Any good soundbars with Dolby Atmos?

[MalaXmaS 646]

Finally shelved my trusty fifteen year old Yamaha 5.1 (because I hate wires) and decided to look for a good soundbar.

I thought about headsets too but it's too late for current gen gaming and even for next-gen, I'd have to get two different sets.

So, soundbars it is.

[jehurey 3,228]

Well that's the thing, because I did quite a bit of research on this stuff throughout this entire month, and it exhausted the fuck outta me.

 

If you want a good Soundbar that can do atmos............you're gonna have to pay as much or more than you would have had you simply bought a badass AV receiver, and either scenario will require you to probably end up using Upfiring speakers.

 

Like Samsung is offering their HW-Q70T, it was on sale for $399.99 a couple of weeks ago, but you'd have to buy their Rear Speakers separately for like $130. That's already $530, and those rear speakers are fucking small PC speakers from 2005.

 

You'd have to get closer to $850 or higher to find an entire 5.1.4 atmos soundbar setup (Samsung Q800T and above). And you'd have no HDMI connections to plug in your stuff like you would with an AV Receiver.

[MalaXmaS 646]

21 minutes ago, jehurey said:

Well that's the thing, because I did quite a bit of research on this stuff throughout this entire month, and it exhausted the fuck outta me.

 

If you want a good Soundbar that can do atmos............you're gonna have to pay as much or more than you would have had you simply bought a badass AV receiver, and either scenario will require you to probably end up using Upfiring speakers.

 

Like Samsung is offering their HW-Q70T, it was on sale for $399.99 a couple of weeks ago, but you'd have to buy their Rear Speakers separately for like $130. That's already $530, and those rear speakers are fucking small PC speakers from 2005.

 

You'd have to get closer to $850 or higher to find an entire 5.1.4 atmos soundbar setup (Samsung Q800T and above). And you'd have no HDMI connections to plug in your stuff like you would with an AV Receiver.

So I guess soundbars are more of convenient thing (pretty much what I need) while simplifying the technicalities of its features.

However, I'd be losing on localized feature.

If that's the case, I might have to decide on which console to go next gen, or just scrap it and go PC like I originally thought.

[jehurey 3,228]

3 minutes ago, MalaXmaS said:

So I guess soundbars are more of convenient thing (pretty much what I need) while simplifying the technicalities of its features.

However, I'd be losing on localized feature.

If that's the case, I might have to decide on which console to go next gen, or just scrap it and go PC like I originally thought.

No matter what, if you want TRUE atmos.........you have to hang speakers from the cieling. I mean thats wires no matter what.

 

THere are people who say that direct-firing speakers from the ceiling is TOO GIMMICKY and distracting. And that they prefer a more softer, less-focused sound coming at you from above. This could be achieved with upward-firing speakers.

 

Some people say that enabling Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization (which is some algortihm in which it takes your existing 5.1 and somehow creates a light overhead sound effect) can also achieve this.

 

I have two Pioneer upward firing speakers coming in next week. And I am going to sit those on top of my Front Left and Front Right speakers and see how good of a job they do. And I only bought those because they were on special for $69 on Newegg. I wouldn't have bought them if they were $120-140.

 

But there's other things I wanted. eARC because my LG OLED has full HDMI 2.1 ports, and those could deliver true lossless audio from the TV to the AV Receiver.

 

Home Theater almost feels like shopping for a car. It can get exhausting.

[lostfool 680]

https://www.cnet.com/news/best-dolby-atmos-soundbar-of-2020/

[Sergio Perez SP11 173]

nah

 

9+ speaker atmos or bust 

[MalaXmaS 646]

6 hours ago, jehurey said:

No matter what, if you want TRUE atmos.........you have to hang speakers from the cieling. I mean thats wires no matter what.

 

THere are people who say that direct-firing speakers from the ceiling is TOO GIMMICKY and distracting. And that they prefer a more softer, less-focused sound coming at you from above. This could be achieved with upward-firing speakers.

 

Some people say that enabling Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization (which is some algortihm in which it takes your existing 5.1 and somehow creates a light overhead sound effect) can also achieve this.

 

I have two Pioneer upward firing speakers coming in next week. And I am going to sit those on top of my Front Left and Front Right speakers and see how good of a job they do. And I only bought those because they were on special for $69 on Newegg. I wouldn't have bought them if they were $120-140.

 

But there's other things I wanted. eARC because my LG OLED has full HDMI 2.1 ports, and those could deliver true lossless audio from the TV to the AV Receiver.

 

Home Theater almost feels like shopping for a car. It can get exhausting.

It does, and things have gotten more complicated.

Before HDTVs were all about buying 720ps or 1080ps.

Now its all about HDR, refresh rate, local dimmings, smart tv features.

Shit is crazy.

[MalaXmaS 646]

@jehurey

Dude.  

I just had to put my trusty 5.1 Dolby DTS back.

I looked all day long for good surround sounds and the only thing I could find were traditional receivers with satellite speakers.

The only thing I was interested about was the JBL 5.1 True Surround Soundbar but I couldn't justify spending $500 on a soundbar when I could just put more money and get a Dolby Atmos, but again the issue is distribution and that shit doesn't cut it in a regular room.

[jehurey 3,228]

1 hour ago, MalaXmaS said:

@jehurey

Dude.  

I just had to put my trusty 5.1 Dolby DTS back.

I looked all day long for good surround sounds and the only thing I could find were traditional receivers with satellite speakers.

The only thing I was interested about was the JBL 5.1 True Surround Soundbar but I couldn't justify spending $500 on a soundbar when I could just put more money and get a Dolby Atmos, but again the issue is distribution and that shit doesn't cut it in a regular room.

Yeah, focus on buying a Denon AVR-X1700H or X2700H or most people's recommended X3700H receiver.

 

Just buy new brains so that you'll have Atmos capability, eARC for lossless Dolby or DTS audio, and then look for when Klipsch has their special where they slash their speakers half-off to shop for overhead speakers.

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