Soundbar up to £200

Fordie00 · 4 Nov 2019 at 10:02

Hi,
I have decided to change my 15 year old DVD player with 5.1 surround sound currently connected to my TV by optical to a soundbar. Looking to spend up to £200. I know it's not much and I'm not expecting the world but would appreciate some advise.
I was just going to buy a standard Samsung bar and sub which just has optical audio and bluetooth. Now I've seen a few that have HDMI connections as well, reading into the HDMI side of things it looks like the sound quality could be better?
I have 3 devices that I regularly use connected by HDMI to my TV and most soundbars in my price range only have 1 HDMI port so does this render them useless for what I need?
Shall I just stick with a simple optical input so all devices work through the soundbar? If so, any recommendations?

Cheers all.

lucid · 4 Nov 2019 at 13:24

Optical vs HDMI for sound quality: For the audio formats that are common to both, which are PCM, Dolby Digital and DTS, then there's sod all difference in audio quality between optical and HDMI.

Where HDMI does make a difference is with the HD audio formats such as Dolby True HD, DTS Master Audio and Dolby Digital Plus (for Dolby Atmos). These all send more information (higher bitrate) than domestic -Optical or -Coaxial can deal with. However, (a) it's doubtful you'll find a new soundbar under £200 that caters for all of these formats, and (b), if you do then you may find corners have been cut in the sound performance to gain a few ticks in the compatibility column, and (c), it's very unlikely that a TV is going to pass all of those formats in-through-and-out of its HDMI signal path anyway so it's all a bit moot and not worth worrying about.

This doesn't mean you should ignore HDMI connectivity though. Just don't fall for the "It's better sound quality than Optical" without understanding the fine print.

HDMI does offer advantages for control (A.K.A. CEC, BraviaSync, VieraLink, RegzaLink, AnyNet+, Simplink+ etc). So long as your TV and the soundbar both feature HDMI ARC then you can have the TV remote control the sound bar Power On/Off and volume as well as play audio from the TVs apps, tuner and any externally-connected sources down the HDMI cable. It's not the end of the world though if the sound bar you choose only has Optical as there are other ways to do the volume control and Optical will handle the audio playback just fine.

Product recommendations: It might be a little bit different from what you were thinking, but Richers has the Q Acoustics M2 Soundbase on a deal at £169 right now. This won What Hi-Fi's 2019 Soundbase Product of the Year award. It has HDMI ARC as well.

There's also the more conventional Q Acoustics M3 sound bar. Again it features HDMI ARC. Price £169.

If you're looking for a bit more bass thump then the Acoustic Energy Aego soundbar @ £199 trades the HDMI ARC feature for a physical subwoofer instead. You still have the Optical connection,

Psycho Sonny · 4 Nov 2019 at 13:38

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/can-anyone-recommend-me-a-soundbar-base.18868905/

Fordie00 · 4 Nov 2019 at 14:10

The above thread has different requirements to me. I use the Virgin Media remote to currently control my TV and AV system so ARC through the TV wont be of any use and I never use the TV remote anyway.
I think a sub over hdmi port would be the way to go?

TheVoice · 4 Nov 2019 at 14:19

Fordie00 said:
The above thread has different requirements to me. I use the Virgin Media remote to currently control my TV and AV system so ARC through the TV wont be of any use and I never use the TV remote anyway.
I think a sub over hdmi port would be the way to go?

ARC is how the audio gets from the TV to the soundbar. You then have your devices connected via HDMI to the TV in the normal way. The Virgin or TV remote will tell the TV to change volume and the TV will pass that instruction to the soundbar, so it won't really matter which remote you use.

Fordie00 · 4 Nov 2019 at 14:39

Ah ok, so I'd just have to sacrifice the HDMI port that supports ARC?

lucid · 4 Nov 2019 at 18:09

Fordie00 said:
Ah ok, so I'd just have to sacrifice the HDMI port that supports ARC?

ARC or Optical both pass audio from the TV to an external sound system. You don't have to use ARC and sacrifice one of the HDMI ports. If using Optical is the preferred option, or you don't need the automation features of HDMI control, then don't use HDMI ARC. Simple as that. Stick with Optical.

Re: subs. They never connect via a HDMI.

Most sound bars or sound bases that come supplied with a sub will connect to it wirelessly using a dedicated Bluetooth link.

kidloco · 4 Nov 2019 at 19:42

Picked up a q acoustics media 4 last month for my pc sound in the office.
Solidly built thing that sounds better then a lot of the others I listened to under £200.

Fordie00 · 4 Nov 2019 at 21:43

Now torn between the M3 and the M4...

kidloco · 5 Nov 2019 at 08:12

Fordie00 said:
Now torn between the M3 and the M4...

i listened to both. Purely sound wise the M4 is much better.

ShortWarning · 5 Nov 2019 at 11:29

I'm also after a sound bar.

Do these offer a big upgrade over TV sound (LG B8)?

I often see people in threads saying you need to spend £600+ for it to be worthwhile.

Psycho Sonny · 5 Nov 2019 at 12:31

ShortWarning said:
I'm also after a sound bar.

Do these offer a big upgrade over TV sound (LG B8)?

I often see people in threads saying you need to spend £600+ for it to be worthwhile.

If you spend £600+ you will get something that rivals a proper separates setup. As in you can tell the person has spent money on a proper sound system.

A £200 soundbar will just sound a bit better than built in. It's okay if you don't value sound but if you do it will sound pants.

Fordie00 · 5 Nov 2019 at 22:55

Just purchased the M3 off the bay for £152 using the current 10% off code.
Thank you to all for your input.

Psycho Sonny · 11 Nov 2019 at 13:43

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTLWe5GdAC0