The best Dolby Atmos soundbars should fool you into thinking speakers are mounted above your head. But don’t just assume the Atmos label on the box guarantees immersive audio; many other factors go into building a multi-layered home theater.
Everything from the type of HDMI cables you’re using to where you mount your soundbar can affect your movie nights and Spotify listening sessions. And if you don’t know most of this before buying an Atmos soundbar, you could wind up as disappointed as I was.
HDMI ARC at a minimum
Digital optical won’t cut it
I hate raining on anyone’s parade, but here I go: If you bought a Dolby Atmos soundbar and planned on hooking it up to your TV via digital optical, you may as well save yourself the cash and invest in a 5.1 soundbar or speaker system instead. Digital optical — also known as SPDIF or Toslink — was once the end-all, be-all connection for soundbars, but HDMI ARC (introduced all the way back in 2009) said, “Hold my beverage.”
While digital optical is great for connecting a non-home theater soundbar (2.1 or 2.0) to a TV, it’s not what you want to use if Dolby Atmos is part of your audio plan.
Digital optical is capped at 5.1 speaker layouts, so formats like Dolby Digital and standard DTS are your only options for surround sound. To experience the most primitive version of Dolby Atmos without precise object-based audio, your TV will need an HDMI ARC port. For optimal soundbar settings, you’ll want to be using HDMI eARC, the ARC upgrade introduced in 2017. HDMI eARC is the only way to decode lossless Atmos formats; the standard also requires Ultra High Speed (48Gbps) HDMI cables.
The latter guarantees immersive object-based audio, at least when your hardware is an AV receiver with dedicated Atmos speakers. If your soundbar is “Atmos-certified,” but doesn’t support the minimum number of channels for an Atmos layout (5.1.2), you’ll definitely want to read our next section.
Discrete channels matter
Virtualization rhymes with approximation
Snake oil is the bread and butter of home theater. For those unaware, “snake oil” is akin to saying “a batch of lies.” Numerous soundbar manufacturers are content with slapping an Atmos label on their products, only for folks like you and me to get home, hook it up, and think, “Really? This is what everyone thought was so great?” Let me be clear: If your soundbar doesn’t contain the exact number of *discrete speaker channels required for base Atmos — 5.1.2 — it will not deliver true Atmos sound.
What it will deliver is an “Atmos virtualization,” but all that really means is employing digital signal processing (DSP) to approximate the positioning of sounds in your movie-watching space. It’s the smoke-and-mirrors version of premium, object-based sound, and the results can actually be quite convincing — especially if the bar has up-firing speakers (more on these in the last section) in a small to medium-sized room. It’s all psychoacoustics, or an effort to convince your ears that you’re hearing audio from speakers that don’t actually exist.
Numerous soundbars on the market advertise surround sound presets like “Cinema” or “Movie.” Unfortunately, once more, these are just EQ-based approximations of surround sound; not the genuine Dolby Digital, DTS, or Atmos/DTS:X the manufacturer probably wants you to believe you’re buying.
Architecture and acoustics
Or why your ceiling doesn’t like your soundbar
A true Dolby Atmos soundbar is less a front-of-the-room audio projector and more a full-fledged surround sound with an object-based vertical layer. And since you’ve confirmed its “5.1.2” channel configuration, you’re probably eager to see what those up-firing drivers can do. What you weren’t planning on is your living room’s vaulted ceiling getting in the way of an immersive movie night.
Most genuine Atmos bars have two up-firing speakers that project sound toward the ceiling, where the waves reflect off the drywall and back down to your ears; that’s how it’s supposed to work, at any rate. But if your room has abnormally high ceilings or areas where the sheetrock is multi-angled, sound waves could have a difficult time reaching your seats. I also 100% do not recommend placing an Atmos soundbar inside an entertainment center, under a shelf, or any type of flat surface, for that matter; height-based Atmos audio still needs the time and space to ascend.
A room with unique architectural details can still be a fine home for an Atmos soundbar, but I suggest investing in one with some type of acoustics calibration tool. Systems like the Samsung HW-Q900H and Sonos Beam Ultra both have 7.1.2 configurations and are great examples of Atmos-certified products with room calibration features; both systems also support wireless rear speakers (sold separately) for an even more immersive Atmos experience.
Dolby Atmos soundbars are still shaping up
The Atmos standard was introduced in 2012, giving audio engineers and product developers nearly 15 years to perfect the tech. Fortunately, we now live in a world where you don’t have to spend thousands on a complete Atmos rig to enjoy object-based audio; that said, getting Atmos right within the limitations of a soundbar chassis can be challenging for both developers and consumers.
Not all bars are created equal, and some companies care far more about delivering the kind of virtualization that makes up for spatial shortcomings. But it’s just as important for you and yours to ensure your theater space is the right shape and size for an Atmos soundbar.
- Integrations
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Alexa built-in, Googlecast, Airplay 2
- Audio Format
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Dolby Atmos
- Speaker Arrangement
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7.1.2 CH (7 front channels, 1 subwoofer, 2 up-firing channels)
- Colors
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Titan Black
- Brand
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Samsung
The Samsung HW-Q900H is a Q-Series soundbar with a wireless subwoofer and a true 7.1.2 channel setup, made up of 7 front channels and 2 up-firing channels. It supports wireless Dolby Atmos, with or without an HDMI cable, and Q-Symphony, which pairs it with a compatible Samsung TV and up to five Samsung audio devices. SpaceFit Sound Pro calibrates the audio to your room using built-in sensors.