at high volume levels. It supports eARC and a wide range of audio formats, including DTS:X via DTS-HD MA, which is great as it's the most commonly supported format on UHD Blu-ray movies. The TV also has Sony's S-Center speaker input, which allows you to use the TV's built-in speakers as a center channel when paired with certain Sony soundbars and receivers.
Additionally, the TV has excellent picture quality. It delivers deep blacks that are as close to OLEDs like the Panasonic Z95B OLED as you can currently get, with minimal haloing thanks to its incredible local dimming control. The BRAVIA 9 is also one of the brightest TVs on the market, so it easily overcomes glare in well-lit rooms, and highlights in HDR content really stand out. The TV also delivers vibrant and lifelike colors thanks to its wide color gamut, so you get an impressive HDR experience whether you're gaming or watching movies. Finally, it has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 4k @ 120Hz, and VRR, so it's also a good gaming TV.
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Best Sounding Mid-Range TV
Mixed Usage7.2Home Theater7.2Bright Room7.5Sports7.6Gaming6.7Brightness6.7Black Level6.7Color7.4Processing (In Development)8.7Game Mode Responsiveness6.6Resolution4kNative Refresh Rate120HzScreen FinishGlossyTypeLEDSub-TypeVASee all our test resultsDolby VisionYesThe Sony BRAVIA 5 is the best-sounding mid-range TV we've tested. It has a 40W speaker system built in that actually gets pretty loud, so it does a pretty good job filling rooms with sound. There's not much bass to be heard, but the sound profile is well-balanced, so dialogue is easy to understand. If you have your own soundbar or surround sound system, you can use the TV's built-in speakers as a dedicated center channel with the rest of your setup. It also passes through all DTS and Dolby audio formats, so it has great compatibility with streaming services and physical media.
The TV also has pretty good image quality. It has local dimming to deepen blacks without any severe haloing, colors have good vibrancy, and the TV is bright enough in SDR to handle glare in a bright room. However, it's a bit dim in HDR, so highlights don't pop out very much in HDR movies, shows, and games. The TV has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 4k @ 120Hz, and VRR, so it's fully compatible with the features offered by modern gaming consoles.
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Best Sounding Budget TV
Mixed Usage7.1Home Theater7.2Bright Room7.0Sports7.1Gaming7.2Brightness6.5Black Level7.6Color7.2Processing (In Development)7.0Game Mode Responsiveness7.9Resolution4kNative Refresh Rate144HzScreen FinishGlossyTypeLEDSub-TypeVASee all our test resultsDolby VisionYesThe TCL QM6K is the best budget TV with decent sound quality that we've tested. The TV has a 40W 2.1 channel Onkyo sound system built in, but like most TVs, it barely produces any bass. Dialogue is easy to understand at low and moderate volume levels, but it becomes pretty unbalanced at the TV's maximum volume, which makes voices hard to hear during louder action scenes. Furthermore, the TV speakers don't get very loud, so you might find yourself using the speakers near maximum volume more often than not. If you eventually upgrade to a dedicated soundbar or surround sound system, the TV passes through all DTS and Dolby audio formats, which ensures great compatibility.
Fortunately, this is also one of, if not the best, budget TVs currently available. It has local dimming to help deepen blacks, so dark scenes don't look washed out. However, there's some haloing around subtitles and highlights in otherwise dark scenes. Colors aren't super vibrant on this model, but they look good enough that the image doesn't look dull. The TV is bright enough in SDR to handle glare in a well-lit room. However, its HDR brightness is a bit more limited, so highlights don't stand out as much as they should in HDR content. The TV is loaded with modern gaming features like HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 4k @ 144Hz, 1080p @ 288Hz, and VRR, so it's a solid option for both console and PC gamers.
Notable Mentions
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LG G5 OLED:
The LG G5 OLED is very similar to the Panasonic Z95B OLED when it comes to image quality. However, the G5 is a lot brighter in SDR, supports 4k @ 165Hz, and has a slight edge in color vibrancy. The G5 has good speakers built in, but they're not as powerful, don't produce as much bass, and don't surround you with as much audio, so the Panasonic sounds quite a bit better.
See our review -
Sony BRAVIA 7:
If you want a Sony TV and like what the Sony BRAVIA 9 offers, but it's out of your price range, consider the Sony BRAVIA 7. It's not as loud, and its sound profile isn't as well-balanced, but it still provides clear dialogue at moderate volume levels. The BRAVIA 7 doesn't look as good as the BRAVIA 9, but it still performs well in bright rooms and dark rooms, making it a solid TV overall.
See our review
Recent Updates
Nov 19, 2025:
Replaced the Panasonic Z95A OLED with the Panasonic Z95B OLED in the 'Best Sounding TV' category, the Sony BRAVIA 5 with the TCL QM8K in the 'Best Sounding Mid-Range TV' category, and the Hisense U6N with the TCL QM6K in the 'Best Sounding Budget TV' category. We also updated the Notable Mentions.
Apr 30, 2025:
We made the Panasonic Z95A OLED our new top pick and moved the Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED into a new 'Best Sounding Bright Room TV' category. We also moved the LG G4 OLED into Notable Mentions.
Dec 18, 2024:
We replaced the Sony X90L/X90CL with the Sony BRAVIA 7 QLED in the Notable Mentions section.
Oct 04, 2024: Replaced the LG G3 OLED, the Hisense U8/U8K, and the Hisense U6/U6K with their 2024 successors. We also updated some text throughout for clarity.
Jul 09, 2024: We replaced the Sony X93L/X93CL with the Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED in the 'Best Sounding TV' category and refreshed some text throughout for accuracy.
All Reviews
Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the TVs with the best sound to buy for most people with different needs. We factor in the price (a cheaper TV wins over a pricier one if the difference isn't worth it) and availability (no TVs that are difficult to find or almost out of stock everywhere).
If you would like to do the work of choosing yourself, here is the list of all our reviews of TVs, sorted by their sound quality. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While no TV is perfect, most TVs are great enough to please almost everyone, and the differences are often not noticeable unless you really look for them. Keep in mind that no TV can deliver the sound quality of a dedicated sound system or a soundbar. Also, keep in mind that our scores aren't comparable across different test benches, so most of the older TVs in the list below score higher than they would today.