Soundbars

June 12th 2019

Vizio’s New $70 Soundbar Is a Killer Deal

If you don’t own a soundbar, you’ve probably thought about getting one. Maybe your speaker-head friend told you to check out the new Sonos Beam (sort of expensive!), or that sick-looking Sony surround sound system (even more expensive—wow!). Vizio, on the other hand, wants to sell you a new, super small and super cheap soundbar…

Home Entertainment & Smart Home Adam Clark Estes Jun 12 '19

January 14th 2019

The 13 Coolest Things We Saw at CES This Year

Several people on the ground at CES in Las Vegas told me that it was down year. I’d argue that it was just plain boring. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t some neat gadgets in the mix. In fact, a baker’s dozen of them were just plain amazing. The Gizmodo team scoured the show and…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Jan 14 '19

January 9th 2019

Vizio Has a Wacky Idea for Futuristic Dolby Atmos Soundbars

One of the most exciting innovations for home entertainment is Dolby Atmos. The technology adds an element of height to the audio coming out of your sound system, and the effect is honestly game-changing. Vizio has a wacky idea about how to make Atmos even better. What if your soundbar could do Atmos at will?…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Jan 9 '19

January 7th 2019

Sennheiser’s Bonkers 3D Soundbar Goes on Sale This Year for a Bonkers Amount of Money

Sennheiser turned some heads at last year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) by announcing its first ever home audio product: a soundbar with 3D audio. The company will turn some more heads at this year’s CES with the soundbar’s price tag: $2,500. The new soundbar is part of Sennheiser’s AMBEO lineup for 3D audio products. Using…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Jan 7 '19

November 28th 2018

Roku’s Wireless Speakers Are Beautifully Simple But There’s a Catch

It was a bit of a surprise earlier this year when Roku announced that it would be selling wireless speakers. The popular maker of platform-agnostic set-top boxes is certainly no stranger to home entertainment, but the idea that it would soon start to compete with Sonos, well, that seemed crazy. Having spent some time with…

Adam Clark Estes Nov 28 '18

November 15th 2018

Vizio Made Dolby Atmos Sound Affordable With Its New Soundbar System, and It’s Amazing

Since its introduction in 2012, Dolby Atmos has been a dazzling new audio technology that you could basically only experience in fancy movie theaters. But recently, high-end soundbars have started supporting the standard, which was cool if you wanted to spend north of $1,000 on a system. Vizio did what Vizio often does and built…

Home Entertainment & Smart Home Adam Clark Estes Nov 15 '18

September 9th 2018

Hateful Kitties, Space Lasers, Spider-Man, and Soundbars: Best Gizmodo Posts of the Week

We’re up for a big week in the news, folks. There’s a lot going to happen, from Apple’s big September 12th announcement event to the notably less fun Hurricane Florence, which is currently projected to barrel into the East Coast at a minimum Category 3 status or possibly even worse before the weekend. As the…

Tech News Tom McKay Sep 9 '18

September 7th 2018

Why Every TV Needs a Soundbar

Soundbars are a relatively new invention. The 5.1 surround sound setup—one left speaker, one center, one right, and two rear—used to be the most popular way to improve your home theater’s audio, and it tended to be pretty expensive. Then, in 1998, Altec-Lansing released the world’s first soundbar and changed the way living rooms worked.…

Reviews Adam Clark Estes Sep 7 '18

August 16th 2018

This Smart Soundbar Is an Ugly Attempt at an Interesting Idea

Smart soundbars are an interesting idea. They’re like smart speakers, except they work with your TV, so you can use your voice like a remote control. Neat! In January, Polk wowed CES attendees with its new Command Bar. Put bluntly, this smart device is a big honking soundbar with an Amazon Echo Dot stuffed inside…

Home Entertainment & Smart Home Adam Clark Estes Aug 16 '18

June 27th 2018

Sonos Beam Is a Great Smart Soundbar for Not Too Much Money

People who own Sonos speakers love their Sonos speakers. I’m one of them. In the three to four years that I’ve been living in the Sonos ecosystem, however, one big complaint was that I couldn’t use Sonos for my TV unless I barfed up $700 for the Sonos Playbase or Playbar. Now, with the $400…

Home Entertainment & Smart Home Adam Clark Estes Jun 27 '18

June 18th 2018

Don’t Expect Miracles From a Cheap Soundbar

Cheap soundbars are a lot like cheap headphones. Many of them will do the job. Few of them will do it well. The new TV Mate by Samsung fits firmly in the first category. It will indeed make the audio on your TV louder and better. It will not, however, trick your friends into think…

Home Entertainment & Smart Home Adam Clark Estes Jun 18 '18

October 25th 2017

Samsung’s Sonos Playbar Clone Isn’t Worth It

I expected something wonderful. The $630 Samsung Sound+ has eleven drivers, wi-fi audio capabilities similar to the slightly more expensive Sonos Playbar, and a very attractive design. In short, I was hoping for a cheaper version of the Sonos Playbar, and in many ways that’s very much what you get, particularly if you’re using a…

Home Entertainment & Smart Home Alex Cranz Oct 25 '17

August 1st 2017

LG’s Modular Sound Bar Is Good, Newfangled Fun

With the new Sound Bar Flex, LG didn’t make the world’s best sound bar. It’s actually a bit of a stretch to call the modular, three-piece speaker system a sound bar at all. And at $430, the (mostly) wireless setup isn’t quite a bargain either. You know what, though? The Sound Bar Flex sure is…

Home Entertainment & Smart Home Adam Clark Estes Aug 1 '17

April 4th 2017

The Sonos Playbase Is Great, Comes a Little Too Late

There was a brief period of time—think 2011 to 2015—when the pedestal-like soundbar was convenient for TV owners. TVs had gotten skinnier and sound had gotten crummier as a consequence. Functioning as both speaker and stand, the pedestal was an appealing soundbar-style ideal for TV owners who had no plans to mount a set on…

Reviews Alex Cranz Apr 4 '17

December 22nd 2014

LG’s Sonos Clone Adds a Few Extra Speakers

LG’s new line of battery-powered, Wi-Fi enabled speakers complement their new sound bar models, sure. But they also fill out Music Flow—the company’s Sonos-like connected-house audio offering—with some attractive, well-rounded hardware. Image: The portable, battery-powered H4 speaker Debuting at next month’s CES, LG’s new speaker line and soundbars are part of the company’s larger Music…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola Dec 22 '14

June 26th 2013

Pioneer’s New Soundbar Is Beautifully Simple and Wonderfully Cheap

Pioneer’s new SB-PS23W is a soundbar the way most people want it: A simple, relatively inexpensive way to make a television sound louder. In that way, it’s cut from the same cloth as the excellent AitPlay speakers the company released last year (actually, they’ve got the some LA-based designer). It wasn’t the first AirPlay speaker,…

Tech News Mario Aguilar Jun 26 '13

April 1st 2013

Our Favorite Soundbars, Streaming Boxes, Stoves, and More

Winter’s slowly winding down, and no doubt, the warm weather is beginning to beckon, what with the birds and the sunshine and the joyful frolicking and whatnot. And we’d be out there enjoying it, too… if this past month hadn’t given us a whole slew of gadgets to stay inside drooling over. Ah well—the sun…

Tech News Ashley Feinberg Apr 1 '13

January 5th 2013

Samsung’s 2013 Digital Audio Lineup: Old Meets New (Meets Bluetooth)

Samsung’s just announced its 2013 lineup of home theater and audio devices. The new set features an interesting mix of vintage and developing technologies designed to combine classic sound with modern connectivity. Leading the retro charge is the HW-F750 Vacuum Tube Soundbar, which is not only gyroscopicallly enhanced so as to automatically know which way…

Gadgets Andrew Tarantola Jan 5 '13

October 3rd 2012

I Would Resort to a Life of Crime to Pay for Bowers and Wilkins’ Badass New Soundbar

Bowers & Wilkins makes incredible-sounding speakers. Fact. And while its original Panorama soundbar is no exception, the home theater package was missing key connectivity in the way of HDMI inputs. The new Panorama 2 packs three-HDMI inputs, finally, and more importantly, 175 earth-shaking watts, into a gorgeous six-speaker array. The Panorama 2 costs $2200, and…

Tech News Mario Aguilar Oct 3 '12

September 3rd 2012

Do You Like Soundbars?

Soundbars can’t quite match the enveloping feel of home theater systems yet they’re so much better than pumping audio through your wimpy TV speakers. Or are they? Are soundbars the best compromise—affordable, easy to setup—for audio or are they the worst of both worlds—not quite good enough for the price—that’s not really worth the savings?…

Tech News Casey Chan Sep 3 '12

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Vizio’s New $70 Soundbar Is a Killer Deal

The 13 Coolest Things We Saw at CES This Year

Vizio Has a Wacky Idea for Futuristic Dolby Atmos Soundbars

Sennheiser’s Bonkers 3D Soundbar Goes on Sale This Year for a Bonkers Amount of Money

Roku’s Wireless Speakers Are Beautifully Simple But There’s a Catch

Vizio Made Dolby Atmos Sound Affordable With Its New Soundbar System, and It’s Amazing

Hateful Kitties, Space Lasers, Spider-Man, and Soundbars: Best Gizmodo Posts of the Week

Why Every TV Needs a Soundbar

This Smart Soundbar Is an Ugly Attempt at an Interesting Idea

Sonos Beam Is a Great Smart Soundbar for Not Too Much Money

Don’t Expect Miracles From a Cheap Soundbar

Samsung’s Sonos Playbar Clone Isn’t Worth It

LG’s Modular Sound Bar Is Good, Newfangled Fun

The Sonos Playbase Is Great, Comes a Little Too Late

LG’s Sonos Clone Adds a Few Extra Speakers

Pioneer’s New Soundbar Is Beautifully Simple and Wonderfully Cheap

Our Favorite Soundbars, Streaming Boxes, Stoves, and More

Samsung’s 2013 Digital Audio Lineup: Old Meets New (Meets Bluetooth)

I Would Resort to a Life of Crime to Pay for Bowers and Wilkins’ Badass New Soundbar

Do You Like Soundbars?

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