While these new soundbars aren’t quite the cheapest out there, they are among the more affordable available, especially when you consider some of the higher end options on the market.

Despite this limited arrangement, it does a really good job of convincing the brain that audio is coming from up above. And, although there’s not much sense that the audio is surrounding you to the sides and rear, it does a superb job of positioning sound effects to the left and right of the front-loaded soundstage. The Dolby Atmos decoding is often impressive, placing effects around the front of the room with an exacting precision. The disembodied voices at the start of Mad Max: Fury Road are particularly effective, floating in a definable three dimensional sound field. The upward-firing drivers certainly work, bouncing sounds off the ceiling and creating the illusion there are speakers above you. Watching the start of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, there’s a palpable thud as massive spaceships break through the atmosphere above your head.Another important factor to consider is longevity. When you buy a high-quality Sharp HT-SBW460 3.1 Wireless Sound Bar with Dolby Atmos, you’re making an investment that is likely to last longer. Cheaper products may seem like a good deal at the time, but they are often made with lower-quality materials and are not designed to last as long. This means that you may end up having to replace your device sooner, which can end up costing you more in the long run. The Sharp HT-SBW800 includes Dolby Atmos decoding, which is its main feature. More importantly, it delivers this immersive audio experience by using upward-firing drivers to create overhead channels, rather than relying on less effective psychoacoustic processing. The Sharp HT-SBW460 is compact, measuring 950mm wide, 105mm deep and 70mm tall, so it will suit most TVs from 42in upwards. More advanced soundbars offer support for surround-sound audio formats such as Dolby Atmos or DTS:X. These multidimensional, object-based codecs are capable of adding height effects to a soundbar’s soundstage for a more immersive audio experience, but you’ll typically require additional speakers to make full use of them.

There’s no real surround presence, and sadly no option to add rear speakers – so if you’re looking for full immersion for a mid-range price, you might be better off with the Vizio 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos Soundbar and its wired surrounds. If you’re happy with doing a bit of DIY audio, you’ll be rewarded with a system that sounds simply phenomenal for the money. If not, I’d advise you to look elsewhere. If you don't care about Dolby Atmos at all, we'd suggest the cheaper Sonos Beam as your starting point, and you can add two Sonos One SL speakers as rear speakers for surround when you're ready. The other two sound modes are less impressive, but useful nonetheless. The processing-free Pure setting delivers audio as intended by its creator, while Night mode decreases the dynamic range to improve low-volume listening. There are also three dialogue enhancement options available, all of which successfully accentuate speech.

A fantastically capable soundbar that sounds great, but isn’t perfect out of the box

The Creative Stage V2 delivers everything you could want from a budget soundbar. The bar is sleek and compact, making it a great fit for most medium-sized TVs, while the discrete subwoofer adds welcome weight and richness to bass reproduction. It may seem like a rather niche product, but for those who don’t already own a soundbar or media streamer, the Roku Streambar comes with a glowing recommendation. There are a number of things to consider when shopping around for the best budget soundbar. Top of your priority list should be sound quality. If a soundbar doesn’t significantly improve your TV’s audio, there’s no point in spending your hard-earned cash on it.

Sound quality is impressive too, with virtual surround sound reasonably effective given the limitations of a 2.0-channel setup and plenty of ways to customise your audio experience. That customisation extends to the Katana SE’s LED lighting too, which won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but is an essential inclusion for some gamers. The Sharp HT-SBW800 is designed to deliver a genuine Dolby Atmos experience at an affordable price, producing a great, big soundstage for your favourite films. However, out of the box the subwoofer is so boomy and overpowering that it’s simply unlistenable in small to medium-sized rooms at moderate volumes. And while this problem can be tamed with judicious stuffing of the bass reflex port, I’d much rather the sub was tuned correctly in the first place.Samsung TV model numbers explained 2022: What you need to know about Samsung’s OLED, Mini LED, QLED and LCD televisions EQ options and different audio modes are also worth keeping an eye out for. A lot of soundbars will let you tweak the bass and treble, while others offer audio presets tuned for watching specific types of content such as music, films or sports. If you watch a lot of TV in the evening and don’t want to disturb the neighbours, a Night mode designed for low-volume viewing is particularly handy.

Subwoofers are sometimes built into soundbars, but many come as separate units included in the price. Both types have advantages: soundbars with built-in subwoofers are more space-efficient, while standalone subs generally deliver fuller, more impactful bass. While we weren’t blown away by the HTB490’s overall sonic performance, its wireless subwoofer delivers the best bass response of any cheap soundbar we’ve tested. Low-end frequencies are handled with precision and there’s plenty of power too, with the sub putting out 160W in addition to the 80W amplification for each of the soundbar’s full-range drivers. Cinematic action sequences benefit tremendously from the subwoofer’s impressive impact and this is particularly evident at higher volumes, at which the HTB490 is very capable of filling a medium-sized room. The downward-firing subwoofer sits on sturdy rubber feet that provide a good degree of support and isolation, and at the rear there’s a bass port for added low-end impact. The sub’s design mirrors the soundbar, and the two should pair automatically when you first set them up. If they don’t, there’s a pairing button at the rear of the sub.There is a surround-sound mode, which is accessed via a dedicated button on the remote, but this just applies processing to give the audio greater openness. It doesn’t add any genuine rear channel effects, and often makes the sound more echoey. There are also dedicated bass and treble controls for fine-tuning the overall performance. The subwoofer sits on large rubber feet, and sports a downward-firing driver with a bass port for more low-end effect. The overall design mirrors that of the soundbar, and the two should pair automatically when you first set them up. If not, there’s a pairing button at the rear of the sub. Sharp HT-SBW800 features – Home theatre in a box Even budget soundbars offer a range of connectivity options and, generally speaking, the more ports present, the better.