The best Dolby Atmos soundbars allow you to hear your favorite movies and TV shows in a way that’s more immersive and natural. That's because Dolby Atmos is a surround sound audio format that isolates audio to individual objects – someone screaming, a dog barking, a helicopter overhead – that can be mapped in 3D space, rather than being attached to a particular speaker in a setup.
So if you can see a helicopter on screen flying above your head, it’ll sound as if it’s flying over your head, too. Essentially, sound is placed where it naturally would be based on what you’re watching on the screen, with more precision and effectiveness than regular surround sound.
You won’t get the same uncompromised presentation of Dolby Atmos soundtracks that the best AV receivers deliver when paired with a surround sound speaker system, but those setups take up a lot of space and can be expensive. That’s where the best soundbars show their advantage, and the best Dolby Atmos soundbars are the easy way to deliver a powerful home theater experience.
Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Entertainment, and has over a decade of experience in tech publishing. He has been writing about the latest TVs and soundbars since 2017. CES 2024 has been and gone, which gave us a glimpse of all the new soundbars on the horizon. Matt was most impressed by the Samsung HW-Q990D, which has since been added to our guide.
The quick list
In a hurry but need to find the best Dolby Atmos soundbar for you? Take a look at our quick list below which covers a soundbar that will suit every budget and situation. You can still check out more detailed reviews of each soundbar below.
Best Dolby Atmos soundbar for most people
The Q800C is hard to beat when it comes to value. It offers the best feature set and most convincing 3D sound quality that we've found so far in a 5.1.2 set up.
Read more below
Best budget Dolby Atmos soundbar
Don't be fooled by its unassuming small size, Sony's HT-S2000 can achieve an impressive level immersion for a very affordable entry-level price.
The best budget soundbar for Dolby Atmos surround
Hisense’s 5.1.2-channel system delivers real Dolby Atmos using up-firing speakers and features wireless surrounds and a subwoofer – all for an incredibly low price.
Best mid-range Dolby Atmos soundbar
Offering 3.1.2 channels of immersive sound, the HW-Q700C soundbar and sub combo is by far the best mid-range option around for unlocking hi-res, 3D audio.
Best premium Dolby Atmos soundbar
Samsung has completely knocked it out of the park with the Q990D. The sheer power and class-leading immersion that this is capable of makes it our favorite high-end pick.
Best compact Dolby Atmos soundbar
Want to get closer to that home theater sound but don't have a lot space for a full surround sound system? Bose has the solution with the Smart Soundbar 600.
Read more below
Load more products
Best Dolby Atmos soundbar for gamers
With two HDMI 2.1 ports, 4K 120Hz passthrough and VRR support, the HT-A7000 not only sounds great, but is the ideal choice for gamers
The best soundbar for sheer flexibility
With four HDMI ports to connect other sources and rechargeable, wireless surround speakers, the JBL 1300X really adapts to what you need.
The best soundbar for Sonos fans
Sonos' soundbars are all excellent quality, but the Sonos Arc's dynamic sound, Dolby Atmos support and strong, built-in bass that puts it at the top of the Sonos family.
The best soundbars of 2024
Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
The best Dolby Atmos soundbar for most people
If you're looking for a Dolby Atmos soundbar with a powerful performance that exceeds its price tag, then the Samsung HW-Q800C is our top pick that we think will suit most people. The HW-Q800C supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, with two upfiring drivers to deliver the height channels. It also boasts support for a wide range of music files, like hi-res FLAC. You also get an HDMI passthrough system, and if you use the soundbar with a recent Samsung TV you can use Samsung's Q-Symphony tech.
During our testing we found that the Q800C delivers spectacular power and excellent channel steering for movies and TV shows. Bass is also deep, the dialog is clear, and spatial effects are convincing, even without any rear speakers.
Looks-wise it's got an industrial aesthetic. The Samsung HW-Q800C’s main soundbar component looks a lot like its other bars, and at 1111mm / 43.4 inches wide, it's not too imposing to accommodate beneath your TV – it's pretty much exactly the width of a 50-inch TV.
The reason the HW-Q800C doesn't cost the Earth is because Samsung has dispensed with the rear speakers and some of the size and power you get with Samsung’s flagship Q990C soundbar. But its "bar-plus-subwoofer" package still offers more power and real channels – it claims 5.1.2 – than the majority of rival soundbars hovering around this price. This is why it's our top Dolby Atmos pick, not only is it an accomplished soundbar, it's also relatively affordable, too.
Read our full Samsung HW-Q800C review
The best budget Dolby Atmos soundbar
Sony absolutely nailed the brief of delivering big sound from a compact form. Its budget soundbar, the HT-S2000, strikes the perfect balance of giving your TV's audio a big boost in immersive audio power, while not taking up too much valuable screen space.
During our testing, we said that we were blown away by its "impressive level of immersion given its basic speaker array and compact form factor – much of this is owed to Sony’s proprietary processing". Apart from the incredibly effective immersive audio processing power, the clear dialogue and defined bass were another two highlights about the sound quality from our review.
It's not all completely praises, though. The trade-off for its reasonably affordable price tag is that your wireless streaming connectivity options are limited to Bluetooth 5.2, there's also only one HDMI port and optical digital input, but you can still pair the HT-S2000 with other Sony speakers and subwoofers.
Based on previous sales, we have seen the Sony HT-S2000 drop to $349 in the US and £299 in the UK from its initial $499 and £449 respective prices so it is worth looking out for a deal if you do manage to catch one for this Sonos Beam (Gen 2) (at #9 in this list) alternative.
Read our full Sony HT-S2000 review.
The best budget soundbar for Dolby Atmos surround
Dolby Atmos soundbars in the budget range are typically single-unit solutions that deliver Atmos height effects and surround sound using virtual processing. The Hisense AX5125H breaks with that tradition by using real upfiring speakers on its main soundbar, along with wireless surround speakers and a subwoofer for an incredibly low $350 / £350 / AU$450 price.
Hisense’s budget 5.1.2-channel system surprised us when we reviewed it with its “effective Dolby Atmos delivery” and surprisingly wide soundstage, which gave all aspects of the soundtrack room to breathe.” Dialogue, too, was “crystal clear” in our assessment of the AX5125H system’s sound quality. If there was one thing that disappointed us, it was the performance of the surround speakers, which could get overwhelmed when faced with aggressive soundtrack mixes, but overall the system’s feisty sound wowed us for the price.
For a $350 soundbar system, you wouldn’t expect premium build quality, and that’s an area where the Hisense falls short. But while its looks skew toward basic and bland, it has a front-panel alphanumeric display to provide visual feedback when making adjustments to the system using the supplied remote control – a rare feature at this price, and a valuable one.
With only Bluetooth onboard for wireless music streaming, the Hisense AX5125H isn’t the last word in sound quality with music, but we still found music listening to be an enjoyable experience, and it could be played loud without straining the system. You’ll need to pay plenty more to get a 5.1.2-channel Dolby Atmos sound system that performs better than this Hisense package, and for many people, we think that Hisense’s budget soundbar will more than suffice.
Read our full Hisense AX5125H review
The best mid-range Dolby Atmos soundbar
Samsung has priced its HW-Q700C smack bang in the middle of the Dolby Atmos soundbar market so if your budget is exactly $549.99 / £599 / AU$899, then we have the ideal bar and subwoofer combination for you. Of course, it has to be said if you can spend just a little more, you can unlock even more powerful audio quality with the Samsung HW-Q800C at #1 in this list.
The HW-Q700's soundstage still feels incredibly wide thanks to its 3.1.2 channels of sound, coming from a center, two wide-range tweeters, two dedicated upward firing drivers and a wireless 6.5-inch subwoofer. Of course, without the rear speakers that the flagship HW-Q990C has at #4 in this list, it doesn't quite match it's audio prowess but it's less than half the price after all.
You're still getting top quality sound with the HW-Q700C. Like we wrote in our review: "The Samsung HW-Q700C soundbar did indeed fill my room with sound that evidently had greater height, and during Avengers: Endgame in the main, epic battle at the end, sounds of various spaceships and otherworldly beasts flying in from the sides of the screen did sound as they had come from my side or behind me."
It comes with a varied list of features, too, including a range of connectivity options like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Spotify Connect, AirPlay 2 and Tidal Connect, as well as support for hi-res sound format such as FLAC, AAC, ALAC, WAV, WMA, and MP3. Considering how well-equipped the HW-Q700C is, it really is surprising to see it priced where it is, as it offers incredibly, good value.
Read our full Samsung HW-Q700C review.
The best premium Dolby Atmos soundbar
The Samsung HW-Q990D is the best Dolby Atmos soundbar package available. Following its predecessor, the Samsung HW-Q990C, it provides 16 'real' audio channels across 22 speakers for a powerful, immersive and controlled Atmos experience.
First and foremost, the Q990D has excellent sound quality, and it provides a fantastic surround experience without all the boxes and wires of a full home theater system. Bass is punchy and meaty but also has a refined touch, with other elements of the Q990D's sound allowed room to breathe.
The Q990D has many of the same features as the Q990C such as Tidal and Spotify Connect and Dolby Atmos music streaming, but adds 4K 120Hz pass-through on its HDMI ports. the upside to that feature is that gamers can use the Q990D to get a faster refresh rate when their PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles are connected to the soundbar.
Admittedly, this soundbar package is pricey. But, for those who can stretch their budget and are looking for a neater solution to a full home theater setup, the Q990D offers best-in-class audio quality and immersion.
Read our full Samsung HW-Q990D review
The best compact Dolby Atmos soundbar
If you’re looking for a Dolby Atmos soundbar that delivers big sound from a compact and affordable package, consider the Bose Smart Soundbar 600.
This soundbar features actual up-firing speakers for Atmos height effects, which is rare for a budget bar. In our review we wrote: “Music and sound effects were rendered in a spacious manner that extended the presentation well beyond the confines of the bar itself, and even music sounded well-balanced and with decent stereo separation – something many soundbars fail to deliver.”
During our testing, we also noted that dialogue clarity is excellent, and while it doesn’t hit the low bass notes that other soundbar systems with an included subwoofer manage, it offers up consistently exciting sound when watching movies and TV.
This is a solid choice if you want a relatively affordable soundbar, but it’s great for smaller spaces too. At 27 inches wide by 2 inches high and 4 inches deep, it’s a fairly sleek and compact design for an all-in-one unit.
Onboard streaming features, including AirPlay 2 and Chromecast, are plentiful, app-based setup is a breeze, and everything is packaged in an attractive all-in-one form factor. This soundbar impressed us when we reviewed it, but its price is what makes it an excellent value Dolby Atmos soundbar too.
To save some money on Bose products, check out our Bose voucher codes.
Read our full Bose Smart Soundbar 600 review
The best Dolby Atmos soundbar for gamers
The Sony HT-A7000 soundbar may have a massive sticker price, but it promises a long shelf life thanks to its two HDMI 2.1 ports and support for all of the major spatial audio formats.
At this price we wish it came with the surround and subwoofer units, but those with incredibly deep pockets can tack those on for a few hundred more later down the line.
What helps make the price tag here feel a little more justified is the fact that the HT-A7000 comes with upfiring drivers. What that means is it delivers true and impressive Dolby Atmos, although we did feel the height channels could be a little more convincing during our testing.
In terms of musicality, though, the HT-A7000 is a very talented soundbar, with excellent stereo imaging and a really room-filling sound — especially if you take advantage of its support for Sony's 360 Reality Audio.
Connectivity is very good, too. The soundbar supports HDMI, of course, but it also has 3.5mm auxiliary, Bluetooth audio, USB devices, Spotify, Chromecast, Amazon Alexa and 360 Reality Audio via Deezer, Tidal and Amazon Music. That's a very wide selection of sources, giving you lots of flexibility in terms of what you want to connect.
Read our full Sony HT-A7000 Dolby Atmos soundbar review
The best Dolby Atmos soundbar for flexibility
We don't often award a soundbar five out of five stars in our reviews, but the JBL Bar 1300X hands-down deserves it. We enjoyed testing this soundbar, finding it worthy of praise for its ability to deliver impressive levels of immersion whether we were listening to music or it was pumping out movie soundtracks, as well as its innovative design.
The JBL Bar 1300X is a Dolby Atmos soundbar that would suit anyone looking for a powerful and immersive option on par with the visceral excitement that the best home theater systems effortlessly deliver, while also being relatively easy to setup and, crucially, not becoming a burden in your home.
This soundbar offers multiple HDMI inputs, so you can connect a stack of sources, and the system’s rechargeable rear speakers can also be used as portable Bluetooth speakers – design flex that heightens the Bar 1300X's overall value.
The JBL Bar 1300X may not take up too much space, but it is designed to fill larger rooms with sound so we wouldn't recommend it if you only have a small space. It's also not the best soundbar for serious gamers. Multiple HDMI ports are here, but none of them have 4K 120Hz pass-through to support that resolution and frame rate when playing games on PS5 or Xbox Series X.
Read our full JBL Bar 1300X review