If there’s one thing that can instantly transform your TV viewing experience, it’s proper audio. Built-in TV speakers are pretty terrible these days and manufacturers keep making screens thinner which means less room for decent speakers.
Premium soundbars from Bose, Sonos, or Samsung can easily set you back $300 to $800 which is a tough pill to swallow. That’s exactly why Amazon developed its own Fire TV Soundbar, a no-nonsense option aimed at everyday users who want better sound without the premium price tag. Right now, it’s dropped to just $99 on Amazon, down from its usual $119. That’s even cheaper than what we saw during Prime Day and Black Friday and an all-time low price for a soundbar that punches well above its weight class.
Best Value for Money Soundbar
The Fire TV Soundbar sits in Amazon’s lineup as the standard model, with a Plus version available for those wanting extra features. But for most people, this base model delivers exactly what’s needed: The speaker configuration means you’re getting two separate channels of audio which creates a wider soundstage than your TV could ever manage on its own. This translates to noticeably clearer dialogue which is huge if you’ve ever found yourself constantly adjusting the volume or turning on subtitles just to follow conversations in movies.
It’s what actually propels this soundbar past simple sound enhancement that makes DTS Virtual:X technology the feature. This great-sounding audio processing generates a three-dimensional listening space from a pair of just two speakers and simulates the sensation of sound from above and in the area around you. It’s not actual surround sound with actual rear speakers but virtual processing that presents sound convincingly to make it more immersive and spacious sounding. Along with Dolby Audio support, you’re gaining more detail and clarity throughout the frequency range.
Setup is as easy as it can be: Amazon comes with an HDMI cable, and you just plug it into your TV’s HDMI eARC or ARC port. The eARC or regular ARC connection merely takes audio from your TV to send along automatically to the soundbar, all in perfect sync. No faffing about with optical cables or annoying audio delay problems. And if you’re watching using a Fire TV device or an Amazon Fire TV-enabled television, the whole process is seamless. Both your TV and soundbar can be controlled by a single Fire TV remote with volume and power control without having to switch between multiple controllers.
Bluetooth connectivity provides an extra level of functionality beyond TV audio: You can directly connect your tablet or smartphone to the soundbar and stream audio as music, podcasts, or audiobooks. The soundbar then becomes an effective music speaker at times other than TV viewing, which makes it an even more useful component of your entertainment system.
For $99, you’re paying for technology that would have cost double the price in this era just a year or two ago from a company that’s spent a lot of money to ensure that Fire TV devices play harmoniously together.
First Appeared on
Source link
