A soundbar is the shortest route from thin television sound to something worth sitting down for. The question is only which shape of system you want: a single bar, a bar with a subwoofer, or a full set with rear speakers.
The short version
- Test winner: KEF XIO — home-cinema thrill plus genuinely hi-fi music, with room measurement at the touch of a button.
- Price tip, and the best bar-plus-subwoofer combination: Samsung QS710GF — 3D sound with no satellite speakers at all.
- Best value complete system: TCL Q85H Pro — surround speakers, subwoofer and 3D sound included.
- Most flexible surround: JBL Bar 1000MK2 — rear speakers that dock into the bar and charge there.
- The natural all-rounder: Sonos Arc Ultra — balanced, excellent speech, and no subwoofer missed.
- Flagship surround: Samsung Q995GF and LG DS95TR — for larger budgets.
Test winner: KEF XIO
The XIO combines real home-cinema pleasure with sound good enough for music listeners. Film soundtracks from Blu-ray or high-quality streams did not merely impress in testing — they enchanted.
An important precondition for that is room measurement, which the bar performs itself at the touch of a button. With music it is equally convincing, accentuated and powerful at the same time.
Around the back there are HDMI and network connections and an optical digital input, and the construction convinces down to the velvety speaker covering. It is not a bargain, and note that the price is for the bar alone — a recommendable subwoofer is extra.
Price tip: Samsung QS710GF
A large duet at a fair price. The QS710GF and its compact subwoofer offer the best price-to-performance of any soundbar here, because the two are outstandingly matched to one another.
The bar itself shines with a clear, very differentiated sound that does not distort even turned well up. It does need volume for Dolby Atmos room effects to tell, since surround speakers are not included — but how this small set produces a home-cinema feeling without satellite speakers at all is genuinely sensational. It plays 3D sound powerfully and without distortion at maximum volume, and on that basis the source crowns it the best soundbar-and-subwoofer combination in the field.
Best value complete system: TCL Q85H Pro
If you have no objection to placing extra surround speakers, the Q85H Pro delivers them — with 3D sound and a subwoofer included — at a price the source calls record-breakingly cheap. It is the price tip among complete systems.
Its room sound is genuinely good, and it puts real pressure on the established competition. Its own sound applies rather less pressure, but it is highly adjustable to compensate.
Most flexible surround: JBL Bar 1000MK2
For years the awkward question was: simple soundbar, or a multi-part system with room speakers? On the 2026 market you no longer have to choose. The Bar 1000MK2 has surround speakers docked invisibly into the bar itself, which you can place in seconds before a film. It is entirely wireless — the sound arrives by radio, and the satellites have batteries that recharge on the bar when idle.
Nobody beats JBL on flexibility. But the 1000MK2's brute sound and chunky subwoofer are not ideal for detailed music reproduction or for small living rooms, and it is not the one soundbar for every case. Cheaper is the JBL Bar 500MK2, with the same subwoofer but without the upward-firing driver that produces true 3D sound.
The natural all-rounder: Sonos Arc Ultra
The fullness the Arc Ultra conjures out of its slim housing is astonishing. It sounds very balanced and natural, with outstanding speech reproduction — hardly anyone will miss a subwoofer.
It is also very versatile and thoroughly suited to music, helped not only by that sound but by an excellent range of streaming options.
Flagship surround: Samsung Q995GF and LG DS95TR
For a larger budget, these two are the recommended room-sound solutions at the upper end of the market.
The Q995GF takes the most important points for surround quality outright: its speakers neither produce audible interference nor distort quickly. This is precisely where the JBL bars reach their limits — even though the Bar 500MK2 and Bar 1000MK2 have the largest subwoofers in the field and go very loud indeed.
Dolby Atmos and 3D sound explained
Dialogue still comes from in front of you, but the noise of a landing helicopter arrives from above. The trick is that 3D speakers fire audio tracks deliberately upwards and play billiards with your ceiling — the sound is banked off it and returns from overhead. Formats such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X make this possible by fanning the sound out finely enough to place it.
Room sound without extra boxes is possible too. The Samsung QS710GF manages what other bar-and-subwoofer combinations such as the JBL Bar 500MK2 cannot: 3D sound with no additional speakers distributed around the room.
How loud do soundbars get?
In the laboratory, every soundbar showed more than enough volume for home cinema. The instruments almost always read 100 dB and more, with the quieter devices only marginally below that.
Sheer volume, then, is not the differentiator — every one of these will go louder than you want in a living room. The more interesting question is which of them still sounds good at the top of its range rather than merely loud, and there the Samsung Q995GF leads while the JBL bars, for all their subwoofer size, become less differentiated well before maximum.
Does every soundbar need a subwoofer?
Not necessarily. Deep bass in home cinema is what a subwoofer is for, and a complete system such as the TCL Q85H Pro includes one along with its surround speakers. But the Sonos Arc Ultra makes the counter-argument on its own: enough fullness from a slim single bar that most people will not feel the absence.
The middle path is the bar-and-subwoofer pairing, which is where the Samsung QS710GF wins — a compact subwoofer matched carefully to the bar rather than bolted on.
Soundbar or sound deck?
There is a third shape worth knowing about. A sound deck is effectively two high-quality hi-fi speakers combined into one landscape-format box, and the Nubert example in the tested field makes the case for it: a very natural sound, with bass that is deep and powder-dry. Music plays over Bluetooth, and there is no room-sound processing at all.
The catch is physical. That sound deck weighs a good 20 kg, which is a different proposition from hanging a slim bar under a television — and Nubert's smaller nuBoxx AS-225 max is the more manageable route into the same idea.
How the soundbars were tested
Speaker performance is captured with measuring instruments under clearly defined criteria, and every function, along with setup and operation, is tested by specialist editors.
Sound quality is the most important criterion, and the test's own position is that no measurement can express it — so the bars are also assessed in realistic use: how well room sound works with films, and whether the bar also does a decent job with music. Specialist editors judge that in listening tests, and maximum volume is measured too, since big cinema sometimes simply needs more output.
Which should you buy?
Take the KEF XIO if you want the best sound here for both film and music, and will pay for it — remembering a subwoofer is a separate purchase.
Take the Samsung QS710GF if you want the best balance of cost and result, and would rather not place speakers around the room: it is the rare combination that produces 3D sound without satellites.
Take the TCL Q85H Pro if you do want the full surround experience and want it cheaply, the JBL Bar 1000MK2 if flexibility matters most and your room is not small, and the Sonos Arc Ultra if you want one elegant bar that handles music as seriously as films.
Frequently asked questions
Which soundbar is the best? The KEF XIO won the test, on film performance, music performance and room calibration. If value matters more, the Samsung QS710GF is the price tip and the best bar-and-subwoofer combination in the field.
Which soundbar with a subwoofer should I buy? The Samsung QS710GF — its compact subwoofer is outstandingly matched to the bar, and it manages 3D sound with no satellite speakers at all. For a complete system with rears included, the TCL Q85H Pro is the value route.
Are expensive soundbars worth it? Sometimes. The KEF XIO justifies itself on refined film and music performance with room calibration, and the Sonos Arc Ultra on balance and speech clarity — but the TCL Q85H Pro shows how much room sound is available for far less.
Do I need surround speakers for Dolby Atmos? Not always. 3D formats work by firing sound upward and bouncing it off the ceiling, and the Samsung QS710GF achieves the effect without any satellites. Systems such as the TCL Q85H Pro and JBL Bar 1000MK2 include rear speakers if you want the fuller version.
How loud do soundbars actually go? Louder than a living room needs — measurements almost always reached 100 decibels or more. What separates them is which still sound controlled at high volume: the Samsung Q995GF does, while the JBL bars lose differentiation earlier.
What connections should a soundbar have? The test winner's rear panel is a good template: HDMI, network and an optical digital input.
