The best soundbars compensate for your flat-screen TV's flat-sounding speakers

Because the Sonos Ray is over $200 less expensive than its Sonos Beam cousin, you have to reasonably expect for its features to be a bit more undercooked. During my testing, this definitely held true. While setup itself was a breeze, the Ray is not HDMI compatible, which presented the first roadblock. Instead, you have to connect the device to your TV via audio optical cable. This is a pretty old-school choice by Sonos and might make you think twice about dishing out close to $300 for a Sonos soundbar.

However, the Sonos Ray still made the cut because of all that it can do. For one, I had a grand time using the Trueplay tuning technology on the Sonos app (only available for iOS users), which essentially works by prompting the Ray to emit sounds that bounce around the room and are then captured by your iPhone. In this way, Sonos is able to "map" your space and calibrate its outputs accordingly.

When I tried playing standard audio on the Ray before the turning on Trueplay, I found that it lacked the three-dimensionality that was achieved after my bedroom was mapped. The untrained ear can't fully measure this, but there was a noticeable difference.

A second "red flag" popped up when I realized my TV remote wasn't working with the Sonos Ray; the soundbar only responded to the "volume down" button on the remote, strangely enough. As it turns out, this particular Sonos soundbar model only works with infrared remotes. Remotes that use Bluetooth or radio frequency "may require additional configuration or may not work with Sonos products connected via optical," according to the Sonos website.

Most importantly, this soundbar's audio quality was very solid in terms of bass and treble. The Sonos Ray even did a pretty good job at replicating "height content" (such as movie scenes set atop skyscrapers), which is usually only achieved with soundbars that allow for upwards rotation. That being said, the more expensive Sonos Beam has superior bass, so if you opt for the Sonos Ray, you might also want to get the Sonos Sub Mini, too.

If you've got an old, non-4K TV collecting dust and you feel like treating it to an upgrade, the Roku Streambar is a beautiful option for doing just that.

I had to test it out at my parents' house (thank you, dad) — which just so happens to have an unused, "unsmart" TV — to become fully acquainted with the Streambar's range of offerings. It absolutely didn't disappoint in the 4K media streaming department. Indeed, it was super easy to load up Hulu, Netflix, and other apps via the channel shortcut buttons on the soundbar remote. The fact that Roku provides such a multifunctional remote is also a win for those who don't want to deal with extra apps that are needed to customize audio or turn on settings like room correction. The Roku Streambar doesn't have those fancy-shmancy settings, but at least its learning curve is practically nonexistent.

If you do choose to download the Roku app, like I did, you might be pleased by what you discover: Mainly, the ability to connect your headphones to the Streambar for some private listening. You can even project your entire camera roll onto the TV screen. Throughout the setup process, I appreciated just how small the soundbar is. You can literally hold it in one hand, so it's not going to look bulky or intrusive in front of your TV.

The fact that the Roku Streambar can be connected to other tech via HDMI-ARC, optical, Bluetooth 5.0, and Wi-Fi methods is also a huge win, especially considering that the (cough cough) Sonos Ray only had the optical and Wi-Fi options going for it.

The Streambar boasts four internal speakers which are meant to "fill your room with sound," according to Roku, though I found the sound was actually quite flat — both when playing music (Nicki Minaj classics, if you're curious) and when watching a Hulu show (it was the The Golden Bachelor, OK?). Buying the Streambar won't give you a true home theater, though it is compatible with add-ons like Roku Wireless Bass or Roku Wireless Speakers to make you feel truly ~surrounded~.

Since I tested the Roku Streambar before the Roku Streambar Pro, this had the effect of making me extra impressed with the latter's larger size and more powerful audio. Despite the fact that the cheaper Streambar has two diagonally angled speakers and two front-facing ones (whereas the Pro version has only front-facing speakers), I think its length and heaviness still gave it a sound advantage.

Like the Streambar, this soundbar also benefits from Roku's special audio modes, including Night mode, Music mode, Dialogue mode, and varying levels of speech clarity. My favorite by far was the Night mode, which reduces the volume of louder scenes and boosts it for quieter ones, allowing you to catch up on your favorite shows while everyone else in your house counts sheep. You won't be getting personalized audio customization tools (as with Sonos Trueplay), but the options it does have are still impressive.

Besides differing from its predecessor based on speaker layout (and overall audio quality), the Streambar Pro also has a slightly different remote: One that flaunts a headphone jack, a "find my remote" feature, and personal shortcuts to get you to your favorite channels faster. If this was the only distinguishing aspect of the Roku Streambar Pro, I'd say don't bother spending an extra $50 on it. However, if you want a soundbar that looks big enough to provide rich audio — and actually delivers on that— it's worth it.

After all, it was the Streambar Pro and not the Streambar that made PCMag's Best Soundbars for 2023 list. Use this info as you will.

The most "specialty" soundbar I tested for this guide was ZVOX's AV157 AccuVoice TV Speaker, which is supercharged with patented technology to help people with hearing difficulties comprehend what's said on TV. ZVOX says it "uses proprietary digital algorithms that separate the voices from the rest of the soundtrack and then manipulate them much like a hearing aid does." I should note that ZVOX recommended I test their product with someone in the room who does, indeed, have hearing impairments. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible for this review; however, immediate improvements in dialogue clarity were evident even to the average listener.

This was by far the easiest soundbar to set up. I connected it to my TV with just one wire (it's pretty limited in its output options, offering only an optical or an outdated 3.5 mm analog connection) and could then start manipulating the device's settings via a compatible remote. Note that, unlike for the Roku soundbars, this remote doesn't do any fancy tricks on your actual TV. It's only responsible for increasing or decreasing the soundbar's volume, muting it completely, and jumping between 12 stages of dialogue boost.

I was very pleased with ZVOX's surround sound setting. It made the audio coming from my TV feel all-encompassing and wide-reaching. Though it wasn't nearly as spectacular as audio output from the Sonos Beam, it's important to note that ZVOX's products aren't meant to compete with regular soundbars for TVs.

As I progressively made my way though the 12 sound settings, I noticed that the background noises were, in fact, reduced and that the speech of on-screen actors became more distinct. This is not to say the voices didn't feel imposing in a way. The soundbar produced very loud sound (which felt like physical pressure on my eardrums) when I activated the highest dialogue boost stages. Then again, I think people who actually need this soundbar's assistance won't feel that kind of sensation at all.

When testing out the Other Settings option on the AV157's remote, I got familiar with Output Leveling. According to ZVOX, this "mak[es] soft sounds louder and loud sounds softer, so there are fewer jarring moments when switching channels or when commercials come on." I could actually feel this kind of sound "leveling" happen in real time, which was pretty magical.

All in all, this is a brilliant tool for older folks or anyone else who struggles with capturing what their favorite characters are saying on screen and who are tired of subtitles or generic "just turn up the volume" advice. Everyone deserves a pleasurable TV-watching experience, and ZVOX delivers.