Throughout the six years I’ve been writing and enhancing house theater opinions, the recurring grievance I’ve seen repeatedly about even some flagship TVs is how terrible their sound is. Because of their more and more razor-thin panels, there’s much less and fewer room to squeeze in drivers, so sound is sacrificed on the altar of favor. Because of this, the inventory warning for patrons is: ‘You higher additionally funds for a soundbar.’
However my religion on this explicit sacred cow has begun to waver. Having not too long ago upgraded my mid-range TV with a mid-range soundbar, I’ve skilled firsthand how the sonic hole between the 2 is narrowing quick. So I’ve began to surprise: is the soundbar nonetheless as important because it as soon as was?
This disaster of religion was first sparked once I upgraded my TV to final yr’s stellar TCL QM8K. Except for its significantly vivid mini-LED display screen, maybe its most headline-grabbing characteristic is its sound. I’ll admit, once I heard my new TV had sound designed by Bang & Olufsen, I used to be skeptical. Absolutely even such a large of audiophile-grade audio couldn’t eke a excessive commonplace of sound out of a TV, given their notoriously tinny sound?
Let me let you know: my cynicism was misplaced. Because of its chunky rare-earth neodymium iron boron drivers, the TCL QM8K has actually compelling sound that rivals one of the best TVs, providing each readability and a fairly credible low-end. On prime of this, B&O’s signature tuning permits you to tweak the TV’s audio alongside two axes of brilliant/heat and relaxed/energetic to mirror your private preferences.
Because of this, fairly than the mewling, timid sound many TVs dribble out, the TCL is able to rendering dialogue crisply whereas granting the soundtrack an honest sweep and heft. It’s actually somewhat too efficient typically: each time I pull off a counter-attack on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the influence feels appropriately seismic but in addition causes my girlfriend to flinch like a pet on July 4th. For native TV audio, it actually doesn’t maintain again.
And it’s not the one TV that’s making an attempt to buck the pattern right here. For instance, the Panasonic Z95B presents a 160W, 5.1.2 channel, 160W sound system starring a entrance exterior speaker array that provides highly effective bass and a powerful soundstage. In the meantime, the Sony Bravia II options built-in actuators that flip the display screen itself right into a speaker, which permits it to precisely place dialogue and results based on their place on the display screen and produce spacious but well-rounded sound.
Elevating the bar?
Regardless of this, I used to be excited to get my first soundbar. Whereas I’m not fairly as obsessive as some about unlocking cinema-quality sound in my house, getting much more gravitas for films is a extremely tempting supply. And as a gamer, I really like spatial sound – the thought of being encompassed in a hemisphere of true Dolby Atmos audio appears like the proper method to make my visits to Lumiere much more engrossing.
So when a colleague requested if I needed to rehome their not too long ago discontinued Samsung HW-Q800D, I jumped on the likelihood. But once I first set it up, I used to be actually a bit shocked by how little it was capable of enhance on the TCL’s already spectacular sound.
With the soundbar working in isolation, it was capable of obtain a barely extra spacious sound – because of its side-firing drivers, the width of its soundstage is much extra substantial than the QM8K is able to. Nevertheless it additionally sounded thinner: missing the bigger diameter drivers of the TV, its output didn’t really feel prefer it had fairly as a lot substance because the sound I used to be used to. Dialogue nonetheless maintained an honest stage of readability, however soundtracks felt extra neutered, taking me out of the second as I watched Hijack or The Night time Supervisor.
Nevertheless, you will need to observe that there are some issues {that a} soundbar just like the HW-Q800D can do higher. Whereas it sounds meeker in isolation, as soon as it’s paired with its packaged sub… oh boy, is it capable of obtain some gravitas, with spaceships in Avatar: Means of the Water sounding like they have been actually touchdown in my front room. And whereas the HW-Q800D’s upfiring drivers can’t obtain fairly the ceiling-bouncing spatial results of extra premium soundbars, it does job of situating sounds in the best space of the display screen.
Nonetheless, although, after a few years of accepting it as a given how vital soundbars are, I used to be somewhat shocked by how marginal a number of the enhancements have been. Don’t get me incorrect: including a soundbar of an honest sufficient spec can undoubtedly unlock superior sound, significantly as your funds will increase. However my expertise right here does present that the hole is narrowing right here, and fairly than getting a soundbar as a default, it’s changing into extra necessary to contemplate the place your sound is in most want of enchancment and whether or not a given soundbar will ship it.
As a result of, actually, it could be time that the belief ‘TV sound is at all times horrible’ is laid to relaxation.