Best Mid-Market Soundbars 2021

The industry’s drive to make TVs thinner and thinner has resulted in some exceptionally thin TVs with incredibly narrow bezels that look amazing. This styling isn’t even restricted to high-end models either and has trickled down even to the budget tier. Unfortunately, while this may look great it does require some other compromises. One of them is sound quality.

Because space is at a premium inside a modern TV set, the included speakers tend to be relatively small. They’re also normally rear-facing as there are no forward-facing surfaces on which to mount them. This leads to a muddy and quiet soundstage with weak bass and highs. Thankfully, your listening experience can be enhanced with the addition of a soundbar.

A soundbar includes a range of speakers in a dedicated housing and with some smart design can even sound like it has vertical and surround sound speakers needed for a proper Dolby Atmos experience. While you can pay an arm and a leg for a good one you don’t necessarily have to, as good deals can be found.

To help you find a great soundbar at a reasonable price, we’ve drawn up our list of the best mid-market soundbars in 2021.

The Bose Smart Soundbar 900 is an upgrade to Bose’s previous Smart Soundbar 700. The new model now features a pair of upward-firing drivers for Dolby Atmos support. The soundbar itself is a 5.0.2 configuration, while the surround speakers are technically front-facing rather than side-facing, Bose’s PhaseGuide technology simulates a satellite speaker well for a wide sound stage.

Broad surround sound standard support means most surround sound content can be played, though DTS:X is a notable exception. Physical connectivity is limited with no passthrough support, however, wireless connectivity is excellent. The appearance of the soundbar is excellent but the tempered glass top will likely need regular cleaning and may be a magnet for scratches. The soundbar can be calibrated to your specific room through the use of the included head-mounted microphone. It can also be expanded with a Bose subwoofer and a pair of satellite speakers, though these will cost extra.

The LG SP8YA supports all surround sound formats but is somewhat let down by the fact that it doesn’t feature any surround channels. This means that surround sound content needs to be downsampled to stereo, though it can then be upsampled again to include a vertical channel that would be found in Dolby Atmos content.

The metal grille on the soundbar provides robust protection for the drivers. Unfortunately, the included subwoofer features a fabric grille on three sides. Not only does this not look as high quality but it’s also more likely to draw dust and more easily damaged. The room calibration feature allows the soundbar to be tuned to your room while the EQ options provide a solid selection of ways for you to adjust the audio further.

The DALI Katch One is an unusual soundbar in that it makes no attempt to support surround sound codecs. All audio is played in stereo through the six front-facing and four rear-facing drivers. This setup does mean that you can’t get the full surround sound experience from content that supports it. This isn’t an issue for standard stereo TV content or for most music though, where the Katch One will actually do a solid job.

The Katch One is intended to be placed against a wall and for the sound produced by the rear-firing speakers to be reflected back. To enable this it can be wall-mounted in two ways, alternatively, it can also be placed on a pair of wooden feet. If you feel like increasing the depth of the bass, a subwoofer can be connected. The price is quite high for what’s on offer, but on a reasonable sale, this can be a good soundbar, especially if you don’t tend to watch surround sound content often.

The Sonos Beam Gen 2 is the 2021 update to the original Sonos Beam, with a key selling point being Dolby Atmos support. One of the key features of Dolby Atmos is support for vertically placed speakers. Soundbars often implement this by using upward-firing drivers and reflecting the sound off of the ceiling for a surprisingly effective experience. The Beam Gen 2, however, doesn’t include any upward-firing speakers. Instead, it uses its upgraded processing power to implement the vertical channel with its existing front and surround channels instead.

While this can’t compete with true vertically placed speakers, the vertical audio implementation is effective. To make the most of the surround sound capabilities a range of surround sound codecs are supported. The soundbar itself lacks bass but can be wirelessly paired with a Sonos subwoofer, though those are expensive and bought separately. Connectivity is pretty decent, though mostly in the wireless department, with just a single HDMI port. Realistically, at this price point it is quite hard to compete with the Beam Gen 2, though better experiences can be had if you can stretch the budget further.x

That was our round-up of the best mid-market soundbars in 2021. Have you recently bought a mid-market soundbar? What sold you on it and what has your experience been with it so far? Let us know down below.