The Best Premium Soundbars to Buy in 2025

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There’s no question that the slimming down of flat screen TVs has come with a lot of great benefits. They’re easier to move, possible to wall mount, and you can get an impressive 65-inch 4K Ultra HD TV for under $500. The only significant downside to ultra thin TVs is that there isn’t enough room inside them for a decent sound system.

You can appreciate how beautiful a movie like “Wicked” or “Dune: Part 2” looks, especially if you watch it in 4K Ultra HD, but not how it sounds. That’s especially true if you care about surround sound, which requires multiple drivers (the part of a speaker that makes sound) to successfully pull off. Until recently, the only way to solve this problem properly was investing in multiple speakers and an AV receiver, which requires a lot of space and money.

However, soundbars have gotten a lot better over the past couple of years, and have become a viable alternative, if you need a big audio upgrade over your TV’s built-in speakers without going overboard. A modern soundbar allows you to experience a film’s soundtrack the way the director intended while sitting just in front of your TV, or mounted onto your wall. A soundbar can also be hooked up to a projector, if you use one in your home theater. 

Another benefit to choosing a soundbar over a traditional home theater system is that many of them allow you to add more speakers to your setup over time. If you find you need more bass, or if you’d like a couple of rear speakers, you can make that call as your budget and space allow. If you’re ready to give a soundbar a try, these are the home audio models we recommend.

The Sonos Arc Ultra is the company’s latest premium soundbar, and without question the best model we’ve ever tested for two reasons. First, its 14-driver audio system delivers excellent surround sound performance whether you’re watching a movie or TV show with a 5.1 or Dolby Atmos audio mix. If a film’s soundtrack is mixed correctly, it does sound like you’re being enveloped in sound from above and in front of you. This allows the Sonos Arc Ultra to realistically replace a typical surround sound system for most people.

The second major feature of this soundbar is called “Sound Motion,” which is a built-in subwoofer. In our tests, this technology has allowed the Sonos Arc Ultra to produce bass that’s as good or better than soundbars that come with a standalone subwoofer. If you’re interested in a premium all-in-one soundbar, the Sonos Arc Ultra is worth it.

Sony packed a tremendous amount of audio technology into its compact Sony HT-S2000 Soundbar, including two built-in subwoofers for deep bass, and a dedicated center-channel speaker for dialogue. The soundbar can also play Dolby Atmos and DTS:X surround sound audio thanks to Sony’s custom Vertical Surround Engine and S-Force PRO Front Surround technologies.

If you have a Sony Bravia 4K TV, the Sony HT-S2000 can use a feature called “Acoustic Center Sync” to route sounds between your television’s built-in speakers and the soundbar. You won’t find a more sophisticated compact surround sound soundbar than this.

The Bang & Olufsen Beosound Stage is an ultra-luxe soundbar made from aluminum, fabric, and wood, but as always it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Each of the soundbar’s 11 drivers is powered by its own amplifier, and controlled by a sophisticated Digital Signal Processor that ensures the right frequencies are sent to the correct component in real time.

This is incredible attention to detail, and you’ll hear the difference whether you’re listening to a soundtrack mixed in stereo or surround sound. You can dial in the soundbar’s audio to your liking by tweaking its sound using the Beosonic equalizer within the Bang & Olufsen mobile app. This soundbar is an investment, but it may well be the last speaker you’ll ever have to buy.

Samsung’s HW-Q910D Soundbar System comes with a full five-piece wireless audio setup with a soundbar at its heart. The soundbar’s front, outward, and upward-firing drivers will allow you to experience Dolby Atmos film soundtracks in pristine quality, while the rear speakers ensure sound is actually coming at you from all directions.

Meanwhile, Samsung TV owners can tap into “Q-Symphony,” a feature similar to Sony’s “Acoustic Center Sync,” which allows the soundbar and television’s built-in speakers to work together in sync. However, the soundbar is compatible with any TV, and advanced features like Adaptive Sound, which optimizes audio in real time to boost dialogue, are available for all. This soundbar requires a bigger area to set up, but the sound will be worth the extra space it takes up.

The Yamaha True X Bar 50A Soundbar Soundbar has three subwoofers, which makes it the dream soundbar for anyone who craves floor-rattling sound each time an explosion pops off on screen. Two of the subwoofers are inside the soundbar, where they’re flanked by upward and frontward-firing drivers that allow the Yamaha True X Bar 50A to play Dolby Atmos audio.

Yamaha’s “Clear Voice” technology ensures you’ll always hear people speaking, while dedicated EQ modes for movie, game, and stereo listening can be activated with the push of a button.

One of this soundbar’s signature features is support for Amazon’s Alexa, which allows you to control the X Bar 50A’s volume with your voice. Alexa can also be used to control smart home gadgets and play music from popular streaming services, which makes this the right fit for a more tech-inclined home theater enthusiast.

If all you care about is getting great stereo sound to match the crisp 4K image on your screen, your best bet is VIZIO V-Series V21d-J8 Soundbar. For $100 you’re getting a soundbar with two built-in subwoofers, Bluetooth support for wireless audio streaming from your devices, and an AUX in jack in case you’d like to plug a second device into it.

You may not expect to get a lot of its low price, but the VIZIO V-Series V21d-J8 Soundbar can decode DTS Digital Surround Sound audio and play it back in stereo without sounding garbled. This is the perfect first step into the world of dedicated speakers if you’ve only ever used the ones built into your TV.

The Roku Streambar SE is one of the few two-in-one gadgets that actually makes sense, and it’s the only soundbar we’re recommending that can actually improve your TV watching experience. That’s because it’s a 4K media streamer in addition to a compact stereo soundbar. If you connect this soundbar to an old smart TV, you can completely bypass its built-in operating system and use RokuOS instead.

The Roku Streambar SE’s compact size makes it the right choice if you need a soundbar to pair with a smaller TV, and convenient features like automatically lowering the volume of loud commercials will become difficult to live without. If you’d like a soundbar that will help you access and enjoy your favorite movies and TV shows, the Roku Streambar SE is the obvious choice.