Soundbar buying advice

[Aravind Ram]

Hi everyone, I have a Samsung QAQ60B TV and looking for a good VFM soundbar to use with it. I've never owned a soundbar and know nothing about it. So please suggest some models, what to look for, what not to consider etc. It's mostly going to be used to watch OTT content.

The problem with the TV's inbuilt speakers is that most of the times when watching movies, the volume of the dialogues sound lesser compared to the background music. For example, I had the worst audio experience when watching the first Kingsman movie in Disney+. I had to constantly fiddle around the volume button for each scene. Same experience while watching "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", "Antman Quantamania", "Whiplash". I had to increase the volume repeatedly for the dialogues in Whiplash and then bring the volume down when music is being played. These movies are just for examples. It's the same experience for most of the content be it any OTT app (including regional content which is Tamil in my case, so not just English movies).

So is there any solution where I can modify the equalizer in the TV settings to fix this or getting a soundbar is the only fix?

If soundbar is the only solution:
The TV is in a medium sized hall filled up with furniture and stuff. I'm just looking to get a soundbar to be able to have a decent enough audio experience so that I don't have to use my remote that much. I'm not sure about the budget as I've never owned a soundbar beforw. Will 10k be enough? A home theater setup won't work for me for some practical reasons.

And I'm only looking for good well known brands as it's a tier 2/3 city and a good after sales support is important for me. Planning to buy during the Diwali sale or Xmas/New Year sale. Please help.

 

[omega44-xt]

Volume of dialogue being lesser than other audio is not a speaker issue, it is how it has been set up in movies. My friend was surprised when dialogues had a relatively good volume on his TV than his JBL soundbar.

I use Dolby Access on Windows, works good enough.

For TVs, there will be speech enhancement or dialogue enhancement setting.

Check hifivision forum or reddit, maybe they have some thread already on the same for equaliser.

Diwali sale is almost over, started on 8th.

 

[Aravind Ram]

Thanks, will check that reddit forum.

Volume of dialogue being lesser than other audio is not a speaker issue, it is how it has been set up in movies.

I'm not sure about this though. Because almost all of the content sound bad when it comes to dialogues be it old movies or newly released ones. For eg., happened to watch Inside Out in Disney+. I had to increase the volume for the dialogues a lot of times. Watched Tron (the very first movie), watched Star Wars Bad Batch, watched Cooku With Comali (it's a regional TV reality show) - same experience with all of these. Either I have to watch it fully with an insanely high volume or keep adjusting it based on the scene. I'm just wondering if there are others too who have similar experience with their TVs.

 

[omega44-xt]

www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/6hvjkv/sound_effects_in_movies_are_too_loud_compared_to/
Old thread, but goes into more detail on the issue.

As I said, TVs have a setting to correct it:
www.samsung.com/in/support/tv-audio-video/what-is-dialog-clarity-in-samsung-tv/

 

[invisiblebond]

If you enable speech enhancement or dialogue enhancement, there will be an artificial effect, and it is not at all comfortable. Soundbars can help with this. There is a Samsung model that costs 21,000 INR, which you should check out!

Sitting in front of a computer won't help. Get out and test all sorts of soundbars, from cheap to high-end. Come back and post your recommendations so that I can buy them if I have any money left to spend, or at least put them on my wish list.

 

[Aravind Ram]

Alright, as far as I checked, my tv model doesn't have any "dialogue enhancement" option. There are three sound profile modes - "Standard, Adaptive Sound, Amplify". I always use the "Amplify" mode which is only slightly better than the other modes. Still, the dialogue clarity is not that great. I tried tweaking the sound equalizer too but didn't feel any change and I'm not an expert in using the sound equalizer. I just applied the settings I saw in an article. Now I guess getting a 3.1 soundbar is my only option for a better experience. If I could get some suggestions on models, how to choose, how to test in a showroom (what to look for), etc., that would be very helpful!

 

[RumbaMon19]

Since this thread is open, Even I am looking for a soundbar, Preferably not more than 8-10K primarily for listening music and small house parties. So please suggest me also @omega44-xt

Thanks.

 

[omega44-xt]

Since this thread is open, Even I am looking for a soundbar, Preferably not more than 8-10K primarily for listening music and small house parties. So please suggest me also @omega44-xt

Thanks.

Don't have a good idea. Check hifivision forum. With 10k budget, there should already be relatively new threads or can ask the question & expect answers. As the budget gets lower, your chances of reply will get lower as well there.

 

[Desmond]

Does the soundbar have any advantage over regular 2.1 speakers or bookshelf speakers in terms of sound quality? Or is the appeal of soundbars just their form factor?

 

[RumbaMon19]

Does the soundbar have any advantage over regular 2.1 speakers or bookshelf speakers in terms of sound quality? Or is the appeal of soundbars just their form factor?

It's just form factor. Like I am only buying it because it is compact and looks neat with less wires also easy to setup.

If budget is not a constraint, a proper speaker setup is the best.

 

[omega44-xt]

Does the soundbar have any advantage over regular 2.1 speakers or bookshelf speakers in terms of sound quality? Or is the appeal of soundbars just their form factor?

No, just form factor.