Soundbars or true surround?

8 Pack said:
From my limited experience as in I have friends who have sound bars!!! They are terrible and full surround is way way way better....
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I tend to agree. Whilst they can produce decent sound (with the benchmark for "decent" being "regular TV sound"); they're working against the laws of physics, so soundstage, SPL, etc are all going to be limited by virtue of what they are.

We have "proper" separates for the TVs in all of our rooms, with the exception of the kitchen/diner, where we use a Naim Mu So as a soundbar. It's a nice bit of kit, but it doesn't hold a candle to a proper system. I suspect even a fairly basic 2.1 system would beat it in terms of imaging and soundstage, etc.
 
8 Pack said:
From my limited experience as in I have friends who have sound bars!!! They are terrible and full surround is way way way better....
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yeah but without model numbers its a bit like saying from my limited experience of laptops from mates who have them. they are terrible and a full desktop pc is better.

that's because the majority of people buy cheap crappy laptops much like the majority buy cheap crappy soundbars.

you need to go and look at the £500-£1500 soundbars
 
BlairH said:
I tend to agree. Whilst they can produce decent sound (with the benchmark for "decent" being "regular TV sound"); they're working against the laws of physics, so soundstage, SPL, etc are all going to be limited by virtue of what they are.

We have "proper" separates for the TVs in all of our rooms, with the exception of the kitchen/diner, where we use a Naim Mu So as a soundbar. It's a nice bit of kit, but it doesn't hold a candle to a proper system. I suspect even a fairly basic 2.1 system would beat it in terms of imaging and soundstage, etc.
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This a hundred times over. You just don't get the same sound stage you get with full speaker surround.
 
Spook187 said:
That is your opinion.
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When it comes to connectivity, it's not an option.

Also soundbars they are all in one units with all the downsides with none of avr and speaker positives such as standard components

Don't like the avr? Change it. Like the speakers? Change it. Upgrade subs no problem. Avr blows up no problem. Blow speakers up no prior.
Want more power no problem. Hdmi spec changes no problem.
 
Soundbars are just there for a purpose of less obnoxious boxes in the living room. The mrs didnt mind them but i wanted something cleaner and my movie watching was limted at best during my little ones sleep pattern so it fitted the bill. Really it comes down to preference. I am ok with the sound stage of the sonos even though i've had systems for less that sound better. I would still choose sonos just for the no fuss approach. I wish it did have more than DD but its par for course.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
yeah but without model numbers its a bit like saying from my limited experience of laptops from mates who have them. they are terrible and a full desktop pc is better.

that's because the majority of people buy cheap crappy laptops much like the majority buy cheap crappy soundbars.

you need to go and look at the £500-£1500 soundbars
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I have.

They perform to be expected to be honest; which is to say, when you pack lots of small drivers into a small-ish box and amplify them accordingly - what comes out doesn't sound as good as what you would get if you weren't burdened with those constraints. Whilst something like the Samsung N950 can make movies sound -for want of a better word- "lively"; to my ears it does not sound objectively "good". There are better ways to spend £1000 in terms of audio.

The Dali Kubik One is probably the best soundbar I've heard in the sense that it's basically just a decent two channel stereo setup; with proper drivers, etc. It even has a subwoofer line out, so you can pair it with any decent subwoofer of your choice. No fancy processing or anything like that. It's a soundbar that knows the limits of the format and works well within those limits.
 
They are ok if you spend the cash on a decent one. Even then I have yet to hear one anything close to a proper setup .

I've had a pretty decent 5.1 system that I downsized when I move to a fairly expensive soundbar (£1,000 when new) and recently got rid of it . It was just lacking everywhere, the main issue was that it sounded like it was coming out of a single box under the TV !

I've gone back to a nice 2.1 seperates system now. Whilst I miss the effects that my 5.1 had, music sounds great again .and films are still miles better than the soundbar .
 
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